Nan Kemberling, Atlanta Cellist
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Cellist, Teacher, and Coach

Scales?  In THIS Economy?

9/11/2014

8 Comments

 

Scales are a waste of time for advanced cellists!

up and down
There.  I said it.  

It's been weighing on me, and I just had to get it out there. 

Wait!  Hear me out!



Unlike wind instrumentalists who use the same fingering for a scalar passage no matter what the context, string players must choose from a myriad of different finger patterns for the same passage based on many variables:

  • Which notes come after the scalar passage?
  • Which notes come before?
  • What part of the scale am I playing?
  • Will the passage be fast or slow?
  • Should I use open strings?
  • Do I want to incorporate string crossings?
  • Do I want to maintain the timbre of a single string?
  • What dynamic do I want to eventually achieve?
  • Does the passage grow into the next notes or shrink away from them (or neither)?

...and I'm sure the list could be longer. 

Scales do not present you with any of these contextual challenges.  They can help you drill a certain fingering for scales that you MIGHT use for a passage once in a while,  But that isn't enough for me.  Why must my student work for hours and hours on learning all her scales for an audition while her solo pieces and etudes suffer? She can't spend 7 hours each day getting through all that mess.  

I am asking the string world (please pardon the pun): Why are we forced to spend time on something that doesn't benefit us in a MAJOR way?   

Defenders of scales say you need them because:

"That's what we've been practicing all along!"  

Sorry. I don't give a flying flip about tradition.  I will take efficiency over tradition any day.  

"They get you out of the neck positions"

I could understand this if you just want an adventure "up high" without really working to understand the upper registers.  Easy scales. Whole-steps and half-steps.  If that's what it takes to get you out of neck positions, go for it!  But if your goal is just to get your hand into the stratosphere of the cello, also give Daredevil Shifts a try:
daredevil shifts!
Or how about working on some pieces or etudes that take you up, up, and away!  Try Rick Mooney's Position Pieces for Cello Vol. 2 or his Thumb Position for Cello Vol. 1 or Vol.2 "Thumbs of Steel."

"They help you learn finger patterns"

TRUE.  If you are a beginner, sure, scales can help.  If you need to devote all of your mind to the proper execution of these patterns, scales might be a nice and easy way to do this.  

BUT playing simple tunes in the key you want to target can provide the same results with the added benefit of contextualizing the patterns.
Picture

On the other hand, let's say you want to get really good at improvising in different keys.  

Scales and arpeggios can help you internalize common finger patterns that you can then call upon when you launch into your blazingly amazing cello solo.  

See, I'm not TOTALLY against scales.  

"They ask for them at most auditions and juries"

I think this practice is dated, but we do need to exist in the real world.  With that in mind, we DO have to practice scales for this purpose. But that doesn't mean we need to get into scales as a way to learn finger patterns. In fact, we are able to use the SAME fingering for every single major scale and arpeggio that exists on the cello (except C major).  
This will save you so much time when preparing for your All-State audition!  The secret of this wonderful fingering is outlined in the excellent scale book my cello guru, Martha Gerschefski, wrote.  In it she reveals the universal fingering for scales that makes D-flat major just as easy as D major.  You can order The Road to Four Octave Scales and Arpeggios HERE.

"They give you time to work on technicalities without the distractions of music"

That's the answer I got from Heinrich Schiff's short article on the benefits of scale study: 
http://thestrad.com/latest/editorschoice/scales-and-exercises-are-essential-for-all-string-players-says-heinrich-schiff

I'm still not convinced. 

Working out the technical stuff is called PRACTICE.  If you are emoting constantly and being "distracted by the music" when you practice, you are doing it wrong!  Much of your practice time must be devoted to training the motions of right and left arms/hands.  

However the other time should be used to make decisions about the direction of the music. Considering this musical direction can actually inform your decisions about how you want to go about "programming" the motions.  So, the drills of practice and musical expression are essentially always linked to each other, but not in a way that "distracts."

An exception to my disdain

Scales are not evil.  They DO have a few uses.  

Besides beefing up your improv chops, scales can help you train your ear.  If you have difficulty hearing if you are in tune, playing scales with a tonic drone is a wonderful way to work on this problem without becoming distracted by what you are trying to say with the music.  

Scales are nice and dry and boring,  perfect fodder for focusing your mind on something else. Like your intonation. 

"What should I be doing instead of playing scales?"

Play a wide variety of music!  Different keys, different styles. Force yourself to sightread each day.  Join a group in which you get a bit outside your tonal comfort zone (playing musicals is the best way to learn how to navigate D-flat major!).   Practice coming up with fingerings on the fly. 

Also, there is no substitute for making deliberate fingering choices as you practice pieces and etudes.  Choosing a fingering for a passage in a thoughtful way, taking into consideration all those contextual variables listed above, is what you have to do as a professional cellist.  Why not get used to this job now?  

If we did this each day, being very mindful about our fingering choices, I think we would become better cellists more rapidly than playing scales over and over without a real objective. 

One last thought on the danger of scales

I don't know of one student of cello who gets fired up about practicing scales.  And for me, motivation is as important as technique.  If cellists don't practice, they won't get better!   

