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Injuries, a ton of development, more injuries, I want a teacher, unsatisfied with my performances, more injuries, a lot of development...
Ten months ago, I wrote a blog about my experience with the piano [http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=387189], how I learned it, and how my I was suddenly inspired to play a lot after jumps in my progress. So, I will tell the story of the past year.
I love performing. I always have. I enjoy facing nervousness and knowing that I can conquer it. Sometimes I goof and mess up and it's terrible and stuff...but that feeling when something tricky comes up, and it's really scary...and then nailing it...that feeling is wonderful.
The problem is, I'm not actually good enough yet to perform. But I want to...I really want to...
So the story begins with shortly after my previous blog. We're in December, I have just polished up Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 5...I could play it decently, except the little build up before the mass octaves at the end [I couldn't play the left hand part fast enough], and I couldn't do the octaves at speed so I slowed that part down, but whatever. I'd miss a few notes here and there, but from what everyone says, they liked my interpretation, and there was a liveliness and "childlike optimism" that I played the song with that they really liked. I phrased everything in the song the way I wanted to.
But the problem was I was doing it in such a way where my right wrist was locked, because I hadn't looked for tension yet. Also, since I played the piece with flat fingers, I didn't notice that the arch in my right hand was collapsed.
I performed the song in front of a lot of friends to wow them...and I loved playing it so much. I might have butchered the song a bit because I was studying Lang Lang and his hand motions to see how to play things that cleanly, but then this was before I realized that that wasn't the important thing, and that my interpretations were the more important thing.
Until I played on the shitty upright they had at the Armstrong Theatre. The keyweight was so large that I couldn't even press down the notes playing at the tempo that I was playing at. The upright at my school that I practice on had a really light keyweight [equivalent to most good grands I've played on, like the one in my school's theatre that I snuck on once upon a time XD], and I couldn't even press the notes down all the way, so it didn't sound very good.
This prompted me to question my technique - and then a study on my development of technique happened.
This study was further called for when I played Fantasie Impromptu - the topological structure of the keyboard made it difficult to do trills between black and white keys, closeness of notes made lines uneven...and it just hurt so much after extended practice, because tension was still a really big problem.
Somehow, I ended up with these huge holes in my college schedule, so I was either practicing in my school's practice rooms, or I was reading about piano either via the internet or through books I ordered online. I'd decided that my knowledge of technique was too limited, and I wanted to know everything and try to apply it, instead of trying to "figure things out" on my own.
I practiced 2-3 hours every day, and I rarely missed a day. I was improving quite rapidly; Fantasie Impromptu was coming together. Playing 4 vs 3 was not as hard as I had initially imagined; using some didactic techniques I learned from a friend it came together quite fast. The problem became - if the piano had too much keyweight, I wouldn't even be able to press it down, since I played so lightly. This was both a blessing and a curse; I loved the way it sounded if notes actually came out, but if notes didn't come out, well then - it wasn't really a song.
I tried to fix this by pressing harder, which led to wrist injury, and I'd have to stop playing for a bit. Frustrated, I kept trying new things - arm weight, no arm weight, all finger action, etc, etc...
I knew I was supposed to relax, and I thought I was doing it - but at the time I didn't know that I actually wasn't doing it. I tore through book after book, DVD after DVD, searching for answers - but there were so many, and many of them disagreed that I didn't know which one was the right one.
Eventually, I settled upon arm weight technique - I would try to play everything using arm weight. This was around February. I started practicing playing with arm weight, as opposed to the pure finger action that was before, and I managed to avoid injury for a whole month.
