The Russian technical regime is one that stresses the use of the body, particularly the upper arm/shoulder area, enabling students to have a weight-produced tone at the piano that is full, rounded and produced in a relaxed manner. By being able to use more of the body, whether it is to play loudly or softly, the variety in a student's tonal palette is increased. This technical regime also stresses harmonic patterns, double notes, rhythmic accents/organizations and the idea of performing technical patterns in a musical way.


In general:

•Have good posture at the piano. Be sure you are at the proper height and that your back is straight, with feet flat on the floor, perhaps one foot slightly in front of the other or resting on the pedals. One should feel balanced. Think of a sumo wrestler preparing for a match! Feet firmly planted on the ground.


•The hand position should be round (space on the inside), with a bridge that does not collapse! This should be your "Russian" rock---a solid hand position. This will be developed through lots of chordal and arpeggiated drills. Fingers should be slightly rounded, again, in a comfortable position.


•When you play these drills, remember slow is fast! The point is to do the motions in a fluid manner. This will enable you to play extremely legato and to also have a beautiful tone at the piano.


•Fingers should always, let me say it again, always stay in contact with the keys. At the advanced level, you need to increase the efficiency of your playing by staying in contact with the keys, playing somewhat toward the middle of the key and about 2/3 down in the keybed. For black keys, I always suggest that the student move in closer to the fallboard so that one is over the keys before playing them.

•RHYTHM: Technical requirements should be performed evenly and with a steady beat, with the proper grouping of rhythmic stresses (fours or sixes).

*RELAXATION: The upper body should be totally relaxed: neck, shoulders, arms, elbows, and wrists.

*WRIST ACTION: The wrist action assists in converting the weight and dropping motion into SOUND, and, will help eliminate tension. The motion should not be exaggerated or uncomfortable. Not too high or too low.

*ARTICULATION: Active fingers (tips!) producing a clear sound.

•TONE QUALITY: A rounded sound that is never forced or percussive, offering a wide array of colors and dynamics.

•FINGERING: Follow the fingering guides—always! ☺.


SCALES:

•Perform these in the Russian pattern: 2 octaves parallel going up, 2 octaves contrary out and back, 2 octaves parallel going up and back down, 2 octaves contrary out and back and finally, 2 octaves parallel going down.


•Accent scales in fours. The accent really means to drop your weight from above into the keys. The accents should be incorporated into the overall shape of the pattern you are performing...think of making a phrase to the top of each segment you complete.


•You can further develop your listening by incorporating various dynamics and shading, i.e., starting soft and making a crescendo and vice versa. See how far and how gradual you can make these changes.


•The scales can be done using parallel major and minor first, as many of these pairs have the same fingering. From there, move into the transitional figures that take you around the circle of fifths using relative major and minors: i.e. C/a goes to F/d, then to Bb/g. The transitional notes would be CDCBA, then ABbAGF, then FGFED, etc. So to move from major to parallel minor, think whole step first. To go from a minor to the next major key in the circle of fifths, think half step first. You are basically assuming the first four notes AND fingering of the next key. This is a great exercise for concentration.


•For chromatic scales, group these into sixes. Start in unison four octaves, then add the Russian pattern, then try these in intervals of thirds, sixths and tenths (Example: C to E [harmonic note in the RH on the 3rds & 10ths; E to C [harmonic note in the LH for 6ths]). Remember to watch your fingering around E/F and B/C. Think of landmarks where you use 2 instead of 3 and 1.

CHORD SEGMENTS
•Start the motion coming from the upper arm and shoulder, dropping the arm and wrist slowly into the keys. Do the Blocked Chords slowly in a half-note motion. Drop slowly into the keys on 1 and then lift slowly on 2 and move to
the next position.

•As you play the 4-note blocked chords, think of shifting laterally across the keys using 3 of the 4 notes as your landmark to the next position:
i.e. C-E-G-C becomes E-G-C-E, so use E-G-C as your common notes for the next position.

•Fingering: The fingering is the same for all keys. Make sure you use your 4th finger where indicated.
EXAMPLE: (Blocked and Broken Chords)
CEGC EGCE GCEG CEGC, etc
RH 1235 1245 1245 1235
LH 5421 5421 5321 5421

EXAMPLE: Russian Broken Chords (alternating notes)
CEGC EGCE GCEG CEGC, etc
RH 1325 1425 1425 1325
LH 5241 5241 5231 5241
HARMONIC PATTERN

•Two chords: Parallel Major and Minor

•Six Chords: You can think of these in a variety of ways—
M,m,M,m,M,m OR Root, Root, 1st inv, 1st inv, 2nd inv, 2nd inv OR
I, I, bVI, vi, IV, iv.
EXAMPLE: CEGC, CEbGC, CEbAbC, CEAC, CFAC, CFAbC

*You can also think of the internal intervals as to which and how many notes change by a half step.

•Eleven Chords: The final five chords each contain five notes and are diminished seventh and dominant seventh chords. See example in the key of C
Chord Seven: CEbGbBbbC-diminished seventh in the key of Db
Chord Eight: CEGBbC-dominant seventh built on the tonic (V of F)
Chord Nine: CEbGbAbC-dominant seventh built on bVI (V of Db)
Chord Ten: CEbFAC-dominant seventh built on IV (V of Bb)
Chord Eleven: CDF#AC-dominant seventh built on II (V of G)

ARPEGGIOS

 •For arpeggios, it is important to keep your hand position consistent. Often students will make a twisting motion when moving over or under the thumb. Rather than doing this, think of the arpeggios as a chord (think blocks) that moves laterally across the keyboard. There is a little link where you don't actually play legato, but play the notes as close together as possible to give the illusion of legato. Think--C-E-G--skip closely to the next C.


•Start with major and minor arpeggios in parallel motion, four octaves, then move to the Russian pattern, then to the first six chords of the harmonic pattern (see explanation below) and then to the full 11-chord harmonic pattern.