Now that we've tackled the 30/5 rule (practicing 30 minutes each weekday), scales are next on the list. When I was younger, scales were one of my least favorite things to practice. They seemed so monotonous, but I did them at the beginning of my practice each day. At first it's hard to understand why, but believe it or not, they help your practice!

So, how exactly do scales help practice? There are a couple of ways. First, they warm up your fingers for working on your songs. It's sort of like doing warm-ups before a work out. Without a proper warm-up, a body builder will put unnecessary strain on his body and won't perform his regular work out as well. Scales get your fingers ready to do the more difficult pieces well. They also strengthen your fingers and help with agility on the keys. For example, when you do scales, you practice crossing your fingers. As you get faster at the scale, you will also learn to do the finger crossing better and faster. As you advance in piano to harder and faster pieces, you will find that this is very important!

Second, practicing scales help with practice because you may run into scales in songs. I love adding scales to my arrangements! By knowing your scales well ahead of time, it will make it easier to play the scales in a song. Now, not every scale in a song will have the exact same fingering or starting and ending points, but knowing the scale will still help you here. If you know what notes are in the scale, you will more easily be able to read it on paper.

In conclusion, always remember to start with scales each time you practice as a warm-up routine. This will not only train your fingers for better agility, but also prepare you for your songs.

Read the whole series, "5 Tips for Better Piano Practice", here