Advanced Arpeggio Playing Tips

 December is the month for the arpeggio challenge in my piano studio. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so canva comes in handy to compensate for my lack of artistic skills!

 I love to create visuals to post on my bulleting board to make the learning more memorable and pique the interest of students as they come each week.

This poster pairs with the concepts I posted about previously on Resources for Teaching Arpeggios.  There you can view more ideas for teaching hand over hand arpeggios, 1 octave and 2 octave arpeggio fingering tips. 

These videos are a bit lengthy, but I love the tips shared that I will be condensing and highlighting for my older students at group lessons next week.

Shift your Sit Bones

As you play music with arpeggios that cover a larger range of the keyboard, remember to lean on your "sit bones" towards the area you are playing on the keys. The feeling is similar to when you are shifting your body weight to navigate turns and corners while bicycling.

Watch the video by Jane Trotter about transferring weight on your sit bones (starting at 4:10)

Thumb Over

We often use thumb tucks in scale playing and 2 octave arpeggios, but for certain fast arpeggio passages (like the broken arpeggios patterns in Piano Adventures Level 4 Technique page 53) a thumb raise (float or over)  is more effective. Watch Graham Fitch Arpeggio Playing Tips by Graham Fitch as he demonstrates this motion starting at 6:45 in this video.

No Chicken Wings!

The "no chicken wings" principle applies to both scale and arpeggio playing. Watch out and don't let those elbows fly up and down. Instead aim for a gliding arm. Watch the same video starting at 3:10 to see the difference between the gliding arm and the chicken wing.

Nahre Sol's Arpeggio Practice Tips video includes some excellent specific technical tips for arpeggio practice.  These strategies can help you play arpeggios with more continuity, evenness and consistent fingering.

:45  Practice by altering the rhythm and/or adding accents

Play Long-Short, Short-Long, or triplet groups

3:53 Block practice based on hand positions

9:15 Teeter Totter repeating certain groups of notes

For more helpful visuals relating to simpler piano arpeggios, visit my previous post Resources for Teaching Arpeggios. 

Related Posts:

Flipped Learning in the Music Studio

Intermediate Piano Video for Flipped Learning

Monthly Piano Challenges

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Simply Sacred Christmas by Marshall McDonald

A few years ago, I discovered  Marshall McDonald's Simply Sacred Arrangements of hymns from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which you can hear samples of in my previous post.

Thanksgiving is not here yet, but I've already pulled out his Simply Sacred Christmas book this season. It has some of my favorite arrangements that calm my soul and a few that energize me, too. 

(click the image to purchase on Amazon)

I actually prefer the less textured sound of his hymn arrangements that I use regularly as prelude for church services or at funerals over many other arrangements because they sound so beautiful and calm and are filled with left-hand patterns that are easy for students to pick up and for me to sightread. Apparently, the congregation loves them too because, at every funeral I have played at since I purchased the books, I have had pianists come up asking where they can find these arrangements!

The outros, intros, and interludes add a sense of newness compared to just improvising or playing from the hymnbook, and the melodies stay mostly true to the original pieces we know and love, with only a few subtle surprises. 

Listen to the Music

Listen to a few of the pieces below to get a feel for the style. (sample recordings of pieces I sightread to demo for my students). There are 13 pieces  in the 42-page book.

Jesus Once of Humble Birth

What Child is This

t

Infant Holy (aka Stars Were Gleaming)

Notes for Piano Teachers

The book begins with simpler arrangements of Silent Night and Away in a Manger suitable for the late elementary pianist that are written in the more familiar keys of C, G. These selections are great for students with smaller hands who can't quite reach harmonic octaves but are ready for the sophisticated sound of broken intervals and chords in the left hand.

 The majority of pieces are early intermediate level and include frequent clef changes that create more interesting music by utilizing a wider range of the keyboard.  There are a variety of left-hand patterns that increase in difficulty, including some hand crossovers, ostinato repeating notes, rocking broken intervals, 1-5-8, harmonic intervals, and eventually patterns that require crossing, similar to 2 8va arpeggios. Its great for students to become familiar with these different styles that they will also see in other repertoire.

There are also a few more challenging pieces, like the finale piece "Angels from the Realms of Glory" that mimics the Piano Guys version. It starts with 4 flats and switches to 3 sharps. Ibelieve this is more suitable for mid to late intermediate level pianists who can navigate leaping left-hand octaves and more intricate left-hand arpeggios beyond 1 octave.

Simply Sacred Christmas by Marshall MacDonald (available on Amazon w/ fast free shipping if you have prime)  spiral bound physical copy book with sturdy cardstock covers. 

or 

You can order a pdf digital download directly from his site and add to a 3-prong folder with sheet protectors.

Related Posts

Free Piano Teaching Christmas Resource Roundup

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Harmonizing Your Music Studio with a Flipped Learning Music Buffet

This post includes resources that I mentioned in my presentation at UVMTA about flipped learning in the music studio. 

Click the image above to view the slideshow presentation for UVMTA on flipped learning in the music classroom, which includes hyperlinks or browse some of the resources that were mentioned below.

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn."

