I've been predominately a jazz/blues/pop/rock pianist for the past 40 years and have found Graham's instruction as extremely helpful in my own playing. An excellent source of learning the fine points of piano technique!
I never was taught how to handle the thumb in scales and arpeggios like this. I have already seen an improvement in how my scales sound. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and love for music with us!
So far I’ve just been _watching_ your videos to understand the concepts and techniques, but just this time realized I have to physically put my hands out whenever you do and emulate the shapes with my own hands, even without a keyboard under them. It’s like I finally hooked up the data cable to the part of my body that actually does the work, so I can actually _feel_ how it all makes perfect sense. Thank you for showing us all those tiny details that make all the difference!!
What a wonderful piano teacher..... I’ve never learned so much improvement in such a short time with your techniques; not even in my music performance classes .....
dont forget to be realistic - you'll have to do some work whichever plan you choose for learning piano I have spent months studying different systems and discovered a great resource at Turbo Piano Secret (check it out on google)
Thanks, Graham! Your lessons have been wonderfully helpful for this violinist learning piano. I appreciate that your presentations are clear and to the point.
My piano teacher recommended this video and I’ve never watched your videos. I love ❤️ it!!! Thanks 🙏 for the tips! I’m looking forward to seeing your next video’s
Did he film all the videos in one day and just have a suitcase of different colour blazers?! Great diversity! Anyway great piano lesson thanks a lot for all of these gems.
Thank you very much Graham! Your video is very helpful. Could you maybe make another video about the use of thumb in playing Alberti base?? I am learning Sonata K333 mov.1 by Mozart, and I am stuck at the development section, the long AlbertiB passage. I wanna have a good balance between a tiny LH rotation AND a tiny vertical movement of my LH thumb when playing the AlbertiB. However I either ended up 1) only having the rotation, almost no vertical movement of thumb, and thumb getting locked OR 2) having too much vertical movement of thumb, making the note too loud and harsh. When I tried to reduce the vertical movement of thumb, however, I returned to 1). How should I practice to get the balance right?
Hey, I am having an issue with pivoting on the thumb. I noticed you mention that you play at the intersection of the nail and finger, but I'm facing the problem of my thumb not being secure and sliding because the nail is so slippery relative to the normal surface of one's fingers. I'm wondering if this means my positioning is off, or do I simply need more practice to become secure while resting on that more slippery surface?
To avoid that, you should probably cut your thumb nail. Is it the tip it’s touching? If so you need to trim it down. As should you all your other nails, they should always be trimmed when playing the piano.
Exactly how do they touch your thumb nail? Because when playing with the piano, your thumb is curved and plays on it's side between the nail and the actual flesh.
I think I can explain in terms of the rotation angle of the thumb when the key is fully depressed. Let's call it 0 if the thumb is perfectly flat (like the way the other fingers naturally play) and 90 degrees if the thumb is exactly perpendicular to the key. For me, starting from this perpendicular position, I need to rotate the thumb at least ~40 degrees downwards before the corner of my thumb nail stops contacting the key, i.e. to an angle of at most 50 degrees in terms of this "thumb rotation angle" I described. However, when playing legato scales or arpeggios, I find it's impossible to achieve this angle of the thumb at the crossover points.
It's absolutely a tool in our thumb toolbox, and like everything else we do it depends on the musical situation whether we use a thumb under, a thumb over or a simple arm shift.
@@fingaz000 May I ask, when we play, which is better, playing with fingers deep in the keyboard, especially the thumb, or, to play near the edge of keys
A comment to improve the video editing. Every time Graham shows or point to something in the hand (when not playing) and speaks the camera moves away from the detail preventing the viewer from seeing it. So, to improve the viewer experience, use the wide view less. Make better choices of whne to use it.
Steinway has lead piano manufacturing in the wrong direction, increasing string tensions and weight of hammers. The Steinway sound has gotten more and more messy metallic sounding for anything below mids. Fortunately more and more artists dare to reject Steinways and pick pianos with much better clarity for polyphonic classical music over the thick opaque steinway sound.
The tip that if you swing your hand at your side you will reach your natural hand position is such a golden little nugget of wisdom. Thankyou
Absolutley agree.
The greatest piano playing teacher ever. So eloquent, narrative, simple and concise.
Something so simple but with enormous potential, thank you.
I've been predominately a jazz/blues/pop/rock pianist for the past 40 years and have found Graham's instruction as extremely helpful in my own playing. An excellent source of learning the fine points of piano technique!
I never was taught how to handle the thumb in scales and arpeggios like this. I have already seen an improvement in how my scales sound. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and love for music with us!
@Ulises Kalel This is a great video, go somewhere else you dumb bot. You too @Ezra Conner
So far I’ve just been _watching_ your videos to understand the concepts and techniques, but just this time realized I have to physically put my hands out whenever you do and emulate the shapes with my own hands, even without a keyboard under them.
It’s like I finally hooked up the data cable to the part of my body that actually does the work, so I can actually _feel_ how it all makes perfect sense. Thank you for showing us all those tiny details that make all the difference!!
What a wonderful piano teacher..... I’ve never learned so much improvement in such a short time with your techniques; not even in my music performance classes .....
