Arabesque No1

[justliam]

Extremely frustrated!! I'm learning Arabesque No1 - Debussy.  And I'm already stuck on bar 6! With the triplets I don't know why! I'm fine playing triplets across quavers normally and can manage the one in bar 7 fine, but for some reason playing them one after the other i.e. three in a row is proving an impossibly task, and I don't get why?  Anyone had similar trouble? I can't practice it slowly becuase the triplets aren't smooth and when ever I try my left hand slows too much and its back to square lol, any thoughts?

[abell88]

I haven't actually learned this piece, but I was at a Debussy mini-course several years ago and made some notes in the score which may be helpful.

The first thing I wrote at bar 6 was "learn LH quickly"...not sure what was meant by that, sorry. More useful might be this: I have drawn quarter notes (crotchets) under the bass clef, with the words "against RH". I assume it means just to practise the triplets against quarters (crotchets) until that's second nature, then to begin to "drop in" the 2nd note of each quaver (eighth note) pair at the right time.

I would also suggest lots of HS practice -- more than you need to merely learn the notes, enough so they are totally secure (blindfolded, one hand tied behind your back!). 

Hope this helps!

[violinist]

Extremely frustrated!! I'm learning Arabesque No1 - Debussy.  And I'm already stuck on bar 6! With the triplets I don't know why! I'm fine playing triplets across quavers normally and can manage the one in bar 7 fine, but for some reason playing them one after the other i.e. three in a row is proving an impossibly task, and I don't get why?  Anyone had similar trouble? I can't practice it slowly becuase the triplets aren't smooth and when ever I try my left hand slows too much and its back to square lol, any thoughts?

I was stuck with this delimma many years ago when I was playing a viextemps violin concerto where I had triplets and the orchestra had quavers.  I came up with a solution that seems like a piano type solution where I would bang out quavers with my left hand and triplets with my right hand.  It took some practice, then it became very easy.  The banging was on the table.  But if you have a piano... you could probably play some notes. 

Your post caught my eye, because I'm learning this piece too.  I've made it to the second page so far.  The second page has it in a different way where the quavers are on the right hand and the triplets are in the left....

Good luck.. It's a great piece.  I was really motivated to play it after hearing it in the "audition room" here on the forum.

- Calvin

[llamaman]

What grade are you at?

Keep practicing, very little at a time, and gradually increase.

[justliam]

Well this piece shouldn't pose a problem hehe. I can sight read most of it and get it up to speed after playing sections just a few times but that bar is really getting on my nerves lol.  I'm going to write it into sibelius and then have sibelius play it really slow and I will just go along with it till my brain cracks and let my hands do two seperate things hehe