Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we are doing another finger power. We're learning how to do hand over hand
chords in C.
Remember we learned how to add chords to Frog In the Middle.
So what is a chord again? It's when you play two or more notes at the same time.
Let's quickly review how to play a chord.
Remember for a chord we're going to play two notes at the same time, for right now
DO and SO on C and G using fingers one and five.
Go ahead and place your right hand on C and G with fingers one and five. Now we're
going to practice just dropping down and then floating back up.
Remember we drop down a little bit, let the wrist and hand come down, and then
to relax, float up.
Good, now let's try it with the left hand also using figures 1 and 5 on C and G.
Get the left hand in position, drop down
float up, drop down
float up. Good. Now we're going to try it hand over hand.
So if you have an 88 key piano then you're going to find almost the lowest C
but if you have like a 61 key keyboard or otherwise
you're going to possibly be on the very lowest C, and then we're going to do
left hand right hand
crossover right hand, and then right hand left hand
crossover left hand. That will be the pattern just like we've done with our
other hand over hand exercises.
This time though I'm going to throw in a new challenge. We're going to try it with
the metronome.
All right, what is a metronome?
It's a device that helps you keep a steady beat.
This is a digital metronome. You can also get metronome apps on smartphones.
A digital metronome like this costs about twenty-five dollars and i've actually
had this one for like 20 years and I've used it for hours and hours of
practicing.
It's an essential practice tool for a pianist. I recommend that you get one.
Today we're going to be using the metronome.
First let me just demonstrate what it can do. When you turn it on you'll set
it to a certain number of beats per minute.
The lower the number the slower the beat and the faster the number the faster the
beat.
All right, the higher the number the faster the beat. Right now I've got it
set to 76.
That means 76 beats per minute so when I first start a metronome
I like to listen for a few beats to get the feel of that beat.
Now see if you can move something to that beat. Maybe you can clap your hands
or tap your foot or touch your nose. Do something to that beat. Now change speeds.
Now try motion to this beat.
First listen. Try to feel it inside.
See if you can do some motion to that beat.
Let's try another beat now, going a lot faster.
Okay. Sometimes slow is actually harder.
There's a lot of time in between each beat. Feel that really slow beat. Clap or
try stepping your foot to that slow beat. Good, now with your own metronome at home
you can try that game. Try different speeds and see if you can do some motion.
It could be anything to that steady beat.
Now when we do finger power I'd like you to start using your own metronome.
At first let's set it to 60 beats per minute.
That's about the speed that your heart goes when you're at rest or when you're
sleeping.
It's a good starting speed. Now when we do
hand over hand chords we're going to play one chord on every three beats, so
we're going to count one two three one two three.
And every time we say one you play a chord, and then on two and three
you're using that to float your wrist up and prepare for the next chord.
Ok, so when you try this with me I want you to count out loud with me, 123, with
the beat of the metronome, and we're going to clap your hands together every
time you say one. Ready, go. 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Good, so whenever we clapped that's when you're going to play a chord for our
hand over hand chords.
Let's come to the piano and give it a try with the metronome
All right, we're going to keep the metronome set to 60, and now place your
left and right hands on a C near the low end of your piano.
We're going to count out loud one two three and play a chord
every time we say one,
starting with your left hand. Ready, go one two three one two three cross over one
two three one two three now repeat that chord
one two three one two three one two
three one two
three you're done.
Good, let's practice it one more time. Hands back in position. Hands taking turns
starting with the left hand. Ready, go, one two three one two three
one two three one two
three repeat one two three one two three one two
three one two three
Good, now while we're here let's go ahead and practice our other hand over hand
finger power exercises in C, this time using the metronome.
So let's start with the five finger scale so we'll go C D E F G one note per
click.
Whenever you hear the metronome click we play a note C D E F G and please say the
letter names while we play.
Ready, go. C D E
F G C
D
E
F
G
C
D
E F G C D E
F G, now down, G F E D C G F
E D
C
G
F
E
D
C
G
F E D C
Great job.
You'll notice that while one hand is playing it's important to use that time
to get the next hand ready,
so don't ever just be hanging out. If one hand is playing the other hand is
getting ready in its position. Now last of all let's try our hand over hand
arpeggios in C. Ready, go.
C E G
G E C
Great job working on hand over hand chords in C today.
Also congratulations on learning how to use a metronome for the first time.
I hope you'll go ahead and purchase a metronome. You'll use it, like I said, for
many years.
It's an essential tool for practicing. All the great pianists I know
use it to practice with their finger power every day.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.
What's this? Mr. Hoffman's metronome.
We'll give it a try.
Nice slow, yep, pretty slow.
Let's try something else.
Yeah, that's elephant, nice calm speed. See what happens with this.
Lively. Yeah. All right let's really crank it up.
Ahhhhhhh! Looks like he could use a hand.