Finger Speed Drill (even in rep!) for Piano | Intermediate Lesson | Pianist Academy

[@PianistAcademy1]

Hey hey! If you find the background music distracting or annoying, you can watch this video without it by clicking here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqGco5t8ZqmXa5I. I appreciate all of your comments helping me to improve the videos on this channel!

[@JG_1998]

For finger dexterity I play the chromatic scale with just 3-4-5 and also with just 1-2. Been doing this many times per day (20-40) for over a year and it's REALLY helped with everything from voicing to octaves to scales/arpeggios and beyond. They aren't easy exercises at first (especially 1-2), over time you can get quite fast with the 3-4-5 fingering (1-2 not so much lol). The grouping and thumb cross isolating exercises you suggest here are also extremely effective and I highly recommend everyone try them. Also, for scales I like to practice them by playing them in chords/double notes, and making sure that the connection between each group is very legato. This trick also works for arpeggios. My problem with scales now is playing them fast in both hands at once, RH and LH separately haven't been a problem at fast tempi, but hands together still feels awkward. Maybe you can make a video on that subject one day! Also tips on how to play high up on the keyboard (like in the chopin nocturne) would also be helpful, I find once I reach the highest octave I really have to lean over to keep my arm in line with my hand and maintain control over the notes.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Interesting! Have you worked on Chopin's 2nd etude? Lots of chromatic stuff with 3-4-5. And thanks for the two questions. I'll mark down tackling some tricks to keep to the hands together. The question about playing up high I can kind of answer here: your elbow can guide the way up the keyboard. Letting that happen, I can play that passage in the Chopin without leaning at all, while keeping the arm nearly perfectly straight/perpendicular to the keys. However, if I were to perform the piece, I'd lean quite a bit myself. My normal position at the piano is centered between Middle C and the B below it... my body is centered in line with the gap between those two keys. When I play high passages (like the Chopin), I lean to the right more than an octave. In the Chopin in particular, my head ends up lined up with the G at the top of the treble staff, or G5, an octave and a half higher than my 'foundational' position. Leaning, like maybe what you are already doing, is essential for keeping our bodies lined up, as long as we have a good posture on the bench and good core engagement to keep our balance.

[@JG_1998]

@@PianistAcademy1 I haven't tried Chopin etude op 10 no.2 yet because I'm really scared of the double notes that chopin works into the normal 3-4-5 scale, I'm not sure if I could handle that yet. And thanks for the advice on playing high up on the keys, I guess I'll just have to get embrace the leaning, I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. It really only comes up in more extreme situations so I guess it won't normally be a prolonged position. I didn't know it was ok to sit between middle C and B though, I sit at the E above middle C. Will try to sit between c and b to see if that helps any other aspects of my playing.

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@JG_1998 I've never studied that Etude to bring it all the way to performance tempo and musicality, but if it's any consolation, I'd probably spend a good 6 months working on it before being close to feeling good about it. If you want to tackle it, just go very slowly, one bar or phrase at a time! Yes, leaning both left and right is not only acceptable but also good and helpful, as long as we are supporting our lower body the right way (left foot is our anchor, sitting near front of bench to help facilitate movement). I'm in the middle of releasing a series of videos on posture and this stuff on foot and bench was included in the first episode. The next part of the series will probably come out this coming weekend and I talk about leaning, how too many studying pianists can get "stuck" in one position on the bench and how that can cause tension, and I introduce an idea of movement like a pendulum: way can maintain structure through our leaning and move as necessary, but the body is never static, especially at the ends of the "swings" or leans. The lateral position we choose can depend a bit on the repertoire we are working on. As a very general rule, the more advanced the repertoire gets, the more to the left the pianist should be sitting. This keeps the hands and arms in the most neutral position for a large percentage of the piece while still allowing us to lean (mostly to the right, but sometimes left) when needed.

