Smooth, Buttery Scales - Two New Discoveries for Fluid and Concise Piano Scales
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
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Chopin said that the key to a smooth legato was to acquire an even staccato. The idea is precisely what you are talking about: a smooth, lateral movement across the keys without any excessive emphasis on contortion. When scales are practiced in staccato (pianissimo, absolutely even in tone, and in time) the hand will start to naturally shift into the placement of intention, and will arrive exactly where it needs to be.
Source - "Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen By His Pupils" by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger.
I love to play staccato exercises just because it feels great and satisfying and my hands are naturally relaxed when playing staccato but now when I read your comment it will be even more satisfying to practice staccato, thanks! Legato is great too though 😊
Wow that help me. Thank you.
"pianissimo, absolutely even in tone, and in time" uhhhhh
@@korkorkorkorkor You having a stroke or something?
🙀
Why am I watching this I play flute lol
Catstuffies Tran, idk
@@coolcaden26 r/wooooosh
*THE KITTY-LION* you didn’t even use r/whoosh right...
@@hisky. wrong context my friend
*THE KITTY-LION* r/ihavereddit
10:45 When I'm bored on the piano.
Thanks for advice again Josh, really appreciate it.
I respect you for your ideology. You have great tips. I started playing a year ago and progressed slowly due to life circumstances at age 34 with a partner that passed from cancer and leaving my son and I behind. I still practiced and came far. At the end of the day I realized, I had to spend the the time messing up to get better. Hope you can understand. I was amazed that I can play faster with time. I think the best lesson is spending time making mistakes to learn from them.
it's endearing when Josn mentions Sergey Babayan. He always gets a little giddy. You can tell he really admires his teacher.
I was holding my phone in my left hand listening to your video while running cmaj with my right. When you talked about the happy balance of shift and under thumb, I played one of the smoothest, high-temp scales of my life and laughed my ass off. Thanks Josh.
😂😂😂 excelente
Excellent explanation with examples. I had a French teacher many years ago, who told me that the fabled French teacher, Marguerite Long, said “play me a perfect scale in C. That is what she meant, perfect, buttery, smooth, even.
"Oh shoot, kill me now!" Made me laugh so hard! 8:05
4:30 ish throws down a lightning fast scale to silence the would be critics. Epic
The touch is unbelievable refine, bouncing and soothing, very helpful indeed... thank you so much!!
Thanks for all your help man you're awesome!
i did not expect to see you here
Neither did I
You probably dont care at all but does anybody know of a way to log back into an Instagram account?
I was dumb lost the password. I would appreciate any tips you can give me.
@Everett Santana Instablaster ;)
@Arthur Cash I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff now.
I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
Never had related my "fight or flight" responses to THUMB UNDERS! Ha Ha, So true!
THANK YOU JOSH. Love these videos, so helpful.
This type of video would be more effective if we actually get to see a close-up of your hand (shifting with a little crossing), rather than from a distance.
@@AG-ur1lj Great reply! Thanks. Tried it out and I get it. Very nice of you to write that out.
A G by missing his well articulated reply pretty much sums up what kind of a piano player or musician you really are. Perfectly illustrated by your response . Unreal
@@AG-ur1lj Can't see a thing!
@@SouloftheTroll your not supposed to sight read instructions
@@18lollypop18 Man, you sure missed the point! Good luck with that.
I applied this practice......and within a matter of minutes I noticed a difference. Your points are very clear and easy to follow. Thank you.
Very true Josh! That’s exactly what I teach. When playing slowly the thumb miss dry pass under the hand. This is crucial. But as speed increases as you suggest the shift of position is more important. I get students to practise in clusters so they can memorise and become super familiar with the patterns. Also ascending in the RH is always easier than descending in the LH , so these methods and understanding becomes super important. Great video!
I would like to share a practice method that helped so much with scales at a little faster tempo, I think Josh may have already covered it I'm not sure, basically, I start by playing the two notes of the cross in tempo comfortably and relaxed, then I start building around it adding one or two notes at a time before and after while still maintaining a relaxed hand and wrist, for example: If I'm practicing C major scale, I play E and F with the correct fingering (3,1) in tempo, then add the D before them and practice that, then add the G after them and practice that and so on, it's been really helpful for me, I hope it can benefit anyone reading this super long comment
u mean like the hanon exercises no.32~36 ?
龍銘瀚 I have ZERO idea how Hanon exercises go, I have never practiced them.