Thank you so much Graham (and Steinway of course) for those wonderful tutorials!
dont forget to be realistic - you'll have to do some work whichever plan you choose for learning piano I have spent months studying different systems and discovered a great resource at Turbo Piano Secret (check it out on google)
Thumbs up.....!!! or is it under...? Thanks for the tutorials- well done
Graham is just one of the best out there. Love his work!
Thanks Graham.🎉
Thanks, Graham! Your lessons have been wonderfully helpful for this violinist learning piano. I appreciate that your presentations are clear and to the point.
wonderfully clear and helpful!! Thank you
Thanks Graham 🎉
Great teacher. I'm a begginer and was really struggling with thumb positions. Your practical physical breakdown was so helpful
Always absolutely great !
Thank you, I learned a lot. I always look forward to your video lessons.
Thank you kindly.
EXCELLENT! Bloody marvellous! Thanks VERY much.
My piano teacher recommended this video and I’ve never watched your videos. I love ❤️ it!!! Thanks 🙏 for the tips! I’m looking forward to seeing your next video’s
Thank you for those thumb exercise.
Thank you so much!!!!
very helpful thank you
Love your lessons. ❤️
thanks so much !!!! tutorial well done.
I feel that my thumbs are always too heavy, I can't seem to be able to develop a softer/lighter touch.
Arpeggios that start in black keys are real trouble. I can handle much faster those that start on white.
Thank you, so much!!! Muito obrigada!!
Love this ❤New subscriber 😊
Did he film all the videos in one day and just have a suitcase of different colour blazers?! Great diversity! Anyway great piano lesson thanks a lot for all of these gems.
Thank you...
Is it normal for thumb to hurt right where it comes in contact with the keys?
Thank you very much Graham! Your video is very helpful. Could you maybe make another video about the use of thumb in playing Alberti base?? I am learning Sonata K333 mov.1 by Mozart, and I am stuck at the development section, the long AlbertiB passage.
I wanna have a good balance between a tiny LH rotation AND a tiny vertical movement of my LH thumb when playing the AlbertiB. However I either ended up 1) only having the rotation, almost no vertical movement of thumb, and thumb getting locked OR 2) having too much vertical movement of thumb, making the note too loud and harsh. When I tried to reduce the vertical movement of thumb, however, I returned to 1).
How should I practice to get the balance right?
May I ask what is the piece played at the beginning of the video during the Steinway Advert ?
I wonder that, too. It's marvelus!
Many thanks Maaike. I did come across it by chance actually. Perhaps I'm destined to learn it next.
Jakub Suski Mendelssohn - Variations serieuses (Op. 54 I think), in case you haven't figured it out yet.
Hey, I am having an issue with pivoting on the thumb. I noticed you mention that you play at the intersection of the nail and finger, but I'm facing the problem of my thumb not being secure and sliding because the nail is so slippery relative to the normal surface of one's fingers. I'm wondering if this means my positioning is off, or do I simply need more practice to become secure while resting on that more slippery surface?
Pyuthan rolpa simana chatur bhujh ❤❤❤ I like
I tried to to double tap but it hard 4:03 / 11:09
5:01 we're getting interphalangeal up in here!!! 😁
Do the keys touch your thumb nail while playing? They do mine and it's bothering me a lot. :(
Uranus man same issue, wish you got a reply
To avoid that, you should probably cut your thumb nail. Is it the tip it’s touching? If so you need to trim it down. As should you all your other nails, they should always be trimmed when playing the piano.
No matter how much I cut it, it still is like that. I always keep my nails super short.
Exactly how do they touch your thumb nail? Because when playing with the piano, your thumb is curved and plays on it's side between the nail and the actual flesh.
I think I can explain in terms of the rotation angle of the thumb when the key is fully depressed. Let's call it 0 if the thumb is perfectly flat (like the way the other fingers naturally play) and 90 degrees if the thumb is exactly perpendicular to the key. For me, starting from this perpendicular position, I need to rotate the thumb at least ~40 degrees downwards before the corner of my thumb nail stops contacting the key, i.e. to an angle of at most 50 degrees in terms of this "thumb rotation angle" I described.
However, when playing legato scales or arpeggios, I find it's impossible to achieve this angle of the thumb at the crossover points.
Thank you for your lessons! What is your opinion of thumb - over technique for runs and passagework?
It's absolutely a tool in our thumb toolbox, and like everything else we do it depends on the musical situation whether we use a thumb under, a thumb over or a simple arm shift.
@@fingaz000 May I ask, when we play, which is better, playing with fingers deep in the keyboard, especially the thumb, or, to play near the edge of keys
👍👍👍👌👌👌❤❤🌺🌺😊
A comment to improve the video editing.
Every time Graham shows or point to something in the hand (when not playing) and speaks the camera moves away from the detail preventing the viewer from seeing it.
So, to improve the viewer experience, use the wide view less. Make better choices of whne to use it.
Steinway has lead piano manufacturing in the wrong direction, increasing string tensions and weight of hammers. The Steinway sound has gotten more and more messy metallic sounding for anything below mids. Fortunately more and more artists dare to reject Steinways and pick pianos with much better clarity for polyphonic classical music over the thick opaque steinway sound.
I think I've been taught wrong all these years.!