Hey guys,

My teacher is having me start work with scales, and I have been working with 7 note G until next week when I'll get the rest I think.

Just wondering if any of you might be kind enough to critique it. I feel very unsure about my hand position, feels like my hand is doing alot of moving, and not sure if it's possible to accentuate rotary motion when doing scales?

Thanks!!!

We can't even access your video!

Your video is set to "private" instead of "unlisted" (I've made the same mistake before)

Opps... Should be good now - Thanks!

My view on this is that you should do some playing with a coin on the back of the hand; an American quarter is ideal. This is how students were taught in the 17th to 19th centuries. This forces you to play with mainly finger and hand motion, with limited movement of the wrist, forearm, and other parts of the body--there are no such things as "hand doing a lot of moving," and "rotary motion," when you do play like this. This is the simplest and most efficient way to play. Today many ridicule this old method as out-of-date, but note that Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, etc. all learned like this.

I like that - Thanks!

You can try that if you like but note that a rigid wrist is often a tense wrist and you want to avoid that like the plague.

I notice you have extremely curved fingers. Some people like that, some people don't. But again, it can be easy to carry tension.

I would suggest very SLOW practice (no metronome), making your you are totally relaxed in between each note. I would bet that coin on your hand that you will get better results!

Gyros method IS ridiculous. If your teacher cannot show you how to do it properly, find a new teacher. You need to loosen up hands and fingers a bit, and it might be useful to uncurl the fingers a little. It should be best to start thumb over, and practice thumb under when your fingers become more flexible. Slowing down should also be useful.

Thumb over? What??

I agree that you should try and use a calmer hand. Fingers a little less curved. Relax. A NATURAL position is the best.

The other big thing I noticed is you are off your metronome. Try it at a slower tempo (as mentioned above).

Personally, I practice all scales FORTE. But I don't know if that's actually recommended or not, especially for beginners. LOL.

If you insist on using a metronome, keep in time with it.
It's pointless to use one and then proceed to ignore it.
(I only use mine very rarely, mostly to check my speed for a few bar, but I've never thought of using it to practice scales. Ugh.)

And I'd be very hesitant about taking any of Gyro's advice.
Once in a rare while he give some normal sounding advice but all too often he comes up with stuff that makes it sound like he's coming off an acid trip or something.

(I'm sure that Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt probably got regular applications of leeches by their doctors but that doesn't mean you should be doing the same).

Scot. Thumb over is the usual, but somewhat misleading term. Look it up. Scales should be practiced at all dynamic levels, and legato and staccato. When playing legato, it is best to use thumb under.

I agree with some of the other comments:

Skip the quarter-on-the-back-of-the-hands nonsense.

Skip the thumb-over versus thumb-under debate for now.

Try a bit flatter hand and focus on eliminating any tension. Your hand and wrist do look pretty tense and stiff to me.

Slow down and turn off the metronome until you can master a very fluid and relaxed motion at a more modest tempo.

I thought the thumb over versus thumb under debate was pronounced dead a long time ago. Both methods should be used. Same with curved versus flat fingers. Both, and all degrees between, are very useful.

Could somebody link me a video to the "thumb over" technique, please? I'm still not even sure what it is...

Poor Smilodon. He posts a simple G-scale and gets hit with "coin on the back of the hand" and "thumb-over" right out of the gate.

THIS...



+1

Well, tomorrow is her first evaluation of my scale work. I just thought I'd try to get a jump on things. Loosen up, and uncurl fingers - cool!

Thumb-over is the unfortunate name used by some to refer to the motion of quickly moving your hand laterally to bring your fingers over the next notes without wrist rotation or tucking your thumb under your hand (so-called thumb-under). As others have pointed out, both techniques are useful depending on the tempo and the sound you're looking for. For finger legato in scales, you really have to tuck your thumb, but for faster, more detached passages or when you are shaping the sound with the pedal sometimes simply moving your hand is sufficient.

Smilodon, You are playing the scale just fine. In time your hand will relax. You are also keeping to the metronome just fine. There are all sorts of ways of doing scales: slow, fast, with metronome, without. Possibly your next step will be two octaves, or hands together. No need to rush it, just saying you're doing fine.

Nice work, Smilodon. Play it slowly and loosely - you have many more scale iterations to go - you will be fine. TLT says it all!

Glen

Smilodon, lots of tension apparent in the fingers that are not in use. Try to not lift your fingers off the keyboard. Leave the other fingers close to the keys or touching them. Don't push the keys down with your fingers. Let your arm provide the weight and your fingers should feel like they will collapse immediately after hitting the key.

Very nice legato sound BTW. That's very good.

Hey Smilodon,

I found this on YT, something I didn't know, thought I'd share

Sweet- Thanks man! I love the sound of a blues scale, and how easy to improv with.