• When you play each note separately, you're playing a “BROKEN CHORD."
• Play all three notes together and you've got a “BLOCK CHORD.”
Breakin’ in with “broken chords:”
1. Pick a chord card and play it “broken” style” one tone at a time. (Notice that you can play the notes as shown on a card in several different places, or “registers,” on the keyboard).
2. Play your broken chords in one hand and then the other, letting left and right hands “talk to” each other. You can order the tones in many different combinations: bottom-middle-top, top-middle-bottom, middle-top-bottom, and so on. You can also repeat tones: “middle-middle-top,” or “middle-middle-top-bottom” etc. Experiment with several different chord cards.
3. Next, try playing a chord all three notes at once, as a “block chord.” Do this in each hand, one hand at a time, with different chords. Create different effects: Sometimes, use the same chord in both hands. Other times, play different chords in each hand.
4. There are many different possibilities you can try, starting with playing block chords in one hand and broken chords in the other, and going on from there.