Day 440 min

Posture, hands, and five fingers

The most-skipped chapter, and the most regretted. A bad setup caps your speed for years and eventually hurts.

Sit properly first

Posture is not etiquette, it is mechanics. If your elbows sit below the keys you will hold your shoulders up all the time and never play fast. If they sit too high, your weight drops into the keys instead of controlling them.

elbows level with keysback straightfeet flat
Elbows level with the keys or a touch above. Back straight but not rigid. Feet flat on the floor.
  1. Sit on the front half of the seat, not right back — you need to be able to move
  2. Adjust the height until your forearms are parallel to the floor with your hands on the keys
  3. Sit about a forearm's length back, not so close that your elbows hit your body
  4. Knees just under the edge of the instrument, feet flat rather than on tiptoe
  5. Let your shoulders drop. Do not hold them up

Finger numbers

In piano notation the thumb is always finger 1, on both hands, counting outward to 5 at the little finger. These numbers turn up constantly in sheet music, and there is always a reason for the one that was chosen.

54321

Left hand

12345

Right hand

Thumb is 1 on both hands — not left-to-right numbering.

Hold your hand as if it were resting lightly on a ball. Play with the fingertips, not the pads. Keep the wrist floating level with the floor — neither dropped nor raised.

The five-finger C position

The first position everybody learns puts the five fingers of the right hand on C D E F G, thumb on C and little finger on G. The point is that you can play five notes without moving your hand at all.

The number tells you which finger plays that key. Set it up, then leave the hand alone.

Up and down in C position

Play C D E F G and back down. Fingers 1 2 3 4 5 then 4 3 2 1, without moving your hand.

CDEFGFEDC

Press them one at a time, following the highlight

The left hand has its own position, mirrored. Finger 5 goes on the lower C and the numbers run up to the thumb, finger 1, on G. Set both hands up at once and you will see they are symmetrical.

Left hand on C3 to G3, right hand on C4 to G4.

Five fingers, up and down

Loop it with the clicks. The hand does not move — let each finger do its own work

54BPMCurrent tempo
Ckey 1 of 2
0/4Tempo rungs cleared
0/4Clean reps in a row
CDEFGFED

Loop it in time with the clicks. 4 clean reps in a row moves you up a rung; one slip starts the count again · from 54 up to 78 BPM · after the first key it moves through 2 more

Five-finger drill in CWritten for this course · 72 BPM · 4/4
123456789
80% · 58 BPM %
0%Accuracy
0Hit
0Missed
1Bar

Put finger 1 on C and do not move your hand at all. Let each finger do its own work.

The same five fingers the whole way through — the hand never moves · Open in the practice room

Put in the reps

Up to G and straight back down. The stumble is at the turn: the little finger has just played G and the ring finger must take over on the very next beat, and those two are the hardest pair in the hand to separate.

The turn at G, little finger to ring

Keep the waiting fingers resting on their keys instead of lifted in the air. When the drill shifts up to start on G, the finger pattern is identical — only where the hand sits has changed.

52BPMCurrent tempo
Ckey 1 of 2
0/4Tempo rungs cleared
0/4Clean reps in a row
CDEFGFED

Loop it in time with the clicks. 4 clean reps in a row moves you up a rung; one slip starts the count again · from 52 up to 76 BPM · after the first key it moves through 2 more

Mary Had a Little LambTraditional · 88 BPM · 4/4
123456789
80% · 70 BPM %
0%Accuracy
0Hit
0Missed
1Bar

The right hand never leaves C position. Only bar 4 asks finger 5 to reach up to G.

The first real tune that uses all five fingers. Notice the hand never has to move. · Open in the practice room

Today's minigame

Echo within the five-finger position

Hear a short phrase and play it back. Clear a round and it grows by one note.

Trains: short-term musical memory, the thing you lean on when working out a song by ear

This game needs keys. The on-screen keyboard, your computer keys, or MIDI all work.

Homework

Go to homework
Five fingers up and downRun up and down the C position without moving your hand. Do this daily until finger 4 stops feeling weak.
The right finger numbersAnswer a question about how fingers are numbered.
Five fingers up to 78A looping drill, one tempo rung at a time up to 78 BPM
Take the pattern up to tempoToday's loop, a notch faster than the lesson version. Repeat it as often as you like — it comes back on its own when it is due.
Play Mary Had a Little Lamb throughRight hand, whole piece at 70%, without moving the hand

All homework lives on the homework page. Repeat it as often as you like — anything you're still shaky on gets pushed back to the top by itself.

SummaryElbows level with the keys, back straight, feet flatThe thumb is finger 1 on both hands, counting out to 5 at the little fingerCurve the hand as if holding a ball, and play with the fingertipsThe five-finger C position gives you five notes without moving your handIf it hurts, stop and fix your posture. Pain is not something to endure
Done with day 4?

No rush. If you're not confident yet, run the minigame above once more before marking it done.

  • Read every part · 0 of 4
  • Take the drill up to target tempo · 0 of 2
  • Clear 60% of today's minigame · 0 of 1
  • Come back and practise again later · 0 of 2 sittings