Scales - All Grown Up

The FJH Classic Scale Book by Victoria McArthur and Edwin McLean is a great compilation of many skills and scales needed for students.

The book begins with understanding major and minor scales.  That's followed by a checklist.  The checklist includes four boxes for each skill at different tempos.  The first three boxes have suggested tempos, and the last is left blank for the teacher to fill in.

Skills include:
Major scales:
quarters - parallel motion, 1 octave
eighths - parallel motion, 2 octaves
Contrary Motion
Thirds
Sixths

Minor Scales:
Natural Minor - quarters in parallel motion, 1 octave
Natural Minor - eighths in parallel motion, 2 octaves
Harmonic Minor - eighths in parallel motion
Harmonic Minor - contrary motion
Melodic Minor - parallel motion

Triads, Arpeggios, and Cadences
Major:
Triads & Inversions - Block
Triads & Inversions - Broken
Arpeggios - Root Position
Arpeggios - 1st Inversion
Arpeggios - 2nd Inversion
Dominant 7ths Arpeggios
Cadence Chords

Minor:

Triads & Inversions - Block
Triads & Inversions - Broken
Arpeggios - Root Position
Arpeggios - 1st Inversion
Arpeggios - 2nd Inversion
Dominant 7ths Arpeggios
Cadence Chords

The pages are well-laid out with each key.  There are quarters in parallel motion, 1 octave; eighths in parallel motion, 2 octaves; contrary motion, thirds, sixths, triads & inversions - block; triads & inversions - broken; arpeggio - root position, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion, and dominant seventh; ending with cadence chords.  This much information on a set of two pages can be a bit overwhelming to students just learning scales.  For that, I recommend FJH's first scale book, which begins with pentascales and ends with white key scales.  

Each page has the fourth finger position on the top, as well as the relations of the minor scales.  The last page and back cover have a quick guide to scale fingerings.  All together, this is a very useful book for students seeking to master scales, cadences, and chords.

This book is available at Sheet Music Plus for $6.95

Scales - in a Fun Way!

The FJH First Scale Book by Victoria McArthur and Edwin McLean is a great way to introduce younger students to scales.  This book is also helpful for students who would be intimidated by many versions of a scale.  Those students who don't need to know specific versions for competitions or auditions would be well-served by this book.

One of the things that I love about this book is the star chart on page 2.  There are stars to color in for the different skills in the book:

Major Pentascales - Parallel Motion

Major Pentascales- Contrary Motion

Major Arpeggios and Chords

Major Cadences

Minor Pentascales - Parallel Motion

Minor Pentascales - Contrary Motion

Minor Arpeggios and Chords

Minor Cadences

Each skill has a star for MM=120 and MM=200.  

Page 3 offers a description of how to play pentascales and how pentascales are made.  The next several pages explain major and minor, as well as arpeggios and chords.  The following pages include a written version of the parallel pentascale, cross-hand arpeggio, tonic chord played broken and blocked hands separately, and the I V I and I V7 I cadences.  This includes all the keys.

The second part of the book has another Star chart.  This includes the Major and Minor Scales, Arpeggios, Chords, and Cadences for C, G, D, A, E, B and F. Each skill has three stars MM=108, MM = 144, and MM=200.   This section does explain how to form a whole scale, chord inversions, and the I IV V7 I cadences.  The scope of this section is limited.

The star chart makes this book fun, and the limited scope of this makes it a great introduction.  This would be perfect for someone in the second book of a method, whether that's Book 1 (for methods that start with a Preparatory book) or Book 2.

This is available at Sheet Music Plus for $5.95