Hand drawings: Sabrina Quintero
Icons (glasses, parachutes, stars, etc.) designed by Freepik from Flaticon.
Copyright © 2010–2022 Freepik Company S.L.
Music engraving: John Rogers
Cover portrait of Penelope Roskell by kind permission of John Batten
© 2023 by Peters Edition Ltd, London
All rights reserved.
Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law.
ISBN 978-0-57159-290-6
Author acknowledgements
These books would not have been possible without the support of many friends and colleagues.
In particular I would like to thank:
Edition Peters and Andrew Hanley for commissioning and supporting this project.
Phil Croydon, editor, for his valuable advice and meticulous attention to detail.
Aaron Burrows and Carl Heap for their inspiring original music and words.
Ryan Morison and Informance for production of videos.
Beate Toyka, Jenny Macmillan, Louissa Galenski, Emma Griffiths, Oliver Griffiths, Monika Walo,
Paul Weeren, Bethan Scolding, Gemma Hitchen, Richard Dinsmore, Lewis Kesterton, Serena
Sheane, Henrietta Nguyen, Huei Flowers and members of the Roskell Academy for generously
sharing their experience and insightful comments on the drafts.
4
Introduction
To the teacher
The
Essential Piano Technique
books will help students
establish the strong technical foundations that support
confident playing and ensure quick progress in the years
to come. The books introduce young pianists to the
main principles of technique described in my book
The
Complete Pianist: from healthy technique to natural artistry
(Edition Peters, 2020).
The first three books will support a student’s develop-
ment during the first two or three years of playing.
They are technique books rather than method books,
and are designed to be used sequentially alongside most
method, repertoire or theory books.
The books reflect current research into best pedagogical
practice, using imagery and gesture to develop ‘techni-
que’ in the broadest sense of the word. They cover all
the fundamental skills a pianist needs in order to play
both with technical assurance and with artistry: good
co-ordination, freedom of movement, finger indepen-
dence and the ability to create a wide range of beautiful
sounds. Primer A focuses on establishing an optimal
hand position while exploring the whole keyboard with
a range of dynamics, playing both detached and legato.
Subsequent books introduce a richer palette of canta-
bile sounds – playing hands together and techniques for
playing chords and broken chords, scales, articulation,
leaps and rotation.
For the student, each book features original warm-ups,
exercises and engaging pieces. For the teacher, there are
detailed notes at the back of the book, which explain the
rationale behind this approach and offer teaching tips and
links to video demonstrations, accessed via QR codes.
These Teaching Notes also list sections in
The Complete
Pianist
where topics are covered in greater detail.
In Primer A, note-learning is kept as simple as possible
so that students can learn each technique quickly, then
immediately put it into practice in a musical example. All
pieces are intended to be played hands separately, so
students can devote their full attention to the quality of
movement and the sound. The approach to note-reading
complements most modern method books. Initial exer-
cises use notation without a stave: this allows students to
explore the full range of the keyboard with confidence.
When the stave is introduced, exercises are notated
around the middle C area for ease of note-reading but
are intended to be played one octave higher or lower,
to avoid the physical tension and imbalances that can
result from playing solely in the middle register.
The pitch of the starting note is indicated by the conven-
tional numbering system in which C4 represents middle
C as shown in the keyboard diagram below. When
playing with the teacher accompaniment, the student
may need to move along the seat to play at a higher
octave, especially when playing with the LH.
Teachers are encouraged to adopt a flexible teaching
