Unbelievable good practice suggestions! I have been picking up my piano study again more seriously after not having studied since I graduated piano in 1991 and these videos are extremely helpful to fill in my technical gaps. Thanks so much! I subscribed even to the Piano magazine because of them!
Merci for this. Three weeks into piano lessons since my retirement, and I'm discovering a language that I never was able to speak. Very important points taken on the biomechanics of the upper extremity which is my speciality. As a Chiropractor who has suffered a major orthopedic problem in both shoulders, I changed my techniques since I could no longer manipulate. But that opened up a whole new world.
Very well presented and can be easily followed by anyone interested in playing the scales and arpeggios correctly. My piano professors in college taught me almost identical to what you recorded. It works, especially when playing the Masters of piano, Chopin, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, etc. Thank you for the video.
Thank you, Graham! I have a problem in that my left thumb is dislocated and cannot be relocated. Hence it is somewhat difficult to use as a lever. I have to use 'thumb over' to accomplish the arpeggios, but am still persevering with my scales and technical work as an amateur. You have helped me in my considerations.
There is one thing to make arpeggios a lot easier if musically feasible: Play all the notes super short and super quiet. Imagine you play c-d-e in the same octave with 1-2-3 and repeat and repeat. That is very easy to play fast and even. Now imagine at the same time, someone moves the piano sideways. Then, the c-d-e-c-d-e... becomes an arpeggio c3-e3-g3-c4-e4-g4 Practically, you just move the arm instead of moving the piano and you have your arpeggio in theory. And what makes arpeggios difficult are the obstructions to the theory: 1) The relative speed between arm and fingers wants your fingers to stay on the keyboard as short as possible 2) The spacing is not uniform, i.e., if you move your arm with uniform speed, you still need some sideways wrist rotation (vertical rotation axis) to compensate. With this technique, any other wrist rotation should be kept to a minimum (you also don't need wrist movement to play c-d-e-c-d-e) What this means practically: a) Equipment is key: You need uniform touch of the keys, and precise acoustic feedback. If you use an electric piano, reduce the release time to a minimum or even practice with clavi so that you can hear how short your notes really are. Dynamical feedback is also important which is a downside of the clavi sound. b) Practice slowly with strong accents: Play every third or fourth note with a strong accent while keeping the rest at piano/pianissimo and staccato. Also change the timing, e.g., let a short break after every accent. c) Don't hesitate to speed up occasionally (without accents) because one can do a lot wrong with the technique at slow speeds, so always check if your current technique is feasible at higher speeds. Particularly, don't do hand staccato but finger staccato at slow speeds. Also check that your wrist movement is small at slow speeds.
Another pianist said one must learn the “one cheek” method of playing the piano. He meant that we we need to move the body as best we can to keep the body in the centre of where the music has taken the hands to.
Having recently spent time in America. It is very refreshing to listen to a speaker who takes trouble to properly pronounce all of the letters in all of the words. The American way appears to be to ignore the consonants at the end of their words.
yea its certainly odd considering that the video has almost 600,00 views but most people probably just don't have the attention span to actually learn the content
Excellent; I just wish I'd watched this video fifty years ago! Thank you.
Unbelievable good practice suggestions! I have been picking up my piano study again more seriously after not having studied since I graduated piano in 1991 and these videos are extremely helpful to fill in my technical gaps. Thanks so much! I subscribed even to the Piano magazine because of them!
this is a gold mine. Graham Fitch saved me from myself!
Wow. You explain everything so effortlessly. I wish I had watched this sooner. I can feel almost an immediate improvement. Thank you so much!
So many good reminders and pointer for those of us who didn’t go far enough but still are passionate and want to play!
Thanks, Graham, for sharing your knowledge with the general public. It’s worth every second.
For a beginner it is very helpfull to watch this as early as possible, and then come back again when reaching some proficiency.
Merci for this. Three weeks into piano lessons since my retirement, and I'm discovering a language that I never was able to speak. Very important points taken on the biomechanics of the upper extremity which is my speciality. As a Chiropractor who has suffered a major orthopedic problem in both shoulders, I changed my techniques since I could no longer manipulate. But that opened up a whole new world.
