Mirror Image Piano Exercises - Piano Drill for Dexterity Used by Chick Corea
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Mirror Image Piano Exercises - Piano Drill for Dexterity Used by Chick Corea
Chick Corea: It's an old tango. "Anna's Tango." I thought that would be a nice intro to this. We're going to talk about as a basis for our chat, this book that we published ourselves, many many years ago, called "A Work in Progress." What the book was, when I put it together, was an attempt to just write down the way I do things. People ask questions. Musicians ask questions. "How do you did this?" "How do you write?" "How do you put a band together?" So forth, and what ever.
The thing that I want to get across is, in music everyone does it the way they do it. It's a subjective thing. It's an art form. So I thought the best that I could offer, in terms of answers, is the way I do things. So this is the way I do things. I call it my hat write up. My musician's hat. So we have the new version of the musician hat, "A Work in Progress," by the time we do this in March. The new revisions.
That's what it's going to be about. There's all this stuff in here. We can talk about whatever we want to talk about. Let's see. You know personal policies as a musician, playing the piano, comping, accompaniment, making time, talking about tempo and rhythm, composing. That's some things that are in the book.
I thought it would be interesting to take up this one thing. I put a revision in the book under, I call it the "Basics." Playing the piano. This is in the chapter, "Playing the Piano." I came across an interesting thing many years ago, that I find is not commonly known, but it's a way of looking at the keyboard, because the keyboard -- there's the keyboard. You've got all these white notes, [Plays notes.]
Then all these black notes [Plays notes.]
If you see how they're arranged [Plays notes.]
There's an octave. From C to C. [Plays notes.]
That's an octave. It's kind of unevenly arranged, if you look at it. There's 5 notes there, 6 notes there. There's another bunch of notes here. It's a little -- it's not like this. But there is a way to view the keyboard in a mirror image. Where it gets divided exactly in half. And all you have to do is look at the A flat [Plays note] or the D [Plays notes.]
And all of a sudden you have a mirror image, a complete mirror image. If you look this way from the A flat, and this way, from the A flat, you'll see a mirror image. [Plays notes.]
Graphically, that is. And it's a great reference point because -- I don't know if this was thought of when this construction of the keyboard was put together, or whenever it was, but if you think about it, most living things, especially the human body, is a mirror image. Make a line down the middle, there's the two hands.
It's a mirror image. Divide the mirror in half. It's a mirror image. The hands fit on the keyboard exactly as a mirror image. You know how you -- when you do exercises, you might exercise one side, but then you balance it out by exercising the other size because it's a mirror image. You do exercises like that. 'Cause you have to balance the body. With the piano, it's the same thing. you want to keep both hands going. Usually we're brought up where one hand is stronger than the other. Usually the right hand. This exercise and using this principle is a way to strengthen any phrase that you want to strengthen by turning it into a mirror image. Let me show you what I mean. There's a D [Plays note.]
One of the exercises that I wrote, simple exercise, with the five fingers.
You put [Play note] this note here, [Play note] that note there.
See, it's a mirror image. That's a D [Plays note]. The hands fit on it like this, the five fingers. That's a mirror image sound. You see that? So you've got five fingers and there's a book that I used to- that my piano teacher, when I was 8 years old, Salvatore Sullo, from Boston. Classical pianist. Wonderful guy. He used to laugh at jazz. When I went and auditioned for Sulo, I played [Plays song]
He sat there snickering, "Haha that's that Dizzy Gillespie music!" But anyway, he was a cool guy, he introduced me to these Italian books called the "Rossomandi." I don't even know if they make them anymore. I have this tattered copy. They have these mirror image exercises in there. This was the first one. It was [Plays notes.]
You know, [taps fingers.] That's all it is [Plays Notes.] But the shape of the keyboard, shapes the exact shape of the hand. It's a mirror image. You can do all sorts of things with that, you can go [Plays notes.] ...
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How lucky are we to have a lesson with one of the greatest players ever? Thank you sir! RIP.
