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Pentatonic Hanon Exercises
~ PentHan 13-01-18 ~

Pentatonic Hanon 13-01-18

PentHan 13-01-18 is a major pentatonic workout  in even semiquavers.

Below is the final transposing pattern. Just listen-and-watch the video to see what you're aiming for. (Preparatory exercises follow.)

A nice fingering and musicality warm-up! Let's start the build-up.

First preparatory exercise

The first preparatory exercise gives the pattern in C major pentatonic (all white keys), with a simplified left hand.

Use the MS and video to start learning the right hand, on its own first.

The right hand rising pattern covers groups of four next-door pentatonic scale tones.

The first (lowest) notes of these groups are shown above the MS: T - 3 - 6 - 2  - they rise and fall by skip.

The left hand groups of three next-door scale tones rise and fall a single tone (T - 2 - 3 - 5, 2 - T - 6 - 5).

The falling right hand pattern is not the exact inverse of the rising pattern, and covers five next-door scale tones. Does this asymmetry strike you?

No fingering is given, but in all-white-key C major pentatonic, you can pass your thumb under at any point. However, to be a little more coherent:

• Play the first (bottom) note of each rising group-of-four with the thumb (RH1).
• Play the first of each falling group-of-five with RH4 or RH3, passing fingers over to make this possible.

The left hand has enough 'breathing space' for us not to worry unduly.

Second preparatory exercise

The second preparatory exercise develops the left hand.

The right hand is just the same. You challenge is to keep your sensible fingering intact despite the more demanding left hand.

The developed left hand is now groups of four next-door scale tones, and rises/falls by skip.

You still have enough breathing space to not have to pass the thumb under, unless you neglect to move your hand to the left in the gaps.

The full, transposing exercise

Now here is the developed pattern starting in E major and falling a whole tone per repetition as far as A flat.

In order to play this, you will need to have practiced the second and perhaps also the first preparatory exercise in the non-white-key keys.

After E, only the start, turn and finish of the pattern is shown.  You should be playing 'from the template' and not from 'the dots', so this will hopefully not be a problem.

Playing the exercise falling by whole tones from B to E flat is a possible supplementary challenge. These two variants between them omit only the next-to-impossible D flat and G flat major pentatonics.