usually when people think of scales they're thinking of an ascending and descending pattern of notes that are adjacent to each other in the key. so it would be (starting from C) C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. that's a scale, but it's not really a melody that you'd likely walk away humming to yourself. a melody is the part of a song that you'd sing to yourself after hearing it. studying and learning how to pick out simple songs on a keyboard will make it a lot easier for you to get ideas from in your head out onto the keyboard, whereas running scales won't necessarily help with that process much. working with melodies will also develop a different type of muscle memory (like mike was talking about) because eventually your fingers will just know what a certain interval sounds like.

the simplest scale to start with is C major/A minor, which is just all the white notes on the piano. you can learn a lot just by fiddling around with those and then slowly work on transposing what you know to one or two other keys. it's much more informative to know one key inside and out than it is to know a little bit about all 12 keys.

just to head off any criticism of what i'm saying, of course it is useful to know all 12 keys well as an eventual goal, but i guess i just think it's more useful to get your head, hands, and ears around one key thoroughly.

Is there not an iPhone or iPad app that would allow you to mapp diatonic notes to a touchscreen keyboard and transmit the notes over midi or wi-fi?

Kinda like a diatonic keyboard controller app?

Is there not an iPhone or iPad app that would allow you to mapp diatonic notes to a touchscreen keyboard and transmit the notes over midi or wi-fi?

Kinda like a diatonic keyboard controller app?

just to head off any criticism of what i'm saying, of course it is useful to know all 12 keys well as an eventual goal, but i guess i just think it's more useful to get your head, hands, and ears around one key thoroughly.

..., but I wouldn't constrain it to white keys. Otherwise black keys will become a frustration later. It's easier to include them right at the beginning, when every key is new and alien.

Maybe you should try one of (The Axis 49 keyboards)

Let's not start flinging about holy grails.
Playing on only white keys denies your muscle memory the chance to learn the true shape of the keyboard. Black keys are positioned differently, are thinner and are set higher. For your cerebellum, it's an entirely different skillset to learn.

This is how I like to practice scales: First, select a key at random, and do the fingering practice for a few minutes up and down. And then, once I feel at home in the key, I start playing melodies on the scale "from heart".
So yes, what you are saying is important, but I wouldn't constrain it to white keys. Otherwise black keys will become a frustration later. It's easier to include them right at the beginning, when every key is new and alien.

As for practicing in all keys it only takes a few minutes a day. I use the circle of 5ths as a practice regiment. Today's key is Eb tommorrow's is Bb in a 12 day cycle I'll have played every scale in every key and mode.

That's one scale in 12 keys. Don't you use the other 461 scales?

Are you purposefully trolling the thread, or what?