Simply Scales

for Flute

A short introduction to scales for beginning musicians and a quick reference of all
chromatic, major and minor scales and arpeggios for instrumentalists at all levels.

Brian Moore
Simply Scales for Flute

‘It is a question of time, patience and intelligent work.’

- Marcel Moyse

Published in 2016

©Copyright 2016 Real Flutist

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 Contents

Introduction to Scales and Major Scales …………………………………………….. 4

About Minor Scales ……………………………………………………………………………. 5
What are Chromatic Scales…………………………………………………………………. 6
Practicing Scales…………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Major Scales……………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
Major Arpeggios…………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Minor Scales………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
Minor Arpeggios………………………………………………………………………………… 15
Chromatic Scales……………………………………………………………………………….. 17
Flute Fingering…………………………………………………………………………………… 20
More Advanced Scale Studies – a List………………………………………………… 22

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Simply Scales is meant to introduce beginning musicians to scales, including
practice concepts, and to provide a quick reference of all chromatic, major and
minor scales and arpeggios. There are many scale compilations and methods
available for daily practice of scales. Every musician should try different collections
of scales and work with those most suited to their needs – daily.

Scales

Scales are perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of music. At best, novice and
advanced player alike understand that scales makeup the building blocks of all
music and should be learned well. At worse, and all too often, the practicing
musician thinks - if I can learn to play all the notes, why spend time on scales.

What is understood by too few is that scales are a device for fine tuning every
aspect of playing. Just as a physician can read an EKG to diagnose a patient’s
heart, a musician can use scales to diagnose problems with tone, articulation,
fingering, phrasing and more. One of the differences between casual and real
musicians is the daily use of scales to find, diagnose and fix problems. … Oh, I’m
not able to descend cleanly to C#. I can play it when I put all my fingers in place
and eek it out, but if I needed it in in a piece, it would sound sloppy. After a little
detective work and practice you solve the problem along with several others!

Daily work with scales allows any musician to achieve their fullest potential and
should be emphasized.

Major Scales

A major scale is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which lands on the
original note an octave higher. The seven notes are known by the following names.

Degree name Example (C major) Solfege syllable

1st Tonic C Do
2nd Supertonic D Re
3rd Mediant E Mi
4th Subdominant F Fa
5th Dominant G Sol
6th Submediant A La
7th Leading tone B Si/Ti
8th Tonic C Do

The major scale is one of the diatonic scales, meaning that it is made up of five
whole steps and two half steps. The sequence is the same for all major scales: two
whole steps, one half step, three whole steps, one half step (W, W, H, W, W, W, H).
This can be seen in the C major scale.

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These are all the notes that make up the modern twelve-tone scale, on which all
western music is based. The highlighted notes below form the C major scale. You
will notice that there are no notes between the “half step” E and F. The same thing
occurs between B and C. On the other hand, F and G are separated by a “whole
step”. There are a total of five whole steps. The notes that fall in between the
notes of a scale are called chromatic notes.

C C# D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C

The simplest major scale to write or play is C major because it is the only major
scale that requires no sharps or flats.

Major scales begin on the note they are named for and go up and down altering
notes based on the number of sharps or flats in the key signature. You will learn
the key signature of each scale with regular practice.

Minor Scales

A minor scale is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which lands on the
original note an octave higher. The seven notes are known by the following names.

Degree name Example (A minor) Solfege syllable

1st Tonic A Do
2nd Supertonic B Re
3rd Mediant C Me/Ma
4th Subdominant D Fa
5th Dominant E Sol
6th Submediant F Le/Lo
7th Subtonic G Te/Ta
8th Tonic A Do

The 7th degree can only be called a “leading tone” if it is raised by a semitone with
a sharp, when natural, or a natural when flat.

The natural minor scale is one of the diatonic scales, meaning that it is made up of
five whole steps and two half steps. This is the same for all minor scales – one
whole step, one half step, two whole steps, one half step, two whole steps (W, H,
W, W, H, W, W). The following is the A minor scale.

A Bb B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A

Here you can see all the notes in the modern twelve-tone system. The highlighted
notes form the A minor scale. Notice that there are no notes between B and C.
That is what is meant by a “half step”. The same thing happens between E and F.
On the other hand there is C# in between C and D. C and D are a “whole step”.
There are a total of five whole steps. Notes that fall in between the notes of a scale
without belonging to it are called chromatic notes.

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Note that there is a relationship between the keys on which major and minor scales
are built. That is because every major scale has a relative minor. This means that
when playing a minor scale you start on the note the scale is named for just as with
a major scale, but you use the key signature of its relative major. To figure out a
minor scale's relative major, just count up three half steps from the name of the
minor scale. For example, to find the key signature of A minor, count 3 half steps
up from A: Bb, B, C. Therefore, the relative major of A minor is C major. The key
signature for A minor is the same as C major. You can determine the key signature
of any minor scale if you know the relative major key signature.

