Chrissy Ricker
  • Home
  • Publications
    • Piano collections
    • Pop & rock arrangements
    • Video game arrangements
    • Vocal music
    • Instrumental music
  • Search
    • Search my catalog!
  • About
  • Blog
  • Free Stuff
  • Contact

The First 5 Techniques Every Beginner Should Know

3/7/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Teaching technique can be overwhelming. There are hundreds of different technique books out there, and nearly as many different schools of thought on teaching technical concepts. As teachers, we may be afraid of instilling bad habits in our students. Our students, overwhelmed with learning keyboard geography, note reading, and rhythm, may be resistant to practicing technical exercises and taking corrections on their technique. What is a teacher to do?

​Over the last few years, I have developed an approach to teaching technique to my beginning students that has changed my teaching for the better. Today, I would like to share the first five techniques I focus on with my students, and the activities I use in my lessons to reinforce these skills. We learn these techniques away from the piano first, then we practice them at the piano using rote patterns like scales and broken chords. Finally, we incorporate these techniques into our repertoire pieces. Mastering these techniques in the first year of lessons will create a firm foundation for the more advanced technical concepts that follow.

Technique #1: Relaxation
I have found that technical issues such as fly-away fingers and flat fingers are often caused by tension. Students are working so hard to play each individual finger that they tense the rest of the hand, causing the other fingers to straighten out. It is important that students learn how to “let go” and completely relax the arm, wrist, and hand. 

How to practice: I like to practice this concept by having students do arm swings away from the piano. We stand and swing our arms, making them completely relaxed. Then I ask students to make their arm as heavy and relaxed as they can, while I try to pick it up. You should be able to feel the difference between a relaxed arm and one with tension. With practice, students will be able to relax these muscles on command. Some students “get” this concept right away, while others might take several months to be able to completely relax their arms and hands on command. So, keep working on this exercise consistently at each lesson.

Technique #2: The Piano Stance 
Are you constantly reminding students to sit up straight, touch their feet to the floor, and pick up their drooping wrists? We know how important it is to have correct posture at the piano, however this can be a difficult habit to instill in our students.

How to practice: I have found that most of my students who play sports connect with the idea of having a “piano stance.” We talk about how getting into the correct stance before playing the piano is just like using the correct stance when swinging a bat while playing baseball, or doing exercises in karate or ballet. We get in the habit of finding the correct distance from the piano, sitting tall, touching our feet to the floor, and putting our hands on the piano with a proper hand shape (more on that later). For students who are too short to touch the floor, I use an inexpensive plastic foot stool until they are able to reach the floor comfortably. We make a game of getting into our piano stance as quickly as possible--ready, set, go! Then we find our piano stance before playing each and every piece in our lessons.

Technique #3: Round Hand
Remember how we practiced arm swings for relaxation earlier? When our arms are fully relaxed, our hands naturally form a round, relaxed shape--which is exactly what we want when we play the piano. 

How to practice: We can help students to fully relax their arms and hands by doing arm swings, then placing their hands gently on the piano to see the nice, round shape this creates. I have also found it helpful to have students imagine making a “house” for a small puzzle eraser or other toy. Just be sure that the hand stays relaxed--otherwise we run the risk of the dreaded “claw hand”--when students work so hard to create a round hand that they over-tense the fingers.

Technique #4: Landing on firm fingertips
If students are landing on the correct spot on their fingertips, it will eliminate many other technical issues: flat fingers and drooping wrists, for example. It is also important to make sure students are landing on the keys on the correct part of the thumb. Students often play on the side of the thumb joint, instead of beside the nail, which can cause the wrist to droop and the fingers to flatten.

Another issue I frequently encounter is students who are double-jointed or have extremely flexible joints. They often collapse at one of the finger joints when learning how to land correctly on the keys. These students often take longer to develop the ability to keep their joints from collapsing--but they can do it with patience and persistence! 

How to practice: There are a few fun ways to help students practice landing on the correct spot on the fingertip without collapsing their joints. I like to use the game “Last Mouse Lost,” which has a rubber game board made up of small bubble shapes. (You can find this math game on Amazon or any place that sells educational games for kids.) When you press the game board with the correct part of the finger, you will hear a small “pop” as the bubble pushes in. We practice pressing each bubble firmly without letting the knuckles collapse. Once students are comfortable playing this game, I have them pretend to pop imaginary bubbles on the piano keys, using a light bouncing motion. We practice “perching” the thumb next to the other fingers on the piano keys and tapping it lightly, like a bird pecking the ground, to help learn the feeling of landing on the correct spot on the thumb.

Technique #5: Non-legato touch
​I have found that encouraging students to play with a non-legato touch at first helps them to connect many of these beginning techniques together. They are focusing on using their arm weight to create each sound (as opposed to isolating each individual finger), landing on the correct part of the fingertip, and bouncing lightly off the keys while maintaining a round, relaxed hand.

How to practice: I like to start by having students practice the non-legato touch on the closed piano lid. We might imagine bouncing a basketball or jumping on a trampoline. I model the movement and then have students copy this motion using each finger one at a time. If I see tension creeping in, we will take a break and do a few arm swings to help students relax their hand and arm completely.

Once students are comfortable doing this movement on the piano lid, we try it using steps and skips on the white keys of the piano.
Students will practice all of their pieces using this non-legato touch until I see they have mastered these first five techniques and are ready to learn legato playing.



Conclusion
In my experience, there are three keys to teaching technique successfully:
  1. Make technique practice fun! Use your imagination and turn these technical exercises into a game. Students will be much more likely to practice these exercises and take corrections on their technique if they are introduced in a fun and engaging way. 
  2. Work on these techniques consistently at each lesson. Building technique is just like lifting weights at the gym--it takes consistency to see results.
  3. Be patient. It takes some students a long time to develop the body awareness necessary to master these techniques--but with patience and persistence, they can do it!

What do you think? Do you use any of these techniques with your beginning students? Any tips on teaching technique that you would like to share? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Chrissy Ricker is a pianist, teacher, and composer from North Carolina. These are her thoughts on teaching, composing, and all things music.


    Looking for teaching ideas related to a specific topic? Use the "search" feature or scroll down to see blog posts organized by category!

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016

    Categories

    All
    2 Minute Teaching Tips
    Active Listening
    Composer Focus
    Composition
    Duets
    Ear Training
    Easter
    Fall/Halloween
    Free Stuff
    Friday Funny
    Games
    Group Classes
    Holiday Music
    Lesson Planning
    Living Composers
    Memorization
    Music For One Hand
    Music History
    Musicianship Monthly
    NFMC Selections
    Online Lessons
    Patriotic Music
    Performing
    Pop Arrangements
    Practicing
    Professional Development
    Repertoire
    Rhythm
    Rote Teaching
    Saint Patrick's Day
    Sight Reading
    Summer
    Technique
    Technology
    Thanksgiving
    Theory
    Tips For Teens
    Transposition
    Travel Teaching
    Valentine's Day
    Wedding Music
    Young Beginners

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe to my monthly newsletter to stay informed about my latest publications and free teacher resources. Once you subscribe below, a fresh newsletter will be delivered to your inbox on the first of each month!

    *Your email will never be shared or used for any other purpose besides this once-monthly newsletter, and you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of your newsletter email or contacting me HERE through my website. 

Subscribe
 © ​Copyright 2023 Chrissy Ricker. All Rights Reserved.