Dotson Piano Lessons

This is the second part to the practice series. In the last blog, I expounded how to practice as a beginner piano student. As you progress into the intermediate realm, you will want to shift your approach to practicing slightly. This blog will cover the basics for ensuring efficiency for your time spent at the piano. 

– Thomas H. Dotson

Devise a plan before sitting down at the piano

Before even sitting down at your instrument, you should conceive an idea about what you wish to accomplish during your practice session. Think, “what do I want to be able to do before I get up from the piano?” or “what is the most attainable objective for my piano playing today?” These questions will direct your concentration for your time at the instrument. If you only have 45 minutes to practice, thought-provoking questions and willful conceptualization will clarify your mental state and optimize your efforts at the piano. Either ponder these questions or write them down in your practice journal. 
As an intermediate student, you will want to delegate your practice into 4 sections: warm-up, repertoire (scholastic repertoire from method books and aspirational repertoire), and purely pleasurable playing. 

As an intermediate student, you will want to delegate your practice into 4 sections: warm-up, repertoire (scholastic repertoire from method books and aspirational repertoire), and purely pleasurable playing. 

Warm-up

All students should practice their scales and arpeggios. To start with scales, you should practice one octave hands separately at a set metronome tempo of quarter notes. Then you should practice that octave with hands together. Once learned, you should practice the following scales in two octaves at an eighth note beat: C, Am, F, Dm, G, Em, D, Bm, Bb, Gm, Eb, Cm, Ab, Fm. After you can play those scales at a consistent eighth note speed, learn the remaining ten (5 major scales and 5 minor scales). If you want to practice your scales to completion, then learn to play each number of octaves at increasing note values. For instance, one octave scales should be played on the quarter note, two octave scales should be played at an eighth note speed, three octave scales should be played at a triplet speed, and finally four octave scales should be played at a sixteenth note speed.

Below is a chart with the fingerings for the major scales.

In tandem with your scales, you should be learning arpeggios in the same sequence of keys as your scales. So, start with C then learn its relative minor, then F and its relative minor and so on. 

Here are a set of general arpeggio fingering rules from Resources for Practicing Musicians: 

1. The arpeggio fingering pattern repeats every three notes, so that every octave has the same fingering.
2. The thumb always stays on the white keys, except when there are no white keys (F♯/G♭ major and D♯/E♭ minor).
3. The fifth finger is only used at a starting place, a stopping place, or a turning-around place.
4. The fourth and third finger are often interchangeable in the patterns. Use whatever is most appropriate given the individual circumstances in the literature. The fingerings given below represent the “official” accepted uses of fourth and third fingers.
5. In the literature, it may be appropriate to put the thumb on a black key for the sake of execution, but crossing to the thumb on a black key from a white key (or from the thumb on a black key to a white key) should be avoided whenever possible.
6. When practicing arpeggios, don’t worry about maintaining a legato touch. Occasionally in the literature arpeggios have to be played with a smooth legato, but repeatedly passing the thumb such extreme distances can lead to injuries.
7. Try to avoid accenting every three notes. Because it is natural and easy to play arpeggios in threes, but not in fours, one’s focus should be on getting a convincing four-to-a-beat arpeggio sound (sixteenth-notes). (Arps can also be practiced in fives.)

The point of practicing scales on the piano is for shapes. The human hand traverses the piano keys in a limited number of shapes, and these shapes repeat across most of the scales. Through scales and arpeggios, we learn the spatial interaction between the anatomy of our hand size and the arrangement of white and black keys on the keyboard.

Repertoire

Scholastic literature (method books)

Developing piano students should have 2-5 pieces that they can almost sight-read. Students should expect to practice these pieces for only 1-3 weeks before moving on to other pieces in this category. Before moving on, a student should be able to play through a piece without stopping due to errors and should feel confident in their performance. These pieces will teach a certain theoretical concept or technique within the time allotted. Once you or your teacher determine that you have ascertained all the pertinent information from these pieces, you can move on. Most of your learning will derive from this category of literature. Intermediate students will select pieces in this category from the Royal Conservatory Method levels 3-6.

Harder pieces/aspirational literature

Students in the intermediate levels should have a piece that really challenges them. These should constitute higher caliber projects that are a little bit out of students reach. These pieces should take no longer than between 1-3 months at the most. In my experience, students really benefit from practicing a piece in this category because it provides a glimmer of what is in store at the higher levels. It also galvanizes them with the potential of their own abilities. For ambitious students, the pieces in the scholastic literature category can become insipid in comparison to the awesome aspirational pieces. In my lessons, I compromise with the students be dividing the time between the two categories so that the student is challenged and that I can still cover the tenets of proper piano pedagogy. 

Purely pleasurable playing

After you have practiced your repertoire, you may do something random or unrelated to your studies at the piano. I would recommend playing a melody by ear, trying to improvise over a backing track, or just doodling. This segment of your practice should be free from constraints and should exist purely for self-expression. Our instrument should become a vessel for creativity and artistry. The fun that transpires during this segment will convert into our repertoire. Whenever you are experimenting with music at the piano, keep musicianship and drama at the forefront of your mind. If we can discern what makes a compelling musical performance in our own senses, then we can discern how to execute a compelling musical performance using the same elements. 

“What gets measured, gets managed.” -Peter Drucker

Write down what you did that day at the piano in as specific language as possible in your practice journal. Assess if your practice for the day aligned with your initial hopes for the end of the day. Without exaggeration or equivocation, compile what you did and for how long at the micro level of detail. We must learn to celebrate its improvement at the smallest increment. 

Keep listening. This is the part of your journey where you will begin to learn about what genres of piano music you like. Many people play everything, but most are partial toward one or two. Once you burgeon into a more advanced player, you will encounter a bifurcation in which you will select a niche and specialize in it. Late intermediate piano study holds many options for styles. 

Good luck and happy practicing!