Skip to main content

How to Have Nimble Fingers for a Piano

Improving your dexterity and nimbleness on the piano will help you to play advanced music cleanly and precisely. Pianists have tried to improve their finger dexterity for centuries. Robert Schumann, a famous composer, injured his fourth finger after creating a device to improve finger independence. His career as a pianist ended because of his invention. Applying careful and time-tested procedures for developing your finger independence will increase your nimbleness for the piano without causing injury.

Develop and warm up your fingers with a simple finger independence exercise. Place all five fingers of your right hand on the piano. Each finger must be on a separate white key. Most people start on middle C. Depress your thumb and release without moving any of your other fingers. Complete this exercise five times with each finger and then move on to the left hand.

Practice major and minor scales and gradually increase the maximum speed that you can play them with control. Aim for a three-octave scale ascending and descending and use the same finger pattern each time you play. Start at a tempo of about 60 beats per minute and gradually increase the tempo until you can play each scale at 144 beats per minute in sixteenth notes.

Play Hanon exercises to improve your nimbleness. Hanon exercises, endorsed by several pianists including Sergei Rachmaninoff, consist of technical etudes that help to isolate and train individual fingers in a safe and efficient manner. Start slowly and increase your metronome speed until you can play the exercise at the indicated tempo.

Play arpeggios throughout the entire range of the piano. Start on C on the lowest part of the piano. Use your right thumb to play C, your middle finger to play E and your pinky to play G. Tuck your thumb under your middle finger and jump to the next C and continue. With your right hand, use your pinky, index finger and thumb, and then jump with your pinky to the next C.

References


"The Lives of the Great Composers"; Harold C. Schonberg; 1997

"Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist"; C.L. Hanon; 2006

Guide to Learning Piano; Scale Fingering Chart; Robert Kelly [http://www.robertkelleyphd.com/scalfing.htm]

"Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises for the Piano ..."; C.L. Hanon; 1986
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday Stories: The Power of Audiation in Music Composition

Happy Sunday! Today, let’s explore the transformative power of audiation in music composition and share an inspiring story about a composer who mastered this skill. Audiation, the ability to hear and understand music in your mind, is a crucial tool for composers, enabling them to bring their musical ideas to life with greater detail and precision. What is Audiation? Audiation is the process of hearing and comprehending music in your mind without any external sound. It is similar to thinking in a language, where you can understand and manipulate words and sentences internally.  For composers, audiation is an essential skill that allows them to imagine, develop, and refine their musical ideas before they are played or written down 1 . The Benefits of Audiation for Composers 1. Enhanced Musical Understanding Audiation helps composers develop a deeper understanding of music. By hearing and analyzing music internally, they can grasp the relationships between different musical elements, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Similarities of Classical and Baroque Music

Music has evolved through the centuries and undergone drastic changes. One of the most significant transitions was from the Baroque to the Classical period of music. In this paragraph, I will compare and contrast some of the main features of these two styles, such as ensembles, instrumentation, and counterpoint study. The Baroque and Classical periods of music have many similarities. While the style of music changed drastically, certain key elements remained the same between the two styles. Composers in the Classical period sought to simplify music and create clearly audible musical lines. In contrast, composers from the Baroque period were interested in creating complex and highly ornamented musical lines. The Baroque period occurs from approximately 1600 to 1750, and the Classical period extends from 1750 to 1820. Ensembles Ensembles are groups of musicians that perform together. Both the Baroque and the Classical period had similar types of ensembles, such as operas, orchestras, str...
Post a Comment
Read more

List of Musical Techniques and Their Meanings

Musical techniques are the building blocks of any basic music training. These techniques allow performers to improve their coordination and develop accuracy through repetitive daily exercises. Musical techniques progressively build upon previously learned techniques. Scales Scales form the basis for other musical techniques. Student may study major and minor scales as well as modern scales, such as the whole-tone and octatonic scales. A scale consists of patterns of half steps and whole steps. These whole steps and half-step arrangements will be different for each scale. Scales are musical techniques that can help a performer to play faster and more accurately, and make learning new pieces easier. Chords Chords require knowledge of major and minor scales. Chords come in several different forms that affect the sound. Triads consist of three notes spaced a third apart and classified as major, minor, augmented and diminished chords. Seventh chords build on triads and have an additional no...
Post a Comment
Read more