Natural, harmonic, melodic

There are three different kinds of minor scale.
 The natural minor scale explained above.
 The harmonic minor scale, in which the seventh degree is raised by a half
step.
 The melodic minor scale, in which both the sixth and the seventh degrees are
raised by a half step.

The melodic minor scale is normally played only when ascending the scale with the
natural minor being played when descending. The harmonic minor and melodic
minor are not diatonic scales.

Chromatic Scales

A chromatic scale consists entirely of equally spaced half-step intervals having no

tonic and, therefore, is not a diatonic scale.

Chromatic studies are important for developing smooth flow of half-steps over the
entire range of the instrument. These scales are usually the most overlooked in
practice because students (and teachers) assume they are just exercises to make
sure all the notes can be fingered. They are not.

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Practicing Scales

Everything that follows in this section assumes that you have good posture and
form and that you understand the basics of good sound production and fingering on
the instrument.

Listen

Play scales very slowly and all slurred at first so that you can listen for problems as
they occur. Listen for changes from one note to another that are not smooth.
Slurring all the notes at first makes fingering problems stand out. Listen for notes
with weak or off-key tone. There is a list of common problems and their solutions
below.

Isolate

Isolate problems as soon as you hear them. Do not keep playing and plan to come
back – stop like you hit a brick wall. Usually a problem is either one note or the
transition between two notes. When you isolate the problem, you are able to fix it
permanently.

Solve

Solve why the problem occurred (see below). Did your fingers fail to close or open
the keys at exactly the same time? Is your embouchure tightening? Are you
partially closing a wrong key with part of your finger? This solution process often
takes only 2 or 3 seconds but sometimes much longer. One thing is sure, the more
you do it, the better you will get at knowing what’s wrong.

Common Problems and Their Solutions

PROBLEM
Moving from one note to the
next not smooth – keys not
closing/opening together
Tone weak or thin
Tone stuffy
Tempo uneven
SOLUTION
Hold fingers centered close to the keys and practice
problem transitions until smooth. Then practice a
few more times to develop muscle memory. All
fingers for a note should open/close precisely
together without being slapped.
Use a flexible embouchure – bottom lip pushed out.
Careful not to turn instrument out too much. Blow
down into the embouchure hole while covering 1/4
to half the hole.
Turn out
Use a metronome (app) but not all the time.
Slowing down/speeding up is often a sign you need
more practice at a slower tempo.

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Practice

After isolating a problem spot and solving what is wrong, fix it. Practice doing it
correctly until it works. Then practice it until you can play it 3 times in a row
correctly. Conventional wisdom says that if you can do it three times well
consecutively, you have developed the muscle memory to do it right in the future.
Often this is the case but sometimes you may trip over the same note again, in
which case you will need to repeat the process. If you find yourself forever unable
to nail a certain note or passage of notes, it may be time for more drastic action.
Set aside 10 or 20 minutes for a few days to work on “that problem”. With
persistence, you will tackle the problem and it will feel great!

Listen Isolate

Practice Solve

As the scale improves, gradually increase speed and practice using all different
articulations and dynamics. Continue to work on imperfections as you advance.
The scale should flow smoothly from the lowest note to the highest note and back
down with no rough areas or variation in tempo.

Cycle through the keys and types of scales over a number of days or weeks. As
you advance, look for more challenging scale exercises and work on them
meticulously to continue to improve to the next level.

You will find it useful when working on pieces to work on scale exercises in the
same key. This will not only help technically but will give insight into interpretation
of the piece making it more interesting.

As you develop a mindset of working out the kinks while practicing scales this
method will carry over into whatever you are working on – band music, solo pieces,
etudes, maybe even your algebra homework. After all, practice is working on the
hard stuff.

The ultimate goal of any musician is (or should be) to rise to a level where playing
is not about fingering a passage or getting a high C to come out. It is about
expression.

Happy practicing!

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Flute Fingering

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Flute Fingering continued

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 More Advances Scale Studies

Pares Scales: Flute or Piccolo

George and Avidan Louke: The Flute Scale Book (A Path to Artistry)

Taffanel and Gaubert: 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers De Mecanisme

Pour Flute (Editions Musicales Alphonse Leduc, (17 Big Daily Finger
Exercises for the Flute))

Marcel Moyse: Exercices Journaliers pour la flute (Daily Exercises for the
flute)

Marcel Moyse: Mecanisme ~ Chromatisme (Technique – Chromaticism)

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