-Benjamin Franklin

Arranging from Lead Sheets with Sus Chord Colors

 What do you do when you see something "sus" in your music????

I'm not talking about a spider crawling across the page or suspicious coloring scribbles from your little brother!

SUS is an abbreviation often written in lead sheet chords and refers to suspended chords. 

If you are "suspended" from school you are temporarily removed. In Sus chords, often the 3rd of the chord is temporarily removed and replaced with the note a 2nd or 4th above the root instead of the normal 3rd. 

Suspended Chords 101

Watch this Pianote video about Suspended chords (Sus2 or Sus4) to see and hear the effect of Sus chords.

It is Well with my Soul"(free lead sheet on Pianosongdownload.com including Sus chords).

Arranging Music from a Lead Sheet

Watch the intro video about arranging music (2:16 up to 6:45).

Adding Chord Variety for Color

Compare the simple lead sheet of This Little Light of Mine from Pianosongdownload.com

to the embellished arrangement of This Little Light of Mine from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Hymns.

Can you hear how the slash chords, walk down bass and 7th chords create a more interesting jazzy sound compared to the simple lead sheet with just 4 chords?

Musical Cadences

Cadences are like the punctuation marks in music. Pairing chords in a certain order can create a feeling of tension, questioning, surprise or peaceful resolution. 

Watch this Short-ish Explanation of Cadences to learn more.

Click Teoria.com Cadences to listen to the samples of different types of cadences.

Perfect Authentic: V-I Sounds like the end.

Imperfect Authentic: V-I + inversion Sounds like the end...but less final than perfect.

Accompanist Challenge Videos and Music

Watch the tutorial or sample music videos or print the music below to help you complete the Accompanist Challenge

Lead Sheets

Print some free lead sheets and practice singing along as you play the chords

Free Christmas Lead Sheets from Michael Kravchuk
Free Familiar Tune Lead Sheets from Piano Song Download

This Little Light of Mine Lead Sheet Challenge

Elementary

Following the chord symbols, play the root or chords as you sing or listen to This Little Light of Mine.

Level 1 Play Only Left Hand Root Note

Sing the melody as you play just the root notes with your left hand. Choose the octave you prefer.  For example, does High G or Low G sound better? Which is easiest to play? Could you play both at the same time or alternate to make it more lively?

Level 2- Left Hand Root Position Chord

Play the chords in root position (stacked up like a snowman) as you move your hand like a cookie cutter to the different chords.

G=GBD    C=CEG    Em=EGB    D=DF#A

Late Elementary

Level 3- Left Hand Chord Inversion

Jumping around between root chords can be tricky! If you change the order of the notes (invert), it can make it easier to switch between chords.  GBD to CEG is a big leap, but if you play GBD and GCE instead you can feel the stretch up without having to look at your fingers.

Level 4-Left Hand Root Notes + Right Hand Melody 

Learn the right-hand melody , choosing fingering for legato phrases. Then add the left-hand root notes.

Intermediate

Play the arrangement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of "This Little Light of Mine" as written OR create your own arrangement starting from the simpler Piano Song Download Lead Sheet of This Little Light of Mine and substitute, style, or color the chords.

Level 5-Left Hand Chord Inversions + RH Melody

Play the right-hand melody along with left-hand chord progressions.  You can substitute minor chords for major chords you are more familiar with playing or add Sus chords.   

Experiment with chords that share some of the same chord tones.  For example, in the key of C, the D minor (ii) chord D-F-A could be replaced with the more familiar F Major (IV) chord F-A-C because both include F and A.

• Substitutes for Red (I) are Purple (vi) and Orange (iii)
• Substitutes for Blue (IV) is (ii) Green and Purple (vi)
• Substitute for Yellow (V) is Orange (iii) or (vii) or (V7)

Ghost Playing.

Watch the tutorial video to Learn How to Ghost Play

Basic Conducting Patterns

Explore Free Printable Duets

Explore the videos of pieces to hear their melodies. The links to duets are piano arrangements that are different versions than the sample videos.

Elementary

Piano Adventures Primer Student Duets

Farmer and the Dell Boogie Duet - Making Music Fun

Bloom Pop Staff Duet Teach Piano Today

Intermediate

Skylore Celtic Duet Teach Piano Today

https://www.8notes.com/piano_duet/sheet_music/

Pirates of the Aegean by David Bruce 8 notes.com

Radetzky March by Strauss - 8 notes.com

Carol of the Bells Duet - 8notes.com

Come Thou Fount 8 notes.com

Aria from Suite in D by Bach - 8notes.com

Adagio from Pathetique Sonata by Beethoven

La Bamba - 8notes.com

Tarantella Napoletana - 8notes.com

More Duets available on https://www.8notes.com/piano_duet/sheet_music/

The Girl and Her Bunny - National Composition Contest Winner!

Being a piano teacher makes me happy! My new student Clara, is just one of the delightful children I get to spend time with each week. It made my day today to hear that she was recently featured on the news for winning the National Let's Play Music Composition Contest.

Click the link to hear her perform her piece and learn the storyline that goes with it!

8 Year Old Earns Top Honors at Music Composition Competition

or  Download her free piece "The Girl and Her Bunny"  and other student composition winners.