49. Stretches, or Hannon 1
I start with ‘stretches,’ the first Hannon exercise. This is like the ‘ignition key’ for the car, namely the hand. Hannon helps to cover the space of the entire keyboard, using all of the fingers in turn. It gives the perception an important lesson: the ocean of keys isn’t so wide, and it is easy to swim in it. It shows how to move around in the space in circular movements, and how stretching the fingers helps to skip across a key in order to continue moving.
Beginners first play Hannon with stiff fingers, which is natural. The main assignment of this exercise is to ‘awaken’ the mechanics of the hand and to force every finger to work independently. It implements a simple guidance in its activities: “stretch, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.” Later, when the fingers have been properly worked out, kids easily place their hands down with rounded palms and play with the tips of their fingers.