Piano Exercises For Dummies

Practice, practice, practice to play like Chopin or the Piano Man The piano will help you add a touch of fun to your life, impress your friends at parties, and even reduce stress. It even makes you better at math (really!). Piano Exercises For Dummies is at your service as you learn to make those 88 black and white keys sing. You’ll get a quick overview of the basics before diving into practice routines and sample songs that you can use to improve your skill, whatever your level. This book gives you online access to audio files of the exercises along with digital access to the sheet music shared in the book. Learn from an experienced pianist, composer, and arranger, and start making beautiful music, the Dummies way! Refresh your knowledge of the piano basics so you’re poised and prepared to play the right way Play enjoyable practice exercises and songs designed to teach specific skills and techniques in all genres Go online to access all the audio files, anytime, anywhere Bring a little more joy into your life by stepping up your piano know-how Piano Exercises For Dummies is for new and experienced pianists alike, and useful for improving your skill in any musical style.

Table of 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 Porteñito” 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 Frédéric 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