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The choice of fingering for playing scales is an important step towards good technical maturity.
All the main scales, with the exception of the chromatic scale, are successions of seven notes repeated in various octaves. To play these successions, various types of fingering can be used, including: one, where the four mallets alternate both on the "white" and on the "black" keys, and another, which is more practical, where the easiest notes to reach are assigned to each hand, so that the hand in the more inconvenient position does not have to clamber awkwardly over the black notes. It is therefore up to the player to use his or her intelligence to select the most appropriate numbering sequence, according to the type of scale, in such a way as to achieve greater speed and confidence.
The fingerings we suggest are an invitation not to fall back too often on the classic alternating of sticks 1, 2, 3 and 4, and to be on the look-out each time for newer and more practical ways of playing.
And by the way, it should be understood that alternative fingerings (marked only on the first octave) should be repeated at subsequent octaves. Instead, when you find numbers written above notes in isolation, this means that the fingering remains the same except for the changes indicated.
If you choose a fingering style where one hand is operating on the black keys and the other on the white, some scales (including the chromatic scales) are best begun with the right hand, since in this way the more agile hand is allowed to work where there are more notes to play.
Generally the study of scales begins with the majors, in moto parallelo, and ends with them in moto contrario. It should be kept in mind, however, that only in moto contrario playing do we have a natural balance, produced by simultaneous percussion of inside and outside mallets manipulated by the same fingers of the right and of the left hands. In practice, by alternating the inside mallets (held by thumb, forefinger and middle finger) and the outside ones (held by ring finger and little finger).
For this reason, the study of double note scales should be begun with those in moto contrario.
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