Finish your arm stretches with this exercise: 1. Reach your right arm straight out to the wall and put your hand flat against the wall, fingers pointing up. Slowly and gently look left as you extend your right arm into the wall see Figure Use your left hand to massage the tight areas around your right shoulder and clavicle.
Repeat on the other side. Figure Massage the tight areas in your shoulder. Chapter 1: Getting Ready to Practice Stretching your shoulders and neck To stretch your shoulders and neck, follow these steps: 1.
Stand with your head in a neutral position and your hands at your sides. Hunch your shoulders see Figure straight up to chin level, and then release down. Circle your shoulders front to back, and back to front as you hunch and release. Figure Hunch and release your shoulders. Work on this shoulder and neck warm-up next: 1. Reach your right hand up and behind your right shoulder to touch the shoulder blade on your right side.
Bring your left hand behind your back at the waistline, and reach up to touch your right hand. Repeat these steps with your hands reversed. To continue your shoulder and neck stretches, follow these steps: 1. Grab the top of your head with your right hand and touch the top of your left shoulder with your left hand.
As shown in Figure , use your right hand to gently guide your head down to the right, toward your right shoulder. At the same time, gently pull down on your left shoulder with your left hand, giving your neck muscles a nice stretch.
Repeat the stretch on the opposite side. Figure Gently stretch your neck. Keep your stretches in sync with your breathing; your movement should be relaxed and flowing, not stiff and rigid. Chapter 1: Getting Ready to Practice Working on your back The following exercise will stretch your back: 1. Stand with your feet just a few inches apart, fold your arms in front of you, and cup each elbow with the opposite hand. Looking down to the floor, bend your knees and squat down, and let your elbows reach toward the floor in front of your feet.
Slowly rise up, still holding your elbows and bringing your arms up above your head to reach, lengthen, stretch, and widen your back. Figure Round your back before reaching up to stretch. Stretching your hamstrings Sitting can be a lot of work! Tight hamstrings can make it difficult for you to sit at the piano because the tight muscles pull down on the back of the pelvis, which means you have to do a lot of work to get your upper body balanced on your sitting bones.
So stretch those hamstrings, too, by following these steps: 1. Keep your legs and back straight as you stand and bend at the waist. Reach with your arms to the floor to stretch your hamstrings. Perfecting Practice with Proper Posture Start with a common-sense approach to your posture: Aim to situate yourself comfortably in a stable, balanced position so you can play and read music, with room to move freely. The trouble is, piano players can get so caught up in the complication of notes, clefs, fingering, rhythms, and dynamics that they often forget about their bodies.
So a reminder to monitor your comfort level and make appropriate adjustments is always a good thing. You want to feel comfortably loose, with enough room to move freely and enough support to feel light and long in the upper body and head. You should be able to move easily in either direction of the keyboard, just enough to follow and support your arms when they venture away from the middle to the high or low registers. Check that your bench or chair is the right height.
You should see a slight arc from the elbow to the top of your wrist and back down your hand to the keyboard. You have a big advantage if you use an adjustable bench or chair available on the Web at places like www.
Good posture is all about support. Think about building support from the ground up: 1. With the floor and the bench or chair providing your support base, align your body so your torso, shoulders, neck, and head are fully supported from underneath. Chapter 1: Getting Ready to Practice 2. With both feet on the floor, and with your knees directly above your feet, sit evenly on your sitting bones so you feel a strong, stable support for your upper body.
Your spine has four curves; it takes careful awareness and support in both the front and back to balance and feel centered throughout your upper body. As you breathe in, feel the full length of your upper body from the sitting bones to the top of your head. Breathe out and feel a relaxed, stable balance throughout your body. Getting a handle on proper hand position Your hands should feel supported by your shoulders and arms, balanced and relaxed so they can move as easily as possible.