I'm simply astonished by this video. Around the same time when it was posted here, I was just discovering the same things on my own and going to develop what I now call "THE MIRROR METHOD FOR KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS." What is truly amazing is that this guy is talking about the exact point that I make in the introduction - from the fact that symmetry is a universal element of nature to whether these two symmetries have knowingly been integrated by the piano manufacturers. What a tremendous coincidence, what a great guy.
Spirits like Chick never die. This is just like he's alive. Always will be for me. I might be late to the party to comment here, but time doesn't really count with legends. Thank you Chick.
The camera guy thought of every angle but the fucking keyboard.
Was thinking the same. :D
The cameraman forces me to listen attentively
Lol I know obviously
This guy is a genius! I've been playing piano for 47 years and I've never noticed this. And I've never heard anyone else talk about this either.
Jeffrey Harris, same here and for about as long as you! LOL, I had never paid attention to the symmetry of the keys, but now I can't look at the keyboard without noticing it.
^..^~~
Same here. He changes the way I see and play the keyboard.
One of the greatest jazz pianists continues...
So Glad people filmed some of these great artist no longer with us..showing us their methods and tips. what valuable musical genius to be past on.
I shook those very hands outside of Tipitinas in New Orleans in 87🤩Star struck, yes I was. Thanks🐥
That 5 even notes with comfort position of both hands and its variations were included in a method of exercise loooong ago by F.Chopin (Also including holding all notes silently ,while lifting up the needed ones) , commonly known as "birdie" method by classical pianists and their pupils.
The mirror image concept is based upon the concept of the TRITONE interval. D to Ab is a TRITONE as Ab to D is yet a reverse TRITONE. What this means is that Ab is the FLAT 5th of D and D is the FLAT 5th of Ab. Similarly C to F# is a flat 5th and F# to C is it's reverse flat 5th interval; It works with each and every single Root note or Tonic of every key and scale. G to Db and Db to G; A to Eb and Eb to A; E to Bb and Bb to E; B to F and F to B . I just covered all of the TRITONES in all keys in this brief explanation. So, if you have a "mirror image" with D and Ab then, you also have identical mirror images with all of these FLAT 5th intervals listed. Basically, they are just notes found in and contained within the diminished scales. For example,...C diminished is: [C, Eb, Gb, and A]. There are 2 sets of TRITONES in this and in every diminished chord. Here, they are C to Gb/F# and A to Eb/D#. Both of these are reversible such as: F# to C and Eb to A. Thus, you can EXPAND your perceptions of what you can do with this information that Chick has presented but ,now, with the knowledge that what he is really talking about is the "distance" from D to Ab being a FLAT 5th and the distance from Ab to D being, similarly,...a FLAT 5th. Many of the so-called advanced secrets in music can be found in the diminished chords, minor 7th b5th chords, Dominant 7ths and all of the alterations of these chords as, they are all very closely related and can be turned into new chords with the simple movement of just one note being moved either up or down in the chord.. Few people take the time to understand that, to fully comprehend what is going on with notes and chords is all based on a deeper awareness and perception of a thing called "THE ALPHA-NUMERICAL SYSTEM" It's NOT "Rocket Science" folks. It just means that all alphabetical scale notes are NUMBERED and further, all CHROMATIC notes in every key are numbered. They are given a number so you can easily associate the numbers with the letters of the notes in every key. It's called "organizing music" in such a way that it becomes easier to understand. It is the single most important part of learning music that goes unlearned and never confronted by either students or teachers. Why....because many teachers are teaching without this knowledge and all students have not gone to music school where they have been able to acquire this knowledge from a seasoned and intelligent teacher.
Is he playing the whole step scale in d? Wich notes he was playimg in the tritone imterval
Great! I've used these five-finger mirror-image drills for decades and find them really efficient for building and maintaining dexterity, strength and independence in all five fingers--and especially for strengthening the fourth finger.
A friend who had studied at Julliard in the late 1960's initially showed them to me--at that time, they were used heavily there (maybe still are, for all I know).
