How to practice scales on bells and xylophone

On bells and xylophone, a scale is a pattern of bars: some in the front row, some in the back. Learn which back-row bars each key uses, alternate your hands, and add speed a few clicks at a time with a metronome. Pick a scale to see its pattern, then play it up and back down.

The staff and the bar names show written notes. When the example plays, you hear the sound you pick: bells sound two octaves higher than written, and xylophone one octave higher.

Why mallet players practice scales

Most of the notes in a band piece come from the scale of its key. When your hands already know which back-row bars a key uses, a new part is mostly bars you've played before, and you miss fewer of them.

Scales also drill the moves you use in almost every mallet part: alternating hands, stepping from bar to bar, and reaching between the front and back rows without looking down.

Seeing the pattern on the bars

Switch between keys in the scale picker and watch the back row. Concert F uses one back-row bar, B♭. Concert B♭ uses two, B♭ and E♭. Each key on the list adds one more: E♭ adds A♭, and A♭ adds D♭. The pattern repeats in every octave, so once you know it, you know it all the way up the instrument.

Say the pattern out loud as you play. For concert B♭ it's "back, front, front, back, front, front, front, back." For concert E♭ it's "back, front, front, back, back, front, front, back."

Reading the key signature

The flats in the key signature are your back-row bars. Two flats, B♭ and E♭, mean every B and every E is played on the back row, in every octave, until an accidental changes it. Bell and xylophone parts use concert pitch letter names, so your key signature matches the band's concert key. The letters match, but the octave doesn't: bells sound two octaves higher than written and xylophone one octave higher, so your C isn't the same C the flutes play.

For sharp keys and the order of the flats, see key signatures.

Try it

Which bars are in the back row for each key signature?

Sticking: alternating, and when to double

Alternate hands for scales: R L R L. The scale picker starts with the right hand, which is a common choice, but starting with the left works too. On stepwise notes, the mallet heads pass each other in a narrow V. That's normal. Look back at the scale picker and you'll see that each note keeps the same hand going up and coming down, so learn the scale with its sticking.

Which hand starts matters when a pattern keeps jumping back to the same note. In the exercise below, the low C keeps coming back while the top note climbs. Watch the bar colors: lime is your right hand, amber your left.

When alternating would cross your arms, you can start with the other hand, or use a double: two notes in a row with the same hand. Decide before you play, and pencil the sticking above the notes.

Going up and coming back down

• Keep the same tempo both ways. Scales tend to speed up on the way down.
• Play the top note once, in time, and turn around. Don't stop on it.
• Look ahead to each back-row bar. Those are the bars that get missed, especially coming down.
• Keep your eyes on the music or the landmarks, not on one mallet.

Building speed with a metronome

Start at a tempo where you can play the scale up and down twice in a row with no missed bars. Around ♩ = 60 in quarter notes is a good place to start. Here's one plan:

• Raise the metronome a few beats per minute, such as 4.
• Play the scale twice more. If both are clean, go up again.
• If you miss a bar, drop back a little, such as 8 beats per minute, and finish there today.
• When quarter notes are easy at ♩ = 120, go back to ♩ = 60 and play eighth notes.

These numbers are only a starting point. If a step feels too big or too small, change it.

Use the metronome, and write today's tempo in your practice notes so you know where to start tomorrow.

Scales for chair tests

Check your audition sheet first. It should list the scales by concert key, how many octaves, and the tempo. If it doesn't, ask. Whoever is listening will notice these right away:

• Every bar right, including the back row.
• The same tempo up and down.
• Even volume from both hands.
• Each note struck in a good spot: the center, or the front edge of a back-row bar when you're moving fast.

Learn the scales from memory. With no music to read, your eyes can stay on the bars. A chromatic scale uses every bar, front and back, in order; alternate hands the whole way. For the rest of the audition, see chair tests and auditions.

Practice

Take one key a day: see it in the scale picker at the top, then play it on your instrument with the sticking. In Percussion Trainer, Scales has you play each scale up and back down, on screen or on a real instrument with the microphone, and marks any wrong notes. Then use Find the Bar to check that you can find each note without the pattern in front of you. Turn on Slower in any example here when you're learning a new key.