Conquering Chromatics
Chromatic Scales … The Final Frontier!
Here is a method for exploring this perennially weak aspect of bassoon technique.
True confession – I didn’t practice chromatic scales until my mid 30s. I didn’t play a great chromatic scale for another decade, and then it only happened once. It was rhythmically unassailable with perfect intonation and appropriately scaled in dynamics. It was a Tuesday in November.
By the mid 1980s, I had been playing principal bassoon in a good orchestra for a decade. I could play all the Richard Strauss excerpts, I could handle Mozart 35 [well, kind of…], I could fake my way through Saint-Saens Organ Symphony and I even had several decent concerto performances under my belt. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but I knew I was faking one big part of my technique. When it came to a really good chromatic scale I remained an imposter. Un poseur.
So I buckled down and started doing the work. Based on the many students that have since crossed my path, I assert that chromatic scales are the Achilles Tendon for modern bassoonists. You might have a handle on Handel, find joy in Jolivet, or boast about your Bozza, but are you truly capable of playing chromatic scales? Really? Right up to the top range of the instrument? If so, congratulations. You’re one in a thousand.
If not, I want to offer a protocol for mastering chromatic scales that has worked for me and many of my students.
Let’s start with some basic arithmetic…You can divide the 12 notes of a chromatic scale into three groups of 4 or two groups of 6. So, unless you are writing compound meters and making people suffer, you’ll be working in 3/4 or 6/8 time.
If you play the 3/4 scale at 120mm and the 6/8 scale at 80mm the velocity of the sixteenth notes will remain constant. But your internal pulse will change from 3 in a bar to 2 in a bar. Notice that the primary beats in 3/4 will outline an augmented triad and the primary beats in 6/8 an augmented fourth. Play this next exercise to get that concept into your ear…
When you play these two metres you will instinctively emphasize the quarter note pulse of the augmented triad or the dotted quarter of the augmented fourth. It’s okay to do this…it will anchor you in the work ahead.
Your next ascending passage will be in 3/4 beginning on E. Complete the patterns until you arrive at the top note of the octave. Remember, play up and down within the same octave starting on each note. Repeat three times for maximum benefit.
Even though you are playing the same notes within the same octave at consistent velocity, the displacement of starting point and the alternating metric division will reveal previously unobserved weaknesses in your technique. It’s surprising that our chromatic technique is so easily unbalanced by these changes in rhythmic or metric contexts. This phenomenon becomes increasingly obvious as you move the exercise into more challenging ranges. Unshackling your scale habits from unchanging meters and fixed starting points is the point of all this. Many of you will find it unnatural to begin any major or minor scales on any notes but the tonic, which is why modal forms of practice are so essential. Great chromatic technique flows from this ability to start and end from any point. Every note becomes an equal participant in your technique.
Here is the same exercise starting on C4.
The next measure [31] will start on tenor E.
It will only hurt a little.
Here is where some self-discipline begins. You need to try this exercise utilizing complete octaves throughout the entire range of the bassoon. Spend some time with this rather humbling venture before you move on to the real work…
Alternating rhythmic and metric contexts are critical building blocks for streamlined technique.
Grappling with the 3/4 & 6/8 subdivisions is a good start, but we’ll need to take a deeper dive into solving the technique irregularities they reveal. Utilizing smaller groups of chromatic fragments will offer a path to a truly balanced technique.
I’m going to introduce you to the concept of practice sets, which are simply small sequences of 2 or more adjacent notes that we will
‘re-order’ and methodically repeat.
This approach to practice creates ideal conditions for the development of efficient neural pathways.
Set theory is a branch of mathematics that studies collections of objects, numbers or items.
A set of numbers could be {1, 2, 3, 4}
A set of colours could be {red, green, blue, purple}
A set of notes could include anything grouped together in a musical passage.
Here, the elements of our sets will be adjacent notes within a chromatic passages.
We can organize portions of a chromatic scale into sets going forward and backward. These might include 12 more notes as shown above, with differing starting points and sometimes different metric organization. These might also include sets of just 2 or 3 notes. When you practice any chromatic scale, especially from C4 and above, you will immediately find that the complex third register fingerings produce uneven rhythmic outcomes. The art is in recognizing and prioritizing the problem. It’s a basic principle of all practice that we efficiently identify a weak links, isolate the two or three notes causing the problem, then start adding adjacent notes before and after. The rule we apply here is that while sets can move forward or backward, they must remain sequential half steps apart. It is the intervals themselves we focus on – the moment in time between two notes, the clarity of the finger motion and the appropriate delivery of air and embouchure adjustments to create the most seamless – and vocal – connections.
It’s actually helpful to visualize sets in numerical terms… We can number the notes of a chromatic scale 0 thru 11 (remember modulus 12 in music theory?). For example, “4567” in a chromatic starting on C would the pitches E, F, F# and G. For most bassoonists the challenge will be F to Gb. As shown in this next exercise we start with a slow trill. The numeric organization would be: 56565656 etc. Best practice would include starting on the upper note as well, the down trill from Gb: 65656565. Once some improvement is achieved, we will start building out from the weak link [F to Gb] and add first the G [567656765]….and then the E [4567654567654]. Most importantly, we then move to practicing up and down repetitions starting on each note of the set….
The last eight measures in the exercise above are written in 6/8. Try playing this pattern in 3/8. You may notice a difference!
Try applying this alternating 6/8 to 3/8 division over any four note set. It ought to make no difference, right? But it does! Just as starting a practice set on a different note reveals unexpected technical glitches, playing in a different meter will frequently result in bumpier technical outcomes. Even after 50 years of practising and teaching it continues to amaze me how context affects fluid executions. More about this below…
Let’s continue our exploration of that mid third register chromatic. Here we add Ab at the top to create five note sets, then add E at the bottom. Notice that I have notated the five note sets in 4/4 time with quintuplets, which I find to be the most effective way for this size. Finally, we explore the full six note set from Eb to G#. Notice throughout this post that I organize all the practice sets in groups of three. You can certainly repeat as often as you wish, but I in my experience playing each pattern three times gets the job done!
Here is another tactic. These are chromatic sets encompassing five and seven note sequences.
You can link sets into a flowing exercise like this…
As you move into 6, 7, 8 note sequences you will gain confidence, but the moment you run into a specific problem between two notes, return to shorter sets!
Guidelines…
- The exercises above represent a tiny fragment of the possible use of short chromatic sets
- Your task is to identify the weak link in any chromatic passage, then build out longer sets from those problem half-steps
- To get the best outcomes you must apply the highest standards of tuning, legato and timbre throughout a given set
- Whole body awareness is critical: if you are tense or using unnecessary motions in the shoulders, neck or arms, these will become part of your technique. Neural pathways – muscle memory if you like – are complex holistic processes. You want to exercise all repetitions in the most efficient and relaxed manner
- Take tempi that you can play beautifully before pushing velocity
- Don’t play the same sets every day! Life is short and technical work can be tedious. Be inventive about exploring many practice sets in any one session
- 15 minutes a day is minimum, but if you are really organized and thoughtful that will be enough to achieve improvement.
Christopher Millard retired from his position as Principal Bassoon for the NACO in 2022. In his cranky old age he dreams that more bassoonists will find the enormous satisfaction that comes with good chromatic scale technique…