More about Scales

Posted by Sir James Galway on February 10, 2004 at 10:21:18:

Dear Friends and Readers,

I would like to put my sterling pennyworth to the list for consideration.

As an ardent practiser of the studies of Taffanel and Boehm I do not see these studies as a bridge between abstract scales and real pieces. I have only practiced scales and studies since the new year began. I had three concerts in Switzerland where I had to play the mercadante E minor and I practiced that too. Otherwise I practiced just the 24 Caprices of Boehm and the Studies of Taffanel.

I do not see scales as abstract. Scales played in the correct musical way are very exciting and rewarding. The more you play them the better you get at them!! There is an original thought for you to ponder. Not only do you get better at them but they begin to come alive in the pieces you will play. I never fail to be amazed by the great number of people who do not practice scales and arpeggios, the very bricks and mortar of our everyday repertoire.

Used by a master composer they are very exciting indeed. Take the first page of the Chaminade Concertino for example or last movement of Tchaikovsky’s great symphony number 5 or the last movement of the flute and harp concerto by Mozart.

Could you truly expect to play these pieces up to speed without being familiar with the scales in their basic forms? Indeed would you consider yourself fit for the concert platform if you don’t know your scales? I look forward to demonstrate the art of playing scales in the two upcoming classes I am going to teach in Boulder, Colorado and in fort Worth in Texas later this year.

I have asked the participants to prepare a study and I will also show them how to practice these studies and how to get the most out of them. Each study is written for a special purpose. The purpose of some of these studies is easier to discover than others. Taffanel writes a little note before each study giving you a clue in which direction you are to proceed in order to get the most out of them. I would even go as far as to play some of them in a concert as an encore if the audience were not expecting my to play the Flight of the Bumble Bee or some Irish ditty.

Yes indeed I have gained a lot out of playing scales and etudes.

Now Jonathan, a little word to you. Never just run through a study because you happen to be familiar with it, but use it to see what you can get from it on this new day which has been granted youAsk it to show you what you should be doing on that particular day. Are you playing it without taking your fingers off the keys or minimizing the movement of the fingers? Are you trying to make your touch on the keyboard smoother than before?Perhaps just look at it on paper singing it inwardly to yourself in order to let it speak to you. Running through things because you are familiar with them, breeds routine and this is the seed of boredom.

I do agree that playing an etude with a metronome is a good idea. It keeps you in time and gives you a good idea as to what the term moderato or allegro really means.

In fact playing a piece with a metronome is a very good idea. Look at the Chaminade Concertino for example. It is marked Moderato but most people play it andante con moto. Can you think for a moment that dear Cecile thought this piece was to be played slowly, or that the scales were to be played at an uninspiring tempo? I think she, as a product of a French Conservatoire would expect nothing less than brilliant scales and arpeggios, beautiful finger work, wonderful tone colors and to have the piece played with a panache that would thrill the listener to the very core of his soul.

By the time I got to the Paris Conservatoire I was very good at the scales and arpeggios. I have already figured it out at the royal College of Music. I used to wander through the rooms there and I could hear the string players and pianists playing scales which were so brilliant I began to ask myself why flute players do not practice scales to the degree of perfection these people had acquired. My friend and mentor at the time was William Bennett and he had the greatest scales. I just tried to keep up with him. Then I had Geoffrey Gilbert breathing fire at me once a week and he would listen to all the scales I had been asked to prepare.

I am writing this on the way from LA to Zürich. As you might have gathered by the length of this article I do not sleep on airplanes.

Andersen as far as I know did not play in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. However I do know that he conducted the opening concert of one season when Furtwangler was the Chief Conductor.

Andersen's studies are very notey as Jonathan points out. When I play the studies of Boehm and Taffanel I discover they are better designed for the improvement of position and feeling of the keyboard of the flute. Both of these great masters in each study go repeatedly to low C requiring the player to adopt a better hand position in order to play the studies. When practicing these studies I become more aware of the keyboard and I also feel more of a flute player than when I play Andersen.

I find the Andersen studies all a little too quick and I long for a beautiful adagio or even something with the feeling of a little landler.

We studied the andersen Op. 15 in Paris and I enjoyed playing them. I had the feeling that the guys in the class had played them all some time before and that it was part of the French routine to play these studied. Of course then might have done them the year before because they all seemed very familiar with them.

Here is a little Gilbert story to finish off thes airborne ramblings.

As you probably know the usual way to "teach" studies is to give the student one or two to learn each week and to listen to the efforts of this poor unguided child trying to play them in the lesson. None of my teachers ever played a study to me except your Mr. Gilbert. I remember him very well as he demonstrated this in my second lesson. He gave me the Grand Studies of Leonardo de Lorenzo to learn and I struggled with the first one, 4 pages of it, for a week and then came to play it for him. Well he listened to it for a bit then stood up and came over to the music stand and played it to me at breakneck speed. This was the first time anyone had ever played a study to me in a lesson. I was really flabbergasted and I can tell you this really set a standard for me and I went away at the ripe old age of 20 with a completely new conception of how to play the flute.

Best wishes,
Sir James Galway