Scales are not music themselves, but they serve as essential tools for creating music. While they are predictable, orderly, and sequential, they lack the life force found in a strong melodic statement. This article delves into the importance of scales, their role in musical training, and their limitations in improvisation.
Musicians often either overemphasize or neglect the practice of scales. However, scales are crucial for instrumentalists to gain proficiency and become familiar with their instruments and the tonal "territory" of the key they are in at any given moment.
Consider the harmonic pattern: C E7 A7 D7. With a thorough knowledge of the scales related to these chords, a musician can not only play a melody and its variations but also navigate the form and understand the progression. This knowledge prevents the musician from "fishing" for random notes that might clash with the underlying harmony.
To use an analogy, each musical note is like a letter of the alphabet. A scale is like a group of letters arranged alphabetically, and a brief melodic string of one or two measures is like a word or phrase. A melodic statement of four or eight measures is like a sentence, and an entire song of 32 measures is like a paragraph. An arrangement of the song with an introduction, interlude(s), and coda is like a short story or article. A full production of the song, with singing and/or dancing segments and elaborate choreography, is similar to a book that tells the whole story. A symphony based on the thematic material is like a large, carefully thought-out literary work. This analogy illustrates the true position of scales in the hierarchy of musical values—they are purely and simply our tonal alphabet.
While scales are essential for musical training, they contribute little to musical value in improvisation, except as an effect or coloration desired at a particular moment. Playing a scale while improvising lacks spontaneity and creativity; it is a predetermined succession of sequentially arranged tones, similar to a "lick," "run," or arpeggio. A scale is preset, devoid of the living, emotional, and dynamic elements produced through spontaneity, creativity, imagination, and instantaneous experimentation.
A scale is like a musical treadmill—it keeps moving but does not necessarily go anywhere. It can be used to fill up the cracks in a composition or improvisation. Reducing a song to its harmonic content and then further reducing it to a set of scales based on that harmonic structure can be a starting point for elementary improvisation, but it can never be the whole journey. Without the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic textures inherent in the thematic material, all songs become a series of scales. It is like looking at a person and seeing a numerical equation instead of a human force simultaneously possessing personality, intelligence, character, and ability. Scales are, in a way, musically depersonalized textures, lacking the elements that bring the full musical picture into focus.
Despite their limitations, it is of great benefit for every musician to know the theory behind building scales and how to play them on their instrument. These capabilities help improve physical technique and increase familiarity with the entire musical area surrounding each tonal center. However, playing scales is a preparation for making music; it cannot be the final product.
In improvisation, the decision to play a scale or draw something from it must be spontaneous. Without a proper understanding of their true role in the improviser's toolkit, the much-sought-after spontaneity will be the first thing to go out the window. Playing scales is like a boxer punching a bag, skipping rope, and sparring with a partner. Making music—employing scales as the underlying alphabet to generate a limitless supply of melodic ideas—is like the main event of a boxing exhibition.
In summary, scales are indispensable tools for musicians, providing the foundation for technical proficiency and tonal familiarity. However, they are not the end goal. The true essence of music lies in the creative and spontaneous use of these foundational elements to craft compelling and emotionally resonant musical statements.
For more insights into the importance of scales in music, you can refer to Berklee College of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Music.
This article has been fact-checked and expanded to provide a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the value of scales in music.
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