Group 1

Hello, Dominic and group 1. I’m delighted to be here. I’m Sachi, live in Norway. My piano journey has begun late, starts 5 th year into practice. I’m afraid I’m not used to video recording… I can’t promise anything when it comes to recording and posting it. But I will practice scales mindful following the instructions. Pro-tip. you mentioned in the video was new idea for me, thank you. 
I learned to play all major and minor scales. I practice one major and parallel minor in depth every day, for 10 minutes. They are far from smooth. One of my issues is to play scales feeling comfortable. Let hands and forearms move freely. Dominic seems using energy created by finger acceleration to relax body parts in pause in between. And it seems Dominic’s hands move parallel to / as extension of keyboard. 

Hi challenge team! So this is going to be a great challenge for me because I have had very little technical work throughout my years of playing piano. I have also had very little work with scales so I feel like I’m really kind of starting at near ground level here. So I’m going to start with C major and if time allows potentially do G major as well. Speed has always been a big challenge for me because I tend to lose control of my fingers in the process.  So I’m excited to see how my hands and my confidence and speed respond to this way of practicing. Cheers!!!! 

Hi everyone, I’m Claire. My main area of interest and passion in piano is historical improvisation and composition more than performance. My piano skills are good, but speed has never come naturally to me. My main focus in recent years has been playing cleanly and comfortably with full awareness of all movements/mechanics. My speed has naturally improved as a result, but I thought I’d join this challenge to see if I can take things to the next level. 
I already tried out the grouping technique shown by Dominic today and was surprised to find it was immediately helpful. I mainly focused on the left hand in C major today. I plan to move to D major next. I actually sometimes find the scales with only one or two sharps/flats to be more awkward. Would anyone agree?
 

Dominic, what sort of videos would you suggest we share as part of this challenge? 

Hi, Group 1 teammate. I am excited to work on my scale technique with you all. Practicing scales is such a difficult thing for me as I cannot stay motivated and consistent in doing it. I can't even get myself to practice it 50% of my practice day for just a few minutes. I am level 5 and yet my scale work is definitely not at that level. I hate practicing scales when I was a beginner, so I skipped it for a very long time. But now as I progress, I really see the value of it and how important it is to improve it. I need this class to help me refocus. 

Hello, Group I Scale-mates! I'm a beginning pianist (closing in on one year of lessons, with just a few months prior to that attempting to learn on my own). I play scales daily, and am on "round 2" of going through all the scales (one major and one minor per week). I'm looking forward to this TWI, as speed is one area in which I struggle greatly! Thanks!!

Hi Group I Teammates, and Dominic, I am Bernice.  I am between intermediate and very early advanced level, and like to play for my own self enjoyment.  I like the Tonebase courses, and also use another online vendor to play along.  I play scales off and on, but need a motivator to pick up speed up and smoothness with phrasing when doing a scale run in pieces.
 I tried what Dominic suggested of going slow, hands separate, using C major, when I put my hands together I find that my left hand that my thumb wants to go under instead of using my 2nd finger on the F key.  It is mirroring my right hand.  Sigh!  I decided to let my subconscious work on this for a day, and go back at it tomorrow.  I am excited about having a community to share.