David Pearl is a freelance pianist, composer, and arranger. He is the author of Chord Theory Explained, Learn to Play Classic Rock Piano From the Masters; books of jazz transcriptions; arrangements of rock, jazz, and classical pieces; and opera arias for piano.

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...