Piano Exercises For Dummies

Contents

• Introduction 1
• About This Book 1
• Conventions Used in This Book 2
• Foolish Assumptions 3
• How This Book Is Organized 3
• Part 1: Waking Up Your Fingers 3
• Part 2: Developing a Strong, Supple, and Speedy Hand 3
• Part 3: Including Your Arms and Body 4
• Part 4: Integration and Independence 4
• Part 5: The Part of Tens 4
• The website 4
• Icons Used in This Book 5
• Where to Go from Here 5
• Part 1: Waking Up Your Fingers 7
• Chapter 1: Getting Ready to Practice 9
• Warming Up Away from the Instrument 9
• Releasing tension and releasing your muscles 10
• Breathing in an unending circle 10
• Massaging, stretching, and contracting your hands 10
• Warming up your wrists 12
• Swinging and twisting your arms 13
• Stretching your shoulders and neck 15
• Working on your back 18
• Stretching your hamstrings 18
• Perfecting Practice with Proper Posture 19
• Sitting at the piano: Height and angle 19
• Getting a handle on proper hand position 20
• Hands on the fallboard: Counting out loud and bouncing 21
• Hands on the fallboard: Hand arches and finger drops 22
• Hands on the fallboard: Rotation in and out, movement up and down the keyboard 22
• Hands on the keyboard: Sound and movement on the keys 23
• Overcoming other posture pitfalls 24
• Chapter 2: Isolating and Exercising Your Fingers 25
• Two-Finger Exercises for the Left Hand 26
• Fingers one and two (left hand) 26
• Fingers two and three (left hand) 27
• Fingers three and four (left hand) 27
• Fingers four and five (left hand) 28
• Two-Finger Exercises for the Right Hand 28
• Fingers one and two (right hand) 29
• Fingers two and three (right hand) 30
• Fingers three and four (right hand) 30
• Fingers four and five (right hand) 31
• Three-Finger Exercises for the Left Hand 31
• Fingers one, two, and three (left hand) 32
• Fingers two, three, and four (left hand) 32
• Fingers three, four, and five (left hand) 33
• Three-Finger Exercises for the Right Hand 33
• Fingers one, two, and three (right hand) 34
• Fingers two, three, and four (right hand) 34
• Fingers three, four, and five (right hand) 35
• Four-Finger Exercises for the Left Hand 35
• Fingers one, two, three, and four (left hand) 36
• Fingers two, three, four, and five (left hand) 36
• Four-Finger Exercises for the Right Hand 37
• Fingers one, two, three, and four (right hand) 37
• Fingers two, three, four, and five (right hand) 38
• Performance Piece: "Come Back to Sorrento" 38
• Chapter 3: Music for Five Fingers 41
• Smooth Articulation: Playing Legato 42
• Legato exercise for the right hand 42
• Legato exercise for the left hand 43
• Short Articulation: Playing Staccato 43
• Staccato exercise for the right hand 44
• Staccato exercise for the left hand 44
• Developing Right-Hand Finger Independence with Five-Finger
• Position Scales 45
• Major: In sequence, out of sequence 45
• Minor: In sequence, out of sequence 46
• Whole tone: In sequence, out of sequence 46
• Chromatic: In sequence, out of sequence 47
• Developing Left-Hand Finger Independence with Five-Finger
• Position Scales 48
• Major: In sequence, out of sequence 48
• Minor: In sequence, out of sequence 49
• Whole tone: In sequence, out of sequence 49
• Chromatic: In sequence, out of sequence 50
• Doubling the Fun: Putting the Hands Together 50
• Legato articulation, five-finger positions 51
• Staccato articulation, five-finger positions 52
• Performance Piece: Paganini Variation for Ten Fingers 53
• Part 2: Developing a Strong, Supple, and Speedy Hand 55
• Chapter 4: Passing Under and Crossing Over 57
• One Under Two, Two Over One 58
• One Under Three, Three Over One 60
• One Under Four, Four Over One 62
• Extending Scales with Crossovers and Pass-Unders 63
• C- and G-major scale passages 63
• B-flat and F-major scale passages 64
• Performance Piece: Aria from La Cenerentola 65
• Chapter 5: Playing Intervals 67
• Playing Seconds with Different Finger Combinations 68
• Finger combination: Two and three 68
• Finger combination: Three and four 70
• Finger combination: One and two 70
• Finger combination: Four and five 72
• Playing Thirds with Different Finger Combinations 73
• Finger combination: One and three 73
