(back to main page)
(back to General
Area)
Learning Your Major Scales
That's right.........YOUR major scales. These are the
tools you're going to use to express yourself musically to the
world. Learn these scales CORRECTLY by first practicing them very
slowly. Listen carefully for intonation and RECORD yourself. As
you listen back to what you've played, ask yourself:
1) Are these scales in tune?
2) Do they sound even and unstrained through all registers?
3) Am I maintaining a steady tempo?
4) Are my articulations consistent?
5) Am I phrasing these scales in a musical manner?
You'll want to experiment with a variety of articulations,
from very "pecky" to extremely smooth....... and ALL
styles in between! Music will demand that you have a large palette
of articulations in your "bag of tricks". This is a
great place to work on it!
Your TEMPO should gradually increase over weeks and
months of practice. Use a metronome
and try playing one notch higher
each day! Eventually, you'll be flying through these with accuracy
and beautiful intonation. As soon as you can, try playing them
from memory.
Below you'll find EVERY major scale in existence! There aren't
that many.
You'll see that the pattern is the same for each of
them:
The scales are entirely constructed
of WHOLE STEPS, except for 2 places. HALF-STEPS fall between the
3-4 notes and the 7-8 notes.
For a scale to be MAJOR, this must always hold true!
I will start with C major. You'll note that the "key
signature" for C Major would have NO sharps or flats. From
there, we'll work through the "Circle of Fourths" (or
"Circle of Fifths" if you go backwards), which simply
means that we'll add a flat with each scale until ALL notes are
flat. Then, we'll work through the Sharp keys in the same way.
Don't be afraid to write positions
over any notes that give you trouble. ALTERNATE positions should
be marked for sure!
If some of these are out of your range, don't fret.
Just start them in the octave you can manage and work your way
up. Challenge yourself, though, and TRY them in the extremes of
your range.
*TIP:
once you've got a handle on all these scales, print this page.
Then, cut the scales into little strips. Fold them and put them
in your trombone case. Every day, as part of your Daily Routine,
pick 4 at random and do the Warm-up
with them.
Or, refer only to the key signatures by printing
out this handy guide: 
( did you happen to notice that every note was flat
but one in that last scale?)
That's it
for the FLAT scales..now onto the SHARPS:
A Major:
F# major:
C# Major:
CONGRATS! That's it for major
scales. But because they are so prevalent in music and because
they're such great tools, work on them EVERY DAY. Your overall
intonation will improve and technique comes without even trying!
Now......let's go learn the
minor scales.
(back
to main page)