Five Finger Exercise
A five-finger exercise is a musical composition designed primarily to exercise all five fingers of the hand. A typical example is Hanon's The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises.
Chopin wrote a number of études (studies) that are widely regarded as musical compositions to train musical ability and dexterity of the fingers, especially Étude opus 10. Another example of an exercise to develop musical skills may be Für Elise, it has been suggested that it was written as an exercise to practice skills on the piano. It has since been rewritten for many other instruments.
The technique has also been part of scientific study. Another example being The art of piano playing: a scientific approach by George A. Kochevitsky, who explains some of the fundamentals in teaching the piano. In his chapter on Progressive ideas in nineteenth-century teaching he explains some of Chopin's idea's (see above), there is a mention of five-finger exercises.
Read more about Five Finger Exercise: As Figurative Speech
Famous quotes containing the words finger exercise, finger and/or exercise:
“I asked you to play. If you can’t think of anything better, play a chromatic five finger exercise. But spare me your suburban shopgirl trash.”
—Muriel Box (b. 1905)
“The stern hand of fate has scourged us to an elevation where we can see the great everlasting things which matter for a nation—the great peaks we had forgotten, of Honour, Duty, Patriotism, and, clad in glittering white, the great pinnacle of Sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven.”
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945)
“When a girl of today leaves school or college and looks about her for material upon which to exercise her trained intelligence, there are a hundred things that force themselves upon her attention as more vital and necessary than mastering the housewife.”
—Cornelia Atwood Pratt, U.S. author, women’s magazine contributor. The Delineator: A Journal of Fashion, Culture and Fine Arts (January 1900)