[@JG_1998]

@@PianistAcademy1 Maybe I will tackle op 10 no. 2, but before that I think I want to learn some of the more "musical" sounding chopin etudes that aren't so fiendishly difficult. I'm honestly not sure what my "level" is since I'm self taught, so starting something like 10 no.2 on my own seems like a big leap. I started the revolutionary etude recently and I'm having a hard time with clarity in the opening LH hand runs and also playing the right hand melody in time with the left hand. I'm definitely looking forward to your video on leaning, and I had no idea the rule was to sit to the left the more advanced the repertoire.

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@JG_1998 All of the Chopin Etudes are extremely difficult, so good for you for picking one up and just diving in!

[@camorton2]

Great advice, I'm going to try it... I've never been able to play anything (or even believe) the speed indicated on classical music

[@safarygirl]

I just love it! I wish I had found you a lot earlier.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks for watching, and I'm glad this was helpful for you!

[@gbg3663]

congrats for your work!

[@bunnyhollowcrafts]

This is awesome! And just exactly what I’m looking for! Thank you so so much!!!!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Yay! Thanks for watching!

[@wildrice1971]

Great video! Really well-explained on the technique and follow-up demo in a real piece. Thanks so much!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Awesome, I'm glad you found this helpful! Thanks for watching :-)

[@cutiejumps4088]

Very nice and clear video lesson

[@cutiejumps4088]

Like the angels you use

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful!

[@lzorrila01]

🙏🏽I really love arpeggios so much! Thank you Charles I will use this to increase dexterity and speed! That was brilliant! You are a very gifted teacher. I appreciate you making this video!!!! 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks so much for watching! Glad it was helpful!

[@christophersurnname9967]

Excellent video, very helpful. Many thanks.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks for watching!

[@aBachwardsfellow]

(re-posted from another video) -- these are some of the drills and technics I've found helpful for developing diatonic velocity and control: For overall smoothing of scales, my prof in college had us use groups of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 over 3 - 4 octaves -- both accenting and not accenting the longer note. Note that some of the turn-arounds at the top and bottom are "interesting" -- sometimes one has to play through 3 - 4 octaves several times, or reverse one or two octaves somewhere to "land" on the final bottom note: 3 notes: 8th 16th 16th 8th 16th 16th 8th ... c d e f g a b ... 3 notes: 16th 16th 8th 16th 16th 8th ... c d e f g a 4 notes: 8th (triplet 16th 16th 16th) 8th (triplet 16th 16th 16th) 8th ... c d e f g a b c d ... 4 notes: (triplet 16th 16th 16th) 8th (triplet 16th 16th 16th) 8th ... c d e f g a b c ... 5 notes: 1/4 16th 16th 16th 16th 1/4 16th 16th 16th 16th 1/4 ... c d e f g a b c d e f... 5 notes: 16th 16th 16th 16th 1/4 16th 16th 16th 16th 1/4 ... c d e f g a b c d e ... 6 notes: 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 8th (dotted) 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 8th (dotted) c d e f g a b c d e f g ... For 7 and 9 notes, the last note played is repeated as the starting note for the next group: 7 notes: 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 8th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 8th c d e f g a b b c d e f g a ... 9 notes: 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 8th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 16th 8th c d e f g a b c d d e f g a b c d e ...

[@chowbow573]

I’m actually currently working on this Chopin nocturne! And I’m on my piano right now while watching this video of yours and trying this technique. It’s only been a few minutes of trying this technique and I gotta say, it really is effective! Thanks for this video!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thank you! Glad it’s helping!!

