"

6 Alignment

Twisted Aligned

As each finger plays, adjust the position of the hand-wrist-forearm unit to facilitate alignment. The optimal placement of the finger on a white key is halfway between the edge of the black keys and the edge of the white keys. Observe the images below. I have moved my hand to the optimal placement for each of the fingers in turn (marked with the colored tab). How does the placement of my hand change in relation to the keyboard?

1 2 3 4 5

The thumb is shortest finger. When the thumb plays, the whole hand moves farther in (toward the piano) to avoid twisting. When the thumb is not playing, the hand moves out (away from the piano) so the longer fingers can play in the optimal spot on the key. The thumb might not even reach the keys in these instances.

These introductory technical principles are a sufficient starting point for the purposes of this course. As you advance, your teacher will provide additional technical suggestions

License

Baylor Piano Basics Copyright © by Michael Clark. All Rights Reserved.