Challenges with 3 note Chord
Found in: Accompaniment, Curriculum, Foundation Songs, Musicality, Pedaling, Technique
Joan H., Canada
Greetings – I’ve got a 7 yr old student who is in week 12 or so of lessons, half way through Foundation 1, who has extreme difficulty playing finger 3 of a 3 note chord. He usually only plays a 2 note chord with finger 1 and 5 (ex. J. Blues, Honeydew). Have tried various creative things to strengthen finger 3, playing 2 note chords with F1and 3, and F3 and 5, etc, and still a huge hurdle. I am running out of ideas! this young man’s 5 yr old younger brother has no trouble at all, and in general picks things up much more quickly, so I am not sure what the root issue may be. I don’t want to move forward into the 2nd half of F1 until we cross this bridge, and yet i don’t want to hold the younger brother back either, who picks things up effortlessly. Thanks for any ideas you may have.
Carla M., Indiana
I had a 7 yr old student (girl) that was very frustrated playing chords. My daughter (who teaches traditional piano lessons) suggested using a pencil to help form the chord in her hand. The pencil goes between the fingers so it hold fingers 2 and 4 up and helps hold the chord shape in the hand. It did not take long for my student to get comfortable with chords and she did not get attached to the pencil. She was one of my first students. I also decided to pause F1 and took her through all 3 books of PAS. Now, she is about 1/2 way through F2 and loves to play!
Jennifer L., California
My guess is that this is not a strength issue, but a coordination issue. What I always do when this comes up is to have the student play the songs using RH F1-3 (the third of the chord – the note played by F3 – is far more essential in giving the chord it’s fundamental sound than the 5th – the note played by F5) so that the songs still sound right (or more complete than they would using RH F1-5).
And I have them spend a few minutes, several times a day, working on the chord thing separately (with the help and guidance of their coach, of course). The separate chord work, as I lay it out, consists of playing RH F1-5 a few times, then RH F1-3 a few times, then trying to play the entire chord a few times, then using the pencil trick to hold up fingers 2 and 4 and playing lots of chords anywhere on the piano.
This way, they can still have the joy of learning new songs and having them sound pretty good at the same time that they’re working on this issue.
Good luck with this student! I’m sure his little hand will be able to play full 3-note chords eventually.
Hilary C., Australia
One of the things I do is to get the student to play a broken chord – 1-3-5 first .then lift the hand up and play the chord – it just takes time. And I’ve seen students go from inability to a decent fist of it (no pun intended) in the space of a lesson.
And as I write it occurs to me that a JB variation of
L (F5 on bottom note ) R (F1) R (F3) R (F5)
would give you 4 beats in a bar, and then follow the 12 bar blues chord chart with this finger pattern on each chord and hey ho! a variation.
Nancy L., Ohio
Another idea I have used with much success is utilizing the “Land & Drink” idea introduced through Lyndel’s PAS curriculum. As a separate RH project, have the student “land” as a butterfly does on a flower. Fingers 1 & 5 are the butterfly’s feet. Then, the butterfly “drinks” utilizing its proboscis. Finger 3 is the proboscis that is added after 1 & 5 have landed. This is very effective in developing both coordination and strength.
I have students “Land & Drink” through the entire 12-bar blues order, RH only.
Claire C., Pennsylvania
I find that playing the chord at the third space “C” seems more comfortable to start with. The wrist is able to come out straight from the body without twisting. The left hand would play the bass “C” (below the staff) in the same fashion. The student should master the chords at these positions first then transfer to other octaves. I also find playing a major chord with a black key in the middle helpful since the third finger falls closer to the middle note.