[dorlz]

hi all, why is the b flat major scale is such an important scale?

 

[dubrosa22]

They're all equally important.

Are you thinking instead of the Bb Blues Scale?
Here's a great Blues Scale resource

 

[Norbert]

On a tenor you can use the full range of the instrument, starting on the lowest playable tone as the root. Otherwise it is not more important than the other scales.

 

[Merlin]

It's probably the single most used scale/key in popular concert band music.

 

[MartinMusicMan]

Do you mean concert Bb scale?
Or the Bb scale on tenor or alto?

To me, ALL major scales are equally important.
Who said the Bb major scale is "such an important scale"?

 

[Grimmell73]

As others have said, it isn't. It may have come in to use because B-flat instruments playing a b-flat scale are playing in C, which is (for keyboard players, at least) the easiest scale to play. Although on sax, i have always found D the easiest scale to play, which is concert C.

When i was up and coming, I eventually realized it was necessary to learn all the scales equally well. I'll pass on what I figured out: If you can play C and C-sharp with full technique, you can play any major or minor scale with relative ease. You could just as well choose G-flat instead of c-sharp, they have only one minor difference, but either of these keys have the maximum number of double-pad changes per interval. So work on one of these until you can play it as easily as C (or b-flat). Then you can get used to any other scale relatively quickly.

Jean-Pierre Rampal used to tell his master classes that it is impossible to have too much technique. So work those scales until they happen as in a trance.

 

[Jeff Foster]

As others have said, it isn't. It may have come in to use because B-flat instruments playing a b-flat scale are playing in C, which is (for keyboard players, at least) the easiest scale to play. Although on sax, i have always found D the easiest scale to play, which is concert C.

Uhm, no. Bb instruments playing in Bb are playing in concert Ab. Since the OP posted this in the Eb Alto forum I assume he is an Alto player, in which case he would be playing in concert Db. Still, I would agree that all scales are important.

 

[teledyn]

I am nonetheless still quite curious as to why the brass instruments were constructed to resonate at Bb when it would seem a tiny difference to favour C instead, or even A, as a base tone for the instruments. I expect there is a historical reason, but I also know there are A-clarinets and A-horns, and there are C saxophones although the sax, as a newcomer to this repertoire likely had very little input into the situation. It does seem to drive a wedge between the classical and 'band' world, though, one side favouring the keys of A and D, the other Bb and Eb, why the silly semi-tone disagreement?

 

[SaxTon]

how you gonna play in the mood with a big band. Lot of swing charts are Ab concert which requiries lots of facility in Bb key on the tenor.

 

[bruce bailey]

I think it may mean that band directors say to play a Bb scale meaning Bb concert thus giving the tenors, etc. C scale and altos G. Was that the question?
As far as importance of scales, yes all are important (as well as minors) but as a student progresses, I generally start with scales up to 4 sharps and 4 flats and after those are mastered, the rest. For the most part, the 4#&b scales will cover your basic concert band music. I find that sax players do better with #s and flute players like flats.

 

[Grimmell73]

Uhm, no. Bb instruments playing in Bb are playing in concert Ab. Since the OP posted this in the Eb Alto forum I assume he is an Alto player, in which case he would be playing in concert Db. Still, I would agree that all scales are important.

Uhm, yes. What I was saying, naturally, is that when the conductor calls out a Bb scale, a Bb instrument is playing in C. Right? Sorry you misunderstood me.

Also, I, like you, assume the OP is an alto player, an Eb instrument. However, I didn't understand him to be asking why the Bb scale was so important to him, personally, or to Eb instruments, or why he spends so much time playing in the relative key of Bb (which I recall seeing rather rarely as an alto player). I understood him to be asking why his director calls out concert Bb so much, why they tune to Bb, why so many pieces are written in concert Bb. The answer to that question, naturally, will not be related to what the Eb instruments think; I'm sure we all know that in terms of the make-up of a school band, the Bb instruments are far more prevalent than the Eb instruments. The answer to his question, then, may be that anything scored in concert Bb will be played in the key of C (relative) by Bb instruments. This is especially true for the Bb soprano clarinet, which not only is the most prevalent band instrument in most bands, and is not only generally regarded as the anchor of band music, but has different fingerings for the two octaves. As a result, any key signature choice for musical students, such as middle and high school bands, would probably be strongly weighted to making the key signature easy for clarinets to play.

I mentioned keyboard instruments because, if this assumption for students is correct, it's actually a mistaken carryover from keyboard instruments. For woodwinds, the relative key of D is easier to play than the relative key of C, so concert C would be preferrable (at least to me).

 

[Grimmell73]

I am nonetheless still quite curious as to why the brass instruments were constructed to resonate at Bb when it would seem a tiny difference to favour C instead, or even A, as a base tone for the instruments. I expect there is a historical reason, but I also know there are A-clarinets and A-horns, and there are C saxophones although the sax, as a newcomer to this repertoire likely had very little input into the situation. It does seem to drive a wedge between the classical and 'band' world, though, one side favouring the keys of A and D, the other Bb and Eb, why the silly semi-tone disagreement?

Actually a really interesting question. There's a lengthy Wikipedia article on the trumpet that may shed a little light on this. Apparently there are both Bb and C trumpets in modern orchestral use, but the small difference between C and Bb produces a noticeable brightening of the tone.

I also wonder, in the development of the trumpet, how important it was for new trumpets to remain tuned to earlier trumpets, since it was the 19th century before they acquired valves. Back then they could only play in their natural overtone series, unless they replaced a crook (or changed to a different trumpet). It leads to the fun speculation that Bb trumpets are simply an accident of the pitch at which the very first battlefield trumpets were built, with all later trumpets having to stay in pitch with those built earlier.

 

[Sasquatch]

Bb is important because it gives string players something to gripe about.

 

[MartinMusicMan]

hi all, why is the b flat major scale is such an important scale?

Also, I, like you, assume the OP is an alto player, an Eb instrument. However, I didn't understand him to be asking why the Bb scale was so important to him, personally, or to Eb instruments, or why he spends so much time playing in the relative key of Bb (which I recall seeing rather rarely as an alto player). I understood him to be asking why his director calls out concert Bb so much, why they tune to Bb, why so many pieces are written in concert Bb.

The OP didn't say why s/he asked the question. His/her entire post is quoted above. S/he didn't say s/he was in a band or had a director. And s/he hasn't posted again in this thread, so we really have no idea what s/he meant when s/he asked the question.

 

[Grimmell73]

The OP didn't say why s/he asked the question. His/her entire post is quoted above. S/he didn't say s/he was in a band or had a director. And s/he hasn't posted again in this thread, so we really have no idea what s/he meant when s/he asked the question.

Very much my point indeed.