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I started scales at different intervals just after I started scales at the octaves. There's nothing special there. Scales in thirds and sixths are no more or less difficult.

I didn't mean to cause any controversy. Scales in thirds and sixths are probably best done once the basic scale patterns are more or less second nature (a second nature which I assumed someone at an "average" level to have achieved). I find them and contrary motion more applicable to the literature rather than parallel playing at the octave (which in my somewhat limited knowledge of the repertoire, occur less frequently, by composers like Liszt in some of the preluding sections of his studies, Chopin in the Bb Minor Sonata finale, Alkan in a few instances, and Scriabin in Op. 11 no. 16...I'm largely ignorant of the classical era, preferring more modern music, but parallel motion was somewhat frowned upon in two voiced writing). I find that contrary motion, 3rds, 6ths, and other intervals test my awareness of the geography of the keyboard more, and they give me more of a sense of independence of hands and of two voice polyphony.

But aren't you a professional pianist? If so, this would probably mean at a very young age you showed talent at least in the 99th percentile. So for you, scales in thirds and sixths might very well have been appropriate after 3 years or even earlier.

I don't currently play any pieces involving consistent uses of parallel thirds and sixths, but they crop up frequently for short periods in many pieces. Take for example Bach's Inventions or Duettos. If you look at when the two voices are moving in parallel motion (not the primary type of motion for most of these pieces), they are almost invariably in thirds (for voices with equal note values). These types of figurations are usually short, since parallel writing was thought to be inferior for two voiced counterpoint, but when a composer did write in parallel, it was most likely in thirds, sometimes in sixths, and very infrequently at the octave (again, for a two voiced texture). So, I don't play any pieces where thirds or sixths in parallel are an essential part of the form of a piece, but they do crop up frequently in two-voiced writing, as the most acceptable way for a composer to write in parallel motion, particularly when both voices are of equal note values. These are of course not multi-octave runs in parallel at the third or sixth, but part of the point of scales, at least to my admittedly inexperienced understanding, is to gain familiarity with basic keyboard geography, fingering, and motions, at first with single hands, and then together. I've found thirds and sixths to be helpful, but I'm under no illusion that they will be for everybody, nor am I saying that they necessarily should be played by a certain year of experience (fundamental understanding of scales should of course come first).

I want to play better, so i need to play exercises (I think).
Which exercises will I use?
Advice is welkom.

level: beginner-average

I want to play better, so i need to play exercises (I think).
Which exercises will I use?
Advice is welkom.

level: beginner-average