Excellent Training and Healthy Technique
Posture and Hand position
The way you sit in front of your piano is essential. The main thing is for you to be comfortable and sit at a right height so that you do not feel as you are trying to reach up from the bottom. Your hand should be slightly curved. Imagine, there is a bubble under your hand, so if you lower your hand, the bubble will pop. This will allow us to form natural curve in your fingers which will make you play quicker, more accurately and avoid injury. The arms and wrists should be in relaxed floating position and the main position of the hand a wrist must be in a straight line.
Finger movement on the Piano
Make sure your fingers are relaxed and not stiff. With you finger tips, feel and press down the piano keys, but do not hammer the keys harshly. Gently move each one of your fingers up and down, stroking the piano keys. This will make you finger muscles get used to playing the keys on the piano.
Different positions of the wrists
Let’s start braking down the different wrist movements in piano playing.
The wrist should be in the same level with the rest of the lower arm
Use your wrist to swing up and down in waving motion
Use rotary movement when practising with your five-finger position or playing trills
All of these will add to your technique development, but please avoid using the fixed position of your arms and wrists as this can cause injury and try to be as relaxed as possible.
Start to play with your 5 fingers
It’s important to know your finger numbers. Most teachers usually start teaching the students with placing their finger number 1 in their right hand on the on the middle C and they slowly work the way up to G. The left hand also moves in the opposite direction, from C to F.
It is crucial to know your musical alphabet - C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C.
Keyboard Fingering for C major Scale with right hand
Starting on your right hand, the typical finger pattern for the major scales will be as follows:
First play C – D – E (1 – 2 – 3) and then move the thumb under your hand to F (1) and then play G – A – B – C (2 – 3- -4 – 5).
After you reach the top C, come down the keyboard and at the note F – cross your finger over the third finger, and continue to play with fingers 3 – 2 – 1 back to C.
RH: Upwards movement [ 1 - 2 - 3 ] - [ 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 ]
RH: Downwards movement [ 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ] - [ 3 - 2 - 1 ]
The left-hand C major scale finger patterns
First play C – B – A (1 – 2 – 3) and then move the thumb under your hand to G (1) and then play F – E – D – C (2 – 3 – 4 – 5)
After you reach the bottom C, comeback up the keyboard and at the note G (1) – cross your third finger over the first finger, and continue to play with fingers 3 – 2 – 1 back up to middle C.
LH: Downwards movement [ 1 - 2 - 3 ] - [ 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 ]
LH: Upwards movement [ 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ] - [ 3 - 2 - 1 ]
Try and play the all eight notes Legato (smoothly), so the notes don’t loose their sound and enjoy your first scale!
Learning your basic chords and improvisation
In your first lesson, you are most likely to be taught the basic C Major triad chord. This chord consists of three notes that are played together at the same time. Place your thumb on the C note, skip a note, then play the E note with your third finger, skip one key again and play the next key which is the G note, with your fifth finger.
You will also be able to play random notes with your other hand and accompany the C major chord. This is a great time for you to engage in your imagination and improvise. Playing chords is great fun and you will feel as though you are slowly mastering the piano.
Notation and basic theory
The next step will introduce the four main ways that notes connect or relate to one another.
· Intervals
· Harmony
· Melody
· Rhythm
You will learn playing your pieces through music theory and though reading just one note at a time and you will learn to understand how notes actually fit in with all of the other notes to create the bigger picture which is the piece as a whole.
In my opinion, the children’s books are the most important to start with and it doesn’t matter if you are an adult learner. This easy detailed notation moves slowly, ensuring that you understand each note, basic theory, note values, keys, the basic rhythms and symbols on the stave. You will see that you will develop your music knowledge and technique faster as some of the adult books have too much information and it can be very confusing.
Enrolment for exams
When your piano teacher thinks that you are ready, they will enrol you for an external exam like the exams of Trinity College of Music London, or the ABRSM (Royal Schools of music).
Here comes the best part! Whether you are playing for fun, or attending your graded exam, you will start to feel the pleasure of interpreting your music and getting lost in just playing your piece. Remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you are enjoying it!
Remember to have fun! Create wonderful sound and mood for you and your audience!
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