[@derinderruheliegt]

Great explanation on using the impulse from the elbow to move the thumb along! One very important thing I learned about tucking the thumb...it should not be an entirely lateral motion, as this creates quite a bit of tension. Rather there should be a little vertical component, almost as though you’re closing your hand (like a crabs claw or “pincher”). Don’t _push_ your thumb across parallel to your fingers, allow it to move naturally up _into_ your fingers. If you make this “pincher” imitation with your hand...or a “talking hand” might be another illustration...your thumb naturally goes between/behind 3 and 4, with almost no tension. In application, such as actually playing a scale this way, I find my thumb doesn’t quite reach and touch 3 or 4, especially as speed increases. It’s more of mentally aiming for the “pincher” to close completely, though it may not fully happen at a fast tempo. Just as your thumb is reaching the next respective key, you open up your hand again to the natural playing position. Side note: I’ve spent an embarrassingly large portion of my _life_ trying to perfect that 35-note passage :)

[@PianistAcademy1]

Yes, I completely agree with this. I typically find myself teaching the “pincher” position when talking about choosing fingerings. And yes, it’s also good to remember that the faster the rhythm or tempo, the less finger legato and the less finger motion… more is happening with lateral movement of the arm allowing the wrist to follow. That’s where my reference to “throwing” the hand comes from so the focus is on movement from further up the mechanism, while supplementing with only a little bit of the thumb tuck. Thanks so much for watching and also for such a thorough comment!

[@derinderruheliegt]

And thank you for engaging! Great content and superb production quality all-around!

[@recitationofthequranrecita9793]

thank you so much,before this mu maximum speed was about 400 notes per minute, but after just an hour it is now 450 notes

[@Sam_Saraguy]

Very helpful, thank you! (technical note - I suggest greatly reducing the volume of the background piano music on the intro and outro - like cut it in half or even more. It makes it very difficult to maintain attention on what you are saying.)

[@PianistAcademy1]

Ok, thanks Sam! Would you suggest no music at all? I appreciate your thoughts!

[@Sam_Saraguy]

@@PianistAcademy1 I think it's nice to have it there for intro and outro, just need to scale back the gain so it doesn't steal attention away from you. It doesn't take much to be effective at filling in the background.

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@Sam_Saraguy sounds good, thank you for sharing!

[@alisonduffy6206]

@@PianistAcademy1 Hi Charles, I love your videos but find the background music terribly distracting. Perhaps have none at all while you're talking. All the best

[@serwoolsley]

Music is fine, just cut the volume a bit

[@billligon4005]

Can you do a video son speeding up the Revolutionary Etude and Ocean Etude??

[@PianistAcademy1]

I'll put an Ocean Etude masterclass on my to do list for the coming year!

[@chowbow573]

Do you have a video covering about trills and what techniques to use to execute them properly? I’m currently working on this nocturne and I’m struggling onto playing consistent trills.

[@PianistAcademy1]

I do have a video on the Mozart Trill exercise, but nothing else yet about trills. Have you tried incorporating rotation into a slow version of your trill for this nocturne?

[@chowbow573]

@@PianistAcademy1 yes I have tried rotating with my wrists and it does work effectively especially when it comes to executing black and white key trills, but I struggle a lot when I trill in black keys. Do you have any insights onto solving this?

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@chowbow573 Sometimes inconsistency in trills can be due to a little too much tension in the hand which causes the fingers to not always execute the right way. Try some subtle wrist lifting and dropping, combined with possibly moving the fingers slightly up the key (toward the fall board) while you trill on the black keys. The purpose here is to keep the wrist and forearm supple and flexible, hopefully eliminating any grabbing in the palm of the hand or in the forearm that's preventing us from executing those trills. Also, a more simple but still effective technique: don't trill faster than you currently can. It's still a trill even if it's closer to 16ths notes than 64ths or something like that. I spent quite a lot of my formative piano years trilling much more slowly than I do now. One other tidbit: consistency at a slower tempo/rhythm always sound better, more musical, and more exciting/emotional than inconsistency at a faster tempo/rhythm.

[@angeles3527]

Hi Charles, I tried this this morning and I can see how it's really going to help me with an issue I have about hand coordination in descending scales. My left hand descending scale always tends to slightly lag behind the right hand one. This is preventing me from reaching faster speed on scales. I think the problem lies with the thumb passage in the left hand, so I'll be building this exercise into my practice routine for a few days to see if it fixes it. (By the way, I think I called you George in previous comments, sorry about that!). I suspect this exercise will be very useful for arpeggios too, which I really need for the E major ascending arpeggio in the Chopin Waltz in A minor I'm working on now. Thank you so much for such high quality content!

