International Musician And Recording World, February 1985

On Keyboards
By T Lavitz

Practicing And The Importance Of Maintaining A Schedule

When listening to a favorite player, did you ever wonder just what you like about him so much? If it's not his technical proficiency, it's the feeling in the notes. Hopefully it's a combination of both. When I hear a recording or a live performance by a musician that really gives me joy, I usually (without too much scrutiny) can dissect the different aspects of his performance and determine what it is that I like. One thing is certain, though: The artist has hit inside a target of emotional movement by mastering his instrument to a certain degree, and has put all the feeling into it as well. It's not just what you play, but how you play it.

This brings me to this month's topic: practice. A schedule should be mapped out for improving your playing. First you must determine how much time you can realistically spend daily on different techniques. To me there are three main divisions in a practice period: warmup, technical practice and artistic advancement. Everybody has different needs, and you must determine where your weaknesses are in order to figure out a logical breakdown of time being spent.

Warming Up

Synthesizers have very little resistance in general, so for warming up, use a real piano if possible. By moving your fingers in the air and shaking your hands about, you'll get the blood to begin circulating, and you'll feel this in your forearm. After this, apply pressure (against a table top) equally on all five fingers. Push and release slowly. Upon repeating this several times, you'll become aware of a sensation not only in your forearm, but your fingers as well. Now move to the keyboard. One exercise that has been of great help to me in stretching and facilitating independence of the fingers from one another involves a full diminished chord. The fingering will be: right-hand thumb on the root, second finger on the flatted third, third finger on the flatted fifth, fourth finger on the sixth (or doubly flatted seventh), and small finger on the octave above the root. The left-hand fingering is simply a mirror of the right, having your smallest finger on the bottom and your left thumb fingering the octave. Now for some fun: I will refer to the right hand, but you must follow with the left simultaneously. For example, if eight sets of triplets between thumb and the second finger are played, the small finger and the fourth finger will be used on the left hand. The most important points are to start slowly, simply and to not lift any inactive fingers. After doing eight sets of individual triplets, try putting the thumb against fingers two and three. After playing the three basic groups of thirds, try the two augmented-fourth interval groups. This will limber you up!

Shake your hands out, and you are ready to begin phase two of the practice session. This is the way, I believe, to gain the most accuracy and velocity with the fingers. If you know all of your major scales, play them; four octaves with two hands is a good amount to run. The major scales progress in intervals of fifths (the cycle of fifths), and you should run the whole series.

The third phase of a good workout on your instrument should deal with the musical aspects. After all, that's what it's all about. I like to "jam" with myself. It's good to learn other people's music and adapt it to your own style. It's also good to try to invent new progressions of your own. Tend to your schedule, and progress will follow.