Why are scales, arpeggios, chords, and other technical exercises important?

"UGHHH, NOOOOO!" is the most common reaction by students when they are made to learn scales and other technical exercises. Indeed, these exercises can be tedious and honestly, quite boring as well. If that's the case then, why do so many teachers insist on making their students learn them? The truth is, aside from building technique and dexterity, scales, arpeggios, chords, and other exercises are actually used in real pieces. So, practicing these technical exercises can immensely help when you encounter scale passages and chords in pieces or songs. Teachers aren't just making students learn them for nothing - there is real, practical application, and that's exactly what I'm going to show you in this blog post and in the video above.

Piece 1: Sonata in C Major, K545 - Mozart

First, let's look at a few of excerpts from Mozart's Sonata in C Major, K545, Allegro. As you can see, in m5-10, the RH is playing sixteenth-note scale passages. In m11, the LH is playing the G major chord and the C major chord in broken form. It is also worth mentioning that throughout much of the piece, the LH is playing an Alberti bass pattern, and each pattern is based on a chord.

Mozart's Sonata in C Major: RH scale passages

In m18-21, we can see both hands playing broken chords

Mozart's Sonata in C Major: broken chords played in both hands

In m26-28, we can see examples of both broken and solid chords.

Mozart's Sonata in C Major: broken and solid chords

Piece 2: Waltz in B minor - Chopin

Next, let's look at an example from the Romantic era - Chopin's Waltz in B minor, op. 69, no. 2. Right from the start of the piece, we can already see solid chords being used in the LH. Indeed, the LH does play solid chords throughout the entire piece.

Chopin's Waltz in B minor: solid chords played in the LH

Chopin's pieces are also known to have a lot of chromaticism, and this waltz of his is no exception. As you can see below, this part of the piece features chromaticism in the RH, meaning that it would be useful to know how to play chromatic scales.

Chopin's Waltz in B minor: RH chromaticism

Piece 3: Sinfonia in B minor - J.S. Bach

Even in Baroque music, we can see the use of chords in many pieces, including Bach's Sinfonia No. 15 in B minor. Just in the first half of this piece alone, we can already see rapid broken chords being used throughout, and this is true of the second half as well.

Bach's Sinfonia in B minor: rapid broken chords in both hands

There are, of course, many more examples that exist. However, I just wanted to show you a few from three pieces that are from different musical eras. I hope that you now understand that scales, arpeggios, and broken chords are actually used, and that learning them could give you a huge advantage when you come across them in real pieces.

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