• Finger combination: Two and four 73
• Finger combination: Three and five 75
• Finger combinations: One and four, two and five, one and five 76
• Playing Fourths with Different Finger Combinations 78
• Finger combinations: One and four, two and five 78
• Finger combinations: One and three, one and two 80
• Playing Fifths, Sixths, and Sevenths 82
• Exercise in fifths 82
• Exercise in fifths and sixths 83
• Exercise in fifths, sixths, and sevenths 83
• Performance Piece: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" 85
• Chapter 6: Playing Chords without Tension 87
• Chord Relaxation 88
• A simple two-chord progression 88
• A longer progression 88
• Voicing Chords 89
• Chord Repetition 90
• Pulsing rhythms 90
• Changing dynamics 91
• Simple Progressions, Adding Small Arm Motions 92
• Progression #1 93
• Progression #2 94
• Chord and Melody Combination Exercises 94
• Chord and melody combo #1 94
• Chord and melody combo #2 96
• Chord and melody combo #3 97
• Performance Piece: "Battle Hymn of the Republic" 98
• Part 3: Including Your Arms and Body 99
• Chapter 7: Extending Your Scales 101
• The 12 Major, Harmonic Minor, and Melodic Minor Scales 102
• C major, C harmonic minor, C melodic minor 102
• G major, G harmonic minor, G melodic minor 103
• D major, D harmonic minor, D melodic minor 104
• A major, A harmonic minor, A melodic minor 105
• E major, E harmonic minor, E melodic minor 106
• B major, B harmonic minor, B melodic minor 107
• F major, F harmonic minor, F melodic minor 108
• D major, C harmonic minor, C melodic minor 109
• A major, A harmonic minor, A melodic minor 110
• E major, E harmonic minor, E melodic minor 111
• B major, B harmonic minor, B melodic minor 112
• F major, F harmonic minor, F melodic minor 113
• The Three Diminished Scales 113
• Starting on C 114
• Starting on D 114
• Starting on D 115
• The Chromatic Scale 115
• The 12 Blues Scales 116
• C blues 116
• G blues 116
• D blues 116
• A blues 117
• E blues 117
• B blues 117
• F blues 118
• D blues 118
• A blues 118
• E blues 119
• B blues 119
• F blues 119
• Gaining Greater Command of Scales 119
• Varied articulation 120
• Varied rhythmic groupings 121
• Performance Piece: Variation VII from "Variations on 'Twinkle,
• Twinkle, Little Star'" 122
• Chapter 8: Parallel and Contrary Motion 125
• Parallel Movement at the Octave 126
• Parallel octave exercise #1 126
• Parallel octave exercise #2 127
• Parallel Movement at the Interval 127
• Parallel sixths 128
• Parallel tenths 129
• Contrary Motion Away from the Center 129
• Scalewise motion away from the center 130
• Chromatic motion away from the center 131
• Contrary Motion Toward the Center 132
• Scalewise motion toward the center 132
• Patterns toward the center 133
• Combination Movement Exercise 134
• Performance Piece: "Turkey in the Straw" 135
• Chapter 9: Footwork: Using the Damper Pedal 137
• Pedaling Chords 138
• Broken-chord pedaling 139
• Block-chord pedaling 140
• Pedaling Changes on a Single Line 141
• Uniform pedal changes 142
• Varied pedal changes 142
• Pedaling for Effect 143
• Blurred lines and long sustains 144
• Sustaining as the hands leave the keyboard 145
• Performance Piece: "Simple Gifts" 146
• Chapter 10: Jumping Across the Keyboard 149
• Jumping and Landing Accuracy Skills 150
• Note-to-note jumps 150
• Note-to-chord jumps 151
• Chord-to-chord jumps 152
• Mastering More Complicated Jumps 153
• Accents on the downbeat 154
• Accents on the upbeat 154
• Jumping with Both Hands Together 155
• Two-hand parallel motion jumps 156
• Two-hand contrary motion jumps 157
• Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns (with Pedal) 158
• Bass-note-to-chord pattern in 4/4 158
• Bass-note-to-chord pattern in 3/4 159
• Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns (without Pedal) 160
• Ragtime and stride pattern 161
• Waltz pattern 162
• Performance Piece: "Lily Pad Rag" 163
• Part 4: Integration and Independence 165
• Chapter 11: Playing Arpeggios 167
• Finger Jumps 167
• Jumping thirds 168
• Jumping fourths 169
• Jumping fifths 170
• The Arpeggiator 170
• Triad arpeggio exercise #1 171
• Triad arpeggio exercise #2 172
• Seventh-chord arpeggio exercise 173
