Week 1: Improving Your Right-Hand Thumb Technique with Piotr Kozłowski
Welcome to Week 1 of the latest Two-Week Intensive!
For Week 1, Piotr has curated an assignment to work on below.
1. Please view Piotr’s video
2. Work on the exercises!
3. Post your progress and video so that Piotr can observe and provide further feedback!
Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoyLJR3UVYo
Attached above, are two samples and downloadable exercises from the “School of Virtuosity!”
Thumb Exercise:
Record yourself playing the thumb exercise (Sample No. 1), cycling through all the keys starting from C Major.
Use the following fingering:
- For C–Eb: 12121
- For E–G: 13131
- For Ab–B: 14141
Stretching:
Stretch before and after the exercise using Sample No. 2.
Practice Tips:
Practice daily, and monitor your progress, focusing on the movement and how you're using your thumb, especially on black keys.
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Hi Everyone,
I’m here if you need me and will be happy to answer any questions you may have :) Hope you enjoy this little challenge!
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On Exercise #2, I cannot reach a minor 10th (thumb on middle C and 5th on Eb). Do you have a suggested note modification?
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Ellen Weaver you can stick only to the first first half of the measure and repeat it twice, that's already a lot of stretching
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Would this also be useful for the left hand? Also, my piano is down for hammer replacements and I have a keyboard loaner. Any changes necessary for a keyboard? I've never played one before :-) Thank you for doing this!
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Pat Van Buskirk Absolutely! It would be beneficial for both hands of course but for this challenge we are focusing on the RH and Eloise is covering the LH :) if you'd like to do something extra you are welcome to! I am attaching the fingering for the LH in the second exercise
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Pat Van Buskirk As for the keyboard the action will be a little lighter but stretching and speed stays more or less similar so it should be fun anyway!
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Piotr Kozłowski Thank you!
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Thanks Piotr for doing the first week of this TWI. I can't quite manage the minor 10th (yet). I am using f# instead of f natural.
We moved house some months ago and my studio stuff is not yet re-connected so that will be an added outcome of this short course.
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Roy James-Pike Ha! All good, feel free to modify :)
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How do we up upload mp4 files? I recorded 3 scales from Exercise 1 to one file and 3 dom 7th chord exercises to the other file. I am guessing the files are too large since I tried to upload from my phone and I got an error message.
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Ellen Weaver feel free to share a youtube link!
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I had surgery recently to correct trigger finger which has left my hands still swollen. Prior to the surgery I could reach the F# and Eb. Now my fingers don't spread that much so I'm modifying what notes to play on the first exercise. I'm hoping this will give me some mobility down the road. I like the ideas so i'll stick with it.
Thanks for the new ideas.
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Ron Bulger Of course, please make sure you stop if ANY pain appears. Stay extremely careful with such exercises, especially after the surgery.
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Hello Piotr!
Thank you for these exercises.
For exercise #2, I am only doing the first half measure, as you suggested for Ellen. I have a little trouble with the lower half. I notice your wrist is raised. Mine is raised even further and it feels quite stiff/tense, especially when I play the note on the 3rd finger. Is this something that should improve as I practice more? Or do I need to try something simpler to help lead up to that configuration?
Thank you.
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Michele Some movement up and down of the wrist is natural and adds to flexibility, which will improve with a few days of practice. However, the focus here is on sideways motion in particular. I recommend exploring positions where the wrist feels more relaxed, as stiffness almost never helps. You might try spreading your fingers slightly like a fan (a bit sideways) with the wrist gently rotated rather than lifted. This can make it easier to reach the furthest notes. Let me know if this helps!
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Piotr Kozłowski Thank you Piotr. That helps. Rotating my hand more so that the 2nd finger is more toward the front of the key is more comfortable. My wrist is still raised a little, but not as much, and feels looser. Need more practice to be loose and not hit the adjacent key when the second finger is on a white key. Going very slowly right now!
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Here is my Day 1 of Exercise 1. I played Eb, G and B scales with the 121, 131, 141 fingerings. I found that the 141 fingerings to be the most awkward, particularly the Ab and Bb major scales.
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Ellen Weaver
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Here is my Day 1 of Exercise 2 using 3 dominant 7th chords. I didn’t play the 2nd half as I cannot reach a 10th. Not very even and hit some wrong notes. Can only improve from here.
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Ellen Weaver Exactly!
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Hi Piotr. I just wanted to thank you for the tutorial. My RH is a problem due to being left handed. I feel this exercise is the one which can improve my RH. I was curious and watched your perfomances on YT. You're wonderful pianinst. Fortunate to learn from you.
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Hi Piotr. Thanks for these exercises. Here are short clips of my initial try. I think my fingers are a little stiff?
https://youtube.com/shorts/KGGe0Gub6iM?feature=shared
Here is a video (painful to watch!
) of the stretching exercises. I assume these would get easier and more fluid with time.-
Randi Thanks for signing up for the challenge! It's looking good! Fingers need to stretch so that's normal they are stiff at first. Try to avoid the hand position where your wrist is very high while fingers are extremely low (like in the second half of the first measure in the second exercise). Otherwise, it's great. It is very unnatural position and that's the point!
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Piotr Kozłowski another thumb question please. I have flexible thumbs and often over extend at the IP joint. It's not painful, just seems to be a natural movement for me. Sometimes I flex that joint. Is there anything I need to be aware of? Should I not extend so much? See the attached video. Thanks!
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Hi Piotr!
Here are my videos after 1 day trying to follow your advice re exercise 2. I have only included short sections so as not to bore you with too many mistakes, but hopefully these will be adequate to gain some feedback.
Thank you!
Michele
Exercise 1, with 1-2 fingering
https://youtube.com/shorts/95srCJJwgPo?feature=shared
Exercise 1, with 1-3 fingering
https://youtube.com/shorts/bRxej6dckp8?feature=shared
Exercise 1, with 1-4 fingering (obviously a lot more practice needed!)
https://youtube.com/shorts/VtCVcX34bEo?feature=shared
Exercise 2, first few - feeling looser on these compared with my first attempt.
https://youtube.com/shorts/O9QDSBfIWi0?feature=shared
Exercise 2, really really awkward when thumb is on black key and index finger is on a white key!
