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All About Scales and Arpeggios

Building blocks of good piano technique. Bits or the whole dedicated lessons only to scales.

Piano technique teaacher
Your teacher

Alan Fraser

Born in Montreal in 1955 Alan Fraser studied piano but also delved into composition, cello, classical singing and had several stints as a pop musician. Alan’s main pianistic influence was the pioneering research of Phil Cohen who studied alongside Ronald Turini, Andre Laplante and Janina Fialkowska with Yvonne Hubert, who had been Cortot‘s assistant in Paris. Alan spent several years with Cohen after an apprenticeship with two former Cohen students, Alan Belkin and Lauretta Milkman.

24 episodes 1:53:37 Basic Finished
1
Putting the Thumb Under in Scales 05:38

Alan is busting the myth: opposition, not flexion


2
Make the Length of the Fingers the Same 03:41

Changing the angle of the hand does not help muscles and they stop working.


3
Scales - Going Down 04:52

The thumb carries the hand. Springiness!


4
Keeping the Angle the Same 05:51

The structure needs to be elastified


5
Stepping Stones - Going Down 05:38

The springy thumb is powering the whole motion


6
Play The Scales Like Chico Marx 03:15

The springiness of the thumb is what gets us through


7
Left Hand Arpeggios 04:43

Open the hand and get "springy"


8
The Real Prerequisite for Playing Good Scales and Arpeggios 02:47

is the functional hand!


9
Slide for the Better Elasticity 02:10

The sliding is designed to get rid of the remaining crampedness


10
Arpeggios - The Thumb Needs to be Springy 04:24

When you swivel you, rob the thumb of it's power


11
Pivoting vs Wobbling in Arpeggios 06:02

pronation and supination w/ small hands


12
Stay Supinated and Elasticised 05:47

We are working on left hand arpeggios


13
The Power that Animates a Scale 04:03

The thumb needs to do this amazing carrying job


14
Healthy and Exuberant Thumb 05:18

The thumb should not be dysfunctional


15
The Hand Stays in Balance 03:32

The true point of unstable equilbrium and the mental image we need to cultivate


16
Standing in Scales and Why is it Important 05:32

Alan is working with a young pianist and explaining the importance of standing


17
Teach The Reflexes to Stand Up in Fast Tempo 03:00

The functional hand can not collapse in fast tempo


18
How to Practice Scales Slowly 05:13

By activating hand's hip joint all the way


19
Horizontal Scales 03:43

Inspired from Louise Robyn, Chicago pianist and teacher


20
Scale Essentials 02:08

A short segment on scales and the whole hand drop issue


21
Scales Exercises - Thumb 05:33


22
The Differentiation between the Thumb and the Hand 03:36

Very basic, yet very important exercise


23
Smooth, rock solid scales 07:45

What to do if your scales sound broken up? Structure up!


24
Activate the standing muscles in your hand 09:26

and use them to play not only scales, but everything really