JAMES KRAMER oh you are too kind Mr. Kramer :) I do also believe Mr. Wright has the best teaching methods on RUclips, I wish you all the best in your endeavor :D
Great thoughts everyone! Thank you all for your kindness and support
龍銘瀚 你好,你是钢琴专业的吗?
Thank you! Your channel is a treasure trove of knowledge and training, really helping my piano playing. People, I highly recommend getting some videos up on his website when something looks interesting. These RUclips vids were great, but whole length ones I got from there were exceptional. Closest thing to actually being able to be his student in person.
Amazing tips sir...the best piano technique videos by far i have ever come across on youtube. Your webinars are equally fantastic!
Thank you for being so generous
Regards from India :)
Great teachers will be great. You are untouchable!
The bouncing toward end is helping me like crazy! I knew the other stuff, so I’m glad I waded thru until the end.
I slow down and I can play smooth. But as soon as a speed up I have trouble. So the bouncing exercise is something new I can try. Thanks
Thanks Josh, this is great advice.. I've never thought of this before but this is a great insight into why this happening in my playing too! I've learnt alot from your videos.. best wishes from London.
Thank you Josh. I’m more of a jazz guy. But your technique explanation really helps. Very grateful...
Great presentation skills with interesting & precise demonstration. Support!
Yes thanks josh you are awesome your lessons are so interesting you know all the bad habits we pick up along the way - greatest teacher on the net for me 🙌🏻👍🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hey Josh Wright, that part about the importance of the wrist really struck a chord with me. I'm a drummer at heart, and wrist exercise is a much more common thing among our kind. There's something called the Moeller method, and its basically the root of proper wrist movement (and one of the most important things for a percussionist to know, in my opinion). Its an interesting connection between our instruments and it might help someone learning piano to learn about this as well. Its taught very, very early on, so there's lots of examples of people who use it but Drumeo is the most reliable source.
The fourth joint, YES! I often explain to students that there is an energy burst that is controlled by the finger joints, but ultimately originates more from the wrist, that even while applying what feels like a staccato attack, the finger stays in place to effectuate legato. I like this demo and your explanation, which gives me more language with which to teach articulation.Thanks.
I recently became aware of "position changes" and the beauty of leading with the elbow just before the position change is made, even notating the very place where the elbow moves, just as fingering is notated. The hand is well into "position" and the first note of the new position can be played with ease, not rushed at all. This works incredibly well and has improved my tempo and note accuracy, as well as cutting down on thumb under. I believe you are advising the same thing. By adding wrist navigation as well as this "elbow navigation" I have greatly reduced tension in my playing and increased smoothness. Thank you!
Great explanation! I totally get it now, its just about transporting your hand fast enough over the keyboard to avoid the "thumb under" motion as much as posible... Thank you you are a master teacher!
This has been so helpful, as I'm building up speed I'm thinking there's something wrong with my crossover technique. You has clarified it now. Thanks a million.
You are a wonderful teacher!
Another expert and helpful video- thanks so much, Josh!
I’m sure you’ve been lauded the world over but just want to say you are a phenomenal player and these analogies you’re using are great!
Coming back to your channel after working with a Taubman teacher, it is amazing to me the consistency that my teacher and you talk about these physical motions of rotation in the multiple planes.
It makes me realize you had been talking about this stuff for so long, but how IMMENSELY difficult these ideas are communicated orally and on video. There is nothing like having a teacher there to literally hold your hand and show what is right and wrong.
Eric Rinehart Piano f
Great teaching, going to check out more of your vids!
Jumping up and down on the inside to watch, listen and learn these helpful tips! Please continue with this format and perhaps illustrate with left hand so we can better see the movements you describe so well.
I love how he has this ability to subcommunicate, "Look. I'm right. Here's proof." and rip a light-speed passage. Whew. Goals.
You are a ton of fun. AND extremely helpful, thanks so much.
Very helpful. I'll definitely use it. I actually like 2 weeks ago discovered something like that wrist movement idea to help me when my scale passages were not clean, except I would do two note slur wrist movement instead, but it accomplishes the same thing. I ran into it just messing around. Glad I got some verification that it's a good thing.
China Fun awesome! Thanks for the feedback
After one hour spending on C major scale, this video can't be more timely. Can't wait to try these two tips tmr. I pleasantly found out the rotation and shifting balance, and finger stocato on my own. Good to get it verified here.
Piano -C Scale: I learned to move thumb(C) under index finger after striking (D), press(E) & the thumb is already in position to strike (F).
Excellent suggestions! Thank you!