• Broken Chords (and How to Fix Them) 173
• Alberti bass exercise 174
• Guitar-style broken chord exercise 175
• Blues-style broken chord exercise 176
• Octave and extended broken chord exercise 177
• Performance Piece: "Harp Heaven" 178
• Chapter 12: Alternating Hands 181
• Hand-to-Hand Scale Handoffs 181
• Scale handoff exercise #1 182
• Scale handoff exercise #2 183
• Hand-to-Hand Arpeggio Handoffs 184
• Arpeggio handoff exercise #1 185
• Arpeggio handoff exercise #2 186
• Crossing Over 187
• Crossing over with the right hand 188
• Crossing over with the left hand 189
• One Hand on Top 190
• Right hand on top exercise 190
• Left hand on top exercise 191
• Extreme Keyboard Positions 191
• Full Keyboard Exercises 193
• Full keyboard arpeggios 193
• Full keyboard triads 195
• Full keyboard seventh chords 196
• Chord "Drumming" 197
• Performance Piece: "El Choclo" 199
• Chapter 13: Stretching Out with Octaves and Broken Octaves 201
• Opening Up to the Octave 202
• Octave scale exercise 202
• Octave interval exercise 204
• Octave Jumps 205
• Exercise with shorter jumps 206
• Exercise with longer jumps 207
• Broken Octaves 207
• Exercise with wrist rotation 208
• Exercise with hand contraction and expansion 209
• Octave Chords 210
• Adding one inner note 211
• Adding two inner notes 212
• Performance Piece: "Schumann's Octave Workout" 213
• Chapter 14: Chord Progressions and Cadences 215
• Triad Progressions 216
• Diatonic triad progressions 216
• Chromatic triad progressions 218
• Seventh Chord Progressions 219
• Seventh chord progressions exercise #1 219
• Seventh chord progressions exercise #2 220
• Chord Cadences and Familiar Patterns 221
• Cadences 222
• Turnarounds and sequences 223
• Extended Chord Progressions 225
• Extended major-key chord progression 225
• Extended minor-key chord progression 226
• Chords in One Hand, Melody in the Other 227
• Chords with melody exercise #1 228
• Chords with melody exercise #2 229
• Performance Piece: "Awake, My Heart, and Sing" 230
• Chapter 15: Trilling Thrills and Other Fancy Ornaments 231
• Grace Notes 231
• Trills 233
• Mordents 235
• Turns 236
• Repeated Notes 237
• Repeated notes in triplet rhythms 238
• Repeated notes in eighth- and sixteenth-note rhythms 239
• R-R-R-Rolling Chords 239
• Rolling chords in the right hand 240
• Rolling chords in both hands 240
• The Glissando 241
• The Tremolo 242
• Performance Piece: "Caro Nome" 243
• Chapter 16: Maximum Independence: Challenging Rhythms and Syncopations 245
• Combining Scale and Arpeggio Patterns 246
• Independent rhythms, scales, and arpeggios #1 246
• Independent rhythms, scales, and arpeggios #2 247
• Exercises with Changing Note Values 249
• Scale patterns with changing note values 250
• Arpeggio patterns with changing note values 251
• Exercises with Changing Meters 252
• Changing from 6/8 to 3/4 252
• Expanding and contracting meter changes 253
• Syncopation Exercises 254
• Syncopation exercise #1 255
• Syncopation exercise #2 256
• Exercises with Polyrhythms 257
• Two in the right hand against three in the left 257
• Three in the right hand against two in the left 258
• Performance Piece: "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" 259
• Part 5: The Part of Tens 261
• Chapter 17: Ten Dances for Your Hands 263
• Jig: "Captain Jinks" 263
• Calypso: "Water Come-a Me Eye" 265
• Waltz: "Waltz from Faust" 266
• Tarantella 268
• Tango: "El Portenito" 269
• Mexican Hat Dance 270
• Polka: "Pizzicato Polka" 272
• Boogie: "Johnson Rag" 273
• "Hungarian Dance No 5" 275
• Gypsy Dance from Carmen 276
• Chapter 18: Ten Great Composers and Their Daily Workouts 279
• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) 280
• Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) 280
• Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) 280
• Karl Czerny (1791-1857) 280
• Claude Debussy (1862-1918) 280
• Enrique Granados (1867-1916) 281
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886) 281
• Edward MacDowell (1861-1908) 281
• Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) 281
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) 281
• Appendix: How To Use The Website 283
• Index 287