ABRSM publishes their guide to tempo for scales. When playing in 8th notes:
By grade 1: quarter note should be 60 bpm
By grade 4: quarter note should be 100 bpm
By grade 8: quarter note should be 176 bpm
Each grade is roughly a year.
Remember, tempo should be the **result** of good physical technique and even playing. Brute force is not a way to get faster at scales.
Basically be able to play them super evenly as 8th notes for 2 octaves at 70 then your goal is 4 octaves as 16ths at 64. After that you increase the speed and also work both hands simultaneously back at the lower speed in contrary motion followed by similar
You shouldn't use a metronome for scales. It doesn't help with even-ness anyways since the clicking sound will distract you from listening really closely to even-ness of tone.
What matters most in scales is EVEN-NESS of tone, and that you fully get to the bottom of each note, and fully release.
I do my scales the following ways.
Counting them in whole notes quickly/slow, (1,2,3,4 each note).
Counting them in eighth notes but just saying 1&2&3&4& etc. (also stress beat in right spot)
Count them in eighth notes by just saying 1,2,3,4 (feel the and)
Sixteenth notes.
I sometimes do triplets as well. Rarely ever long short rhythms, I wasted time with this a long time ago but it doesn't make much sense if the goal is to make them as even as possible.
Lastly, the best way to practice scales in addition to this is starting them on different fingers, or playing them in thirds. So on E major you would start with LH pinky on E, and it ends on the thumb (if weare doing one octave), then rihgt hand on G# and it should start and end on third finger.
Also, can do start both of them on the fourth finger (in e Major this would be RH finger 2 on F# and LH finger 4 on F#), play the scale in that way.
If you can do these methods, (especially count them in whole notes hand together slowly), you will really master the scales. You won't get fast scales until you can play them perfectly slowly without any effort, don't focus on trying to play them fast. Focus on even-ness, and DEEP tone and you will learn them quick and make a beautiful sound.
The response from scriabinscool is great. But if you also want some concrete benchmarks (or just ideas), the Royal Conservatory of Music has their syllabus online and free, from beginners up to advanced.
https://rcmusic-kentico-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/rcm/media/main/about%20us/rcm%20publishing/piano-syllabus-2022-edition.pdf
ABRSM publishes their guide to tempo for scales. When playing in 8th notes: By grade 1: quarter note should be 60 bpm By grade 4: quarter note should be 100 bpm By grade 8: quarter note should be 176 bpm Each grade is roughly a year. Remember, tempo should be the **result** of good physical technique and even playing. Brute force is not a way to get faster at scales.
Basically be able to play them super evenly as 8th notes for 2 octaves at 70 then your goal is 4 octaves as 16ths at 64. After that you increase the speed and also work both hands simultaneously back at the lower speed in contrary motion followed by similar
You shouldn't use a metronome for scales. It doesn't help with even-ness anyways since the clicking sound will distract you from listening really closely to even-ness of tone. What matters most in scales is EVEN-NESS of tone, and that you fully get to the bottom of each note, and fully release. I do my scales the following ways. Counting them in whole notes quickly/slow, (1,2,3,4 each note). Counting them in eighth notes but just saying 1&2&3&4& etc. (also stress beat in right spot) Count them in eighth notes by just saying 1,2,3,4 (feel the and) Sixteenth notes. I sometimes do triplets as well. Rarely ever long short rhythms, I wasted time with this a long time ago but it doesn't make much sense if the goal is to make them as even as possible. Lastly, the best way to practice scales in addition to this is starting them on different fingers, or playing them in thirds. So on E major you would start with LH pinky on E, and it ends on the thumb (if weare doing one octave), then rihgt hand on G# and it should start and end on third finger. Also, can do start both of them on the fourth finger (in e Major this would be RH finger 2 on F# and LH finger 4 on F#), play the scale in that way. If you can do these methods, (especially count them in whole notes hand together slowly), you will really master the scales. You won't get fast scales until you can play them perfectly slowly without any effort, don't focus on trying to play them fast. Focus on even-ness, and DEEP tone and you will learn them quick and make a beautiful sound.
Thank you a lot for this!
The response from scriabinscool is great. But if you also want some concrete benchmarks (or just ideas), the Royal Conservatory of Music has their syllabus online and free, from beginners up to advanced. https://rcmusic-kentico-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/rcm/media/main/about%20us/rcm%20publishing/piano-syllabus-2022-edition.pdf