Chopin wrote exclusively for hands. Break down piece into phrases, blocks of a passage, or melody bar;@ 8-bars. The SPAN of each melody phrase should cover 10/ ten notes.[Look at your hand placing thumb on “C” and stretch pinky as far possible; then counts notes your hand reaches ) maybe 9? Or 10?). Make Blocks of melody made into chords . Practice Chords then arpeggio of chord; it HELPS! C major Scale=Two (2) Blocks move hand twice; think”trajectory up/down”!
Thank you. This is really helpful to me.
i'm so bad at scales. i try my best to avoid them at all costs! this actually really helped me get over them! thanks!!
An overhead camera showing your hand moves would help out immensely
I'm not a professional player, just an amateur currently learning Mozart's 16th piano sonata (1st mov) and was having difficulty with the fast run near the beginning maintaining evenness and felt some muscle pain, weak pinky finger. How you described shifting hand position rather than thumb under has been a tremendous help my technique improved in minutes after trying it.
You always inspire me to play thank you my master maybe one day Ill show you what Im working on 😎
Great tip. Way smoother right away. The fight or flight thing will help too. I could not figure out why my playing got bad when there was someone listening. Need to remain calm and not got adrenaline flowing and hammer on the keys. .
great tips, the Hannon thumb exercises also helped me improve my scales.
7:03 ‘what?’ That was exactly I reacted, haha. Thanks for your sharing
4:37 great tutorial, I broke my fingers.
You are such a great teacher
Carl thank you for your support!
imagine having that kind of sightreading lol..
Perfect advice. Great video Josh.
Philip Christian thanks so much Philip!
Josh you are a total gem and a great guy. Thanks for this and all the valuable info you give us.
I wish I would have had someone like you as my piano teacher back years ago.
He is your piano teacher now :)
Thank you so much for this lesson, I guess it'll help me with chopin nocturne in c sharp minor during that fast scale
Super helpful!!! Thanks
For me, I notice that I am also holding my breath whenever I anticipate something coming up that isn’t comfortable. That makes the body go “hey! We’re not breathing! Hurry up whatever you’re doing so we can breath again”. I am primarily a drummer and this is one of the reasons why fills get rushed frequently.
Got it! Thanks!
The most important thing I have ever learned for Practice and Playing is ROTATION.
Just by implementing this seemingly *unnatural movement* I have sped up my learning and playing confidence, easily by a factor of 5x or more.
Its fair to say that without rotation, I may have gave up practicing a lot. Thanks Josh
Maybe I'm not putting enough thought into my scales; my greatest concern is fingering. Yes, the F# minor scale still haunts me. I know which fingers to use, and when, but that flies out the window past 92 bpm. My tip for playing scales well is: relax! I got that from you, and it's a game-changer. Also, the faster you go, the quieter your hands need to be (that I got from Mozart). Master the fingering at a slow tempo, and as you increase the speed, relax and keep your hands quiet. Great video! I'm working on Bach's inventions, and this video gives me some ideas on how to improve my playing.
It's whole body technique involving wrist rotation, fingering, and unrestricted arm movement.
Graham Fitch covers _all_ of it really well over on the Pianist Magazine channel.
Thankew Sir....it really helped a lot
Thanks, Josh, for sharing your piano knowledge so generously.
Fascinating hypothesis at 2:40, that micro fight or flight reactions might enter our hand motions at tricky points in a passage. Entirely plausible. Best solution may be lots and lots of detail practise to the point where the difficult spots become more familiar, more controlled and therefore less panic inducing.
Otherwise, the volume settings are a bit low. I had to put on headphones to hear all this.
Thanks Josh👍
What a nice sounding piano!
Awww thank you so much!
That's what I heard from most Baroque pieces performed by most professional pianists =O
Thanks, very helpful!
I am a guitarist and this applies 100%.
Great advice! Thank you so much! I always tend to play “ spagetti” scales and that is reflected in the pieces, so if I am playing Chopin’s 4th etude that is so visible. I will try practicing with the writs/ staccato-ish technique 😅
Gaaahh!! I just heard you play Bach for the first time!!!!!! *dies* Amazing.
Josh, It's reassuring I'm not the only one that finds C Major to be one of the harder scales. It's actually been a personal struggle the last couple weeks in my practice. That being said, I actually got up after this video and practiced just C Major scales for 45 minutes straight using some of these techniques. Thank you for the inspiration.
C major doesn't fit the natural shape of the hand. its the hardest for literally all pianists
Thanks this was actually pretty helpful. It's still a meditation to some extent
Thank you for teaching I got a better now.
