The Importance of Regular Scale Study
Outside of tone studies, scale studies are one of the most important items you should be practicing on a daily basis. All music is based on scales. The more proficient you are with all scales the better you will be as a flutist. I don’t care which flute teacher you would go to; scale studies would be near the top of the list that they would recommend for you to practice.
I have been playing the flute for over sixty-four years and I STILL practice my scales EVERDAY! What I do is vary which scales I practice but the important message is that I practice scales every day.
By practicing your scales, you are teaching your fingers the various patterns as you go through all the major scales/arpeggios and eventually all forms of your minor scales and even jazz scales. And one of the biggest reasons for practicing scales is that different note patterns work the fingers differently. For instance, if you start the Bb scale on Bb and play it two octaves it has a certain “feel” to it. But if you play the same scale but start on C if will have a totally different feel. Now what if you started the Bb scale on D, it would have yet a different feel.
I had the honor and good fortune to study flute with Mr. Warren Little, former principal flutist of the Atlanta Symphony, back when I had returned to college to pursue my undergraduate degree in flute performance/music education. He immediately set me up with a practice curriculum that included long tone studies, scale/arpeggio studies, tons of etudes, and of course solo literature. Since I was also a member of the Middle Georgia Symphony, he had me work on orchestral excerpts.
The scale studies were extensive. What I had to do was play all twelve major scales every day with their corresponding arpeggios (major, minor, diminished, augmented in all inversions). And when I practiced each scale, I would start on the tonic note and play it two octaves and then start on the 2nd scale degree and go two octaves and do this with all seven notes of each scale times all twelve scales. As I completed each scale (in all it’s forms) then I would work on the corresponding arpeggios. All the scale work would take me all the way up the fourth octave (D-4, E-4)
My scale work would take about an hour. AND I had to work them with a metronome. In fact, everything I did for Mr. Warren he had me work it with the sacred metronome. He had me start them SLOWLY-60 to the quarter note. Over time I was able to work my way up to 126 (quarter note) on the metronome.
It was absolutely brutal for a few months but over time I started to develop an incredibly even/smooth technique in my playing.
Fast forward. Now that I am retired, I don’t spend an hour or more on my scales anymore but I still put in fifteen-thirty minutes of scale work. In fact, here is my current practice routine:
- 15 minutes of tone studies
- 15-30 minutes of scale/arpeggio work
- 30 minutes of double/triple tonguing work
- Rest of the time working on solo literature or my original smooth jazz music depending on my performance schedule
Over the last thirty years I had my flute students purchase a particular scale book that I highly recommend. It is called “The Fabric of Flute Playing” by Miss Martha Rearick (one of my former flute teachers). It is available at most places online that sells flute related music books.
The bottom line is that you should practice scales every day. Depending on your age and experience, you should spend anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half hour or longer on scale work. Always work with the metronome!
In no time at all watch what happens to your technique!