I know a child who loved the cello so much that extremely lengthy and in-depth practice sessions were like play time. Then this little cellist started studying with a teacher who spent the majority of the weekly lessons drilling scales. The little cellist soon stopped practicing.  Stopped loving the cello.  

Such a tragedy!  

That brings us back to DO!

You get the idea! And I think I have ranted long enough... But I feel better getting that off my chest!  And I look forward to receiving my letter of excommunication.   Until then, happy practicing without scales!  
8 Comments
davidbteague@gmail.com
1/14/2017 12:27:17 pm

The link at _HERE_
" You can order The Road to Four Octave Scales and Arpeggios HERE."
produces a
500 Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator and inform them of the time the error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

The URL that produced this is

http://marthacello.com/Martha_Gerschefskis_Cello_Book_Site/Books.html

Reply
David B Teague
1/14/2017 02:05:56 pm

Two questions.
I tend to have a lot more trouble with descending scales than with ascending scales.
Chromatic scales are a bear to play in tune.
A tonic drone always helps, but at some time I need to ween myself off the drone. Any suggestions?

Reply
Nan
1/14/2017 05:26:12 pm

Hey! Yeah, stopping the drone is tough. I always try to "install" checkpoints in my work, where I stop and compare some corresponding note with an open string, just to make sure I am still on track. After making note of sharp- or flatness, according to the open string, I will approach the note again and attempt to go the opposite way (sharp if I was flat before and vice versa). Doing this several times will usually help me find the note exactly--and will give me a good idea of the correct "feel" for the right pitch there. Then that checkpoint stays in my mind even if I am not exactly checking it with an open string any more. A lot of times I can just feel how my cello is responding to the note. If it corresponds to an open string, it rings like crazy.

Descending scales are much harder for everyone, so you're not alone there. I am not sure how you would finger the descending scale on your bass, but one general thing that I rely on is Technical Shifting. Technical Shifting changed my life! Basically it is using the previous finger (if we think of the two notes of a shift, one before the shift and one after) to take you like a taxi to the location of the next hand position needed for the next note of the scale. So if you are doing something high on your bass, in thumb position perhaps--and you are playing 3 2 1 on C B A then shifting to a 3 on G below that--you would shift to the 1 on E and then put your 3 down on G. That way, you no longer jump back (to an unknown territory with a finger that wasn't even on the string) but slide the 1 back (which becomes very easy of you program that shift 1 on A to 1 on E with easy, slow repetition). The 1 can feel the distance that way then. And that is what your hand does best. Feel, don't jump.

Reply
David B Teague
1/15/2017 07:06:00 pm

Thanks Nan.

Please recommend a book, or books, that treat "Technical Shifting".

I would finger a 3 octave ascending scale without open strings ... say A, starting on the G string:

G, 1 4, shift 3 4
D, 1 4, shift 3 4
A 1 4, shift 1 4, shift 1 3 4, shift 13, shift 13, shift 123.

Descending I'd do the reverse.

I will work on "Technical Shifting".

I use this shift a _lot_ everywhere:
On the A string, with 4 on note C, I "rotate" the hand and forearm to shift to 1 on note D, then "rebalance" the hand.

I'm really hoping you will be at SCOR! Atlanta! Figuring out how to _say_ these things in print is difficult.

To help intonation "up there" I use Cassia Harvey's "Scale Studies for the 3rd Octave for Cello" vol 1 and 2. She takes a pattern and repeats it in chromatically rising keys.

Thanks!

Reply
David B Teague
1/17/2017 02:19:39 pm

Thanks Nan.

Please recommend a book, or books, that treat "Technical Shifting".

I would finger a 3 octave ascending scale without open strings ... say A, starting on the G string:

G, 1 4, shift 3 4
D, 1 4, shift 3 4
A 1 4, shift 1 4, shift 1 3 4, shift 13, shift 13, shift 123.

Descending I'd do the reverse.

I will work on "Technical Shifting".

I use this shift a _lot_ everywhere:
On the A string, with 4 on note C, I "rotate" the hand and forearm to shift to 1 on note D, then "rebalance" the hand.

Same with 3, and 1, and with 2 and 1.


Thanks!

Reply
David B Teague
1/17/2017 11:42:01 pm

Thanks Nan.

Please recommend a book, or books, that treat "Technical Shifting".

I would finger a 3 octave ascending scale without open strings ... say A, starting on the G string:

G, 1 4, shift 3 4
D, 1 4, shift 3 4
A 1 4, shift 1 4, shift 1 3 4, shift 13, shift 13, shift 123.

Descending I'd do the reverse.

I will work on "Technical Shifting".

I use this shift a _lot_ everywhere:
On the A string, with 4 on note C, I "rotate" the hand and forearm to shift to 1 on note D, then "rebalance" the hand.

Same with 3, and 1, and with 2 and 1.


Thanks!

Reply
Nan
1/18/2017 11:30:32 am

Sadly, I don't know of any books that outline technical shifting. It is just something I teach when digesting musical material with my students. I just did a quick google search and nothing substantial came up.

Perhaps this is a topic that needs an explanation video!

Reply
David B Teague
1/18/2017 12:46:36 pm

YES! Please do a video explanation on "Technical Shifting"
Meanwhile I'm working on what you describe above. Thanks

Reply

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