Triplets Against Eighth Notes

[squinchy]

How do some people perfectly play triplets against eighth notes so naturally and effortlessly? My teacher has been able to do it since she started piano (which is a LONG time ago..) with little effort if any at all. I, on the other hand, have been trying to do it for the past week, and nothing is working.

Here's what I've tried:
1. Playing the two little measures with triplets/eighths over and over until I've learned the notes, but the rhythm won't stay together.
2. Repeating one note as a triplet and another one as an eighth note. The hands like to stay at quarter note/triplets, apparently, since when I increase/decrease speed of one hand, the other goes with it.
3. The mathematical/visual approach-I made a little diagram of where they fit together. I have NEVER ever been a visual learner, but I thought I'd give it a try..I already knew where the notes should fit together, but I can't get myself to do it.
4. The really, really, really slow motion combined with lots of counting and breaking it down further (into sixths, so a triplet would have two beats and an eighth note would have three) approach yielded similar results as number 2.
5. I also tried playing it without thinking and hope that it would magically work. It worked once-but I could never replicate it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
Squinchy

[bernhard]

Have a look at these threads where this subject has been discussed. There are many excellent suggestions there:

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1075509267

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1075044698

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1034251293


Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[newsgroupeuan]

Have a look at these threads where this subject has been discussed. There are many excellent suggestions there:

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1075509267

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1075044698

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1034251293


Best wishes,
Bernhard.

the way i learned them was:

tap eighths on the left hand, triplets on the right,,

at the moment u don't have  tap the rythmn exact - just fit them together roughly correct.

speed up

smooth out the rythmn.

worked for me - at the beginning of lat week I couldn't do it,  but now I can.

tip:  concentrate on the right hand

[newsgroupeuan]

also note the left hand more or less is on autopilot

[xenon]

Here's a diagram to help you:


Notice how the duple is exactly in the middle of the triplets.

It's usually easier to let the triplet lead, then fit the duple in, since you can just position the second duple in between the triplets.

Practice this when you are walking or going down the stairs.

Just wait until you get to 3 vs 4.  That is a real pain

[dj]

yes yes newsgroupeuan and xenon are right on with their suggestions. don't learn it at the keyboard at all, i learned all those tough rythmic techniques b4 i ever had them in pieces. this was accomplished by my incessant tapping which annoyed everyone around me. of course, you do have to develop the habbit of tapping, thats really the hard part. eventually you'll get it down to where, if you need to learn a difficult rythm, just carefully teach your hands how to tap it, and then you'll find yourself inadvertantly tapping it out whenever your hands would otherwise b idle. best of luck 2 ya

[squinchy]

Thank you all very much for your advice.

I tried the tapping idea-It worked best when I tapped with the hands on different, nonadjacent surfaces, so they couldn't feel each other's vibrations caused by tapping. My teacher also showed me some other hints at my lesson today. She told me to avoid getting a mental block at all costs-stumble through the measure if I really need to.

[steveolongfingers]

Just wait until you get to 3 vs 4.  That is a real pain

Thats nothing, for my audtions for percussion they made me play 5/6,4/5, and some stuff that had septuplets, FUN!!!!!