PIANO

Fundamentals:

http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/chapter_1

Warm Ups:

Hanon's Online: http://www.hanon-online.com/

• Playing standard technique before playing repertoire is the most common warm-up. Play a wide variety of scales, chords, and arpeggios appropriate to your instrument and level. Don`t just repeat them mechanically, really listen for accuracy, quality of sound, and even tone. The goal of technical exercises is awareness as much as dexterity.

• Play various technical exercises or studies before playing repertoire. Hanon exercises (especially the first 20) are excellent and they can be practiced in a limitless number of ways. Try various articulations, in all 12 keys, or with rhythms. Unlike traditional piano technique where the fifth finger rarely hits, using Hanon exercises as a warm up exercises my fifth fingers.

• Try a physical warm-up like yoga or tai chi. Stretching exercises before practice can drastically cut down on the chance of physical injury from playing.

• Problem solving time. Jump to the most problematic areas of your current repertoire and fix the spots that are giving you the most grief. Take them apart and practice them in new and interesting ways.

• Before launching into your regular work, play something you love, with the most beautiful sound you are capable of.

• Sight-read as a warm-up. Over the course of weeks or months, you can improve your reading skills to an incredible extent by setting aside time to sight read every day. And what better time to do it than at the beginning of your session.

• Slow practice. Just as athletes take it slow at the beginning of a training session, so should we. Work on a short section of a piece, whether problematic or not. Practicing slowly allows you to be in total command of your instrument and develop greater awareness of the music and your approach to it.

• Change things from time to time. The more interesting you can make your first minutes at the instrument, the better off you will be for the rest of your time with it.