I could play through Fantasie Impromptu and the Chopin Etude now, but the problem was that I would have to push myself to get through it, as my hands got tired in the middle, and I didn't know why - the weirder thing was that when I played each hand by itself, they would get through the whole thing and I wouldn't feel tired at all, but put them together and one hand [usually the right] would just give in. I got really fed up with this, and despite the fact that I knew I needed to find the tension and get rid of it, I sort of just played through it -
-which resulted in a lot of really bad playing, since when my hands got tired, I had to just sort of play messily and get through it. It got a lot better the more I substituted finger action with arm weight, but then what started happening was all the lines and stuff became really blurred, as my interpretation of "arm weight" was quite literal. I would literally lift the wrist up on the pulses of the lines, and then drop them down and "transfer" the weight into the key at this point, and let the momentum carry the other notes, with the fingers performing minimal action. This was fine and all, but it was really sloppy.
Also, I was composing a lot at the time, and I was finally able to play my own songs, but they took too much time to learn - time I didn't have thanks to college. I'm still not that good, and I spend a good chunk of time working on scales/arpeggios, since I want to develop improvisational skills and whatnot.
Towards the end of March, however, I started getting really down on myself since I couldn't play anything perfectly, and I was getting really flustered with it. My mental play [can you perform the task in your head?] for both were not solid at all, and it was too much brainpower to practice mental play, since school was starting to get to me. Also, I had started playing Starcraft again, and then eventually League of Legends. Once spring quarter started, I developed even more playing injuries, and I eventually put down the piano again, knowing I'd return to it at some point.
My little break ended in June, when I decided that I would finish my piano album that I had started for my girlfriend in December - shortly after she dumped me. I didn't really practice that much during this time, I composed more, but I would dabble on the piano here and there, and it was one day, after marching band rehearsal for the band that I tech for...I was in the choir room, and there was a piano, and I decided that I wanted to play it.
I don't know what it was, there have only been three performances in my entire life that felt like this - but there was something different that night in my playing. I sat down in front of my piano, my friends near me, and a few onlookers from the band at the door listening, and I began playing some of the songs that I knew.
I began with the Chopin Etude. I hadn't played the song in 3 months, yet for some reason, that was the best rendition that I had ever made of it - and for some reason, my right arm didn't tire out this time. In fact, it felt even better after it, and I somehow played the octaves fast enough...at a tempo faster than the one that I had initially chosen! I brought out all of the parts that I wanted to bring out, I didn't overpedal [one of my really bad habits], and I felt this strange "fire" arise within me, and within the music. It was so weird, I'd never heard that kind of excitement before from my own playing. It was like the instrument and me had finally understood each other after years of trying to establish communication.
Next was Pirates of the Carribean. I missed a few of the jumps, but I was so in the moment that I didn't even care, and I made the song more alive than I'd ever played it. I felt like I was actually Johnny Depp sailing, and one of my friends, a fellow pianist, said that I had never played piano like that before, and that it was cool to watch :D
Then I played one of my own songs, an etude I wrote - and I killed it lol. Nailed all the jumps, even the weird 2 lines on the same hand for both hands parts...
And I was so intrigued by what happened that night...that I started practicing. But it doesn't seem like I can call upon that state...it just seems to "happen." Which is not good; I want my playing to be that exciting all the time D:
I took a break from composing and tried playing more piano - this time, two Chopin pieces that I'm still working on because I'm lazy and decide to play my own songs instead - Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 8...and the Heroic Polonaise. The Etude is easy, I just have to learn it. The Polonaise on the other hand...I've decided to take a break and go back to it once my hands are flexible enough.
I also, just because I enjoy the song so much...started learning Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto. It's a monster to learn, it's incredibly difficult, and a lot of stuff I'd never even seen before, but it is playable [barely] for me, and I've learned about 4 pages lol [I learn line by line so I have the entire thing memorized so I can practice in my head too so it's more efficient], and I'll probably never even perform it with an orchestra, but that song is just so much fun to play...
...this is something that has been nagging at me for a really long time though. What if the problem isn't that I don't practice well/enough [which I know my mental work can be improved significantly]...but instead that I'm picking songs that are way too hard for me? Should I wait and play easier songs? But the problem is I've already been exposed to difficult material, and I'll view the less challenging ones boring...[like I do for a lot of my own songs]...
