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LESSON PLAN: Thumb Crossings

Objective

Students will be able to play scales on the keyboard easily by establishing a technique allowing this otherwise difficult skill to feel secure.

Resources

Jam Card 5b (Blues Scale)

Procedures

  1. The first step begins withFig A a level wrist and relaxed fingers gently touching the notes they are about to play. When you play 2 the wrist comes up slightly and the thumb is directly under the 2 finger, and when you play 3 the wrist comes up slightly more while the thumb is directly under the 3 finger (Figure A). Help students get good at this basic 1st step in coordination.
  2. The second step is just playing the thumb on the next note E. The moment this happens the wrist simultaneously comes back to being level as the fingers spread out to cover the notes they will play next, in this case 2 on G and 3 on A (Figure B) Practice this maneuver until it feels easy.
  3. The third stepFig B is a repeat of the first step except that as you play the fingers that come after the thumb, the elbow moves away from the body to prepare for the fourth step. As you play 2 the wrist comes up slightly with the thumb underneath it and the elbow moves slightly away from the body (Figure C). The same things happens as you play 3 with the wrist coming up further with the thumb underneath it again.
  4. The fourth and final step was prepared for in the third step as the elbow moved out to the right. The arm moved out to the right allowing the thumb to be lined up to playing C in a new octave. Now the hand is readyFig C to repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 (Figure D). Playing a scale comfortably involves a lot of working parts; we’re preparing the thumb to cross under by putting it “behind” the other fingers when they play, we’re raising the wrist to make it easier for the thumb to pass under, and we’re moving the elbow out as we prepare for the thumb to cross a bigger distance.
  5. In descending right hand scales, the middle finger will have an easy feeling of draping over the thumb as it crosses to it’s note. This motion is so much simpler than the ascending thumb crossing that it doesn’t demand much more attention than that. Remember that the most important ingredient in all of this is “modeling”Fig C for the students. Besides the resources available on this subject on the Music Will (formerly known as Little Kids Rock) website, the global authority on all things piano technique related is the work of Dorothy Taubman. Her understanding of the physical ingredients in playing the piano are explored all over the world by master teachers and concert artists who meet annually at Princeton University to further develop their understanding (this 2 week annual seminar is called “The Golandsky Institute”). Lots of material can be viewed on YouTube for good visual examples and descriptions.

National Core Arts Standards (Music)

Anchor Standard 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques for presentation. Example: General Music MU:Pr5.1.2 b. Rehearse, identify, and apply strategies to address interpretive, performance, and technical challenges of music. Common Core Correlations: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.

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