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You can also play scales 2-against-3 and 3-against-4 for practicing polyrhythms.

Hi everyone, my FIRST post. Back in the day, my mom pushed me to take piano lessons. And I did for almost 9 yrs. Jump ahead 50+ years and I had a serious itch to start playing again. Bought me a spinet, 42 yr-old piano. Fingers a little stiff, ha!

So question; will someone explain to me this pattern in more detail? I'd like to try it but I don't understand/know where to start. I'd appreciate any input.

Here's a video. Sorry for the poor quality from the Computer camera. But doing this reminds me how hard it is to do evenly and perfectly synchronized with both hands.

hi Carl,
My teacher also recently started me on the grand scale.
Here is the pattern he uses-
start down low and go up 2 octaves
out 2 octaves
back in 2 octaves
up 2 more octaves
down 2 octaves
out 2 octaves
in 2 octaves
down 2 octaves and you are back where you started.

I started with C major. I have now done F, b flat, E flat, and A flat major scales this way. I thought it would be more difficult as the scales had more flats but I actually found E flat and A flat easier than F and B flat. I usually practice the contrary part of it alone first. It is difficult when your hands are way apart at difficult ends of the piano. My teacher is talking about doing the scales in 3rds, 6ths and 10ths next.
I'm not sure how to do that yet.

Judy

No, I do some arpeggios of different patterns from a book by Peskanov (The Russian Technical Regimen for the Piano, book 2); contrary arpeggios similar to the grand scale pattern and then scales in either thirds or sixths (either the right hand starts a third above the root of the scale or the left hand starts a sixth down from the root of a scale). Occasionally I'll replace those with chromatic or the grand scale.

We're slowly working up from C in a chromatic fashion - right now I'm on F#.

Nice! Thanks for posting the video. Hearing the sound of the notes really helped! It'll be awhile b4 my efforts sound like yours. But I like a challenge!

Thank you. I now get the gist of the pattern. Sunday will be a more exciting day of practice for me. For now I'll stick to the original pattern on the grand scale.

I hope you don't start at my tempo! Start very, very slow. At half that speed perhaps or even less and concentrate on evenness and accuracy and synching both hands.

The RCM curriculum calls it "Formula Pattern Scale".
Its part of their exam technical requirements.
Depending on grade level it is either 2 octaves (half the compass of what Jazzwee described), or four octaves.

Although this sounds good in theory, there will be dissonance and the pattern doesn't lend itself to repetitions and up and down motion. At least the way I did it.

I tend to practice these types of rhythms with some LH ostinato pattern instead of scales. But that's just me.

The Leschetizky Method

http://www.amazon.com/The-Leschetiz...709&sr=8-9&keywords=piano+method

In the polyrhythm scales, sure there will be dissonance, but that's ok. The 2:3 rhythm works in scales if the hand doing the 3 goes 3 octaves up and down, and the other hand goes two octaves up and down. I found it took a few days for my brain to wrap around this new way of doing scales.

Maybe because I'm a jazz guy, I don't like training my ears to learn nonsensical patterns. I'd like to hear real music and train my ears to recognize it.

So if I were intent on doing this with 2:3, maybe start at D for a D dorian run.

(meaning play the C scale starting at D instead of C...for those unfamiliar with modes).