So the dilemma then becomes, do I be bored and play it perfectly? [Which I have, a lot of my own songs I can play without technical difficulty whatsoever, and I'll rarely mess up - that goes for the Yiruma pieces too] Or do I play something really challenging, but never be able to play it properly? [Doing so, however, improves my technique drastically - and aligns with my learn to swim by jumping in the deep end philosophy]
After rereading/rewatching Fraser, I've come to terms with technique, and combine that with reading Bruce Lee/other fighting stuff/biomechanics readings, I changed my technique around so that I can now play any finger position, with/without weight, and engage the whole playing mechanism to work as one instead of relying on any one part of it - at the cost of a lot of time invested to get the technique up to that level, and I still slip away from it sometimes, and I have to force myself back.
Also, after studying Horowitz extensively, I began playing with tone color [am I even good enough for that yet? I don't think I am good enough at shaping melodies to add tone color, but I do it anyway XD], and it's really weird because I'll change from curved to flat fingers, vice versa mid song, and it's really fun and it's a cool thing to add during practice, and I just loveeeeee the sound so much...
So my goals for the next month are as follows:
-Learn the songs for my album that I put on sheet music
-Work on Rach 3
-Fix Fantasie, Chopin so that I'm not tensing when I stretch for the reach notes, and not let arch collapse
-Work on my staccato speed
-Improve tone color
-Improve musicality
-Finish writing my album [9 of 11 songs done]
Also, I really want a teacher - I can only get so far on my own, but I don't have the time this year. :/
Well, that's quite a bit to get done. Wish me luck!
EDIT: Here's my most recent recording. I flubbed a bit, but I liked the beginning so much I kept it.
But I hope you like my interpretation
And also, this is the first time I've really tried playing with tone color, idk if I'm even doing it but here
+ Show Spoiler +
 
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eventually you will get to a point where you realize that interpretation and technique are highly interrelated and lacking in one will highly affect the other. another thing is that just because a piece is simple doesnt mean its easy -- emil gilels once said mozart was the hardest composer for him, at least compared to rachmaninov. any missteps in phrasing or a wrong note are painfully obvious in mozart
also if you're getting injured when you're playing the piano you're probably not doing things right, there is a chance that your hands are just naturally weak but thats just not likely
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Great blog! I find it quite inspirational, and can relate to alot of things (I was exposed to classical music as a young child also, but I always had a teacher) will you post recordings of some of your work when you polish it? Heroic Polonaise and Fantasie Impromptu are two of my favourite piano works!
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United States4883 Posts
Yes, you are playing really fucking difficult piano pieces lolol. I played piano for 12 years including 2 years at university studying piano performance, and I still would approach Chopin Etudes with caution. I had a friend who worked tirelessly on the first one (C Major, probably the single most difficult one) and ended up getting tendonitis lol. (Sidenote: he was able to recover and recently won a piano concerto competition and a trip to Germany/Austria :D).
That said, I looked at the video you posted in the other blog, and from what I can tell you have really well-trained fingers but lack a lot of other really important technique. You definitely lock your wrist a lot (which I'm sure you know), which is probably a result of not using your shoulders and arm weight for dynamics. You want to keep an arch with your knuckles and not let that structure collapse when you play, using primarily your arm weight and shoulders for power and dynamics. The second thing is making sure each finger is relaxed when you play, which can be fixed with a lot of really deliberate, slow practice. You really want to listen and pay attention to not only the sound that you're making but how your fingers feel when practicing slowly.
It's a normal thing to become fixated on trying to play harder and harder pieces to prove to yourself that you are good, but the best way to grow quickly is to find enjoyment and learning in every single piece you do, even if it's something slower that you feel you can already play. Look, for instance, at some slower Rachmaninoff or Chopin Preludes, which are impossible to play well without the correct touch and expression, in spite of their slower speed. Even the middle section of the Fantasie-Impromptu is that kind of slow, beautiful tone-coloring that's quite difficult to do well.
Anywayz, keep up the practice, try to actually slow it down some, and a lot of your problems will get solved  . Best of luck!
