There are a number of exercises that are essential to good technique. Once you master these exercises, you’ll be able to play almost any passage from a physical standpoint. You can look at a section of music and be confidant that you’ll be able to learn it quickly. For each exercise, there is a specific way to practice it.
Practice all the exercises with correct form every time. Like every single time. Be disciplined about it because practicing them wrong won’t do you any good. You’ll just drill in the wrong technique and increase your chance for injury. So focus and do it right! Here are the main exercises you’re going to want to master:
1. Scales
Scales. I know, everyone hates them but they’re really the most critical exercise to develop technique. Pieces of music are full of scale-like patterns. If you look at almost any melody line, it will be full of snippets that look like mini-scales.
By knowing your scales well, you have learned all these parts of a melody without even practicing them directly! Scales are also important to orient your brain within a key. It can be difficult to remember what sharps and flats are in a key signature, but if you play scales enough you’ll not only learn the key signatures, but you’ll internalize them and have a deeper understanding of them. It’s almost like having a sixth sense where you can feel your way around the keyboard and know which notes are in the key and which are not.
The goal is to get your scales through four octaves in all the keys.
(btw, if you want a complete rundown on Scale Development, you can watch the webinar: Dominate Your Piano Scales in 5 Minutes a Day)
2. Arpeggios
The second most common lines are arpeggiated lines. Look at a melody and almost all the snippets will be either a mini scale or a mini arpeggio that outlines a chord. Just like scales, if you know your arpeggios well, you’ll already know all these little snippets before you even practice the piece!
Arpeggios also develop a more controlled, flexible wrist. The transition from the 3rd or 4th finger to the thumb forces you to turn and direct your wrist fluidly and accurately. This wrist flexibility will translate to a number of other different areas.
Now, these are different than the type of arpeggios I talk about in the Crazy Fast Piano Arpeggios lesson, (which goes over crossover arpeggios). These are just normal arpeggios, both hands playing together.
The goal is to get your arpeggios through four octaves in all the keys.
3. Chords
Chords are all over the place, and being able to play chords quickly in all inversions is a huge advantage to learning pieces faster. It’ll also help you improvise because your fingers will be able to “snap” to the chord shapes without you thinking about it and you can concentrate on the right hand. Practicing chords also helps tone production.
Start out with the Miyagi Technique as a beginner, and gradually move to full chords as you progress. When you do this exercise, you can really focus on getting that warm, round tone and develop a feel for that nice, even sound.
The goal is to get each inversion each major and minor chord sounding warm and full.
4. Broken Chords
Broken chords are found all the time in various left hand accompaniment patterns. Practicing broken chords also develops the fundamental over-under wrist motion you want to develop for anything you play on piano.
The goal is to be able to play broken chords through three octaves in all of the keys.
5. Octave Scales
I love octaves. You can take any single note melody line, play it in octaves, and it sounds way more exciting and way more powerful. You can also put it in the left hand bass notes to get that deep, commanding sound. Just my opinion, but regardless octaves are in a ton of music, so you might as well learn how to play them well. Octaves also help you develop a super relaxed wrist, which is critical to everything you play.
The goal is to be able to play octave scales through three octaves in all of the keys.
Piano Technique Mastery 2: Play Challenging Pieces
The first part will make your technique stronger, but you need to actually play pieces to transfer the new technique into playing ability. So challenge yourself!
So find pieces that inspire you and challenge you. Pieces you think sound awesome. And learn them. Etudes are great for this. Etudes are pieces that are specifically designed to work on one aspect of piano technique. But they still sound cool, they’re fun to play, and you can perform them as a piece of music. Check out some of Chopin’s etudes, they’re my personal favorite.
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