Simpedia

Mark M., New York

See Time for More Music.

The 3 LH + 4 RH is simply to discover the family of notes. It is not to be played like that. This is discovering the “map.”

Once the map is found, then you determine the naturally occurring 3s & 4s (NO34) — this is RH-only, and is precisely for playing, is about finding ergonomically comfortable fingering for the giving family of notes. A group of RH fingers 1-2-3, and a group of RH finger 1-2-3-4.

This is not about starting positions. It is outside of the notion of there even being a “start” to the scale. By disregarding the tonic as the “start,” it’s easier to use the above process to find ergonomic fingering for all scales. And if it just so happens that some scales have finger 1 on the tonic and others don’t, we don’t worry about it.

Mark M., New York

You follow the Scale Journey process, understanding that the purpose of the Scale Journey is to get a student familiar with the “territory” of a song prior to learning it.

1) “Basic” 3s & 4s, LH & RH, with the purpose of creating:

2) The Map

3) Then, Naturally Occurring 3s & 4s, RH only, whose purpose is playing the scale melodically up and down. Then

4) Improvising with BH, simply, freeform, just to deepen familiarity with the territory

5) Then finally the notion of playing notes in the family with “unnatural” fingering with the express purpose of then figuring out how to navigate back to “natural” fingering, with the purpose of further deepening familiarity with the territory, this time specifically with added flexibility beyond the NO34 fingering, since the NO34 fingering will often not be appropriate for performance of particular songs/passages in that key.

Steps 3/4/5 may involve something like what you mention, but the purpose isn’t specifically to “play the scale starting on various notes.” It’s not about playing the entire scale starting on various notes. That’s somewhat beside the point.

Think of it like this:

You’re visiting an unfamiliar place. So you study a map of the place before you get there. In the process, you end up studying a bit more of the geography than what you may actually need during your actual trip. You may not actually visit every single place you’ve seen ahead of time on the map. But having studied the map, you have an easier time getting around once you visit.

But there is no need, in advance of your visit, to go the extreme of quizzing yourself on how you get from every single street address to every single other street address. Studying the map ahead of time may mean studying “more” of the geography than you may actually need for the actual itinerary you’ll have during your visit. But there’s no need to go too crazy over-studying pointlessly.
Trying to play the scale to any large extent while purposely starting on various notes sounds, to me, like over-studying pointlessly. By practicing the NO34, you are practicing the simple components that make up the scale no matter *what* note you may ever find yourself “starting on” for a given passage. So there’s no need to systematically practice every possible starting note/finger.

Mark M., New York

Best I can tell, it’s not formally taught, but there’s nothing at all stopping us from having students find LH NO34 in addition to RH.

Mark M., New York

Not just an intellectual tool, a playing-based tool. But correct that the goal isn’t necessarily to build speed. Not used as in traditional approaches.

Simply Music is not the only entity that resists certain traditional notions about key/scale. You might take a look at the book Lies My Music Teacher Told Me, for example. This book affirms the notion that key/scale are not simply linear things that “start” on the note that gives a key/scale its name. It affirms the same thing Neil talks about in TTM about the more fundamental fact that the tonic is at the *center* of a web of harmonic relationships, some of which go above it, some of which go below it. Even technical names such as dominant/subdominant, etc., affirm this. Yes, it takes getting used to, but it’s worth being aware, this is not purely a Simply Music innovation. The playing-based aspects of Scale Journey seem to be, though.

Colleen R., Washington

Do jump in, Ruth! I was slow to introduce it in my studio, too, but the benefits are amazing. Clearly some grasp the concepts more quickly than others, but even the most stubborn resistor usually succumbs and the outcome is stunning to us all! If they learn the “family” well there are no mistakes…or at least a very quick realization! We always have beautiful compositions at our Play Parties from this teaching.

It’s been very interesting how the comps that come from this amazing part of our curriculum often sound like screenplays or gaming music!

Maureen K., California

I love Simply Music’s approach to scales and key signatures. It took me a while to figure it out too. Don’t think in terms of keys (which are preset in your mind from traditional teaching) but rather in terms of families of sharps and flats. Instead of starting by saying “key of Ab” say instead “4 flats, which would be BEAD.” Then find the map and the journey. Then I have my students choose a random note from that family for the LH to play repeatedly which the RH travels around the journey. It result in great sounds that aren’t boxed in to our typical major and relative minor scales.