I would love to get a masterclass with you at some stage you’re amazing!!
Great Tips!
This is so helpful
I just tested it out for an hour and now I can efficiently play my skills up to speed faster than I could have imagined :)
Extra tip: keep your fingers very close to the keys
playing bach italian concerto right now 3rd mvt this helped me alot thanks!
ja ich war sehr jung damals und fand das lustig :D und bach rockt
TheDerDumme glad to hear it helped!
10:43 epic
Thanks for this.
Great video sir!
Interesante su explicación, ojalá pudiésemos tenerla en español. Gracias.Exitos
1. Mentally modelling scales as 2 hand positions, & uniting.
2. Shifting arms horizontally is often underutilized [& slack is picked up by wrist].
One of my teachers advice three things about scales in a piece: fingering the scale, think of the beginning and the end and direction of the scale.
Merci for this.
Great video Josh, can't wait to try this!
Btw, can you do a video on how teach piano systematically and effectively from lesson 1 for a brand new student to a little more advanced level? I believe you haven't covered this yet and it would be great if you could do so :D
I hope you and your family are having a nice week :)
TheGreenPianist Nice one! I'll be checking for the response to this request ☺
JAMES KRAMER haha I definitely do not consider myself a valuable gem, Mr. Wright is though :D
A job is never terrible, nothing is as long you learn from it, knowledge is the most valuable thing a human being can possess. I hope you're having a great week :)
Check out my video “is it too late to learn piano?” I go over a bunch of books I often use to get beginners started. A very basic approach would be the adult Faber piano adventures (for learning the basics), Hanon (dexterity, strength, speed), Schmitt (starting at exercise 34 for finger independence), and Easy Classics (for building a basic repertoire). I hope that helps!
Part of the “less thumb under” from faster tempos also just comes from having prepared the other fingers earlier out of necessity at high speeds
Some other teachers would call this centering. Meaning that the hand is centered over the finger that plays. And that will also help getting this technique right.
Speaking of rushing in anticipation of technical challenges, I've found that using a metronome helps you get settled in those moments and assists in you overcoming mental blocks.
I loathe metronomes, but concede they make my playing SO much better, lol.
Thank you. Best! :)
Your Babayan impressions are the best thing ever :D :D
Thank You .......
Hey Josh,
I have a question regarding scales. I have been practicing my scales with two hands lately, each hand playing the notes of the scale as an octave. I am doing this, because I am trying to work with the Liszt Transcendental Études to focus on building my skills and talent before studying music at a Conservatory after High School. And the one that I am working with in particular is the 7th étude, Eroica. I have been working with this technique to held conquer some passages in that Étude, and I was wondering if this is a proper way to practice this skill?
Thank you so much, keep up with the amazing lessons and accomplishments, you are my constant inspiration.
That accent was spot on 😂
Thanks you
Yes that's good advice, it's surprising how often you need to practise scales to keep them even. You're dead right about thumb under at slow tempo, I have to consciously think about holding the 3rd and 4th fingers until the thumb plays to keep note length even at slow tempo.
Given the lengths of our fingers are different, it is important to use in and out movements using the whole arm esp for C major.
When you thumb under, you must keep your radiocarpal joint open. If you thumb under and *compress* your radiocarpal joint (ulnar deviation), you will eventually get injured. For the purpose of fast scales, it's far safer & easier to just shift without any thumb under. Fingers have no muscles; all the muscles are in the palms and arms. Keep your radiocarpal joint open with your palm, forearm, upper-arm & shoulder muscles relaxed. You'll speed up effortlessly.
Good stuff. I would say the difference between the more obvious cross when playing a scale slowly versus shifting position at speed isn't so much to do with 'momentum', it's mostly the fact that a speedy phrase has to become closer to staccato automatically. If you play a C major scale very slowly you're likely to want to hold each note - including the E - until you play the next, so there's no way to do that WITHOUT 'thumb-under' or some other (worse) movement. Even if you tried to suddenly jump your whole hand into the next position, you'd not be able to make the gap between the notes as seamless as when your fingers are next to each other playing in one position. At a fast tempo, there's very little difference to the ear between letting go of each note early and doing so later, so your jumping positions doesn't show much. It seems it's this, nothing to do with momentum, because you're clearly jumping up and down the keyboard back and forth in some of those sections, so 'momentum' would make that harder, since you'd have to reverse it. The semi-staccato effect is increased by the bounce at the wrist, so that tends to even out the phrases too. Not a criticism, as this advice is gold to me right now, I just think the reason given wasn't quite right.