11 July 2026

Rainbow Follies

With the closing of KLCC at the end of December, Malinda and I finally had the time to return to our own programs.  We've done it before:

16 songs from 1916
Performed 02 July 2016

Wine, Chocolate & Medleys
Performed 23 December 2017

A Dozen Duets
Performed with Celeste Coburn 29 June 2019

Then covid hit, and with it, the KLCC choir pretty much collapsed.  On a good day, we had a choir of five, and after two deaths, there wasn't much to salvage.  The congregation itself wasn't all that much bigger than the choir had been, and we continued to meet this way, like a couple of stray cats in an abandoned stadium, for five more years.  During that time, Malinda and I funneled our efforts into designing the KLCC Christmas cantatas.  We didn't have many resources, but we did what we could to make them special.  The idea of Rainbow Follies had been in the works for ages, but finding the time to learn the music, write the script, and plan the party was another thing.  Fast forward to 2026, a decade after our first production, and we hardly missed a Sunday.  There were the occasional trips or celebrations that prevented us from meeting up, but little by little, we built the program.  It's hard to explain exactly what we did on Sundays, but it was always some combination of:
    Learning songs - working on the hard parts
    Trying them in different ways with different ideas
    Changing the order of the program and testing the flow
    Writing or editing the script
    Shopping for props, stationary, rainbow plates, etc.
    Just hanging out and being friends

The hardest step is always to pick a date.  One of our goals was to give the KLCC people a reason to get together again, but mostly, we just wanted everyone to have fun.  Pianistically, my focus was to feel more secure under pressure, particularly with stride pattern and jumping.  I think I achieved that, or at least progressed, but that hardly mattered because I still freaked out due to my kryptonite - page turns - and fumbled pretty badly twice.  Anyway, nobody seemed to mind too much.

Things we'll keep:
    The craft table!
    4:00 pm - people hate driving at night, and the party started 15 minutes early
    Programs with questions and clipboards - we loved all the different thoughts
    Audience participation/singalong sections
    The valise of props

Stats:
    10 cancellations
    24 guests including our families
    13 songs
    55 mins including script
    3-4 hour party

Programs

Mini Macs, Rainbow Gummies, Skittles, M&M's

Prosecco, Wine, Juices, Sparkling Waters, Sodas

Iced Teas!

Cheese Plate

Charcuterie

Rainbow Fruits

Family

Crafters

Me!

Our Assistant Mills

Purple Fascinator

Derby Hat

Parentals

Closing Bows

Kids on the Stairs

Post Party Activities

Rainbow Follies

---------------------------------PROGRAM---------------------------------

I’m Always Chasing Rainbows
Carroll & McCarthy, 1918
Based on Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu

Rainbow of Girls
Irving Berlin, 1927

Where’s That Rainbow?
Rodgers & Hart, 1926

There’s A Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder
Jolson, Rose, & Dreyer, 1928

Got A Rainbow
Gershwin & Gershwin, 1928

My Rainbow Girl
Hirsch & Wolf, 1917

If You Want The Rainbow
Levant, Rose, & Dixon, 1928

Wait For The Rainbow Dearie
Baer, 1908

You Are My Rain-Beau
Hirsch, Caesar, & Anderson, 1922

Rainbow
Wenrich & Bryan, 1908

At the Rainbow’s End
Herbert & Young, 1924

Bow Of Promise
Tucker & Canning, 1863

The Rainbow Temperance Song
Thomas & Judson, 1868
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02 July 2026

Piano Scale Fingerings

Chapter 1: Introduction

A few days ago, I gave my kids a lecture in the car, proving that B♭ major has the most irregular of all the scale fingerings.  I found my own sermon so riveting that I decided to write it down.  So now, I will teach you my method to understanding/generating the major and minor piano scale fingerings.  We'll begin with major and harmonic minors, and then proceed to the natural and melodic minors.  We shall have charts and colors, and it will be a gay old time.

Before we begin, a bit of housekeeping.  First, if you don't know how to form scales, try my chord and scales relationship post.  I also have a more comprehensive Oom-Pah post, if you're insatiable.

Second, I am of the opinion that we must learn hands together patterns.  In my teaching experience, students would rather practice hands separately for some time, blindly throw the hands together, and hope that some combination of muscle memory and their favorite religion will see to the rest.  Because our brains love symmetry, our natural preferences will be obliterating our hands separate practice in a hurry.  In other words, the way nearly everyone learns piano scale fingerings is a pretty good way not to learn them.  Each of my children, for example, has been practicing not learning scales for over 6 years, and they have succeeded.

Last, I am of the belief that we do not need to memorize every finger for every note of every scale.  We only need to learn the fingerings or concepts that leave us no choices.  My Rubik's Cube posts are based on this line of thinking - if certain structures force certain things to happen, there is absolutely no reason to memorize or even keep track of them.  I will be telling you everything you need to know, and if you can remember which scale belongs to which category, you should be able to figure out the rest.

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Chapter 2: Terms

These terms were originally inspired by the book, "N. Jane Tan's Scales, Chords, & Cadences."  The top row of these charts show right hand fingerings, and the bottom row shows the left.  They're all very easy, except for the    BRIDGE   .