(If interested, see my earlier comment for more details on specific drills.)
Dear Chick,
Thank you for making these tutorials. They are a treasure.
Best regards.
Just have to say, you are an inspiration to music, not just to us, mucho respect !
Dear Chick, Thank You for your wonderful music x
The Master of Master Jazz Keyboardists. Genius, Gifted, Grandly Masterful!
A true master - and a gentleman.
Chick thank you so much for sharing your gifts, talents and knowledge. I'm a huge fan and greatly appreciate your body of work. Bought the Madhatter Album when I was in high school and still one of my all time favorites. Your interpretations and expressions of the themes are outstanding. Much love.
MR..Chick Korea...A great musician..God blesse you...
I love this man, His is example of true genius artist. Blessings Master Corea.
Check out Yuja Wang playing the bumblebee composition by Rimsky K. if you want to see a truly phenomenal pianist. She plays classical music and has performed several jazz transcriptions. She is from another world, not human.
Merci for this. I bought a record years ago of the North Texas State 1 O'Clock Jazz Lab band. There was a certain Lyle Mays that played on it and Chick Corea came in and played on one track and I think he wrote a song for them.
This is priceless!
Thank you so much, Chick! You're a master and it's a treat to see how such an inspiring player goes about the piano. :)
I'm definitely going to buy you're book.
Awesome tips. You can literally mirror image the piano at any particular point. For example, take a G minor, G Bb D, then move your hand up an octave and play the G in reverse, D Bb G, now you've created the split point right in between E & F, so if you were to fold the piano over itself at the E-F split point, the G triad would perfectly match up.
Excellent advise from the jazz master himself! Thanks Chick, I've been looking for exercises such as these to help me play the faster jazz tunes.
Deep respect to your person and to your work, Sir. Greetings from Québec, Canada
Obrigado por suas composições mestre
Such great advice.
Thanks, maestro!
Drinking game: Every time Chick says "mirror image."
He says "mirror image" 19 times. I counted.
HAHAHA... I’m up for the drinking game!!
Waldeinsamkeit If I say yes, it might lessen my ability to implemensh the shtratergies ... hic!
Cheers, mate!
I came here to leave exactly the same comment 😂
drinking will make you a worser player for everytime that Chick says "mirror image"...
That sounds like a great book. Just ordered my copy.
Even if my english is VERY bad, I'm able to understand all your advices, because all your explanation is so clear and polite: thank you very much.
Thank you kindly for sharing Chick. Loved seeing you in Melbourne a decade or so back with John McLaughlin and band. Cheers
I have been a fan of Chick Corea since I was 12......Exciting to hear the masters thoughts. I think this is really cool to hear about mirroring .The Idea of developing both of the brain and extend it to your fingers bi-laterly. SIMPLY AMAZING. I DID THIS IN VISUAL ART. BUT IN MUSIC........WOW.
sports piano..... humble man RIP Chick 🙏
Waw! Awesome!! Thanks for sharing! What an honor to hear from a grand master!!! Greetings from Argentina!!
You made it so simple I understand thanks Chick 👍.
Simple, yet so eye opening. I wish I was as good as you, Chick!
A genius has spoken.Wow...Met him at a jazz bar in L.A.Playing with 2 others with his acoustic Trio I believe early 90's.
Great tip from a master. 🙏
Vincent Persichetti wrote several Mirror Etudes as well as a book of short exercises called Reflective Keyboard Studies.
Great video. Thanks !
Chick looks like he's doing the "Hands up---Don't Shoot" stance (smile). On the serious side, I used to ask Chick a lot of questions when I was a student and he would give very good answers. For example, I asked him, "How many hours a day do you practice?" and Chick answered, I don't know, I don't count the time........" To me that was so deep! (at the time) Look for his Re-vision.....this book or any book, CD, DVD, album, etc. by Chick!
