Playing by touch

Here you can find another challenge to help you feeling the keyboard without visual cues.

1. Both hands play different material. The left hand plays the key descending scale in the first measure. In the second when it reaches the leading tone, it jumps directly to the dominant and ascends easily to the tonic again. Try this pattern in several keys before going further. Be aware of the note when you do the shift. Notice too that you will need to adapt your fingering to reach the first note of the second measure with your second or third finger in order to do the "turn" uneventfully.

2. The right hand draws a pattern that uses succesively the notes of the tonic and subdominant chords (in C major, c-g-c-e and a-c-f-a). Then in the second measure plays the second degree, jumps to the sixth and goes down stepwise until it reaches the third of the scale. It is a good idea using ALWAYS the 5th finger on the 4th eight-note and the 2nd finger on the 5th eight note (this sounds awfully complicated in written, but believe me, it is not difficult!)

3. Notice how both hands only play notes of the home key.

4. Play as slow as you need for not commiting mistakes. Visualize the fingerings on your mind before playing AND as you are playing.

5. It may look hard first, but soon, after some practice, you will be playing the sounds you want to hear without thinking much. Play by touch from the beginning at ALL times.