Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman
and in this lesson we're going to take scales and arpeggios to the next level
by extending them to two octaves instead of just one. Let's come to the piano to
start learning. So, when we say two octaves, if we started here on middle C
we'd go up one octave, and then one more octave, then we're going to come back for
the total distance of two octaves. Let's play this together. On your own piano can
you play middle C, then go up an octave, we call that treble C, and then go up one
more octave, we call that high C. So now we've traveled two octaves. Let's go back
down one octave and then two octaves back to where we started. Now, to play a
full two octave C major scale, we're going to think of the notes in groups of
three and four, like this. You can see for these purple, that's our group of three,
and when we play the scale, that's going to be with fingers 1 2 3 of the
right hand, and then next you'll see a group of four. That's these orange and
that will be fingers 1 2 3 4, and then when we get back to C we'll
start that pattern over again. Fingers 1 2 3,
then fingers 1 2 3 4, and then you'll notice this one blue on top.
That's for your finger 5, your pinky, when you're playing a two octave or more,
will only play one single note. And that's because that's the top note and
then you can come back down a group of four, group of three, group of four, group of three.
Now, let's practice those groups in clusters, which means we'll play all
of those notes together in a group. So with your fingers 1 2 and 3, play
C D E together as a group. When you play a scale that's the first grouping, then
come up to F G A B and play with fingers 1 2 3 4. That's your next
group of four, then come up you play group of three on C D E, then a group of
four F G A B, and then finger 5 is all by itself. Plays that top note, then a
group of four, then a group of three on C D E, then a
group of four, then a group of three. Good, let's try that one more time. Play along
with me playing the notes in little clusters of groups of three and four.
Here we go, group of three on C D E, group of four starting on F, group of three
starting on C, group of four starting on F, then finger 5 plays that high C all
by itself. Group of four, group of three group of four, group of three.
Good, now press pause if you need more practice with that, otherwise let's try
playing the notes one at a time now, and when you finish a group your thumb will
just glide under. Remember, if you turn your hand a little bit sideways, lead
with your elbow and wrist, and then your thumb will easily be able to find its
way under. If your elbow is too close to your body when your thumb comes under
it's going to cause a lot of jerky motion, but if you kind of let your elbow
float out to the side so your arms kind of at this angle, you can see by letting
your hand be at this angle your thumb will more easily be able to glide under.
Your arm can stay in a pretty smooth position.
What you want to avoid is this kind of elbow and arm flopping to get your thumb
under. Try and find a nice angle so your thumb can just glide under. So let's try
this together. Place your right hand finger 1 on middle C and let's play
1 2 3, let your thumb glide under, 1 2 3 4, then your thumb's
gonna glide under again to land on C. Okay let's try that one more time. Come
back to middle C, finger 1 on C, go 1 2 3, and as you're playing 2
3 your thumb should already be kind of gliding across 1 2 3 4 1
and then we start over again. We're on on treble C now, 2 3
finger 1 comes under to F, and then our finger 5 plays high C. Now let's come
down, 4 3 2 1, finger 3 glides across, 3 2 1 4 glides
across, three glides across. So when you're coming down it's important to
keep track of 4 3 4 3. If you don't keep track of that you may
cross over instead of a 4, you may cross over a 3, and then you'll run
out of fingers too soon. So it's very important to think as you're coming down,
think 4
3
4
3
Another trick to remembering your fingering, is that finger 4 plays B
and only B. Whenever you get to a B make sure you're playing it with finger 4.
That's the only note that finger 4 ever plays in the scale. Okay, now press pause
and on your own, work on your C major two octave scale being very careful with
this fingering. I recommend that you say 3 and 4 out loud every time you
play a 3 or a 4, 4, so you get that pattern of 3 4 3 4.
Go up and down two octaves on your own, press pause to practice that several
times, and then press play to go on.
Now this fingering that you just learned, 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 and then
back down the same way. This is called the basic fingering for doing scales
with your right hand. It so happens that that same fingering can be used for most
of the scales on the ladder of fifths from C major to G major. We could do 1 2
3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5. Notice now my finger 4 is playing F-sharp, but it's the
same fingering. That gives me the G major scale. We can
do that for D major, 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 that works for D major, A major, E
major, and B major with five sharps. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4
5 on top.
The basic fingering also works for several of the minor scales that we've
learned. A minor, this is A harmonic minor. You can see 1 2 3 1 2 3
4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5
Now, press pause and I'd like you to
try out at least two or more of the scales you've learned. The one octave
scales you've learned in the past, but now try it as a two octave scale. Press
pause to try some of them on your own. Here are all the scales that you can use
the basic fingering for.
Press pause to try out a few on your own, and then press
play to go on.
Now let's check out the left hand fingering for the two octave scale.
It's going to be basically the mirror image of what the right hand did. We're going to
start with our finger 5, and then go right into a group of four, so we'll have
5 4 3 2 1 That's the only note your finger 5 will play, which is
kind of why I want you to think of it kind of in a group by itself. So we'll
start with that 5 then 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
3 2 1 So again alternating groups of four and three. The left hand will start with the
group of four, immediately starting with that finger 5 and then 4 3 4 3.
