Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to be doing another finger power activity.
The last one we did was called hand over hand chords.
Today we're going to be learning hand over hand arpeggios.
That's right, arpeggio.
This is an italian word that means a group of notes that you play one at a time.
It's a chord, but broken.
Broken? Yes, a broken chord. It means you play the notes one at a time instead of all
together.
Remember I told you a chord is a group of two or more notes.
Well when it's a broken chord, it's the same notes just played one at a time.
When you do an arpeggio we'll need three notes this time instead of just two.
When we did a chord before, we just used DO and SO.
Now we're going to use DO MI and SO.
That makes a skipping pattern. DO MI SO.
And just like we did with hand over hand chords, the pattern goes:
left hand, right hand, left hand crosses over, right hand.
And then we go back down. Right hand, left hand, right hand crosses over, left hand.
Will you practice that with me?
So just move your hands in the air along with me and say left hand and right hand.
Here we go. Left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand.
Now the right hand starts up high. Right hand, left hand, right hand crosses over, left hand.
Good work.
Now get yourself seated at the piano, and remember to sit right in the middle of the
piano.
If your piano has a name written on it like my piano, you'll want to sit right in front
of that.
Remember not to sit too close to the keys.
And when you're going up and down the piano don't slide around on the bench
because that takes time and energy.
It looks more professional and it's better for the body to just lean down low
when you're playing low, or lean up high.
And you are always just sitting right in the middle.
Today we are going to do our arpeggio in C position.
I'm going to grab some color notes
so we can practice finding the three notes we'll need for C position.
Now, on the screen, can you point to the note that is C somewhere around here?
If you are pointing to this note, you are correct.
Then we are going to do a note that is a skip above C next.
Can you point to the note that is a skip above C?
If you are pointing right here, you are correct.
We can call these two notes DO and MI or C and E.
Now, where is the note that's a skip above E?
If you are pointing right here, you are correct.
These three notes make a chord.
That's called a C-major chord.
And if I play all three of them together it sounds like this.
But we are going to play it like a broken chord or an arpeggio which will sound like
this.
DO MI SO.
Now we could also sing the letter names like this: C E G.
When we play hand over hand arpeggios,
our hands are going to take turns playing those three notes,
first time going up four times and then back down four times.
I'll let you watch me once, and then I'd like you to try it with me on your own piano at
home.
So I'm sitting right in the middle of the piano and I'm kind of leaning to the left
a little bit.
I'm not going down to the very lowest C on the piano,
just one C above where I can comfortably reach to my left.
And here's how I'm going to do it.
DO MI SO DO MI SO my left hand crosses over
DO MI SO now my right hand again DO MI SO.
Coming down SO MI DO left hand SO MI DO
cross over SO MI DO last time SO MI DO.
This time why don't you try it with me, and we'll sing the letter names this time.
Last time we sang DO MI SO, this time let's sing the letter names C E G.
Here we go, try it with me.
C E G next hand C E G left hand jumps over C E G right hand C E G.
Now we're going back down G E C left hand G E C right hand jumps over G E C last time
G E C.
Here are a few little tips to make sure that you're playing your best.
First of all, it's always good to have the next hand ready as early as possible.
Otherwise you might have to pause in between,
and in music we try not to pause but always try to keep the beat moving.
So when my left hand is starting, my right hand is not just hanging out on my lap,
it's getting ready early so it's already in position.
I have both of my hands in position ready to go.
And then while my right hand is playing, it's okay to let the left hand already start crossing
over.
And then while the left hand is playing, the right hand is getting ready.
Let's try it one more time, this time singing DO MI SO
and think about getting our hands ready early.
So start with the left hand in position, it's going to be the first one to play,
but your right hand also is already in it's position for when it's the right hand's turn.
Here we go with the left hand singing the DO MI SO words.
Ready go. DO MI SO. Right hand DO left hand is getting ready SO.
DO MI right hand is getting ready DO MI SO.
Now notice my left hand stayed where it was when my right hand was playing
because this is where it needs to be in a minute so don't take it out of position.
Keep it where it belongs.
Now let's come back down. SO MI DO. Left hand's turn.
SO right hand is getting ready SO MI left hand is getting ready SO MI DO.
Great work.
My last tip is to remember to always keep your fingers in great piano posture when you
play this.
And let the wrist feel almost like a trampoline.
Let's pretend for a moment that these two are legs and this is my little trampoline
man.
Every time I play a note there is going to be a little bounce.
Now, whenever a trampoline bounces down, does it stay down?
No, unless you have a broken trampoline.
It always bounces back up. So whenever you play a note it's going to bounce down,
but then it bounces back up.
And then when it bounces down again you play the next note, next note.
So there's always a down bounce, then an up bounce.
With your fingers touching the keys but not actually playing them,
will you practice doing some trampoline bounces with me?
So it will look like this.
Remember the bounce isn't happening in your elbow or shoulder, it's right here in the
wrist.
Keep your fingers on the keys and see if we can make your wrist, where you would wear
a watch,
bounce up and down like it were a trampoline.
Whenever you play a note, you will bounce down then back up to get ready for the next
note.
Bounce down up, down up.
So every bounce down is when you play a note.
DO MI SO. And your fingers all stay curved.
If you can work on those things: a bouncy wrist, curved fingers, and singing DO MI SO
or C E G while you play that, your fingers are going to get strong,
and you'll have a great technique for playing hand over hand arpeggios.
I hope you'll practice that every day. Try it two times. One time singing the DO MI SO
words,
one time singing C E G.
Have lots of fun practicing. Work hard, and I'll see you next time.