Piano Exercises: If you master staccato and legato, you'll be able to play your piano pieces according to the composer's instructions in the future. And you'll gain an even deeper feel for the music, its expression, and its meaning.

Beginner Piano Exercise: Holding your Hand Correctly

At the beginning of every pianist’s career, one primarily learns one thing: the correct posture at the piano. A straight back is essential. But what about the hands?

Performing the Exercise

Stand comfortably, extend your forearms – keep your upper arms close to your body. Your hands are relaxed – as are your wrists.

Now you are in a position that you would also adopt when sitting at the piano.

Now bring some tension into your hands and slowly extend your fingers – then more and more firmly, so that you feel tension in all your fingers and in your hand.

Hold this tension for a moment, then slowly release it. Not abruptly, but truly with patience and care.

Repeat this movement several times until you really feel it distinctly. Yes, it’s like exercise for your fingers.

That was just a taste. Once the exercise is mastered and your hands and fingers are ready, sit down at your piano. Straight back. Forearms bent. Hands on the keys.

Now recall the exercise from just now. Behave exactly the same way. Place your fingers on the keys and bring them into position. If you do everything correctly, you will now have “rounded fingers” – they form a semicircle, so to speak. The back of your hand and your wrists are above your fingers.

The arched position of your hand and fingers that you have now adopted is exactly the posture you will need for piano playing in the future. It will accompany you through every exercise, every piece, and every performance. So, it is essential for beginners.

Your Reward: Excellent Finger Memory

At first, this exercise might feel a bit unfamiliar. But you’ll notice how the fingers of your left and right hand will eventually start to automatically assume the correct position on your keyboard. The correct posture at the piano becomes second nature, so to speak. And that’s exactly what we want to achieve.

Piano Exercise: Playing and Internalizing Scales

Scales up. Scales down. Scales up. Scales down.

Sounds boring? But it’s not at all! Once you master all scales inside out and sweep across the keyboard like a maestro, you’ll realize what a great feeling it is to have a good command of every scale.

Performing the Exercise

Scales are a great way for you to improve your finger dexterity and train coordination between your hands.

To play a piano run, you start with the root note and then play the notes of the scale one after another in ascending or descending order.

For example, an ascending piano run in C major could look like this: C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

A descending run would look like this: C – B – A – G – F – E – D – C

First, play this run only with your right hand. Finger 1 plays C, Finger 2 plays D, and so on. Once you reach E, slide your thumb under your palm and continue playing until your pinky reaches the top C. This sequence will eventually become second nature.

Once you feel confident with your right hand, now play the C major scale with your left hand. Fifth finger on C. Fourth finger on D, and so on. Once you reach G, slide your third finger (your middle finger) over your thumb, and play A. Then B with the second finger. C with the first finger.

Note: The thumb is always the first finger. The index finger is the second finger. The middle finger is the third finger. The ring finger is the fourth finger. And the pinky is the fifth finger.

Your Reward: an Outstanding Feel for Fingering

Technique is a must for correct finger placement. How great that by playing scales, you develop a feel for correct fingering. And, incidentally, you also get to know the individual keys.

This exercise is a true all-rounder and provides beginners with an enormous boost in their musical development.

Piano Exercise Number 3: Playing Chords

First, you should familiarize yourself with the different types of chords. The three main types are major chords, minor chords, and seventh chords.

There are other chords too, but we will focus on the three main types here.

You will probably encounter major chords most often. They are relatively easy to play and sound very beautiful. Minor chords sound a bit sadder and are therefore often found in ballads or quieter pieces.

Seventh chords, on the other hand, sound very dramatic and are often used in cinematic or dramatic pieces.

Performing the Exercise

If you want to play chords, you should first practice some of the simple major and minor chords. For this, in the key of C major, you only need three keys: C, E, and G.

Play the chord by pressing all three keys simultaneously (with fingers 1, 3, and 5).

Hold the chord for a moment, then slowly release the keys. Repeat this until it feels natural. Now you can try the next chord. For example, the dominant in C major: G – B – D (G major)

Beginner Exercise Number 4: Arpeggiating Chords on the Piano

After you’ve familiarized yourself with the first two exercises, you can now move on to arpeggios. This third exercise is a bit more challenging, but it helps you make your hands independent of each other and play faster at the same time.

Performing the Exercise

You start again with the root chord – for example, in C major – but this time you don’t play the notes of the chords simultaneously; instead, you arpeggiate them. This means you play each note individually instead of all at once.

You not only train your finger dexterity but also develop a feel for the individual chords and keys. Plus: Your chords will sound clearer in the future.

Tip: Over time, try to arpeggiate the chord as quickly as possible and make sure all notes sound equally loud. If you have difficulty arpeggiating the chord cleanly, play it slower again and focus especially on the part of the chord that you find difficult.

In the case of the key of C major, this could be C-G-C, for example. Try to arpeggiate these three notes cleanly. Once you’ve managed that, you can gradually speed up the chord. Success will come quickly.

Tips

You can practice this exercise with all the chords you have already learned. However, at the beginning, you should focus on the basic chords.

Even when the chords for a key are solid, you should repeat this exercise on the piano again and again. Until you master arpeggios in every key. And beyond.

Piano Exercise Number 5: Legato vs. Staccato

Heard of legato and staccato before? If not, that’s no problem. You’ll get to know the terms now.

Legato notes are played smoothly and connected. They flow into one another, so to speak. Staccato notes, on the other hand, sound short and ‘choppy’. They are detached notes.

Clearly distinguishing between these two playing styles is an art and very important for emotional piano playing. But you’ll see: playing staccato and legato will become easier for you over time. And the difference will be clearly audible.

Performing the Exercise

Place all five fingers of your right hand on the keys of your piano and play the first five notes of the C major scale (C – D – E – F – G). Make sure you hold the previous key until you strike the next one.

This way, you connect the notes visually on the keyboard as well as acoustically. Proceed similarly with the remaining keys. Play them both upwards and downwards.

You’ll know you’re performing the exercise correctly if there are no breaks between the notes.

Now you master the musical performance instruction legato. Let’s move on to staccato.

Again, play the five notes of the C major scale. But this time, strike them briefly and successively. Imagine the keys are so hot that you can’t strike them any other way. This creates the typical choppy staccato sound.

Your Reward: a Feel for the Music

When you master staccato and legato, you’ll be able to play your piano pieces according to the composer’s instructions. And you’ll get an even greater feel for the music, its expression, and its meaning.