Erin 1 – Study

Erin 1
Erin’s first study

Your first challenge! It’s based on Marvin Hamlisch’s ‘One’ (singular sensation).

Firstly it’s jazzy quavers (eighth notes) because I was too lazy to notate the dotted rhythms all the way through. The whole thing is played fairly forcefully throughout, with an extra kick on the last line. Here you can sing/play like Geoff Warren and the greats, add aggressive tongueing and drive it hard, down to the last note.

The little chromatic riff is on easy fingerings, so keep the fingers close to the keys so that it’s tight and neat (with clear tone).

Proper Bb’s all the way through, of course, as it’s a study. Watch out for D#’s too.

The E minor arpeggio in bar 7 is one of our easiest – 2’s & 2’s if you look at what the fingers are doing. So, keep those fingers really close to the keys, light action, no clattering, and you can make this super fast and impressive in due course.

Your particular challenge is to be getting those second octave notes with ease rather than forcing. Grumpy technique, lifting the airstream so that you can only hear one octave, not both. Good luck with this one, specially written for you.