Are you playing challenging piano repertoire like Prokofiev, advanced Bartok, or something else that demands speedy and dexterous finger work? Even romantic music can be very technically demanding (Schumann’s In Der Nacht, for example), and plenty of Mozart and Bach pieces require fast scale work. With that in mind, can you train specifically for speed on the piano?
This blog will dig into the necessity of technical exercises for speed as well as some specific drills you can do at home. If you would like to work with an expert, give us a call about piano lessons in Brooklyn at Williamsburg Music Studio.
How Do You Increase Finger Speed on the Piano?
To increase finger speed, you will need to keep your hand position perfectly locked in, keep your forearms and shoulder tension-free, and practice scales and other technical etudes very carefully.
1 – Start By Keeping Your Piano Technique Perfect
If you’ve ever played a challenging piece with prolonged fast passages, like Chopin’s Ocean Etude or something by Liszt, you might start to feel your forearms “freeze up” after a few lines of music. If this describes you, you need to revisit your technique.
You cannot play music quickly if you have tension in your arms, shoulders, and elsewhere. If you do manage to power through a challenging passage while gritting your teeth and dealing with the tension, you are well on your way to developing carpal tunnel or another injury.
Firstly, make sure you breathe deeply while you play. It sounds overly simple,but it’s amazing what a deep breath can do to dispel tension. Imagine you are a singer, and take breaths for each phrase at the least.
Side note: Get in touch for singing lessons in Brooklyn.
Also, practice your music and scales slowly every day. Do not speed up until you can do so without feeling any tension in your arms.
2 – Carefully Follow Your Fingerings
Some composers write in such a way that you can “cheat” on your fingering and still play the music competently. There are many reasons not to do this (for instance, memorizing your music will be harder), but that’s a different conversation.
However, if you want to play with speed on the piano, you will need to strategize your fingerings and stick with them religiously. If you’ve ever played a difficult piece by Chopin, like one of his concertos for instance, you already know that it’s impossible to maintain speed without smooth, consistent fingering.
You’ll need to eliminate awkward crossovers and jumps so adhere to the smoothest fingering possible.
3 – Drill Weaker Fingers Often
Many pianists find that fingers four and five are weaker than their other fingers, and that’s nothing unusual. This can also be a hindrance if you are learning to voice melody lines beautifully when playing nocturns, hymns, or other melodic genres. But you will want to strengthen these fingers if you want to play advanced Chopin Etudes, challenging concertos, or other professional literature.
You can do trilling drills with just those fingers, and if performed for five minutes or so each day, you will gain confidence in those fingers. Don’t overdo it, as too much drilling can be unhealthy.
You can also do ascending and descending triplet patterns with fingers 3, 4, and 5. Make sure you do these drills in both your right and left hands.
4 – Practice Quick Passages With Varied Rhythms and Articulations
Practice your scales and arpeggios daily of course, but you should also practice them in triplet patterns, duple patterns, dotted rhythms (both long-short and short-long), and any other pattern you can think of. These will increase your speed and evenness.
Also practice your scales with staccato, marcot, and slurred technique. Staccato practice will increase your finger independence and confidence, and it will carry over into your music.
Make sure you use these techniques on your actual piano repertoire as well, not just on scales and arpeggios.
5 – Carefully Integrate Other Etudes and Studies Into Your Practice
The word “careful” is very important here. If you drill technique too much every day, you will most likely develop tension and discomfort. But when used carefully, technical studies will help you develop speed.
Start with the Hanon collection of exercises, follow the fingerings religiously, and gradually increase speed. Practice these exercises with all of the variations we mentioned above, and you will start to play faster.
You can also find more advanced technical books like the Alexander Technique method. This takes careful, painstaking practice, but your fingers will be faster, more independent, and more confident if you learn these studies.
Work With a Professional Music Teacher
Finger speed drills should be pursued under the guidance of an experienced teacher, and that’s because there are many things that can go wrong when you get to the more athletic aspects of piano playing. Call us for the finest music lessons in Brooklyn, and feel free to contact us for violin lessons, guitar lessons, and more as well. We look forward to hearing from you.
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