IMPROVE YOUR MOVES FREEDOM IN STRETCHES

Our hands should always feel relaxed and natural when playing the piano. The more at ease our hands and fingers are, the more supple and manoeuvrable they will be. With efficient practice, our actions become consistent and the musical outcome more dependable. Key to this is the approach we take to changing hand positions as we move more adventurously around the keyboard. But before tackling this, it’s good to feel ultra secure repeating a single chord. To get a basic sense of what’s going to be happening here, form a relaxed fist and turn your wrist upwards or towards you, then slowly open and close the fingers as though you are gently squeezing a sponge ball.

Centring the hand

At the piano, simply allow the hand to settle on a sustained chord containing three, four or five notes – perhaps your favourite jazz chord, or a dominant/diminished seventh, arranged in a way that feels convenient –