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On October 10 2013 13:20 SC2John wrote:Yes, you are playing really fucking difficult piano pieces lolol. I played piano for 12 years including 2 years at university studying piano performance, and I still would approach Chopin Etudes with caution. I had a friend who worked tirelessly on the first one (C Major, probably the single most difficult one) and ended up getting tendonitis lol. (Sidenote: he was able to recover and recently won a piano concerto competition and a trip to Germany/Austria :D). That said, I looked at the video you posted in the other blog, and from what I can tell you have really well-trained fingers but lack a lot of other really important technique. You definitely lock your wrist a lot (which I'm sure you know), which is probably a result of not using your shoulders and arm weight for dynamics. You want to keep an arch with your knuckles and not let that structure collapse when you play, using primarily your arm weight and shoulders for power and dynamics. The second thing is making sure each finger is relaxed when you play, which can be fixed with a lot of really deliberate, slow practice. You really want to listen and pay attention to not only the sound that you're making but how your fingers feel when practicing slowly. It's a normal thing to become fixated on trying to play harder and harder pieces to prove to yourself that you are good, but the best way to grow quickly is to find enjoyment and learning in every single piece you do, even if it's something slower that you feel you can already play. Look, for instance, at some slower Rachmaninoff or Chopin Preludes, which are impossible to play well without the correct touch and expression, in spite of their slower speed. Even the middle section of the Fantasie-Impromptu is that kind of slow, beautiful tone-coloring that's quite difficult to do well. Anywayz, keep up the practice, try to actually slow it down some, and a lot of your problems will get solved . Best of luck!
i think the double note (op 25, no 6) one is the hardest, but thats just me 
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On October 10 2013 09:26 rabidch wrote:
eventually you will get to a point where you realize that interpretation and technique are highly interrelated and lacking in one will highly affect the other. another thing is that just because a piece is simple doesnt mean its easy -- emil gilels once said mozart was the hardest composer for him, at least compared to rachmaninov. any missteps in phrasing or a wrong note are painfully obvious in mozart
also if you're getting injured when you're playing the piano you're probably not doing things right, there is a chance that your hands are just naturally weak but thats just not likely
Well, it's gotten to the point where I realized that the way something sounds is governed by something entirely physical, which led to a lot of experimenting with cool motions and stuff. I guess what I mean to say is I'm letting interpretation dominate technique, rather than focusing on hitting the right notes alone or something like that
Oh goodness is Mozart hard to play...I never play it because after watching "Amadeus" I don't want to ruin what's "perfect" XD lol jk but I really enjoy technical difficulties, it's one of the funnest things about piano for me...
...but I love playing soft songs too, but I find them to be actually more work than fast songs because of all the fine tuning
On October 10 2013 10:55 isaachukfan wrote:
Great blog! I find it quite inspirational, and can relate to alot of things (I was exposed to classical music as a young child also, but I always had a teacher) will you post recordings of some of your work when you polish it? Heroic Polonaise and Fantasie Impromptu are two of my favourite piano works!
My work as in like the stuff I wrote? Lol I'll try not to butcher my music XD but will do
Goodness Heroic Polonaise is so hard. Chopin must have had some insane reach
On October 10 2013 13:20 SC2John wrote:Yes, you are playing really fucking difficult piano pieces lolol. I played piano for 12 years including 2 years at university studying piano performance, and I still would approach Chopin Etudes with caution. I had a friend who worked tirelessly on the first one (C Major, probably the single most difficult one) and ended up getting tendonitis lol. (Sidenote: he was able to recover and recently won a piano concerto competition and a trip to Germany/Austria :D). That said, I looked at the video you posted in the other blog, and from what I can tell you have really well-trained fingers but lack a lot of other really important technique. You definitely lock your wrist a lot (which I'm sure you know), which is probably a result of not using your shoulders and arm weight for dynamics. You want to keep an arch with your knuckles and not let that structure collapse when you play, using primarily your arm weight and shoulders for power and dynamics. The second thing is making sure each finger is relaxed when you play, which can be fixed with a lot of really deliberate, slow practice. You really want to listen and pay attention to not only the sound that you're making but how your fingers feel when practicing slowly. It's a normal thing to become fixated on trying to play harder and harder pieces to prove to yourself that you are good, but the best way to grow quickly is to find enjoyment and learning in every single piece you do, even if it's something slower that you feel you can already play. Look, for instance, at some slower Rachmaninoff or Chopin Preludes, which are impossible to play well without the correct touch and expression, in spite of their slower speed. Even the middle section of the Fantasie-Impromptu is that kind of slow, beautiful tone-coloring that's quite difficult to do well. Anywayz, keep up the practice, try to actually slow it down some, and a lot of your problems will get solved . Best of luck!