Your wrist should be high enough that your fingers make a slightly curved shape with the fingertips on the keys, but not so high that you restrict movement. You should see a rounded shape created by the soft, relaxed undersides of your fingers and palm, similar to the shape of your hand draped around the fist of the other hand, as shown in Figure Figure Drape one hand around the fist of your other hand. Hands on the fallboard: Counting out loud and bouncing Close the fallboard over the piano keys, and place your hands in playing position, as I describe in the previous section.
Figure Count these eighth- Count: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and notes. Incorporate this model into your fluid motion cycle, reading music and playing the piano in the motion of tempo and the musical phrase. Hands on the fallboard: Hand arches and finger drops The next exercise gives you practice switching comfortably from a contracted, arched hand position to an open hand position with your fingers loosely extended.
To do the exercise, follow these steps: 1. Let your hands rest, palms down, on top of the fallboard. Raise your wrists as you touch your fingertips together in a point, fingers extended and still touching the wood see Figure Spread your fingers and let your wrists drop easily until your palms are on the fallboard again. Repeat several times. Chapter 1: Getting Ready to Practice Figure Raise your wrists with your fingertips on the fallboard. Hands on the fallboard: Rotation in and out, movement up and down the keyboard The next exercise gives you an example of how small forearm rotation should feel.
You use this motion when playing broken-chord figures like the Alberti bass pattern in Chapter To do a rotation exercise, follow these steps: 1. Start with your hands in playing position, fingertips on the wood, wrists fairly high see Figure Rotate your wrist slowly to the left, and then to the right, feeling the weight transfer across your entire hand, through your wrist, knuckles, and fingertips.
Figure Put your hands in playing position on top of the fallboard. To get a feel for the motion up and down the keyboard — which is what you want when you play the scales in Chapter 7 — try this exercise: 1. Start with your hands in playing position, fingertips on the wood. Move your hands, forearms, and elbows evenly out to the sides and back in, keeping them all on the same plane, as if they were riding on a lateral-moving elevator see Figure Hands on the keyboard: Sound and movement on the keys After completing the exercises in the previous sections, lift the fallboard to see those 88 keys eagerly awaiting your tingling fingers.
You have to be willing to make some unusual music for this exercise, but give it a try: Playing and missing any notes that happen along the way, do the wrist bounces, hand arches and finger drops, wrist rotations, and lateral-movement exercises on the keys. Just try to maintain the position, support, ease of movement, and relaxed feeling you develop throughout this chapter.
Overcoming other posture pitfalls Be on the lookout for signs of tension: Hunching or muscle grabbing in the shoulders and arms; facial tics biting or grimacing, clenching in the jaw ; and stiffness in the neck or fingers. These points of tension may be indirectly caused by inadequate support, but you can ease them by including them in the larger cycle of tension and release — your fluid motion cycle. When you release tension, you clear a path for your mind to guide the search for solutions to your technical problems.
Be careful when the instrument may be part of the problem. You may want to limit practice time and take more frequent breaks if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation! Turning down the volume to a very low level to avoid disturbing family, friends, and neighbors can lead you to compensate by over-pounding so you can hear yourself play.
Instead, use headphones or earbuds with the volume adjusted to a level similar to what you experience in normal piano playing. If you have, join the club. But take a look at your hand, and then at the keyboard. All your fingers are a different length, and each finger has a different set of muscles and a different way to make the keys on the piano go down.
Your fingers get exercise every day when you write, beckon, grasp, shake, wave, twiddle, and point. But when you put your hands on the keyboard, your fingers need some extra help to make the music you want to make. Developing control and agility starts with isolating each finger so you can learn how each one moves as you strike a key. The secret is that you can get around your limitations with a little brainpower.
Finger strength comes with freedom of movement. When you tense, or hold, your muscles, you restrict your movement. So you want your fingers to feel comfortable. But they also need support. After you develop firm joints in the fingers and give each finger the support of your hand, wrist, arm, and on through the body, the strength will come from the movement itself.