Claws

Hooves

Duck Feet

   THREES   
3
3

   ONES   
1
1

   CLAWS   
12
21

   BRIDGE   
412
214

   W's   
234
432

   V's   
23
32

   DUCK FEET   
123
321

   HOOVES   
34
43


Note to self: I will never again figure out how to center a chart within a chart.  The inserted chart must be formatted as "top centered" under "table properties" outside of blogger before copying and pasting.
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Chapter 3:    THE BRIDGE SCALES   
CGDAE
cgdae
c♯g♯
A♭

My guess is that everybody reading this post will know the fingering of the C major scale, so we'll start there.  Befitting to my reputation of being generous, I'll include two octaves.  This is an ascending C major scale.















CDEFGABCDEFGABC
















The first step is to put in our    3's   .


3

3


3

3



E

A


E

A



3

3


3

3


Next, let's take a look at our    CLAWS   .



12




12





FG




FG





21




21



This one is the hardest - the    BRIDGE   .  Bridges can "bridge" us from one octave to the next, and they need a bit more practice than the rest.






412











BCD











214






Every pattern except for the    BRIDGE    is excellent for block practice.  Remember, practicing 2 octaves gives you only one iteration of the    BRIDGE   , so you're robbing yourself of opportunity.  Jump to 3 or 4 octaves the very moment you summon the bravery.  If you like practicing 3 octaves, consider a triplet rhythm so that your beats line up.  (I actually like following the beat when it doesn't line up, too.)

Altogether, the standard    BRIDGE    pattern looks like this:
12










45
CDEFGABCDEFGABC
54










21

Working through the 12 major and 12 harmonic minor scales, this    BRIDGE    scale pattern accounts for 10 of the 24.
They are: C, c, G, g, D, d, A, a, E, and e.
12










45
54










21

There are also 3 additional    3      BRIDGE    scales, which start on    3's    and look like this.  Notice that in this case, bridges do not bridge us across the octave.
They are: A♭, c♯, and g♯.
















A note to close the chapter.  On September 23rd of 2018, I suddenly realized that c♯harmonic scale and the g♯ harmonic scale feel exactly the same.  I recently asked my 10-year-old daughter to find the two scales that feel exactly the same, and she first answered G major and a harmonic minor.  Although the pair c♯ harmonic minor and g♯ harmonic minor feel more the same to me due to the fact that they sound more the same, technically, she's also correct.
That reminds me of something funny George said last week.  "  You're not like everybody else; there are only one and a half of you in the world."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4:    THE WAVE SCALES   
BF
bf
D♭G♭
b♭e♭

Notice that the    BRIDGE SCALES    work for almost all of the white keys.  We'd love for them to work for the other ones (B, b, F, f) as well, but alas, those lay some black keys out under our thumbs.  We avoid that because moving our hands in towards the fallboard when not necessary is not efficient.
And so we come to our first rule of scale fingering:
Never place a first finger on a black key.

We call these the    WAVE SCALES    because we put our  W's  on the groups of 3 black keys and our  V's  on the groups of 2 black keys.  That way, our thumbs can stay on the white keys between those groupings.

Let's take a look at B major, which has the same fingering as b minor.
1












5
BC♯D♯EF♯G♯A♯BC♯D♯EF♯G♯A♯B
4












1

F is a little less intuitive, but it relies on the exact same principles.  I'll demonstrate in f minor because it has more black notes to ground us into the    WAVE    pattern, but it shares the same fingering as F major.
1












4
fga♭b♭cd♭e♮fga♭b♭cd♭e♮f
5












1

Notice that with    WAVE SCALES   , we set up by following groups of black notes with our long fingers, regardless of our starting notes.     WAVE SCALES    can start on any finger, unlike the 10    BRIDGE    scales, which always start with 5's and 1's, or the 3    3      BRIDGE    scales, which start with    3's   .  While    WAVE SCALES    are based on a pattern that could work with almost any scale, the    BRIDGE    and    3      BRIDGE    scales have a cookie cutter solution over the shifting terrain below.

The    WAVE SCALES    are: B, b, F, f, D♭, G♭,  b♭, e♭
Remember that you have to find your starting point!
















-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 5:    THE HOOF SCALES   
E♭f♯

The hoof fingering divides the four long fingers into halves like hooves.  Or like this.

So if the    WAVE    pattern could work for almost any scale, why don't we just use them for everything?  Well, a lot of the time, as with the    BRIDGE    and    3      BRIDGE    scales, something else is more comfortable.  The easiest possible cross under is from a black key to a white key, so any time we get that chance, we'll take it.
This takes us to the second rule of scale fingering:
Always prioritize crosses under a black key to a white key.

