Scales, arpeggios and broken chords are technical exercises which are frequently practised on the piano by anyone from beginners to professionals. They are a requirement in graded music exam syllabuses and most teachers advise practising them even if you don't intend to do exams. Unfortunately they are not everyone's favourite part of piano practice, and many people have asked "why should I practise scales, arpeggios and broken chords?".
Here are a few reasons.
Learning scales, arpeggios and broken chords can help with your sight reading and make it easier for you to read music generally. This is because they help you to learn keys and key signatures so that it's easier for you to remember which sharps or flats to play when you know a piece of music is in a particular key. They also help you learn and recognise commonly used musical patterns. See my article on the value of scales, arpeggios and broken chords in sight reading for more details.
Practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords in the correct way improves your technique. One way in which your technique is helped is that you learn how to use correct fingering systems for particular musical patterns. These fingering systems teach you ways to move up and down the keyboard smoothly and under control. Your technique is also improved by the way scales, arpeggios and broken chords increase your flexibility in certain movement patterns. Some of the finger stretches involved in the distances between notes of arpeggios and broken chords are not stretches you would find yourself doing in everyday life, but the flexibility needed to do these stretches are necessary for piano playing. Also, there are many parts of scales and arpeggios where the flexibility of the wrist is developed (e.g. in thumb under movements). Again, flexibility in the wrist is necessary for all sorts of movements in piano playing.
Technique is not just developed by the increasing flexibility and strength that you gain from practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords. It is also developed by the movement patterns that you learn and that become ingrained if you do these technical exercises enough times. It is necessary for certain movement patterns to become ingrained and automatic, so that you don't have to think about it too much when you are playing a piece of music. If you have to think about your movements too much, your playing will be slowed down, and fast passages of music that require great dexterity are impossible.
Learning scales, arpeggios and broken chords increases your understanding of tonality and harmony, partly because of learning key signatures as mentioned above, and partly because you can start to hear how different chords relate to one another.
An increased understanding of harmony and tonality, and learning lots of chords can help with your improvisation and composition. If you know enough chords to make up a chord sequence and play it fluently, you can compose or improvise a piece based on this framework.
Learning keys, scales, chords and harmonic sequences also makes it easier for you to memorise music. If you can identify what key you are in and what chord you are playing, you are more likely to remember what to play than if you rely on muscle memory alone to learn a piece of music by heart.
Practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords at the beginning of a practice session can help to warm up and loosen up your fingers which may be useful before tackling a very physically challenging piece of music: Eg. one with difficult stretches; or tiring movements that require a lot of strength, control and coordination. Practising scales first can also help get you into the right frame of mind by easing you into a mental mode of musical patterns, before tackling something more challenging or confusing.
These are a few benefits of learning and practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords which hopefully will give you some incentive to include them in your schedule.
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Piano scales tutorial
Free broken chord exercise PDF for intermediate to advanced players, following the cycle of fifths.
Here are a few reasons.
Learning scales, arpeggios and broken chords can help with your sight reading and make it easier for you to read music generally. This is because they help you to learn keys and key signatures so that it's easier for you to remember which sharps or flats to play when you know a piece of music is in a particular key. They also help you learn and recognise commonly used musical patterns. See my article on the value of scales, arpeggios and broken chords in sight reading for more details.
Practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords in the correct way improves your technique. One way in which your technique is helped is that you learn how to use correct fingering systems for particular musical patterns. These fingering systems teach you ways to move up and down the keyboard smoothly and under control. Your technique is also improved by the way scales, arpeggios and broken chords increase your flexibility in certain movement patterns. Some of the finger stretches involved in the distances between notes of arpeggios and broken chords are not stretches you would find yourself doing in everyday life, but the flexibility needed to do these stretches are necessary for piano playing. Also, there are many parts of scales and arpeggios where the flexibility of the wrist is developed (e.g. in thumb under movements). Again, flexibility in the wrist is necessary for all sorts of movements in piano playing.
Technique is not just developed by the increasing flexibility and strength that you gain from practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords. It is also developed by the movement patterns that you learn and that become ingrained if you do these technical exercises enough times. It is necessary for certain movement patterns to become ingrained and automatic, so that you don't have to think about it too much when you are playing a piece of music. If you have to think about your movements too much, your playing will be slowed down, and fast passages of music that require great dexterity are impossible.
Learning scales, arpeggios and broken chords increases your understanding of tonality and harmony, partly because of learning key signatures as mentioned above, and partly because you can start to hear how different chords relate to one another.
An increased understanding of harmony and tonality, and learning lots of chords can help with your improvisation and composition. If you know enough chords to make up a chord sequence and play it fluently, you can compose or improvise a piece based on this framework.
Learning keys, scales, chords and harmonic sequences also makes it easier for you to memorise music. If you can identify what key you are in and what chord you are playing, you are more likely to remember what to play than if you rely on muscle memory alone to learn a piece of music by heart.
Practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords at the beginning of a practice session can help to warm up and loosen up your fingers which may be useful before tackling a very physically challenging piece of music: Eg. one with difficult stretches; or tiring movements that require a lot of strength, control and coordination. Practising scales first can also help get you into the right frame of mind by easing you into a mental mode of musical patterns, before tackling something more challenging or confusing.
These are a few benefits of learning and practising scales, arpeggios and broken chords which hopefully will give you some incentive to include them in your schedule.
Articles main menu
Piano scales tutorial
Free broken chord exercise PDF for intermediate to advanced players, following the cycle of fifths.