It can be tricky to find technical exercises that engage and challenge intermediate piano students. They’ve been playing scales, chords, transpositions and more for so long now, that nothing seems new.
We’ve asked 3 top piano teachers who know a thing or two about teaching intermediates to give us a fresh bit of guidance in this sometimes difficult topic.
How about giving one of their excellent technical exercises a try the next time you’re stumped on how to motivate intermediate piano students?
Hannah Mussulman: 4-Measure Chord Progressions
I love to have my intermediate piano students create a 4-measure chord progression choosing from the primary chords in any given key. (Sometimes we use a spinner or roll some dice, while other times I just let them choose the key.) Once they create their chord progression, I have them record themselves playing over and over with a steady beat.
The next assignment is to improvise a melody, playing along with their recording. Many times, I’ll assign a specific rhythm that they have to include somewhere in their improv.
The Chordbot app is one of my favourites to use for this. Students can create their chord progression in the app and adjust the backing track to their liking, then improvise a melody over the backing track.
As students get more comfortable with this activity, we start including other chords like the ii or vi. We also begin exploring different ways we can play the chords: broken, blocked, arpeggiated, Alberti bass, with different rhythms etc.
Check out Hannah’s studio on Instagram.
Laura Gray: Scales in Connecting Note Patterns
A favourite technical exercise for intermediate piano students is to play scales (or formula patterns) through the Key Circle. I use the Circle of 4ths, which adds a flat or removes a sharp in the key signature at each “turn”.
Students may begin with any key on the circle, and progress through each major and relative minor scale. This connecting note pattern requires students to think ahead to the next scale while keeping the beat steady.
I encourage students to mix a variety of articulations, dynamics and rhythms into the warmup. While they play, I call out a variation which adds an element of listening and processing new information.
Using this method, students develop a secure knowledge of every key signature and scale fingering while playing continuously for a few minutes.
Learn more about Laura and her teaching at Laura Gray Music Studio.
Pro Tip from Colourful Keys: Need help teaching chords, scales, rhythm and more? Hop over to our Music Theory hub page for the latest and greatest.
Tricia Dawn Williams: Thirds in Legato Playing
Thirds in legato playing can be quite tricky – especially for students who have small hands. I myself have very small hands (I can barely reach an octave comfortably) but I have learnt to adapt. Luckily for my students, that’s a bonus as I can understand the difficulties they need to overcome.
My favourite exercise for practising legato thirds is the ‘Scalic Thirds’ exercise found in Piano Safari Advancing Pianist Book 2. However, I don’t jump right in without a lot of prep work first. Here’s how I approach teaching legato thirds in a methodical way.
We normally start by playing the exercise non-legato (almost staccato) at a slow comfortable tempo. The aim here is to play the correct fingering without pausing.
Once that’s achieved, I ask the student to play the exercise legato at a very slow pace, listening for smooth transitions when the hand crosses from fingers 1 – 3 to 3 – 5. It’s important the wrist is relaxed at all times, and the note played by finger 1 remains depressed whilst the hand crosses over.
Once a nice legato is achieved, we try to do the same exercise using different rhythmic patterns to help reinforce the movement, such as:
- swinging quavers (eighth notes)
- Triplets
- 2 quavers (eighth notes)
- 2 semiquavers (sixteenth notes)
As soon as some tension starts creeping in, I ask the student to stop playing and rest the hand.
Visit Tricia Dawn’s Smart Links Page to learn more about her and her teaching.
What technical exercises keep your intermediate piano students in tip-top shape?
Tell us about it in the comments. Fresh perspectives are always welcome. 🙂
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