playing chord both hand as soft as possible (ppp)

[piani0player]

hello,
      im learning a piece from imags book2 no.2 (The moon......) by Debussy.Its a very quiet piece,the dynamic is all below "p" and full of chords both hands.But im having trouble playing those chord softly.Every time i try to play them softly ,i always miss a few notes,Example : i played a 3 or 4 notes chord,i can only hear 2 notes or even worse 1.how should i practice them ?please help me.
thank you

[BoliverAllmon]

The trick is to put your fingers on the keys that you need to play. Let your fingers and wrist limp. The only thing that should hold your hand is your bicep. To play the notes you basically relax your bicep and let your entire arm go limp. Because you set the fingers down before depressing the key, you will play alot softer. It takes some time to get use to, but it makes a huge difference.

Boliver Allmon

[piani0player]

hi
thank you very much

[rachfan]

A few more suggestions.  To be able to play softly, practice loudly.  Yes, you heard that right.  Do "mechanical practice" first playing the chords in legato succession at forte with proper voicing, but no pedal.  When you get ready to play softly, relax the arms, lean backward somewhat so that your extended arms feel like they're floating on air, and depress the soft pedal.  Then depress the damper pedal too BEFORE you play the first note to create the atmospherics.  Then take the notes very close to the key tops.

On the matter of not sounding certain notes within the chords, also be sure that your piano's action is level.  If you have a grand, look down at the hammers.  The tops should form a straight line across as if you could place a ruler over them.  If some are higher or lower than others, that won't help your cause any in "The Moon Holds Her Court".  If you know how to slide the keyboard out and make the capstan adjustments, do that and check your work with a straight edge.  If not, you'll have to have your tuner do that.  It comes under "minor regulation" and the fee should not be all that much.  If you play an upright, key response is not as sensitive as on a grand, unfortunately, so you'll have to work much harder to solve the problem of dynamics.

Good luck!

[piani0player]

hello
 thank you,i will try that today.