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Lesson 81: Virtuoso Studies, Part 1 — Finger Independence

  • Drill the four fingerings where the weak fingers (4 and 7) act independently of the strong fingers (2, 3, 5, 6).
  • Apply the result to a Telemann fantasia where the finger choreography is the technical content.

The fingers that fall behind are not the ones you think.

Finger independence limits players most often: the fingers used in every scale (2, 3) develop more dexterity than those that move only on certain notes (4, 7), so passages that should be even sound bumpy. These drills run ten to fifteen minutes per day as warm-up material, applied for a month.

The independence drill

Play slowly, metronome on the eighth, and listen for which note rushes or drags.

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The thumb drill

The thumb must crack the thumbhole exactly the right amount — repeatedly — without the lower fingers shifting.

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The daily warm-up

Ten minutes per session, every day for a month:

  • Three minutes of the finger-4 drill at quarter = 80, 96, 112.
  • Three minutes of the thumb drill at the same tempi.
  • Four minutes of any chromatic exercise or a Linde / van Hauwe etude.

Now play these

Telemann: Twelve Fantasias, TWV 40:101 (the first)
The finger choreography is the technical content — the ideal application piece.
Telemann: Sonata in C minor, TWV 41:C2
The most virtuosic Telemann sonata; finger independence is its practical limit.

When the daily warm-up sits in your hands at quarter = 112 with no audible unevenness from finger to finger, and you can play the Telemann TWV 40:101 fantasia end-to-end with cleaner finger motion than before this lesson, move on to Lesson 82.