These points that he's giving may sound funny to some but they really help you if you apply them. And, by the way, anyone could tell by how disciplined Chick was/is as a Keyboardist, that he did very many hours per day of practice, PLUS, Chick plays more Musical Instruments than Piano. God bless!
thank you for the advice
You are welcome!
thanks so much you are my hero!!
Thank you Chick... I understand the advice. I will use this exercise on the piano...❤️🌍😀🙏✨
i love this concept
Thank you very much for this video of yours. I found it useful to develop my left hand to be more active.
Cool. I’d like this book.
3:20 That symmetrical thing with the keyboard is GENIUS. How have I played for nearly 20 years and not noticed that ???
I learned about it through Seymour Fink's video, "Mastering Piano Technique," which can be viewed on CZcams. He also has a book by the same title, the outline of which the video follows, which goes into some detail on this phenomenon of how the keyboard is symmetrical around both D and Ab/G#. Fink's treatment of this phenomenon is much more detailed than what Chick gives here. I recommend it highly! (Fink is a classical pianist.)
Genuious ,you are mi inspiration for ever....
Thanks Chick!!
Chick’s still the man.
I learnt something from this lesson .Thanks master
Saw Return to Forever years ago, will never forget it. Chick is one of the all time greats. Got to find this book.
I like this idea. Keyboard layout is a difficult thing to get new students to completely understand, and this is an interesting alternative to "start in C 5-finger position, then G, then F, etc."
This mirror image, is... like adding a new dimension. Not harmonical, but why everything in music must be harmonical?
Thank you, and full respect to your work, Sir.
I'm thrilled to have that link below to the pdf since Amazon describes this book as out of print. However, Chick Corea does not benefit financially nor digitally (as in tags/footprint/connections)....I'll work on this and share the benefits of my research. It's really important for us to support the musicians -- the "content creators" ! :)
what a legend this guy is
Hi Chick, yes the Rossomandi exercise book they still do it and we still play it, I m 50 now and I passed along my kids....cheers from Rome
This is so precious.. I don't have words to express my gratitude to Chick Corea. I feel his Music is in me since I was born!
Isto é tão precioso.. Não tenho palavras para expressar a minha gratidão a Chick Corea. Sinto que sua Música está dentro de mim desde que nasci!
(Lisbon - Portugal)
Very interesting Mr Chick ! You are a genius man , who give love in this world .I like you "beaucoup" since 1973
hello Mr.Chick hats off to ur talent. I respect u sir bcaz u have taken lot of pain nd trouble to learn this piano. I appreciate ur talent. But by seeing like this we could not see anything nor learnt anything. It was keeping a candle light in a pot. Anyway goodluck sir.
5:23 Chick: "you see that?" Me: "Not really, can we get a camera 4?" Music F&B is still my fav box set I own ❤️
Very Nice!!
great...we love you !
Thank you Master!
Omg The Rossomandi Guide for piano tecnique studying :)
Is this really Chick Corea's You Tube channel? If it is, all I can say is thank you very much for your contribution to Jazz. You, Herbie (not the VW Beetle :-)), McCoy, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Andrew Hill and Horace Silver are my all time favourite jazz pianists. I will practise this dexterity exercise daily, as I do have a strength problem with the 3rd/4th /5th fingers of my left hand. Any additional exercises to strengthen those particular fingers would also be great. It's not very often that I have a conversation with a jazz icon, so please excuse any gushing, on my part :-). I wish you salubrious health and sincerely thank you, as you guys are the musical inspiration to millions of aspiring jazz pianists around the world. Back to Earth now, as I've just been in Jazz heaven :-)
DJ Vibe Hello, DJ, This should bring you back to Earth--unsolicited advice from an unknown stranger . . . :) I noticed you talked about "strength problems with the 3rd/4th/5th fingers . . . " As you probably know, among the most difficult problems in playing the piano (or any percussive keyboard instrument) is the notorious weakness and lack of independence in the 4th finger--it's much weaker than any other finger and far less independent. The idea in bringing its level of strength and independence up closer to the other four is to allow the pianist to play with controlled, relative strength throughout--a sort of "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" thing. It's generally more important to be able to play evenly and with controlled relative dynamic force overall--this, again, makes the maximum overall level available (especially of dynamics) determined by the weakest of the fingers--the 4th. Independence is interrelated here too--how flexible and independent the fourth finger is determines how high this finger can be raised above the key (with some or all other fingers variously disposed, simultaneously striking keys, holding depressed keys, or free, at the same time) before striking it--the higher you can raise that 4th finger above the key, the more force you can bring to striking the key and hence, the louder you can play that note.
