About

The idea for a book on scales grew from my own piano teaching, and the difficulties pupils would have in trying to recall the notes within each, specifically the flats and sharps. At that time, scale books tended to be boring and unimaginative, and lacking in any specific technique to help pupils remember. To remedy this, I started to create scale mnemonics specific to each pupil, sometimes using their names and things they liked, and it was encouraging to see how much this helped. I started to wonder whether I could make this approach more generic, plus group the mnemonics into categories, depending on whether they began on a white or a black piano key, and on whether they were major or minor. I was also keen for the mnemonic to reflect the order of sharps and flats within each scale, and also the order in which they were played. So began the long process of creating the mnemonics - some took weeks! Once complete, I started to create colourful and fun illustrations for each, to reinforce the mnemonic and to further aid recall.

“Piano Scale Mnemonics”, includes all scales, arpeggios and broken chords currently listed in Grades 1-5 of both the ABRSM and Trinity syllabuses. The book is suitable for pupils of all ages, 56 pages long and is priced at £12.95, plus postage and packing.

For information about my teaching and art, please visit www.clefsandcolours.com