As musicians, understanding scales is an important part of our study, but it can also be a struggle for some students. In today’s episode, our guest Nicola Cantan from Vibrant Music Teaching answers a lot of questions and concerns when teaching scales, starting by looking at the value of learning scales, how improvising can change how our students look at scales, and learning about fingering and the relationships between different patterns. Nicola also shared some helpful tips on how to start learning scales as well as creative and innovative scale practice ideas.

• Where should we start when teaching scales?
• Understanding the value of learning scales.
• How improvising has changed how students look at scales.
• When do you start learning scales?
• Tips on how to introduce scale fingering and in what order.
• Aligning scales with the music that our students are playing.
• What can we do if a student is struggling with a particular scale?
• Innovative scale practice ideas for beginners.

Links Mentioned

• Vibrant Music Teaching
• Colourful Keys
• Review the Integrated Music Teaching Podcast

Today’s Guest

Nicola Cantan is a piano teacher, author, blogger, and creator of imaginative and engaging teaching resources. She loves getting piano students learning through laughter, and exploring the diverse world of music making through improvisation, composition and games. Nicola’s Vibrant Music Teaching membership site is helping teachers all over the world to include more games and off-bench activities in their lessons.

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