Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we are learning another finger power exercise.
Remember, I want your fingers not to just get good at playing songs,
but faster and stronger.
So these finger power exercises if you'll do them a couple times every day
that will help your fingers develop coordination and ability.
This finger power exercise is called hand over hand pentascales.
A pentascale is a group of five notes all a step apart.
We've already learned how to use the C-major pentascale
which has the notes C D E F and G. That's called the C-major pentascale.
So, for this one, since we are doing hand over hand,
just like we did in black key smashes, let's review that pattern.
So hold your hands up in the air and say this with me.
We're going to do left hand, right hand, cross over, right hand.
Now we're going to go back down this way.
Right hand, left hand, cross over, left hand.
Good job. You'll recognize that pattern from the black key smashes
in stepping up and down the black keys.
Now, to get started with this exercise on the piano,
we're going to find almost the lowest C on your piano if you have a piano with eighty-eight
keys.
If you have a piano with sixty-one keys, you'll need to be on the very lowest C.
On my piano since I have eighty-eight keys,
I'm going to be on the second lowest C from the bottom.
Let me show you what I mean. Come on over here to the low part of the piano.
You'll see on my piano this would be the very lowest C but I'm not going to start on that
one.
I'm going to start on this C with my left hand finger five
and I'm going to cover up C D E F G with my left hand
and then with my right hand I'm going to find the next C D E F G.
Now my fingers are in position.
And one note at a time I'm going to play these notes in a stepping up pattern like this.
Left hand starts. C D E F G. Then the right hand. C D E F G.
Then I'm going to cross over. C D E F G then my right hand takes one more turn.
C D E F G.
Now we are going to step down starting on G with the right hand.
My left hand will stay here because it's about to play.
G F E D C. Now the left hand. G F E D C. Right hand crosses over.
G F E D C. And while my right hand is playing my left hand can already getting ready.
G F E D C. And then we are back down to the low part of the piano again.
Now, when you do this exercise there's a few things I want you to remember.
It's very important that when you do finger power that you have excellent piano posture.
When you sit at the piano, make sure you're not sitting too close.
We don't want to have Tyrannosaurus Rex arms.
Make sure your bench is scooted out comfortably away from your piano.
Also, make sure that you are sitting in the middle part of your piano.
Even though this exercise starts low, don't scoot down to the low part of the piano.
You are just going to sit in the middle and lean low
and then when you get up high you are going to lean high.
Also, I want you to really be careful of the shape of your fingers.
They should be in a comfortably curved shape as you play,
except for your thumb which kind of just hangs out
and plays in a pretty straight shape near it's side tip.
The other fingers should point down when they play like this.
Also, as you play each note allow your wrist to drop and float up
like a bouncy trampoline.
One last thing I'd like you to do is as you play try to say the letter names.
Let's try it together this time now.
So on your own piano, find your low C. Again if you have an eighty-eight
key piano it will be the second C from the bottom.
On the the smaller piano it will be probably the very lowest C.
Now, we are going to play and say the letter names as we go.
We'll take it kind of slow this first time. Starting with the pinkie in your left hand.
Ready go. C D E F G now right hand C D E F G
cross over C D E F G now right hand C D E F G. Time to come down.
G F E D C. Now left hand. G F E D C. Cross over.
G F E D C. Last time, G F E D C.
Great job! If it wasn't perfect, just press pause,
and practice it a few times on your own.
We are going to do it one more time together, and this time we are going to sing the Solfege.
Can you review that with me now?
What's the lowest note called? If you said DO, you are correct.
These five notes make a pattern like this:
DO, RE, MI FA, SO.
Will you try that with me? Ready, here we go.
Try the hand signs and sing.
DO, RE, MI, FA, SO.
Now let's try stepping down starting on SO.
SO FA MI RE DO.
Good, now as we play the pentascale, we are going to sing the solfa.
Remember to sit in the middle of your bench, and you are going to lean a little
bit to your left as your left hand gets in position and right hand is in position now.
Here we go, singing the Solfege. Ready go:
DO RE MI FA SO. Right hand: DO RE MI FA SO.
Cross over: DO RE MI FA SO. Right hand. DO RE MI FA SO.
Come down: SO FA MI RE DO. Left hand: SO FA MI RE DO.
Cross over: SO FA MI RE DO. Last time. SO FA MI RE DO.
Great job learning how to do hand over hand pentascales in C-major!
For extra playing tips, instructions, and an activity page to go with this lesson
you can download the complete materials for unit one from our website.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.