So will you practice the left hand with me in clusters? Here's my middle C, so I'm
on this low C so I have plenty of room to travel up my two octaves. So play
finger 5 by itself, and then play a group of four as a cluster. All those notes
together, then a group of three as a cluster, then a group of four, then a group of three.
Now come back down, group of four, group of three, group of four, and then end on your
finger 5.
Good, now let's try them one at a time. So
with the left hand we play 5, and then we start a group of 4 3 2 1,
then what comes next? It's a group of three, so glide finger 3 across, then
we make it to C. Now what comes next? We need a group of four next, so glide
finger 4 all the way over and then a group of three.
It's so important that you keep track of those alternating groups, or you'll run
out of fingers before you get to the top. Let's go back down and try that one more
time. So start on 5, now a group of four, then a group of three, so cross
3 over, then we need a group of four, so cross 4 over,
and then our group of three.
Then to come down we go, a group of three, than our thumb comes under, then we'll do
a group of four, and then our thumb comes under, another group of three, thumb comes
under, here's a group of four, and then finger 5 gets the last note.
Just like we saw with our right hand, with our left hand
you need your elbow to float out enough that your wrist can enable the thumb to
smoothly glide under without a lot of effort.
So keep that elbow out away from your body, and your hand kind of turned at an
angle to facilitate the thumb gliding under. So now press pause and I'd like
you several times on your own to work on this left hand to octave scale. Every
time you play a 4 or a 3, say it out loud so you hear that alternating pattern. 4
3 4 3
Now come back to 3 4
3 4
Press pause and try that on your own several times, then press play to go on.
So that is the basic fingering for the left hand, which also can be applied to
many many of your scales on the ladder of fifths. G major,
D major, A major, E major, the only one it doesn't apply to is B major. For the left
hand, if you start on finger 5, then your thumb lands on a black key which
gets a little awkward. So there's an alternate fingering for B major which
we'll learn later.
Now, let's look at how we'll do the two octave arpeggio. Once
again we're travelling the distance of two octaves, but now doing the arpeggio,
which you'll remember is built on DO MI SO. We have our triad I chord from
the C major scale, and then we repeat that triad again, and then we put a C on
top. So it's DO MI SO then DO MI SO with another DO on top, and then we come
down. Basically a C major chord going across two octaves.
Our fingering for the right hand for this will be 1 2 3, and for a one octave we used to cap
that off with a finger 5, but this time we'll go 1 2 3, and then our
thumb will glide under. Once again you've got to use your elbow and wrist kind of
gliding your hand to the side to help your thumb get under there, and then
we'll play our finger 5 on top. So, it's 1 2 3, glide under, 1 2
3 5 3 2 1 3 2 1 You're working for a smooth and as
legato as a sound you can. This is probably the trickiest spot, where you
come from 3, thumb glides under.
3 2 1 3 2 1 Press pause and work on the two octave C major
arpeggio on your own, then press play to go on.
Now let's look at the left hand fingering. It's the same idea where we
have the C major triad, another C major triad, and a C on top to bring us that
full two octaves. You're gonna go 5 4 2 1 and
then 4 glides across to that E, it's a big cross 2 1 2 4 thumb glides
under 1 2 4 5. Watch that one more time, 5 4 2 1, glide over
4 2 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 You want to work on a smooth motion.
Notice how my hand shifts to get my thumb under there, 4 5. Let your
elbow arm and wrist all work together to make that as smooth as possible.
Press pause and work on the left hand C major two octave arpeggio, then press play to go on.
Now that is the basic fingering for the left hand and right hand two octave
arpeggio. There are lots of other arpeggios that work with that same
fingering. Here's a list of some of the arpeggios you can do. There's the A minor,
that you can do with that same fingering, F major, you know, any of these all white
key chords. D minor, F major, G major, also some chords like C minor, F minor,
there's several minor chords. G minor that also works with this same basic
fingering. So now press pause and choose two or
three other arpeggios to try out using this basic fingering. Try both right hand
and left hand. Choose from any of these chords to try out as a two octave arpeggio.
Last thing I wanted to mention is a reminder to use the good old
metronome in your practicing. When you're learning to do a two octave scale, you
might start at about 120, one note per click.
Maybe go up and down two times like that. As that gets really comfortable, you can
gradually speed that up. Once you hit 200, go back to 100 and now you're playing
two notes per click. So notice this is 100 but I'm gonna play two notes per click.
TI-TI-TI-TI-TI-TI-TI-TI
And when you can do that really smoothly and evenly, you can even speed it up from
there. Just make sure you're not speeding up until you've really mastered it with
perfect piano posture and a really smooth and even tone. Start slow and
gradually increase speed. Great job learning how to play a two octave scale
and arpeggio today. I hope you'll practice your scales and arpeggios every
day, trying all the different keys that use the basic fingering, always working
on improving your piano posture and your evenness and smoothness of tone. As you
master your scales and arpeggios in various keys, it's going to prepare you
to play more challenging and advanced music in the future. So, happy practicing
and see you next time.
And now, the B-flat major two octave scale with conductor.