Hardest part in la campanella??

[matt haley]

  Just wanted to ask what you found the hardest part in la campanella....

    suprisingly i find the last  two pages the easiest..

       I love this piece to bits and im finding it relativily fine...... many repeats

   But im really struggling  with the trills...... i find it impossible for me doing it 45 but im coping using 34..... can i get away with this as its slightly awkward but works for me???

   apart from this i dont think its as hard as its made out to be.....

         comments please

   thank you All


  Matt Haley

[psaiko]

You should do whats best for you.

But then again, isnt this an etude to train the 4th and 5th finger?

[nicco]

Do you know that your text looks like a gun? lol 

[matt haley]

Do you know that your text looks like a gun? lol 

 Lol     wel spotted   haha

[avetma]

It depends. If you are good with octaves, than last part is not a problem to you. But if you are not - then it's pretty nasty. I think that everything is in four techniques - 1) jumps 2) chromatics 3) trills 3) octaves.

For me - trills are pretty nasty to play them leisurely. I am lucky that I can catch d#-e trill with 2-5 while playing that d# octave with thumb. But - there is no point in that because it is written so you can improve 4-5.

[eshine1]

hello, new here and just started learning this piece after over 10 years of not touching the piano.  i would say the most difficult part for me is the fast part where you really stretch your rt hand immediately following the whole trill part.  i use 3-5 fingering on the trills, is that considered cheating or something?

i agree with matt, this piece is not that bad at all, and it's actually quite fun to practice.  for me this is a lot easier (technical wise) than hungarian rhapsody 2.

[avetma]

hello, new here and just started learning this piece after over 10 years of not touching the piano.  i would say the most difficult part for me is the fast part where you really stretch your rt hand immediately following the whole trill part.  i use 3-5 fingering on the trills, is that considered cheating or something?

i agree with matt, this piece is not that bad at all, and it's actually quite fun to practice.  for me this is a lot easier (technical wise) than hungarian rhapsody 2.

It is not cheating. Actually, you can't cheat on fingering. But, La Campanella is etude, and main purpose of it is improving technique, not just to sound proper/good.

[Contrapunctus]

The jumps make my arm fall off.

[Waldszenen]

Surprisingly, I find the jumps the easiest part... you really do get used to them after a while, much to the point that you can do them rapidly, without looking, and never miss a note.

Anyway the hardest parts for me are the 1-2 trill part in the RH (with the melody played by the 5th finger) and of course, the 4-5 trill.

Other than that, I actually think the rest of this piece isn't too challenging.

[liszt1022]

The fingering in my edition suggests using 3 and 4 on the D# (together) and 5 on the E. It seems to work better than just 4-5 or 3-5.

[paris]

hello, new here and just started learning this piece after over 10 years of not touching the piano.  i would say the most difficult part for me is the fast part where you really stretch your rt hand immediately following the whole trill part.  i use 3-5 fingering on the trills, is that considered cheating or something?

i find that part (thema in thumb, in 32ths with trill) also be the hardest, along with 32ths repetitions. 2 years ago i read through campanella, then left it and picked it again last year in december, again dropped it in january and now i'm starting again. (not something to be proud of, i know..)
jumps, indeed, are the easiest, both on the begining and piu mosso part.

as for that hardest part with thema in thumb while other fingers have trill, i tried 1-3-4-3 (didn't work), combination of 1-3-5-3 and 1-4-5-4 (depending on position), and all with 1-3-5-3. this last one is my current fingering, it's generally fine, but again, it causes fatigue and stiffness because of big stretches.

does somebody uses some other alternative? like taking thumb notes with left when possible?
(i know this is an old thread, but haven't been here for some time)

cheers'

[gruffalo]

The jumps make my arm fall off.

with the jumps, you just have to keep varying the speed during practice: slow, medium, fast. it will just take time for your muscles to assimilate to the particular movment. just focus on not tensing up, and just give it some time.

gruff

[kriskicksass]

But im really struggling  with the trills...... i find it impossible for me doing it 45 but im coping using 34..... can i get away with this as its slightly awkward but works for me???

For the love of God, don't trill 3-4! The third and fourth fingers are bound together with tendons, and that makes 3-4 trills not only awkward but dangerous! I'm not familiar enough with La Camp to tell you what fingering would work, but if Liszt indicated to use 4-5  you should at least give it a shot. He was the best pianist of all time, so you should really use his fingerings in his music, especially the etudes; odds are really good that he knew something that you don't (no offense intended).

[paris]

actually, in my edition it says 1-3-4-3 (1-4-5-4 as alternative option). as for trilling 3-4, for me it isn't very awkward, though of course it's easier 3-5. and i don't consider that cheating, if it works better, why not? life is meant to be simple 

[grisell]

Thanks for the advice!
I tried 1-4-5-4, which didn't work at all (thumb too weak), then 1-3-4-3 which after tedious labour turned out all but acceptable (trills too blurred). Now I will try 1-3-5-3 which seems much better considering the anatomy.

[grisell]

As for the hardest parts: The first page is underrated in difficulty. It is actually quite hard to get perfect. I think the trills, the cadenza and the octaves are the easiest parts. The most challenging for me being the theme in triols 2-1-5 at the end of section 2; the repeated notes 1-4-3-2 immediately after (both simple to execute but well-nigh impossible to get fluent) and the earlier mentioned part just the before the piu mosso.

[nanabush]

The 'happy' sounding section, I'm gonna call the B section... that part comes back later in the piece, and starts in a low F# for example, followed by three repeated ones an octave higher, then goes to B, then C# or whatever... I can't really explain because I don't have the sheet onhand, but that parts kills me.

[schartmanovich]

  Just wanted to ask what you found the hardest part in la campanella....

    suprisingly i find the last  two pages the easiest..

       I love this piece to bits and im finding it relativily fine...... many repeats

   But im really struggling  with the trills...... i find it impossible for me doing it 45 but im coping using 34..... can i get away with this as its slightly awkward but works for me???

   apart from this i dont think its as hard as its made out to be.....

         comments please

   thank you All


  Matt Haley

I think most people would agree that the last two pages are the easiest (even though they sound the most impressive). I would say that the section just prior to this is the most difficult...why are you asking? If you have the score, just find out what is most difficult for you.