Piano students and their parents are just like everyone else. Before they invest their time and energy in something, they want to know, Whats in it for me? This is especially true with learning scales. Sometimes parents of piano students even think teachers who want children to learn scales are trying to take the fun out of piano lessons! But nothing could be farther from the musical truth.

In fact if there were no scales, there would be no music. Thats how important scales are to playing the piano. Scales are the melodic basis of all tonal music. Each note of a scale has a special quality needed for forming musical ideas. Young piano students playing in five finger scale positions learn that the fifth note is the Dominant and the first note is Tonic. The dominant note for example has a strong pull that creates tension. Returning the melody to the Tonic note resolves this tension and makes the music sound finished or at rest.

Piano students almost always experiment with their own musical ideas at the piano. And they always want to show their piano teacher what they have discovered! Students who go on to learn how to use the scale to create music of their own find this is a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. So encourage your children in piano lessons to learn their scales and discover the gift of playing music they have created themselves. In this way piano students learn to understand how the music language works and communicate some of their own musical ideas. Even young children can begin to do this once they understand some basic keyboard theory. Parents can even teach young children foundational music language skills at home.