Level up your piano playing with these exercises
What's the story
Mastering legato on the piano means connecting notes smoothly and seamlessly, like a string of pearls. It's a critical skill for pianists of all levels, allowing you to play expressively and create beautiful, lyrical passages. The secret to a perfect legato lies in your wrist. In this article, we'll cover five wrist exercises to help you strengthen your legato technique, focusing on flexibility, control, and endurance.
Rotation
Wrist rotations for flexibility
Wrist rotations are key to building the flexibility required for smooth legato playing. Simply sit at the piano with your forearms parallel to the floor. Without moving your arms, rotate your wrists gently clockwise and then counterclockwise for one minute each. This exercise loosens the wrist joints, facilitating the ease of movement necessary to glide from one key to another seamlessly.
Waterfall
The waterfall technique
The waterfall technique is all about creating a sense of fluidity and ease in your hand and finger movements as you play. To do this, position your hands on the keyboard and visualize your wrists as waterfalls, cascading your fingers effortlessly across the keys. Concentrate on raising each finger with minimal effort, striking the keys without introducing tension or rigidity in your wrists or arms.
Transfer
Weight transfer exercises
Proper weight transfer between fingers is key to achieving a smooth and even legato touch. Start by setting five coins on five adjacent white keys. Practice depressing each key with a separate finger, focusing on shifting your weight from one finger to the next without raising your hand from the keyboard. This exercise improves dynamic and articulation control during legato playing.
Pendulum
The pendulum swing
Imagine your arm as a pendulum swinging from your elbow with a relaxed but controlled wrist. Sit at the piano and practice swinging your arm freely from side to side. Then apply this motion horizontally across the keyboard when playing scales or legato passages. This promotes a relaxed technique that utilizes arm weight instead of finger strength.
Independence
Finger independence drills
Finger independence is key for legato, as it requires control over the individual movements of each finger. Position all fingers on consecutive keys, then raise one finger at a time as high as you can without lifting the others. Do this with each finger on both hands every day. It will build strength, independence, and coordination for playing legato.