It all has to do with the physiology of the hand, which is above my pay-grade, but it's the 4th finger that is by far the weakest and least independent and flexible. And the concern is more with developing something closer to equal strength and independence among all five fingers than with just "bulking up" the 4th, as you might do with your pectoral muscles . . . :) I'm guessing your problems with fingers 3 and 5 have mostly to do with independence and flexibility--not so much with strength. The exercises Chick Corea shows and talks about, and those mentioned by other commenters here, deal with all these problems in all fingers--so here it is--one stop shopping! (Hope this helps a bit)
Roland Jesperson :-) Thank you for sharing your helpful tips. Hopefully I'll get there eventually, if I work hard enough at the exercises. :-) All the best to you.
DJ Vibe You will definitely get there, DJ, don't worry about it--the 4th finger has plagued pianists since the darned thing was invented, and nobody gets to the point of being completely satisfied. During the mid and late Nineteenth Century, there were lots of "miracle cures" being touted around Europe for specifically this problem. Robert Schumann fell for one of them--some kind of mechanical contraption worn around the hand while practicing--unfortunately, using it irrevocably ruined his hands, so that after that, he could no longer perform at all--sad, but at least he had more time to compose . . . :)
Try to remember that working on and with the 4th finger is a life-long process, BUT you only have to develop it just So much in order to be able to play really, really well. It's hard at first and seems like slow going, but, after the initial period of slow growth, you hit a period of much more rapid and less-difficult practicing and improvement.
Also, as this problem is so ubiquitous, just ordinary practicing, especially practicing your pieces (repertoire), will automatically help to accomplish the same things. Don't fall into the trap of over-doing technique (and technical exercises) at the expense of mastering repertoire. (I know--I fell into that for a while, and the results weren't pretty . . . :)
You really shouldn't spend all that much time practicing technique-by-technical exercises only--and Especially don't overdo these particular exercises for and w/r/t the 4th finger--you can do more harm than good by overdoing that, similar to an athlete isolating a particular motion and related set of muscles and doing that over and over far too much--it ain't good for ya . . . (If you have a teacher, or even someone you know well who is a pianist, you might want to get some advice on this--I'm a bit concerned that you don't focus too much on this . . .) Thanks for your kind response, by the way, and good luck!
Roland Jesperson Thank you Roland for your detailed reply. I will heed your advice, in regard to 'over-doing' the technical exercises. Prefer just playing, whether that be some classical repertoire, jazz, pop, blues, rock n roll, Latin, Boogie Woogie, etc., but have to balance that with specific technical exercises to, develop the weaker aspects of one's playing. It really demands one's full attention to get anywhere near good, but I love the piano and am definitely going to invest the time required to improve. Nowhere near Chick, but enough to be a proficient professional pianist. Good luck in your future musical endeavours.
Roland Jesperson but in scientifically and biological terms of the anatomy of the hand, it's impossible to make your ring finger independent; however, you can still acquire the flexibility (not strength) to be able to use it effectively.
An Amazing Artist..........Mirror Image exercises are found in an old book called "Exercises de Tenues" by Isador Philipp & a book that Herbie Hancock uses called "Daily Technical Studies by Oscar Beringer. I find that the Philipp's book work directly into voicings ....
Yeah, I came to these comments just to see if anyone had mentioned Beringer. A whole book of exercises based on the "mirror image" concept.
Mirror imaged sounds like contrary motion to me.
Mirror image perfectly describes the concept, I get it.
gracias MASTER!!!