[@PianistAcademy1]

You are welcome! And no worries on the name thing 😁 I’m glad you will be implementing this in your practice… and yes I think it will also apply wonderfully to the Chopin arpeggios!

[@warrenw7716]

Very helpful tips! Thank you. I’m steadily making progress. Any suggestions on the placement/angle of the forearm, wrist, & hand while playing the 35-note passage? I’m currently “stuck” at a certain speed, which is slower than intended tempo. I practice this passage often, yet I’m unable to increase my speed proficiently (at tempo). Thank you!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks! Warren, the question about angle is difficult to answer without an image. In general, we want to keep the forearm "behind" the wrist and hand as we move up and down for most passages, this one included. There is a bit of an advanced technique of allowing the the wrist to slightly tilt in the direction of the passage which can help facilitate some speed, but really that should be reserved for after you've achieved scales in both hands playing 16ths at Q = 160 or close to. That "tilt" can help go beyond 160 to 200, but if the fingers aren't doing what they are supposed to to get to 160, the tilt won't help us. This piece is listed in the RCM syllabus as "level 9" which makes it squarely "advanced," but those fast scale passages near the end are well into diploma level to execute at "concert pianist" speed. So, to kick it off... are your scales at RCM level 9 at least? That would be scales at Q = 104 played in 16ths. If you are there, you can think about drilling this passage in particular to get the speed beyond that and into the realm of what's needed. If you aren't there, we simply need more time practicing the fundamentals of finger and arm movement. There isn't really a shortcut for "putting the hours in" to get there.

[@warrenw7716]

@@PianistAcademy1 Thank you! It’s not that I’m impatient; rather, I welcome technical advice to improve my practicing and eventually to internalize what I’ve learned. I’ve always appreciated your technical advice and patience as I continue to wade through difficult pieces. 🎹 Onward!!

[@cutiejumps4088]

Can I use this method to practice scales in other keys, not only C major

[@PianistAcademy1]

100% yes! In fact, you can use this any time you have a fast passage in repertoire that has finger or thumb crosses!

[@cutiejumps4088]

@@PianistAcademy1 thank you so much! This method helps me to increase the tempo and sounds very even.

[@beethovensg]

To play fast practice slow and relax- with a metronome.

[@PianistAcademy1]

This is always good advice! Have you been able to build to very fast speeds with this method? I've found that the approach to the technique changes at a certain point, somewhere around 16ths at 150bpm. Beyond that point, no amount of slow practice seems to help me or my students continue to accelerate. The students usually claim to be 'stuck' and try as they might, they simply fall behind the metronome within just a few notes.

[@aBachwardsfellow]

​@@PianistAcademy1 -- "16ths at 150bpm" no longer sounds like "slow and relaxed" -- one has definitely moved into a different technic at that point --

[@recitationofthequranrecita9793]

There is a problem, when you play them, you can’t hear them clearly so you don’t know are they equal or not

[@PianistAcademy1]

That ability to discern at such high speeds will come with more time and ear training practice!

[@annetteklmo5518]

Thank you so much for your good advices. Just a little feedback: Could you talk a little slower :-))

[@PianistAcademy1]

Thanks for watching, Annette! I'll try to talk more slowly, yes :-)

[@annamariac4451]

Too fast for instruction...

[@laurenth7187]

Well, speed is actually not about the fingers. Good luck.

[@PianistAcademy1]

It’s not *only* about the fingers. But if the fingers, or any of the rest of the playing mechanism, doesn’t move then no sound will happen. And if the fingers or the rest of the playing mechanism don’t move efficiently and properly, the body will always get in the way of our playing. So yes, the fingers absolutely have to be involved in some way. We can’t simply think “go faster” and have it happen. The drill also incorporates arm movement and wrist movement, so it’s not only fingers involved. I’m actually incredibly anti-finger-only playing, so I’m not sure what about this video made you think I’m teaching from the fingers down.