Daaaaang I've played piano for 12 years on and off and haven't gotten very far lol
And congrats to your friend! :D
Yeah looking back I'm kind of appalled I posted that LOL it was so bad but whatevs
Man it's so hard to get them to work together - I try moving my arm and stuff, but it's so hard to "connect" it to the finger motion, and sometimes if I do one, I forget to do the other
But will do, sir!
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The problem with technique is that different pieces require different technical approaches. For instance, when I play Mozart or Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier, my hands are arched. When I play Chopin's Opus 23 Ballade in g moll, I keep my hands relatively arched, but also open and limber. When I play something modern like Messiaen's Premiere Communion de la Vierge, my hands are flat.
Also, position and seating in front of the piano is incredibly important. If you're sitting at the piano you're not getting any strength or firmness in your playing. Your right leg is the only leg that moves the pedals - your left leg is your foundation that lets you drive your upper body -> arms -> hands -> fingers into the keyboard. Also, always relax your shoulders, and keep your arms alert, but relaxed.
Mozart isn't that difficult per se. You just need to be spending 1-2 hours on scales and arpeggios every day in addition to practising your pieces. Oh, and have small hands. T_T
EDIT: One important thing I forgot to mention is fingering. Changing the fingering can make a fiendishly difficult piece to something much more manageable. Find what works for you, your hand shape, and the music. Otherwise even if you play it perfectly it won't be the best it could be.
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I've been getting some nerve twitches near my wrist in my right hand, but it really helped to learn how to relax my hands and lose the tension. I almost had to relearn how to play though. (guitar in my case)
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On October 11 2013 07:36 Serpest wrote:
The problem with technique is that different pieces require different technical approaches. For instance, when I play Mozart or Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier, my hands are arched. When I play Chopin's Opus 23 Ballade in g moll, I keep my hands relatively arched, but also open and limber. When I play something modern like Messiaen's Premiere Communion de la Vierge, my hands are flat.
Also, position and seating in front of the piano is incredibly important. If you're sitting at the piano you're not getting any strength or firmness in your playing. Your right leg is the only leg that moves the pedals - your left leg is your foundation that lets you drive your upper body -> arms -> hands -> fingers into the keyboard. Also, always relax your shoulders, and keep your arms alert, but relaxed.
Mozart isn't that difficult per se. You just need to be spending 1-2 hours on scales and arpeggios every day in addition to practising your pieces. Oh, and have small hands. T_T
EDIT: One important thing I forgot to mention is fingering. Changing the fingering can make a fiendishly difficult piece to something much more manageable. Find what works for you, your hand shape, and the music. Otherwise even if you play it perfectly it won't be the best it could be.
my point with mozart is that technically it isnt difficult at all, but i find that dealing justice to some of the mozart piano sonatas, or just feeling satisfied about it, is much harder than a piece with several times the notes
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On October 11 2013 08:32 rabidch wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2013 07:36 Serpest wrote:
The problem with technique is that different pieces require different technical approaches. For instance, when I play Mozart or Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier, my hands are arched. When I play Chopin's Opus 23 Ballade in g moll, I keep my hands relatively arched, but also open and limber. When I play something modern like Messiaen's Premiere Communion de la Vierge, my hands are flat.
