Technique Tip 3

Paula Maya Music Lessons: Free Tips

So you have been playing piano, or keyboard, for a while. Or maybe you just started. And here come the scales. There are many things we could talk about regarding scales. But there is one basic but very important detail: an agile thumb.

To be able to play seamlessly a C major scale, for example, in several octaves, as if you had not 5 but 40 fingers in each hand, your thumb must be agile and move under your hand way before its time to play. It moves and wait its turn, eager to perform its duties.

The basic pattern for the right hand of 3 fingers, 4 fingers, 3 fingers, 4 fingers, etc... until the last octave going up, ending in 5 fingers, with the aid of a ready and willing thumb will create a higher quality and even sounding scale.

Try it today! A little every day, done right, goes a long way.

I hope you find this information helpful! Please feel free to share with anybody you might think could use it. For information about private lessons, please visit my lessons page: http://www.paulamaya.com/musiclessons

See you soon everybody!
Paula

Technique Tip 2

Paula Maya Music Lessons: Free Tips

If you play the piano, or keyboard, I have one word for you: fingertips. Maybe two words: strong fingertips. Your fingertips are like the fine tuning of your hands. There are many ways to produce sound on a piano. One is, you can apply force starting from your arms down to your hands, and pound the @#$% out of the piano. You can also let the natural weight of your arms fall on the keys, which produces a much higher quality sound than pounding. Or you can start the movement from your wrists, and don't use a whole lot of finger articulation.

But, when you want a very soft but controlled sound, or you wanna play fast with agility, you can start the movement from your knuckles, articulating clearly each finger, keeping the fingertips strong. The intention of the movement is to pull the fingertips slightly in when you play the notes, like a cat.
Try it! You'll be surprised how much more control of the sound you have, and how beautiful a sound you can produce.

I hope you find this information helpful! Please feel free to share with anybody you might think could use it. For information about private lessons, please visit my lessons page: http://yellowhouserecords.com/musiclessons

See you soon everybody!
paz
Paula