Various ways to play notes one by one. You can try different articulations (legato, staccato,….) and dynamics (piano, forte,…) when there is no specific indication. Play each exercise once with one hand and once with the other hand. To simplify the exercises the hands are very often in a position with five fingers on five consecutive keys.
1 – Each finger
Play separately each note by doing one large movement of the joints of the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist and the finger (your arm moves as a whip). More…
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2 – Straight ahead
Use all the successive fingers in one way and then the other.
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3 – Small jumps
Each finger move one note left and right.
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4 – Back and forth
Pairs of fingers alternate.
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5 – Jumps
Jumps different intervals with broken arpeggios. To simplify the exercise and focus on the finger’s equality you can use the same sequence of notes for each finger. When you are comfortable it is interesting to play it with closed eyes. More…
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6 – Extensions
Play it legato. This exercise is about extension and also about moving fingers close and away of each others. You can adapt the intervals to your hands. Don’t stretch too much your fingers in general and particularly for this exercise. More…
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7 – Tricky situation
Sometimes there is no other solution than jumping this way. Play as legato as possible. To do that, move your arm as fast as possible. Don’t stretch neither cross your fingers.
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8 – Thumb under and the others over
Cross your fingers to get the perfect legato. The thumb pass under the other finger, and the other finger over. There is an exception when finger 5 play a white key before the thumb play a black key then it may be easier to pass the thumb over the 5. More…
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9 – Thumb under and the others over extended
To be played legato. The intervals given here are an indication to be adjusted to your hands.
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10 – Slow repeated notes
Each note is repeated three times with the same finger. Use the rebound of the note. You can play the same note with all fingers if you prefer.
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11 – Fast repeated notes
Using different fingers help to go faster. Turn your wrist when playing.
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12 – Substitutions
Use repeating notes to change finger and hand position.
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13 – Silent substitutions
Play the note and keep it pressed all along the exercise.
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14 – Appoggiaturas
You can train by playing the grace notes and normal notes exactly at the same time. Once you get it, then slow a bit the fingers playing grace notes.
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15 – Gruppetti
If you prefer you can play the same notes with the different fingerings. The 34321 fingering is very efficient but only if the key played with 1 is a white key.
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16 – Mordents
If you prefer you can play the same notes with different fingerings.
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17 – Trills
Various fingerings for trills. More…
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18 – Tremolo
Here you need a relaxed wrist.More…
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19 – Repeating notes with two hands
You can start slowly and accelerate progressively. Relax your arms and wrists. Fingerings below notes are for the left hand, above notes for the right hand.
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20 – Crossing hands
When going upward the left hand pass over the right hand. When going downward the right hand pass over the left hand. You can also pass under because it is sometimes necessary bu its more difficult. Fingerings below notes are for the left hand, above notes for the right hand. More…
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21 – Glissando
If you play this set in a scale starting with a white key (e.g C, G, A…) do a glissando on white keys. For other scales (e.g Eb, F#,…) do a glissando on black keys. I suggest 3 octaves of glissando.
There are different possibilities and here is just one.
With your right hand upward, hand back face the keyboard and you play with the nail of the finger 3 or 2. It’s important to use the nail itself and not the skin at the base of nail because it can be very painful !
When going downward put fingers 1 and 2 against each other and play with the nail of the 1. It is the same for the left hand but use 3 or 2 downward and 1 upward.
For a glissando on black keys use the fingers 2 and 3 against each other and play with the middle of the fingers.
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