Learning how to play the piano takes time and work, but there are many different types of exercises which can be practiced to help you develop your musical abilities. Piano arpeggios consist of the intervals which make up a chord, and are played either in ascending or descending motion. If you practice these every day, it will be easier to get your fingers around the notes of new pieces, as a lot of music contains arpeggio figures as its basic material.
Arpeggio exercises are useful to jazz pianists in addition to those who are trained in the classical field. When improvising, the more patterns or figures you can draw upon, the greater the variety and range your playing will have.
There are a handful of different types of arpeggios that can be played – each consists of a different basic pattern. A major arpeggio, for example, contains an interval spanning four semitones (a major third) followed by one of three semitones (a minor third) followed by the first note played, an octave above. Thus a major arpeggio on the note G would have the notes ‘G, B, D, G’ if you were playing a single octave.
An arpeggio in the minor has a pattern which inverts the major, thus it begins with a minor third followed by a major third, so that a minor arpeggio on the ‘home’ or ‘tonic’ degree of D minor would consist of the notes ‘D, F, A’ repeated over as many octaves you wish to play. As evident in these examples, some knowledge of the different types of intervals, or even, what an interval means, is essential.
In short, there are five types of intervals – major, minor, perfect, augmented and diminished. A major interval has a characteristically ‘bright’ or ‘happy’ sound, while a minor interval has a sound that can be described as more ‘mournful’ or ‘dark’. If you practice an arpeggio for each major and minor key, along with augmented and diminished patterns, the finger exercise will improve your playing over time.
When you work arpeggio patterns into your practice schedule, there are a number of ways in which you can vary your approach and keep the exercises interesting. When you start out, slow practice of each hand separately will help you to develop speed. You can later play both hands simultaneously, and can also add other approached such as playing in contrary motion (where each arpeggio starts at a different end).
Anyone who wants to develop into a good pianist needs to have a number of productive exercises to turn to for developing strength, manual dexterity and general confidence finding a way around the keyboard. Piano arpeggios are helpful in these areas, and make important practicing tools since they are common patterns in many pieces of music.
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