Scales are quite important. To understand. To perform them is a little bit like eating. You know you have to eat but knowing how much is the trick to getting shredded.
It is ten times more important to understand how scales are constructed rather than know which ones are ‘more important’. Your goal should always be able to use your existing knowledge to aid you in achieving a goal rather than depending on a scale to make you better.
I feel passionate about this subject. Knowing versus doing. I vote for both. Do both but have discernment about what you need and when you need it.
Understand First, Perform Later
It’s hard to make someone learn something if they don’t understand what they’re learning first. Sure, you can start performing it but to really understand what it is and how it came to be (within a system) is highly important.
I am not talking about learning history, or how it came to be. I am talking about a system. How does it work? How do you get certain results out of this system? We know that 4+4=8 because the system we work under makes us understand what 4 means.
For beginners, scales belong to the system of music theory. I am calling it a system to make a point. Music theory is actually a system too though. It’s formed and has been worked on by people who were far more organized than you and I.
There is a reason I am talking about this. I feel the need to correct or direct people’s understanding of music theory actually works. Because with that knowledge, your question, next time would be framed better.
You can ask for a McChicken at a KFC they just won’t give it to you. It’s like this. And I am trying to guide you on the right track.
Warm-Up
This brings me to say that the way scales are going to benefit you the most is going to be in warm-ups. After you’ve thoroughly practiced them. Once you know your range and you are about to perform music live, you would want to warm up your voice through scales.
If you are however more successful in finding ways to use these scales, then feel free to do so. But, in all honesty, they’re okay at best.
Their usage is maximized when you’re analyzing great pieces of music or need to reharmonize a song and jazz it up or when you’re composing.
For most people, I think singers especially, realize that they’re meh. Even after you understand them.
Why Meh?
Isn’t that too harsh of a thing to say?
No.
I believe the thing is only useful to know if you are going to use it. I use music theory fairly often and I know how far I take it. I usually never use five of five or substitute or use many extensions.
They’re good things to know within music theory but if you’re not actively using them they’re just good things to know. Nothing more.
Why Know them At All Then?
Because it’s what I do. I want to know things about music and I want to do things regarding music and I want to know everything there is to know.
It allows me to scan for things in my head if they ever came up and look them up in more detail. And to be very honest with you, the knowledge base of the music is not very big. Music theory can be learned and executed at your whim.
Music theory is easy but composing a great song is hard. The act of composing is a little like writing. Everyone can write but the one who really knows how to write must first learn how a writer ought to write and then break those rules of writing to become a better writer.
Mastery
But, mastering it sonically is hard. Mastering being able to discern what chord progression is playing is hard, being able to decipher a great solo and playing it note by note is hard. In other words, training your ear to match what you understand is hard. That’s where true mastery lies. Not in just knowing why and how, which is important. But, in its application and how it will sound.
The Correct Way to Look at It
If its ability lies in mastery then why can’t we just get to the mastery part? It’s like a language that you can speak fluently and not know what a noun is. Except, when you try to understand another language and now you do not know how to differentiate between a noun, pronoun, or any other articles of speech, you are lost.
You have the sentence in your native language right on the tip of your tongue but you lack the theory to understand how to translate it.
That’s why you need to know both. If you knew how theory worked, it is only then you are able to make sense of the other language. It would also allow you to learn at a faster pace as you already have a strong understanding of your native language.
The same is the relationship between music theory and actually doing music. It’s better when you know what you are playing, in the heat of the moment you might not find yourself knowing exactly what you’re playing but that’s okay. As long as you know what it is.
Want to Improve Your Singing?
If you want to know how to develop your techniques in singing and how to get better at everything else too then you should definitely have an online course you can rely on. Even if you wish to do it professionally.
I have written an article specifically for this and you should take a look here.
I have also made a specific page dedicated to just which courses might suit you the best, Don’t forget to read about them here.
Whatever you end up doing I hope you are able to sing whatever scale you choose to!