Also, position and seating in front of the piano is incredibly important. If you're sitting at the piano you're not getting any strength or firmness in your playing. Your right leg is the only leg that moves the pedals - your left leg is your foundation that lets you drive your upper body -> arms -> hands -> fingers into the keyboard. Also, always relax your shoulders, and keep your arms alert, but relaxed.
Mozart isn't that difficult per se. You just need to be spending 1-2 hours on scales and arpeggios every day in addition to practising your pieces. Oh, and have small hands. T_T
EDIT: One important thing I forgot to mention is fingering. Changing the fingering can make a fiendishly difficult piece to something much more manageable. Find what works for you, your hand shape, and the music. Otherwise even if you play it perfectly it won't be the best it could be. my point with mozart is that technically it isnt difficult at all, but i find that dealing justice to some of the mozart piano sonatas, or just feeling satisfied about it, is much harder than a piece with several times the notes
It depends with Mozart, because there is great difference in how one plays young Mozart versus late Mozart. The former is much more clinical and mechanical - little real music to be found there. The older Mozart has such a degree of complexity and careful passion that one can play late Mozart with imaginative interpretation - early jazz almost.
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On October 11 2013 10:17 Serpest wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2013 08:32 rabidch wrote:On October 11 2013 07:36 Serpest wrote:
The problem with technique is that different pieces require different technical approaches. For instance, when I play Mozart or Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier, my hands are arched. When I play Chopin's Opus 23 Ballade in g moll, I keep my hands relatively arched, but also open and limber. When I play something modern like Messiaen's Premiere Communion de la Vierge, my hands are flat.
Also, position and seating in front of the piano is incredibly important. If you're sitting at the piano you're not getting any strength or firmness in your playing. Your right leg is the only leg that moves the pedals - your left leg is your foundation that lets you drive your upper body -> arms -> hands -> fingers into the keyboard. Also, always relax your shoulders, and keep your arms alert, but relaxed.
Mozart isn't that difficult per se. You just need to be spending 1-2 hours on scales and arpeggios every day in addition to practising your pieces. Oh, and have small hands. T_T
EDIT: One important thing I forgot to mention is fingering. Changing the fingering can make a fiendishly difficult piece to something much more manageable. Find what works for you, your hand shape, and the music. Otherwise even if you play it perfectly it won't be the best it could be. my point with mozart is that technically it isnt difficult at all, but i find that dealing justice to some of the mozart piano sonatas, or just feeling satisfied about it, is much harder than a piece with several times the notes It depends with Mozart, because there is great difference in how one plays young Mozart versus late Mozart. The former is much more clinical and mechanical - little real music to be found there. The older Mozart has such a degree of complexity and careful passion that one can play late Mozart with imaginative interpretation - early jazz almost.
agreed, i was referring to his mature works
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It's early in the morning here and I may be lacking comprehension skills, but did you really learn all those pieces in just 10 months of piano ?
How many years have you been playing the piano ?
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On October 11 2013 15:45 Geiko wrote:
It's early in the morning here and I may be lacking comprehension skills, but did you really learn all those pieces in just 10 months of piano ?
How many years have you been playing the piano ?
Lol I meant 10 months after my previous blog
I've been playing for about 11 years now, but it's been very on and off, and if you total all the active time I was playing, I'd give it about 3 years
Also, I'm posting a video of my interpretation of a Yiruma song
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On October 11 2013 16:54 XDJuicebox wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2013 15:45 Geiko wrote:
It's early in the morning here and I may be lacking comprehension skills, but did you really learn all those pieces in just 10 months of piano ?
How many years have you been playing the piano ? Lol I meant 10 months after my previous blog I've been playing for about 11 years now, but it's been very on and off, and if you total all the active time I was playing, I'd give it about 3 years Also, I'm posting a video of my interpretation of a Yiruma song
LOL i was looking for this post too hahaha
For a moment i was like "you got to be kidding me"
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On October 11 2013 18:43 BrTarolg wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2013 16:54 XDJuicebox wrote:On October 11 2013 15:45 Geiko wrote:
It's early in the morning here and I may be lacking comprehension skills, but did you really learn all those pieces in just 10 months of piano ?