You can read more about hand position in Chapter 1. The exercises in this chapter are combined so you can exercise your fingers in groups of twos, threes, and fours. Each exercise challenges your control by starting with eighth-note patterns and changing to triplet and then sixteenth-note patterns. Even though you begin with eighthnotes, you have to stay in the same tempo when you get to the triplets and sixteenth notes. Exaggerate the articulations and dynamics as you practice and improve.
Keep your hand shape nice and round throughout, especially for the outside fingers, four and five. Make sure you give quarter notes their full value. Better to count the full beat while feeling a relaxed and fluid motion in your hand. You can also add a bit of your own shading to the phrases by trying legato and staccato articulation.
Shape each phrase with dynamics you choose to make the most music. These exercises give you a chance to work on singing with your fingers. Shape the melodic phrases as if you were singing them by adding some of your own finetuned dynamics. For example, increase the volume on a steadily rising phrase and decrease the volume on a descending phrase.
Angle your thumb down from your nicely arched hand. Keep your hand shape nice and round throughout these exercises, especially for the outside fingers, four and five.
You can increase the loudness of each note by increasing your attack speed — a faster speed of attack will get a louder sound. By making sure fingers four and five have good shape and support, you make it easier to match attack speeds in all your fingers. For practice, play one phrase soft, the next one louder, and see whether you can control the dynamics at your liberty.
This gives you an opportunity to make dynamic contrasts between the melody in one hand and the countermelody in the other, as well as gradations within each part. Try bringing the melody out front by playing it a little louder, or by playing the countermelody a little softer. The exercises will help you develop the control you need to balance and shape melodic lines in each hand. In the first two sections, you work on developing a greater command of articulation — playing legato lines more smoothly and playing staccato phrases with clean, crisp precision.
You focus on exactly how to move to get the most expression with the least amount of work. Then you start to exercise in a variety of five-finger hand positions: major scale, minor scale, extended whole-tone scale, and contracted chromatic scale positions.
After you work both hands separately, you play exercises with your hands together. Have you heard of the Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini, who blazed a path to stardom with his speed and dexterity? He wrote a violin piece that other composers have used as a theme for their own virtuosic flights.
Niccolo Paganini — , violin virtuoso, was known for a level of technical skill not seen on the concert stage at the time. He wrote music to feature his wizardry, including his Caprice No. The best known of these are Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt. Composer Witold Lutoslawski — also wrote variations on this theme, to be played by two pianists on two pianos!
To practice this, go for an overlap from one note to the next, finger-to-finger. Play the first note, and then overlap by releasing the key just after the next note sounds. Listen to the overall phrase, and make slight changes in loudness within the phrase to give it a nice shape. Listen for the space between the notes as much as you listen to the notes themselves. As you play faster passages and faster tempos, you can minimize this move until the key release is only at the fingertip. These exercises are good for testing your speed and control.
Try playing these faster and slower to find out where you lose control. Is it one finger in particular? At a certain tempo? After you find your limits, practice within them and expand them step-by-step. These exercises begin with two eighth-note pickups. When you start a phrase with a pickup, think of the pickup notes as moving toward the downbeat, with a bit of emphasis on the downbeat itself.
Major: In sequence, out of sequence 5 5 4 1 3 2 2 5 3 4 Minor: In sequence, out of sequence 1 1 4 1 3 2 4 2 5 3 Chapter 3: Music for Five Fingers Whole tone: In sequence, out of sequence 1 1 4 1 2 5 3 3 2 4 Chromatic: In sequence, out of sequence 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 1 1 3 2 4 2 5 3 5 3 4 2 39 40 Part I: Waking Up Your Fingers Developing Left-Hand Finger Independence with Five-Finger Position Scales Left-hand scales can be more challenging because you get more practice time playing melodic phrases with the right hand.
