Two notes in RH

[tac-tics]

I'm working on Chopin's Mazurka in Cmaj (op67-3). It's such a beautiful tune (from what I can tell).

My troubles start on bar 9 where you have two notes in the Right hand a 6th apart. The trills with 3-4 and 4-5 are just killer. I'm working on it slow, but it sounds shakey still and it's bothering me.

Does anyone have any advice or moral support in regards this piece/technique?

[kriskicksass]

Avoid 3-4 trills like the plague! The third and forth fingers are bound up together with connective tissue (a common tendon, I think), so it's all but impossible to get a good trill between them. There isn't much you can do about 4-5 trills; they're naturally the weakest.

My recommendation is to try to accomodate alternative fingerings that let you avoid 3-4 and 4-5 trills. I like to substitute both for 3-5 (or sometimes 2-4), but your hands may not allow that, so you'll have to figure out the best solution on your own.

[faustsaccomplice]

i went ahead and played through it. 

here are my thoughts:

i think the best fingering for the trills on 6ths will be 3-5

i think that most of them should only have three notes (ex. d e d), played in a snappy rhythm (32nd-32nd-16th) rather than as a triplet.  it will give the real mazurka feeling. 

(speaking of the mazurka feeling, be careful not to emphasize the trills too much because they are on the first beat, and in most mazurkas, you want to emphasize the 2nd beat every 2nd measure).

if the trills still give you physical trouble, you can very smoothly help with the lh in almost all of them (ex. m10: rh f#+d e d c#  lh c e# f#+a+d).  i would definately use this technique in m13, but it won't work in m15, obviously.

one last thing...don't be afraid to let go of the thumb while you trill with a little pedal.  it's not cheating.  it will sound right if you do it right.

[tac-tics]

Thank you both for your comments. You have been very helpful.