We don't move in a hurry - on their assignment sheet, I will write 'Key of C sheet, #1' until they can do it quickly with no prompting.Įventually, they will drop the easiest numbers off their assignment and pick up the harder techniques, such as chord inversions and arpeggios: This won't be until my piano students are able to read the chord notes in the first measure (number 1) - or until they NEED to be able to play chord inversions and the octave scale, in which case I'll give them the Basic Chords & Scales sheet, with lettered notes.

I always begin assigning the 12 major scales and chords with the 'Key of C' sheet. But she did it by hand! There were no copy machines back then. My piano teacher wrote out all 12 major scales, chord progressions, cadences, chord inversions and arpeggios for me when I was a little girl. There seemed something a bit magical and comforting in this routine: playing a pattern in one key, and then repeating it in another key, necessarily adjusting hand position and utilizing different fingering choices, getting the same overall sound, but with a sudden freshness. As a child, I had no idea how much time the exercises must have taken for her to write - for all of those keys, too! - but even then, I appreciated and enjoyed playing these patterns.