Eyes on The Music, Not the Keyboard

Patricia Carter-Zagorski University of Tennessee- Knoxville, Tennessee USA

Abstract: This sight-reading method teaches collegiate secondary piano students to sight-read, interpret, and play keyboard music without muscular tension by looking only at the music, not the keyboard. Students will develop a tactile awareness of the twelve major five-finger patterns in order to sight-read music without looking down at the keyboard. The secret to the universal problem of looking down at the keyboard is to read/play a printed illustration of 12 keyboards. Each keyboard has a major 5 finger pattern where the fingering placement is ergonomically positioned and serves as a guide for a relaxed and energized hand position on the keyboard.

This student is learning to feel his way around the real keyboard by only looking at the illustrated keyboard that indicates the position of the fingering in each hand.

STEP !:Recognize the twelve major five-finger patterns by finger-feeling the black key patterns without looking at the keyboard

The first step is to feel where the black and white keys are in relation to each other on the keyboard. The two black keys are surrounded by the white keys of C, D, E, and the three black keys are surrounded by F, G, A, and B.

In terms of black keys and white keys, the D and Db major five-finger patterns are the reverse image of each other. D has 1 black key and 4 white keys while Db has 1 white key and 4 black keys. This reverse concept also applies to the other major 5-finger patterns (except C and G).

An interpretative technique to use with the five-finger patterns are various levels of dynamics, articulations, tempos and independence of hands as the students finger-memorize the 12 major patterns.

( place above the keyboards on slide #4)The placement of fingering patterns on the keyboards below illustrates the natural hand and wrist positions similar to the ergonomic computer keyboard.

Major Five-Finger Technical Warm-up Patterns

STEP 2:The next step is to sight-read five-finger patterns on the grand staff. Just as a typist becomes familiar with keyboard of a word processor, piano students become familiar with the piano keyboard by learning to recognize groups of notes on the grand staff. Once students know how to play the patterns, they can easily recognize them on a page of music and play them without staring at their fingers.

The following is an example of the major five-finger patterns written on a grand staff.

Step 3:Sight-read the following two excerpts fromBetween Sleep and Waking by Stanley Fletcher and The Race by John Thompson

1 First analyze the right hand and left hand patterns of chords and five-finger patterns.

2. Place your fingers on the highest and lowest notes in both the right hand and left hand in the following musical excerpt. 3. Now play this piece while observing the tempo, poetic spirit, and dynamics.

The melodic and harmonic analyze of the first 8 bars of The Race, by John Thompson, are to be read rather fast and with rhythmic continuity.

Measure 1 and 2 can be read in one glance by placing the R.H. fingers on the lowest and highest notes.Measure 3 in one glance.Measure 4 in one glance.Measure 5 to 8 in three glances.

Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corpoation