Stay within a tempo that you feel you can comfortably control. Major: In sequence, out of sequence 5 5 2 5 3 4 4 1 3 2 Minor: In sequence, out of sequence 5 5 2 4 1 3 Chapter 3: Music for Five Fingers Whole tone: In sequence, out of sequence 5 5 2 5 3 4 4 1 3 2 Chromatic: In sequence, out of sequence 5 4 2 3 1 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 5 2 4 1 5 3 4 2 4 1 3 1 3 2 4 41 42 Part I: Waking Up Your Fingers Doubling the Fun: Putting the Hands Together Right-hand and left-hand parts share the same rhythm in these exercises so you can match the articulation and dynamics as closely as possible.
Legato articulation, five-finger positions 5 4 4 3 2 1 1 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 1 2 1 4 5 5 5 1 1 1 1 5 4 5 2 1 Chapter 3: Music for Five Fingers Staccato articulation, five-finger positions 5 3 4 2 2 1 T R A C K 5 3 4 2 5 4 8 3 3 1 1 5 4 2 5 4 2 1 5 4 2 5 1 2 4 5 1 1 5 2 3 4 5 4 5 2 3 4 5 4 5 43 44 Part I: Waking Up Your Fingers Performance Piece: Paganini Variation for Ten Fingers In this piece, your hands move from one five-finger position to another.
Spend some time plotting out when the positions change and how far the moves will be. This way, your mind is engaged and in control, directing your hands from position to position. As you become more familiar with the moves, you can increase your speed.
Traversing the keyboard means working on fundamental finger moves: crossing a finger over and passing a finger under another finger to shift hand positions. The chord work in this part starts with practice moving two fingers together as a single unit, playing two notes at the same time. Then you move on to three-note chord exercises that take you through a series of steps to ensure comfortable, solid chord playing while releasing any muscle tension.
Imagine playing fluid lines, shifting hand positions seamlessly, and covering the keyboard territory with flexible fingering. Adding the thumb means you can play more notes within one hand position, but the problem remains that the thumb has a very different size, shape, and angle when compared with the other fingers. If you run out of fingers when the melodic line continues up or down, you have to move your hand position, and do it without breaking the musical line.
The two best options are to pass the thumb under or cross the other fingers over. The keyboard terrain sets up different scenarios for these transitions, with possibilities available in the various white and black key combinations. Because the thumb is shorter, the easiest way to cross over it or pass it under is with a black-white combination, because you can use the key height and location to your advantage.
With one of your long fingers on a black key you naturally elevate your hand, like a bridge, for your thumb to pass under.
These more difficult transitions can cause you to twist your hand position, flare out your elbow, tuck in your elbow, or otherwise contort yourself as you move up or down the keyboard, and the extra movement can get in the way of playing smoothly and comfortably.
The answer is to keep your hand quiet, and keep your arm perpendicular to the keyboard as you move out to the extremes or into the middle. This will make your scale runs sound smooth and feel more comfortable.
But making these traverses seamless does take practice. The exercises in this chapter give you practice crossing over and passing under with different finger combinations, using a variety of scales.
You also discover how to make these transitions more comfortable. One Under Two, Two Over One You first want to find a hand shape that eases the transition from one hand position to the next. It helps to keep the two fingertips relatively close together and the top of your hand raised high but still flat. Now feel your fingertips on each key as you play the exercise.
You may find it easier to straighten your second finger a bit as it crosses over your thumb to play a black key and curve it a bit when it plays a white key. You can apply this to your third and fourth finger in the following exercises. Keep your hand position quiet, and watch for any unnecessary twisting. You can control the volume of a note if you think ahead to plan a hand shape that allows control of the attack speed.
You can control your timing by guiding your fingers to perform a smooth movement. Watch your fingers once as they make the shift: Is your thumb or fourth finger aiming too far? Remember to relax! Feel an easy, fluid motion as you move. Exercise slower to focus on smooth transitions, and faster to focus on lightness and agility. Try singling out the sixteenth-note scale runs to practice the crossovers and pass-unders before you play the piece.
