Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Hello! I've been tasked with performing this piece for a student's tuba audition at the college level. As you can see, it starts with those 16th note sextuplets at a rather brisk tempo. Right now I can play them at about 95bpm, but eventually i will have to work up to about 130BPM. Does anyone have tips for practicing this so your wrist doesn't get tired? Any ideas on how to keep it loose and not have tension?
Luckily those sextuplets happen for a few bars, then stop, then come back, so i think in the end it won't be a big deal. But practicing them has proven difficult. I will play them for all of a few minutes, practice something else that doesn't have as much tension, then go back to it.
Btw, I'm fingering the first note with 1 in my left hand, and the next three notes in my right hand. For the first collection of notes GACD it looks like 1 123, and for the next notes GAbCEb it looks like 1 124. I've also tried 1 135 but I don't think I can keep that one going as quick.
How easy do you find repetitive leggiero playing on the same three notes?
If you aren't used to it, I'd start by practicing just the RH 1-2-3-2-1 and 1-2-4-2-1 and 1-2-5-2-1 non-stop on those notes, minus the LH notes, getting used to the twiddly movement just using your fingers. Don't rotate your wrists (forearm) because that will slow you down and cause fatigue.
If you feel yourself tensing up, stop immediately. Remember, play them softly and lightly.
Thank you. I was rotating my wrist thinking that would help long term dexterity. How do I know the context when to rotate wrists and when not to?
If rotating the wrist helps allay tension, then rotate the wrist. If rotating still doesn't ease the tension, then look for some other physical cause for tension or fatigue.
Thank you. I was rotating my wrist thinking that would help long term dexterity. How do I know the context when to rotate wrists and when not to?
I'd use wrist rotation as and when it works for what I'm looking to achieve - and I don't think of using it consciously. Like all movements to do with piano playing, what you want is efficient and controlled actions that produce the sounds you want, without causing unnecessary tension that might lead to injuries. Very often, it's down to having spent sufficient time and having experience of playing a wide range of pianistic figuration and textures and styles, and - of course - being fluent with basic techniques (scales & arpeggios etc).
So, I'd use wrist rotation when playing broken octaves and tremolos - because the wrist instinctively rotates when you play them. But I wouldn't when playing trills with 2-3, though I might if playing loud trills with 1-3.
When playing lightly & delicately - as you'd need to in your piece -, you'd normally just use finger movements with 1-2-3. If you find that 1-2-4 and 1-2-5 benefits from wrist rotation, by all means use it. But never use a particular movement just because you've read - or been told - somewhere (e.g. from Taubman's disciples) that you "must" always, unless it actually works for you.....