Maestro!
You can see also Bach's Inventions with similar contrapunctus on mirror. But I think that's a wonderful source for technic. Congratulations Chick.
what a simple man so accessible, thank you
chick, is time to eat?
really like this!
Where can one get the book "A Work in Progress?"
thank you for sharing your insights - from the inspiring(you) to the aspiring (us)... can't quite find this take in Czerny or Hanon...
Has the new revision of the book ever come out? I can't find it available anywhere for purchase.
I get it! Ingenious!
What a guy! Fab!!
Mirror image graphically. Yes but he was the kind of musician who would use it musically as well.
very helpful tips thx
R.i.P Chick!!!!
learning from the teacher
I am convinced that practising a passage in mirror image in the other hand aids performance in the original hand. Piano technique is far more to do with the brain than the fingers, oddly enough, so it makes perfect sense to think of it as a brain exercise. Without this approach we would never exercise both hands in quite the same way simply because of the nature of the tonal spectrum. To approach the thumb in the RH is to come down in pitch, to approach the LH thumb is to ascend, each producing (I suspect)a subtly different sensation.
Miss you Chick
Chick from Corea is mirror image of Chick Corea!!
Thank you!!!!
Wow !
I dont know how old Chick is, but he gives the impression of a youngster..!
gracias por el vídeo ,me gustaría que una cámara estuviera arriba del piano ,saludos..
It's called symmetrical inversion. The Austrian pianist and pedagogue Rudolph Ganz was the first to define it and present it to the public (late 19th, early 20th century), though I'm sure prominent pianists earlier in the century used it.
If you see other videos, you'll know CC learn classical.
hi chick ,my hero since your first album thanks for the videos where can i get your book cheers
What an Legend
Something I noticed years ago: when I practise one hand, the other hand learns also. Not to the same degree as the practised hand but there is measurable improvement. I notice this particularly with scales. If I learn a new scale in my R/H, my L/H behaves as if it has practised also.
What you're probably experiencing is the fact that when you learn a scale or phrase, with either or both hands, those intervals and patterns get ingrained into your mind over time. Even if you've only practiced one hand, you already know the pattern and so when playing it with the alternate hand you are free to focus purely on the technical aspect of playing whatever scale or phrase you may be practicing. Of course, practicing both hands together is always ideal because it helps you to keep your focus calm and centered instead of having to focus on one hand or the other because it is less practiced. It accomplishes the mental and physical goals at once, with no need to translate between hands.
+Hardtop Harry Amazing.
Hardtop Harry Absolutely. And one scale helps you improve the others. Not sure how/why that is. It's a brain thing.
The connection between the left and right brain teaches the other half the routine. I've noticed this too.
^..^~~
So inspirational! Where can I purchase this book???
My teacher was Earl Armil from Davenport, Iowa. He was a student of Silvio Scionti who was a student of Rossomandi. I have a set of technique books by Rossomandi that I got from Earl. I also have a few copies of a technique book by Scionti. The Scionti book has thumb turning exercises based on the symmetry concept. I think all the books are out of print.
That's good to know!
+Chick Corea Hi, Chick. Rossomandi's books are still available. www.libreriamusicale.com/product_info.php?products_id=14153
+Ivan same here. Then, I found out there was a classical composer who had such music written out.
wow thanks so much
does anyone know where to get this book, the new version he is releasing he said with the added chapter? and hard copy if possible? ill take digital but sometimes hard copy is nice when im sitting down at my piano with no where to place my laptop.
I learned this same thing when Marc-Andre Hamelin covered it in an interview years ago
Would it be more beneficial for beginners to practice in mirror image where the fingers move in opposite directions, or together playing the same riff octaves apart?
Never met Chick. I've spent time with Stanley, Al and Lenny White. All were exceptional. But I could only imagine Chick.
Cool video. You can also do this with the octatonic scale. Contrary motion. Thumbs on C and E (or E and C, however you like it). I'm sure there are other symmetrical patterns out there.