Make as much contrast as you can between the staccato and legato, and remember that the rests can be as important as the notes. You can bring up the bass, hush the choir while the soprano has a solo, or lift up every voice for the full-out finale.
These interval exercises also let you scrutinize the many combinations of fingers, intervals, and positions on the keyboard to get to know how each finger responds. Special attention is given to strengthening those fingers that need it the most, but we try not to embarrass those fingers in front of the others! Playing Seconds with Different Finger Combinations Seconds are any interval combination on adjacent keys, white or black.
Because of the keyboard layout, that means a variety of hand and finger positions to work on. Each of the finger combination exercises in this section includes a study for the right hand and the left hand separately. Play through these exercises a few times slowly at first — concentrating on each hand — listening carefully to adjust the balance and timing of each finger combination.
Curve your fingers and keep the finger joints firm to play the seconds evenly. Then gradually increase your speed each time you play the exercise. As you increase your speed and accuracy, play this section as a series, starting with the right and left hand in the first finger combination, moving on to the right and left hand in the next finger combination, and so on.
As you play the seconds with each finger combination, imagine the two fingers moving together as one unit. In the first combination, for example, finger two and finger three move together to strike each interval in a synchronized motion.
Adjust your attack and your timing to play the seconds evenly while changing hand positions. Your first two fingers are such different lengths! Left hand: 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 4 5 3 2 4 5 4 5 3 2 1 1 4 5 3 2 4 5 3 2 1 2 1 Right hand: 1 2 3 1 2 3 5 4 1 2 3 5 4 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 5 4 5 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 5 4 3 2 5 4 3 59 60 Part II: Developing a Strong, Supple, and Speedy Hand Playing Thirds with Different Finger Combinations These exercises improve your agility as you maneuver both major and minor thirds.
The different finger combinations keep all your fingers nimble so you can use all five fingers more confidently. Finger combination: One and three Take a look at your hand position as you get ready to play.
Make sure you have a nice, high arch to your hand, and let your fingers hang down and your fingertips lightly touch the keys. Keep your wrists up high, and lift your fingers up like spider legs, bringing them down evenly in twos. And not too fast on this one — taking it slow and developing control are fine; stay relaxed and melt into the keys. The different finger combinations keep your muscle coordination sharp. Finger combinations: One and four, two and five This one is especially good for the fourth finger.
If you feel like giving yourself a challenge, try to play both hands at the same time! You can give your pinky some help by letting go of the fourth interval and moving your hand out, keeping the arched shape, toward the pinky. Right hand: 2 1 5 3 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 5 2 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 Left hand: 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 3 65 66 Part II: Developing a Strong, Supple, and Speedy Hand Playing Fifths, Sixths, and Sevenths As you exercise these larger intervals, you also get good preparation for chord playing, which is covered in Chapter 6.
The overall goal here is to watch for unnecessary twisting from side to side. Each measure can have a rhythmic pattern of four strong beats, on one, four, seven, and ten, with three eighth notes inside each strong beat. Right hand: 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 Left hand: 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 Chapter 5: Playing Intervals Exercise in fifths and sixths As you play this exercise, four and five are round, but not stiff. Try turning on the metronome to check your steady speed.
Play each interval pair by using a single, confident hand move, with the same gusto you have when you sing out the tune from the bleachers. The piano sounds best when you make the most of its full harmonic potential. To get your piano to really sing out, you need flexibility in the wrist to increase your attack speed when you play chords. To balance, or voice, the chord notes, you need control in your fingers to vary the quality of your touch. Naturally, you want to dig into the big chords and get your hands around the really fat harmonies, but keeping stiff fingers and awkward hand positions is tiring and can potentially cause some physical problems.
Avoiding these problems and improving your chord voicing are the benefits of learning how to relieve the tension in your fingers, hands, and arms. This chapter helps you learn to play chords with a relaxed approach, gain a better chord technique, and improve your sound. You can use the exercises to develop fluid motion and release muscle tension as part of a cycle to practice with each chord. The exercises start with single chords, move into a variety of chord progressions, and then combine melody with chords.