Notice that the 2    HOOF    scales have no groupings of 3, but only pairings of fingers.
E♭FGA♭B♭CDE♭FGA♭B♭CDE♭

f♯g♯abc♯de♯f♯g♯abc♯de♯f♯

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6:    THE DUCKFOOT SCALE   
B♭

4

3


4

3


4
B♭CDE♭FGAB♭CDE♭FGAB♭
3

4


3

4


3

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Chapter 7: Natural & Melodic Minor Scales
f♯c♯g♯

Congratulations!  You know all of your major and harmonic minor fingerings!
For 9 of the 12 keys, the harmonic minor fingerings are the same as the fingerings for the natural and melodic minor scales.  But that's not true for these 3.
These scales also happen to be the ones in which the    CLAWS    become exceptionally lobster-like in the harmonic form, since they stretch from white key over adjacent white key to the next white key as they pass over that augmented second.
Because melodic minor changes when descending,
we'll now ascend the first octave and then descend the second.
➚ ➚ ➚ ➚ ➚ ➚ ➚ ➘ ➘ ➘ ➘ ➘ ➘ ➘

f♯ natural minor
f♯g♯abc♯def♯edc♯bag♯f♯

f♯ harmonic minor
f♯g♯abc♯de♯f♯e♯dc♯bag♯f♯

f♯ melodic minor
2



413






fg♯acc♯d♯e♯f♯e♮d♮c♯bag♯f♯
4



214







c♯ natural minor
c♯d♯ef♯g♯abc♯bag♯f♯ed♯c♯

c♯ harmonic minor
c♯d♯ef♯g♯ab♯c♯b♯ag♯f♯ed♯c♯

c♯ melodic minor
c♯d♯ef♯g♯a♯b♯c♯b♮a♮g♯f♯ed♯c♯

g♯ natural minor
g♯a♯bc♯d♯ef♯g♯f♯ed♯c♯ba♯g♯

g♯ harmonic minor
g♯a♯bc♯d♯ef𝄪g♯f𝄪ed♯c♯ba♯g♯

g♯ melodic minor
g♯a♯bc♯d♯e♯f𝄪g♯f♯ed♯c♯ba♯g♯

Notice that each of these ascending and descending scales is either a    BRIDGE   ,    WAVE   , or    HOOF   , and the top turnaround of every scale becomes a part of the descending scale that follows.  In the case of f♯ ascending melodic minor, the bridge isn't as broken as it appears once you add more octaves.

Notice also that the turnarounds for f♯ melodic minor and c♯ melodic minor require us to skip a finger.  This should have felt weird, and that is because:
Our third rule of scale fingering:
Unless turning at f♯ or c♯ melodic minor, never skip a finger.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 8: Review

1. Never place a first finger on a black key.
2. Always prioritize crosses under a black key to a white key.
3. Unless turning at f♯ or c♯ melodic minor, never skip a finger.

   BRIDGE SCALES   
C, c, G, g, D, d, A, a, E, e

















   3      BRIDGE SCALES   
A♭, c♯ natural & harmonic minors, g♯ harmonic & ascending melodic minors

















   SPLIT BRIDGE SCALE   
f♯ ascending melodic minor

















   WAVE SCALES   
(Starting spots listed)
B, b, F, f, D♭, G♭, b♭, e
c♯ ascending melodic minor, g♯ natural minor
FG♭

BD♭e♭f
g♯b♭bc♯



   HOOF SCALES   
(Starting spots listed)
E♭, f♯ natural & harmonic minors
E♭

f♯












   DUCKFOOT SCALE   
B♭
















Happy Practicing!

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Chapter 9: Epilogue

Just for fun, here are    WAVE    fingerings for every major and natural minor scale.
They also work for all harmonic and melodic scales other than d and g.




C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C








c

d

e♭

f

g

a♭

b♭

c









D♭

E♭

F

G♭

A♭

B♭

C

D♭








c♯

d♯

e

f♯

g♯

a

b

c♯









D

E

F♯

G

A

B

C♯

D







d

e

f

g

a

b♭

c

d










E

F♯

G♯

A

B

C♯

D♯

E








e

f♯

g

a

b

c

d

e

F

G

A

B♭

C

D

E

F








f

g

a♭

b♭

c

d♭

e♭

f









G♭

A♭

B♭

C

D♭

E♭

F

G♭








f♯

g♯

a

b

c♯

d

e

f♯









G

A

B

C

D

E

F♯

G







g

a

b♭

c

d

e♭

f

g










A

B

C♯

D

E

F♯

G♯

A








a

b

c

d

e

f

g

a








B♭

C

D

E♭

F

G

A

B♭








b♭

c

d♭

e♭

f

g♭

a♭

b♭






-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10: Arpeggio Fingerings

   STANDARD   

c

f

g

e



C

F

G

d

e

a

b




1

2

3

1

2

3

5

5

4

2

1

4

2

1



   V's   

D

E

A

B


G♭

C

F

G

d

e

a

b




1

2

3

1

2

3

5

5

3

2

1

3

2

1


b♭


2

3

1

2

3

1

2

3

2

1

3

2

1

3



   BRIDGES   

D♭

E♭

A♭

c♯

f♯

g♯


4

1

2

4

1

2

4

2

1

4

2

1

4

2



   CLAWS   

B♭


4

1

2

4

1

2

4

3

2

1

3

2

1

3


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