Such wonderfully clear demonstration and explanation. Thank you.
Very well presented and can be easily followed by anyone interested in playing the scales and arpeggios correctly. My piano professors in college taught me almost identical to what you recorded. It works, especially when playing the Masters of piano, Chopin, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, etc. Thank you for the video.
This is so nice!! I hope lots of people watch this to improve scales and arpeggios effectively ~
Phenomenal video, the best teachers can make complicated topics sound easy
Man, talk about bringing class! This is the finishing school of piano technique! Love it!!!
Wow, best tutorial ever! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing such great insight and information. Cheers!
So helpful! Thank you. I was trying to rotate my wrist, but didn't realize it was coming from the elbow.
It is extremely helpful! Thank you so much!
Thank god for this
Excellent instruction. Subscribed!
Great vidéo !!! Thank you so much for these essential advices !
Thank you, Graham! I have a problem in that my left thumb is dislocated and cannot be relocated. Hence it is somewhat difficult to use as a lever. I have to use 'thumb over' to accomplish the arpeggios, but am still persevering with my scales and technical work as an amateur. You have helped me in my considerations.
There is one thing to make arpeggios a lot easier if musically feasible: Play all the notes super short and super quiet.
Imagine you play c-d-e in the same octave with 1-2-3 and repeat and repeat. That is very easy to play fast and even. Now imagine at the same time, someone moves the piano sideways. Then, the c-d-e-c-d-e... becomes an arpeggio c3-e3-g3-c4-e4-g4
Practically, you just move the arm instead of moving the piano and you have your arpeggio in theory. And what makes arpeggios difficult are the obstructions to the theory:
1) The relative speed between arm and fingers wants your fingers to stay on the keyboard as short as possible
2) The spacing is not uniform, i.e., if you move your arm with uniform speed, you still need some sideways wrist rotation (vertical rotation axis) to compensate. With this technique, any other wrist rotation should be kept to a minimum (you also don't need wrist movement to play c-d-e-c-d-e)
What this means practically:
a) Equipment is key: You need uniform touch of the keys, and precise acoustic feedback. If you use an electric piano, reduce the release time to a minimum or even practice with clavi so that you can hear how short your notes really are. Dynamical feedback is also important which is a downside of the clavi sound.
b) Practice slowly with strong accents: Play every third or fourth note with a strong accent while keeping the rest at piano/pianissimo and staccato. Also change the timing, e.g., let a short break after every accent.
c) Don't hesitate to speed up occasionally (without accents) because one can do a lot wrong with the technique at slow speeds, so always check if your current technique is feasible at higher speeds. Particularly, don't do hand staccato but finger staccato at slow speeds. Also check that your wrist movement is small at slow speeds.
i have never seen or heard it this way. thanks
Immensely helpful!
Thank you👍
Excellent, a million thanks
Another pianist said one must learn the “one cheek” method of playing the piano. He meant that we we need to move the body as best we can to keep the body in the centre of where the music has taken the hands to.
thank you
Having recently spent time in America. It is very refreshing to listen to a speaker who takes trouble to properly pronounce all of the letters in all of the words. The American way appears to be to ignore the consonants at the end of their words.
Fantastic!👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Gets a thumbs up from me.
hello ,i want to know if the amazon magazine-practising piano of Graham Fitch the same with the content here pls?
why does this video only have 4 comments
yea its certainly odd considering that the video has almost 600,00 views but most people probably just don't have the attention span to actually learn the content
@@lutz4432 I think most people just enjoy the content and take notes. I don't comment much but I greatly appreciate these videos Graham makes.
@@jacobras yea they are really great
Might be an embedded video on their website or something so it gets all those views but no direct way to comment on it
Please tell me what is that piece at the beginning of this???
yo wtf why is the only comment on this 6 year old video with 600k views from 4 weeks ago?
@@weaponkid1121 Allemagne from Rameau's Suite in A minor, the announcer said.
@@weaponkid1121 I think comments were disabled in the past
600k views but 8 comments 😳
Actually filming his whole arm would have been helpful, as well as not wearing a jacket.
Brilliant, thank you!!!