The two words in J_menz's post you'll wish to focus on are "keyboard" and "blind". Literally. Think about how a blind person would think about it.
Count the keys as I cross over them? I have no idea, I'll start playing with my eyes closed though.
Your keyboard geography is probably a lot better than you think. Trust your instincts more.And play the notes, not the leaps between them. That's a conceptual issue. Leaps vary a lot, the notes don't move.
You were right, I just played first movement of appassionata with way fewer mistakes than I would've imagined considering my eyes were closed and I'd never done that before but on one piece. I defenitely had many problem areas in obvious places... But I was overall very impressed with my instincts! I put a blindfold on because I can't trust myself haha!
I prefer to look at the score!
I think Liszt memorised so he could look to score rather than at it.
I don't practice them. So any scales I play are in music I'm playing, so I read them. They are obviously easy to read, but I still look at the page.
Be aware that peripheral vision is a huge issue.
Would you say the function of these exercises is to provide the neurological pathways necessary to completely control which finger does what?
Yes! That is indeed their function.Don't worry about not starting early. The exercises are extremely effective. Even the straightforward-seeming ones at the beginning are quite tricky to do well. As for the trickier positions...they really are quite challenging.
Ah, I see. It's intriguing, and I'm looking forward to starting them when I finish my exams (which feel like they never want to end...).Do you think this has a great effect on sight-reading? Because lately I've noticed that I memorize music so quickly that I don't read enough, and I'm not sure that's really good.Oh and as a side question: people say to look a measure ahead while sight-reading... how am I supposed to do that lol. I can barely read the notes of the measure I'm in, let alone play that automatically while looking ahead... any tips?
cabby, you have no idea...sight-reading really is a strange spot for me. I can play pieces like Chopin's waltzes, now working on bach's French suite 4, and generally pieces at this level, and they don't take me awfully long to play well. Usually I spend more time getting the sound I want as opposed to learning the notes per say.But with sight reading, I just took out a grade 2 sight-reading book (Yes you read that right, GRADE 2), which my sister used when she learned piano, and to my dismay I could barely play without hesitations.. It's disgusting to be honest lol, i was ashamed of myself. Usually I learn at a decent rate (for my expectations, at least) but maybe because I learn HS then put HT. But playing HT straight-away just confuses my mind and it wants to explode. Btw, about the alkan barcarolle, I'm thinking of starting that after the suite. It will be a change from all the baroque I've been playing lately quite interesting, at the opposite end of the spectrum.
If you're talking about the WTC, then I can assure you that's not gonna happen this lifetime.Yea im focusing on really easy pieces now trying to get the hang of it. I'll try to practice the barcarolle HT. In general I'm used to playing HS first to get familiar with what I have to play, then I start working on coordination
I'm speaking of just the preludes for you in the near future. Fugues later... Way later... Hands together on this piece is key. Just go slow enough that you don't make mistakes. Speed will come later, and it's not all that fast anyway...Best of luck! I look forward to hearing it
Hello everyone,Here are the videos on the ABC Exercises which I promised to make. https://the-music-blog.com/I haven't yet made the videos for the LH, but rest assured the exercises are exactly the same for both hands. They should always be done hands separately, with the other hand resting by your side (not on your lap!). I've given very little text explaining the exercises: it's important that they are done precisely in the manner shown. Hold down the keys silently first. Keep your fingertips on the keys the entire time of the exercise! As soon as one key makes a sound, the next key is let up. There must be no delay. The overall tempo for the exercises is SLOW! Best of luck, and let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer everyone!
Do you think your excersize A might benefit by using dim7 arpeggios ?
I think that would be overkill. The exercise routine which I use to follow up on the progress made from the ABC's contains a great many diminished 7ths.
The basic version is positively straightforward compared to what Dohnanyi does.
In my opinion, life is too short, and there is too much fine music to study, to be bothered with Dohnanyi.
I hope you only mean his exercises. His compositions are well worth studying.
The ABC exercises are all about 'quality' rather than 'quantity' in terms of their straightforwardness. In my opinion, life is too short, and there is too much fine music to study, to be bothered with Dohnanyi.
It seems to me like you're kind of missing the point about what these exercises are for, but to each his own!
I think the exercises have multiple roles.
I was introduced to them with the idea that they are not for the specific purpose of development of hand shape and finger independence. There are specific exercises for those things that we study later on. The ABC's are more of a preparatory study, which should be mastered quickly in order to establish a firm base from which you can properly understand and execute the more advanced exercises.
How can they even be executed correctly without development of functional hand shape and independence? It's possible to move focus around, but the double note ones can't be done without a clear sense of a functional hand shape and a sense of simultaneous involvement of all fingers rather than only those due to move keys. The same exercises without over holding are very easy to do on mental effort alone with poor technique and stiffness. But the over holding aspect means that stiffness or pressing don't work well here. You instead have to learn a functional activity in all over held notes, rather than passivity or stiffness- or the struck notes won't be felt clearly and precisely or with any confidence. It just doesn't happen without achieving good connection between every finger and the arm. For me, this the single most important thing about the exercise- associating actions in all fingers at once within a single chunk. You learn the same coordination of moving keys with unusually ordered fingers when doing it with no over holding. But that version is simply not as challenging, because it eliminates the need to get all the other fingers active in a balance that helps rather than hinders (whether by tension or dead relaxation). If you look at them from that point, you have something that transfers directly to all possible positions in all of piano playing - not merely a preparatory exercise in feeling which finger is which. If that were the primary goal and position were not designed to benefit- why were they even designed with over holding? It's not even possible to do precisely coordinated timing of overheld notes in intricate co-ordinations, without developing these issues.
I wouldn't over-think it to such an extent, if I were you. I've had a lot of success with the ABC's in helping intermediate students to develop more awareness of their technique. I would caution teachers against adapting the ABC's to other positions on the keyboard that involve the sharps/flats. It is easy to cause injury if one uses exercises out of their intended context, or if one uses them for purposes other than that which they were originally developed for. There is good reason that they are called "ABC's" and not "ABCDEFG's".
Topic: ABC Exercises 