How many years have you been playing the piano ? Lol I meant 10 months after my previous blog I've been playing for about 11 years now, but it's been very on and off, and if you total all the active time I was playing, I'd give it about 3 years Also, I'm posting a video of my interpretation of a Yiruma song LOL i was looking for this post too hahaha For a moment i was like "you got to be kidding me"
LOL I am a human being I swear
Though it seems I make these huge breakthroughs after every hiatus at the piano
That true for anyone else?
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Yeah you almost got me scared there
I'm struggling with the same kind of problems you are, been playing on and off for a long time and I'm severely lacking in some technique aspects. For example when I'm playing pieces I find myself confronted to things I just can't play well and don't know how to train my fingers correctly.
Example:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DvlqsVi.png)
I can play it but it sounds so uneven and slow... I've tried working on it with different rhythms but I'm finding it hard to make any progress.
I would need to get a teacher but I just don't have the time anymore  You're right to work on your piano a lot while you're still in school because after that it gets harder and harder to find time.
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On October 12 2013 16:58 Geiko wrote:Yeah you almost got me scared there I'm struggling with the same kind of problems you are, been playing on and off for a long time and I'm severely lacking in some technique aspects. For example when I'm playing pieces I find myself confronted to things I just can't play well and don't know how to train my fingers correctly. Example: I can play it but it sounds so uneven and slow... I've tried working on it with different rhythms but I'm finding it hard to make any progress. I would need to get a teacher but I just don't have the time anymore You're right to work on your piano a lot while you're still in school because after that it gets harder and harder to find time.
For tremolos in general, try playing the whole thing as a chord
Then, break it up by lifting the finger that you want to come later
So say I'm going the CE - G tremolo on 13-5 on the right hand
Then I'd practice the CEG chord, bouncing it up and down as much as I need it repeated. You should be able to do this with no tension at all, and you shouldn't get tired. If you do, adjust your arms/posture etc etc
Then, split up the chord by lifting the 5 up just so slightly as you bounce it down. This is an entirely didactic process - you don't actually play like this. Try to remember what it felt like to play that fast, and then slow down from "infinite" speed to the speed that you want. Then, relearn the motion [trying to keep the same feeling of playing at that speed in your fingers], but with proper technique this time.
I think this trick is called chord attack, I use it to learn everything, it's wonderful
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Great blog post
I've played piano for 8 years now, and same story as you, off and on off and on.
I think I've had the same exact problem as you, regarding tension, with fantasie impromptu.
Two years ago, when I learned it, I could play every part at a pretty fast tempo.
But I could never play the whole song no matter how much I practiced.
Eventually I stopped playing it and tried other songs. Recently I took it up again, with a method I found someone explain somewhere. I find the tempo in which my hands are relaxed, and speed up only when I can play the fast parts consecutively (skipping the major part) one or two times. Then I speed it up.
It's pretty slow, but I can definitely feel improvement and feel my hands more relaxed.
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On October 22 2013 22:15 Z-BosoN wrote:
Great blog post
I've played piano for 8 years now, and same story as you, off and on off and on.
I think I've had the same exact problem as you, regarding tension, with fantasie impromptu.
Two years ago, when I learned it, I could play every part at a pretty fast tempo.
But I could never play the whole song no matter how much I practiced.
Eventually I stopped playing it and tried other songs. Recently I took it up again, with a method I found someone explain somewhere. I find the tempo in which my hands are relaxed, and speed up only when I can play the fast parts consecutively (skipping the major part) one or two times. Then I speed it up.
It's pretty slow, but I can definitely feel improvement and feel my hands more relaxed.
Relaxing is really important dood
I still have trouble with it sometimes, but make sure you can do everything relaxed it's so worth it in the end
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EPT
