In my new book The Dream Theater Keyboard Experience, I tried a teaching method that I first was introduced to during my pre-college days at Juilliard.
I remember picking up the Alfred Cortot edition of the Chopin Études and seeing how he wrote a different short exercise before each étude, focusing the student on a particular technical difficulty that he wanted to highlight within the piece. It’s a very cool concept that I employed for each of the pieces included in my book. Here’s an excerpt from one of the eight exercises that I wrote.
Though “Octawizard” challenges you to execute fast and smooth arpeggios of every shape and size, the real focus is on the rhythmic element of the lines. Notice how it quickly goes from straight sixteenthnotes to triplets of sixteenths. It might be a little tricky to make that change smoothly at first, but relax with it — that’s the hard part and it’s the reason that I created this.
You’ve heard this tip before, but it bears repeating: Turn on that metronome! Also make sure you’re not moving your elbow and body around too much. You don’t want any wasted movements here!
The inspiration for this étude is from measure 186 in the song “Octavarium” from the Dream Theater album of the same name.
Download the MP3 for "Octawizard," here:
Octawizard MP3