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Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we are going to be learning our first finger power exercise.
Finger power is the name I use for anything that's an exercise
to help your fingers get stronger, faster and even better at playing the piano.
When we do finger power we are also going to be talking a lot about piano posture
because I want you to get in great habits of always playing with the right piano posture.
Now the exercise we're learning today is called black key smashes.
It's a fun exercise and a good way to practice
keeping your fingers curved as you play.
To do this exercise, we're going to need to do a special pattern with our hands.
Watch, and I'll demonstrate it for you once.
Our hands are going to take turns.
We're going to start with our left hand, then right hand,
then our left hand is going to cross over
and then our right hand is going to slide under and play one more black key smash.
Let's watch that one more time.
Left hand, right hand, cross over, and then one more right hand.
Now, will you try that with me?
Just hold your hands up in the air and let's say this together.
We're going to start with your left hand.
Ready, move your hands with me in the air.
Left hand, right hand, cross over, right hand.
Now, after we do that once, then we're going to come back down the piano this way.
We're going to start with the right hand this time,
then left hand, then we're going to cross back over,
then slide under one last time.
Okay, now let's put both of those together.
We're going to be going up the piano, and then back down.
Let's say the hands together. We're going to start with left hand. Go.
Left hand, right hand, cross over, right hand.
Now, start with the right hand and go back down.
Right hand, left hand, cross over, left hand.
Now, when we play black key smashes,
you're going to find a group of three black keys.
If you have a piano with eighty-eight keys like mine,
then you'll want to find the group of three black keys
that's not the very lowest, but almost the lowest.
The second one from the bottom of the piano.
So my left hand will start here,
and then my right hand will position on the next group of three black keys.
Now it's important when you do this exercise that you sit in the middle of your piano.
When you play low, you just want to lean slightly to the left,
and then when you play high you'll lean slightly to the right.
Do not slide your whole body around on your bench.
That will create problems.
So just sit right in the middle, and just lean down low, and then lean up high.
Now, watch how my hands move to play black key smashes.
With three fingers touching the three black keys,
we're going to drop down on this lowest one first.
And then my right hand takes a turn, then my left hand crosses over
to keep going higher then my right hand sneaks underneath
and plays one more.
That's as high as I'm going to go.
Notice I did four smashes.
One, two, three, four.
Now, once I make it there, we're going to go back down starting with the right hand.
Right hand, left hand, cross over, left hand.
Before you do the black key smash, your wrist should be in a level shape like this.
From your elbow to your knuckles should be as smooth as a soccer field,
or flat like a trampoline.
When you actually smash the notes, your wrist should drop down a little bit like this.
Notice how it dropped down, and then immediately after you play,
it's going to relax by floating back up.
With your fingers still holding down the keys,
your wrist is going to float up.
Now, will you practice that with me?
It might be helpful to get something flat like a book,
or I'm going to use my piano lid.
Take your hand and just rest your fingers on something flat
like your piano lid.
If your piano doesn't have a lid, find a book, and with good piano posture,
curved fingers, I want you to pretend to tap down, let your wrist drop as you do that,
and then practice floating your wrist up like this.
Let's do that three times.
Can you try it with me?
Drop down, float up.
When you float up, keep your fingers touching the flat surface,
piano lid or book.
Ready, drop down, float up. Drop down, float up.
Good. Now let's try it in the other hand.
Ready, drop down, float up. Drop down, float up.
When you float up keep the fingers touching.
Drop down, float up.
This floating motion in the wrist helps you stay relaxed as you play.
When you do the black key smashes also remember to
keep your fingers in this curved shape.
As you play the notes, they have to have enough firmness
to stay in that curved shape.
Now, my last challenge to you is to try playing this with me.
Here's how I'd like you to try it.
Whenever I say the number one, you're going to play a smash.
And I'll be counting like this: one, two three.
One, two, three.
Now let's try black key smashes together.
Use your own piano, and whenever I say one, you're going to smash.
We'll go slowly this first time.
Starting with your left hand. Ready go.
One, two, three, now the right hand, one, two, three
cross over one, two, three right hand one, two three.
Pause, now the right hand will play another smash
and we'll come back down the piano.
Keep your left hand where it was so it's prepared for it's turn.
Right hand will go first. Ready go.
One, two, three, left hand, one, two, three
cross over, one, two, three, one, two, three.
Good job. Okay let's practice it one more time.
While one hand is playing the other hand can be getting ready.
It's okay to cross over or slide under early so it's ready for it's turn.
Here we go again. Left hand will go first smashing down.
Ready go.
One, two, three, one, two, three.
One, two, three, one, two, three.
Right hand again. One, two, three, left hand one, two, three,
cross over one, two, three, one two, three.
Great job with black key smashes.
I'd like you to practice that every day two times please
and focus on the shape of your fingers and focus on the motion of your wrist.
If you'll do that every day, your fingers and your wrist will get more coordinated
and stronger so we can play more advanced and fun songs in the future.
If you'd like to get printed instructions for how to do black key smashes,
you can download it from our website.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.