LESSONS "Oey NFOr Mult-instaumentalst and arranger Gil Goldstein has porforned ard aranged foratists such as Jim Hal, David San born, and Esperanza Spalding, Find out more at gigoldstein us. on Rogen THE BILL EVANS RE-FINGERING SCHOOL peices: One of the most intricate problems of playing pian is fingering Crossing the thumb under (he way ur piano teachers taught ws) can feel awkward and make the hand lok ike a crab craving across the keyboard. The fiat ime saw Bill Evans ply, was truck by how he never seemed to cross his thumb. His hands seemed to float atthe ends of his arms ina relaxed position, Having had the good fortune to speak to Bill in person, and investigating his playing over the years, I've isolated some concepts that can help solve some ofthe sickest fin- ering issues, 1. Rhythmic Displacement Ex. 1 illustrates Evans’ improvisational approach of finding, developing, and shythmically displacing musical ideas. Bil often fn- {gered shor two- and three-note ideas symmetrical, iting his hand to place the thumb on the frst note of each phrase. The thing is, the thumb doesn't cross under the hand, The hand simply moves to where the next notes wil be played.ALLOW. al a Te tay INATE “ 42. Moving the Whole Hand Play the first five notes in Ec. 2 with the hand flat, ingored 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You now appear to be out of fingers. Evans would ply reposition his hand to play the next three notes in bar 2s @ separate statement. The trick i iting your whole hand after the Co get the A 3. Thumb Workout Another fingering trick i lifting the thumb to play two notes in a row. Bill had no fear of placing his thumb on a black note, reducing the numberof finger crosses his hand had to perfor. Play Exc. 3 using the fingering 1, 1, 5, 4, 3, 1. . it > it 4. Pinky Practice Evans extended the reach of hs fit finger by playing two notes ina row with the pinky. In Ec. 4, you can play the last phrase of six notes with a fat hand (instead of crossing the thumb) by simply lifting the pinky to play an extra note. a ghee boas ae Boa SSS 5. Land and Replace Ex. 5 shows how to land on one finger, then replace that finger with another. In measure 4, it's n third finger, but after, the jump to the E> above is dificult. While the Ekey is stil down, simply replace the third finger with the thumb, making the stretch upward easier oS coe Ped Reese 24 KEYAGARDWAG.CoM 02.2011