Play Scales on the Clarinet

Playing scales on the clarinet will help you get used to different key signatures and help expand your musical knowledge. Scales are extremely important in music. An example would be in the Chaconne movement in Gustav Holst's First Suite in Eb, in which there is an eighth note (quaver) run in the clarinet part that is essentially an Eb scale. Scales are used in most music, and scales are also necessary for most auditions. Memorizing the 12 major scales is always a great thing to do.

Steps

  1. Recognize flats and sharps, and understand key signatures. Flats make the notes sound a half step (semi-tone|) lower and sharps make them sound a half step (semi-tone) higher. Study your fingering chart, and refer to it if you come across a note you are not familiar with. Also be aware of notes that have two names -- for example, F# and Gb are the same, G# and Ab, etc. This will be important to know on that harder scales.
  2. Get a feel of how a scale sounds. A good musician can tell if they've played a wrong note immediately, even if they've never played a certain scale before. There's a pattern or half and whole steps that you should be able to recognize without even thinking about it.
  3. Begin by learning the B flat major scale. Since the clarinet is a transposing instrument, it actually starts and ends on C (to play it one octave, start on below-the-staff C and end on third space C). All the notes in this scale are played natural. This is also a good scale to learn if you're just learning to "cross the break" -- get from the second space A to B natural and above.
  4. Next, learn the other "basic" scales (the ones that occur most often in music you will play). These are the Eb scale (starts on F, one flat, the one octave scale is just a matter of lifting fingers), the Ab scale (starts on Bb, two flats), and the F scale (starts on G, one sharp).
  5. Learn the next few scales, that some directors might call the "intermediate" scales. These scales are often played for auditions, if the requirement is to play 7 scales, so they're important to know. These are the Db scale (starts on Eb, 3 flats), the C scale (starts on D, 2 sharps), and the G scale (starts on A, 3 sharps). Starting to see a pattern here?
  6. Finally, you will learn the last 5 major scales. These are the most difficult, and they are as follows -- the Gb scale (starts on Ab, 4 flats), the D scale (starts on E, 4 sharps), the A scale (starts on B, 5 sharps), the E scale (starts on F#, 6 sharps), and the B scale (starts on Db, 5 flats).
  7. Learn to play scales two octaves. This will definitely increase your chances of doing well in auditions, and is also a good way to work on high notes. Most scales can be played two octaves without any of the highest notes (above-the-staff C# and up), with the exceptions of the C and B scales.
  8. Work on playing them 3 octaves, once you've mastered two. This is a great way to work on the highest notes on the clarinet, and again, octaves make all the difference in auditions. Some scales are very difficult (almost impossible -- that would be the C and B scales) to play a third octave, so it's best to start with the ones that start the first octave the lowest -- the D, Eb E, and F scales.
  9. Learn the Play a Chromatic Scale on the Clarinet. This is also an important part of auditions, and is very useful for getting your fingering chart into your head. A chromatic scale can start on any note, and it covers the whole range. Typically, clarinets start on G, but any note is fine. The scale pattern would be G, G#, A, A# (Bb), B, B# (C), and so on. It's basically just playing every single note on your fingering chart in order. Work on learning this scale 2 and 3 octaves as well. Another common pattern is from E (the lowest note on a standard clarinet) to E 3 octaves higher.
  10. Try different types of scales. Now that you can play all the major scales, try learning natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales, or even more bizarre scales, like gypsy scales. You can also work even more on your major scales by learning scales in 3rds, or purchasing a method book with scale exercises in it.

Tips

  • Memorizing is good. Scales must be memorized for most auditions, and what's the point of playing them endlessly if you don't have them memorized to use them in your playing.
  • If you miss a note when playing a scale, keep going - Do not break the rhythm by going back to fix the mistake. If a certain sequence of scale notes is giving you trouble, practice that transition separately.
  • Practice constantly; the more time you put into it, the better you will get.
  • A good understanding of scale theory and the circle of fifths will make scales much easier -- you may not even need a scale sheet anymore.
  • Your fingering chart is your best friend. Always have one handy... you'll use it often.
  • Scales are all about patterns. You may notice that you can tell which notes are going to be flat or sharp just by counting the number of flats or sharps in the key signature. The table below shows this pattern... for instance, if you see 3 flats, you should know instantly that they will be Bb, Eb, and Ab.
Number of Flats/Sharps Flat or Sharp Added
1 flat Bb
2 flats Eb
3 flats Ab
4 flats Db
5 flats Gb
1 sharp F#
2 sharps C#
3 sharps G#
4 sharps D#
5 sharps A#
6 sharps E#


  • When practicing difficult scales or high octaves, use tetrachords. Tetra means four, so this basically means practicing four notes at a time. Play the first four notes of the scale over and over, gradually increasing in speed until you can play them cleanly, then move on to the next four.
  • Marking your music will help a lot. Maybe you can remember a flat or sharp or two, but much more than that, and you'll forget. Take some time to go through and mark every single sharp or flat in every single scale, if you have to. For some of the more difficult key signatures, when you have notes like A# and Fb, you may want to pencil in the name of the note you know these by better -- A# = Bb, and Fb = E natural, for instance.
  • Keep in mind that the clarinet is a transposing instrument. If you've ever been confused as to why the Bb scale actually starts on C, that's why: The clarinet's C is equivalent to a Bb on a C instrument. Try not to get confused if a flute player tells you the Eb scale has 3 flats... for you, it only has one.
  • Understand that scales are the root of everything you will play. Knowing your scales not only helps you with key signatures, but most pieces are full of passages that are essentially scales - for instance, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is very much like this. Once you can play all of your major, minor, and harmonic minor scales and arpeggios, you can, in theory, play just about anything very easily.
  • Practice scales with a metronome so that your fingers learn to play the scale notes in an even rhythm. Start slowly and make sure the rhythm is steady before attempting to play faster. This will also help in the memorization process.
  • When you start working on higher octaves, try a harder reed. If you've been using a 2 1/2, try moving up to a 3 or a 3 1/2. The harder the reed, the easier the high notes are.
  • The sharp-side scales (D, B minor, A, F# minor, and so on) will tend to use a right-sided B and a left-sided C# in the clarion register.

Warnings

  • It is a fact of life that scales aren't the most exciting things in the world. You may get bored of scales for a while, which is normal -- play something else for a little bit, and then get back to your scales.
  • When learning a scale, learn it by the notes, not the fingerings. If you only know a scale by memorizing the way your fingers move, you may be in trouble if someone asks you to start in a different place (in the case of the chromatic scale), or if you're auditioning and get distracted -- you'll have no idea where to pick back up, and you'll lose points for starting over.

Things You'll Need

  • Clarinet
  • Time to practice
  • Reeds
  • A quiet spot
  • Patience with yourself if you do not get it immediately

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