You finish up with a performance piece that lets you set the room resonating with vibrant chords. You do need a certain amount of muscle tone and firmness in the finger joints to play nice, solid chords, but you also want to build in the habit of releasing tension while you play. As you exercise, monitor your body for any area in which you may be holding tension — your arms, shoulders, neck, or even your face in the form of a grimace or facial tic.
Your aim is to breathe through your body as you play and to establish a cyclical pattern of tension and release. Allow your arm weight to drop onto the keyboard as you comfortably play the chord and hold the shape in your fingers.
With a loose, flexible feeling in your wrists, let the weight travel and be absorbed in your wrists with a light bounce. Keeping the chord notes held down, let the wrist float back up and release the notes under your fingers as you lift up from the keyboard, releasing any muscle tension in your fingers, hands, arms, and shoulders. During the rest between the two chords, release any tension throughout your arms and torso, and prepare for the next chord shape as in Step 1. A longer progression Now try practicing the cycle in a longer progression.
This new edition features fresh and updated practice lessons, teaching techniques, and musical examples, as well as a new audio CD with examples for all pieces presented in the book. You get expert information on left- and right-hand piano techniques; playing scales, melodies, harmonies, and chords; and practicing to improve your technique.
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Were always writing about new topics! If you don't know how to read music, this book explains in friendly, uncomplicated language all the basics of music theory, and applies it to playing the piano and keyboard. And if you've been playing for awhile—or took lessons when you were a child but haven't played since—you can pick up some valuable tips to improve your playing, or use the book as a refresher course.
The handy reference helps you to master the traditional black-and-white keys and gives you an understanding of the possibilities that unfold when those black-and-whites are connected to state-of-the-art music technology. Discover the secrets for becoming a master on the piano and keyboard Improve your skills with a wealth of easy-to-apply piano exercises Tap into your creativity and get the lowdown on composing an original song Find out how to use keyboards anywhere using external speakers, amps, home stereos, computers, and tablets Dive right in!
This comprehensive book offers the most complete learning experience for aspiring pianists, keyboard enthusiasts, and students of music. Whether youre a wannabe Mozart or are an experienced hand at tinkling the ivories, the latest edition of Piano For Dummies has what you need to take you to the next level in making beautiful music using this much-loved and versatile instrument.
Working as an introductory courseor as a refresher to keep those fingers nimbleyoull find information on getting started, improving your technique and performance, and the best ways to practice until you hit finely tuned perfection.
And, along the way, youll pick up the techniques for different styles, including classical, blues, and rock. In an easy-to-follow style, the book also helps you sharpen your sight-reading. You can also tune in to audio and video online to help you improve your creativity and discipline, as well as hear and see that youre hitting the right notes.
Choose the right piano Know your keys Scale up for success Care for your instrument Whatever you want from your love affair with the old 88, youll find enough right here to keep you hammering happilyand even more proficientlyaway for years to come!
The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Piano For Dummies Piano For Dummies, 3rd Edition is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking fundamental piano instruction.
Whether you're brand new to the piano or have been at it awhile, Piano For Dummies will soon have you tickling the ivories like a pro! This book contains all the information you need to start playing today, including clear instruction and supplementary materials. Learn different musical styles, like classical, rock, blues, and country, and how to find the perfect teacher should you decide to expand your instruction. With the widest tonal range of any instrument, the piano is versatile enough to produce melody and accompaniment at the same time.
This standout feature is also what makes mastering the piano such a complex affair. Piano For Dummies, 3rd Edition breaks it down into simple, easy-to-follow instruction, written in the characteristically accessible Dummies style.
For the beginner, the book serves as a complete introductory course. For the more advanced player, it becomes a handy reference to keep around for periodic refreshers.
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