Piano Technique
The drills that built every pianist you admire — five-finger control, the Hanon line, and the traveling thumb. Watch, listen, play along.
Five-Finger Foundations
One hand position, total control
Everything at the piano begins with five fingers resting over five keys. These drills never leave C position — the work is evenness: every finger equally loud, equally long, equally relaxed. Finger 4 will protest. That is the exercise.
At the bench
- •Curved fingers, as if holding a bubble. Wrists level, shoulders down.
- •Play from the finger knuckle, not by pumping the wrist or arm.
- •Slow and even beats fast and lumpy — always.
Either hand
C position walk: 1 through 5 and back. The plainest exercise in music, and the most revealing — listen for the weak fingers.
Tempo80 BPM
Key dots show the fingering · start slow, evenness first