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In the Practice module, you will want to focus on keeping a comfortable hand shape while playing in five finger position,
and about the two touches, legato and staccato.
Well, now that we are playing on the white keys, you'll need to keep your fingers on consecutive keys.
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These are the keys A through E. I can move that position to all kinds of places.
I'm going to move it to the keys C through G.
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The positions take their name from the low note, so if I'm starting on C, it's C position.
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Starting on A, it's A position.
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The same if true for my left hand. (I'm going to roll my sleeve up here.) If I start on G, it's G position.
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I'm going to show you what to do and what NOT to do when playing in five-finger position.
For one thing, you're going to notice a lot of wrist flexibility.
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That's correct.
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You should always be fluid and mobile. Now let me show you what you shouldn't do.
What you shouldn't do is lock your fingers and your wrist and play in a locked position.
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You can see, it sounds a little harsh. Well, you can hear that it sounds a little harsh, but it looks quite rigid.
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I'm going to do it with my right hand. This is also the incorrect way to do it, with a locked wrist and fingers.
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I'm going to do it beautifully this time.
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That's how you want to look.
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OK. Now let me talk about the two touches, legato and staccato.
What you heard me doing was a beautiful legato, all connected.
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And now, I'm going to do a staccato.
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You can still see that I'm using a lot of wrist.
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Legato and staccato give your music a lot of feeling.
I can make it sound lyrical and expressive . . .
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or I can make it sound kind of, uh, I don't know, like popcorn maybe.
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I just sort of made that up so that you could hear the differences between a lyrical legato and a non-connected staccato.