An Exercise for the Weak Fingers

The 4th and 5th fingers are the notoriously weak fingers for all of us; therefore, the more we can exercise those particular fingers, the better chance we have of developing a good technique on the instrument. The following exercise is designed to exercise the 4th and 5th fingers and, hopefully, in a fun way. I always try to make the harmonic content of an exercise interesting enough so that the exercise doesn't get just plain boring to play. Also a rhythmic figure can be employed by the hand which is not being exercised in such a way to make the piece more interesting and fun to play. This exercise employs the rhythmic figure in the left hand.

This exercise should be played each time you practice. It is not to be played for long periods of time. The exercise should be played twice or three times at the most and as the fingers strengthen, the exercise should increase in speed. Again, the fingers should be relaxed and loose and NOT TENSE when practicing. Make sure the keys go down to the bottom of the key bed and don't lift the fingers up too high to attack the keys. The fingers should be touching the keys and then push down from there--not up and down. Just dig those fingers down into the keys with a minimum of effort; solidly and crisply with no unnecessary motion.