FingerTips With a Touch of Theory, Book 4: Piano Technique Book

Working through Book 4 feels like learning the grammar of piano music itself. The augmented triads and secondary chords open up new colors on the keyboard, while the expanded scale work builds the muscular confidence needed to handle complex technical passages with ease.

Advanced piano students who are ready to deepen their harmonic understanding while refining technical facility. This book works especially well for students preparing for advanced repertoire, theory exams, or performance auditions that demand both fluent technique and harmonic awareness.

• Approach inverted triads and secondary chords as harmonic vocabulary first. Play them slowly enough to hear the voice leading and understand why each inversion sounds the way it does before increasing tempo.
• Use the two-octave scales to develop consistent finger weight and evenness across the larger range. Record yourself and listen for dynamic balance between octaves.
• Arpeggios in this book reward relaxed wrist rotation. Avoid tension by thinking of the arpeggio as a connected gesture rather than individual note plucking.

Assign sections of this book alongside contemporary or Romantic repertoire that uses the harmonic structures presented here; students will recognize secondary dominants or augmented triads in their pieces and understand them more deeply. It also serves as essential preparation for students moving into college-level piano studies or advanced theory courses.

• Playing scales in two-octave ranges with even tone and consistent fingering
• Recognizing and executing inverted triads (root position, first inversion, second inversion)
• Understanding augmented triad construction and voice leading
• Identifying and playing primary and secondary chord progressions
• Executing fluid arpeggios across harmonic structures
• Distinguishing interval qualities (major, minor, perfect, augmented, diminished)
• Performing black key harmonic minor scales with facility