How the HECK does anyone play this.

[Dazzer]

not saying its not possible... but is there an alternative? or do i just need fatter fingers?

cookies for whoever can identify the piece (no its not obscure... quite famous actually)

[pita bread]

That is from the third movement of Prokofiev Piano Concerto #3.

[Dazzer]

yippee!

cookie for you.

another cookie for identifing the bar (just kidding)

but that doesn't really answer my first question... =D

[pita bread]

You can place your fingers between the keys, it probably helps to have fat fingers.

[mrchops10]

Wow, I have really fat fingers. I should learn this, that looks like great fun. 

[gorbee natcase]

You could use some sticky tape to attach flat plates onto your fingers

[zheer]

I have not played this piece, but i would do as suggested or

     starting with the LH   4 - 32 - 1 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21
      from top   E        RH   5 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21 - 4 - 32

                                LH etc  etc

 This depends on tempo and key signature. All the best.

[Dazzer]

I have not played this piece, but i would do as suggested or

     starting with the LH   4 - 32 - 1 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21
      from top   E        RH   5 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21 - 43 - 21 - 4 - 32

                                LH etc  etc

 This depends on tempo and key signature. All the best.

try very VERY VERY fast.

they're all white keys.

[JCarey]

If you've ever seen the movie "The Competition", you'll see that the woman plays those as glissandi. She's not really playing though, she's just imitating what it sounds like, which is obvious, since she's playing the glissandi in the opposite direction of where they're supposed to be going. So while she's playing a glissando downwards, the music is playing one upwards.

It's one of my favorite movies anyway, though.

[Dazzer]

well i have a video of the longdonger playing... badly. amusing though... i believe there's a link on thissite somewhere.

[sharon_f]

I've seen and heard it performed two ways. One as a glissando with the right hand using the second and third fingers. The other as a scale passage using two hands, the left hand hovering directly over the right. (I believe Argerich performs it this way.)

[Dazzer]

so you mean each pair is played by both hands? or each note/2note is played by each hand alternating? or by the fingering on the edition i have?

[Etude]

I thought it was two notes to each finger, but to actually get the fingers in position in time for the passage is extremely difficult, so maybe alternating hands?

[Dazzer]

well i don't think alternating would be very efficient in terms of speed. neither would it be very smooth.

[pianodaria]

Try this:

Chord,  R.H. (C/1-DE/23-F/4), L.H. (GA/54-BC/32-DE/1), R.H. (FG/1-AB/23-CD/45),

L.H. (E/2)

R.H. (DC/54-BA/32-GF/1), L.H. (ED/1- CB/23-AG/45), R.H. (F/4-ED/32-C/1-DE/23-F/4),

L.H. (GA/54-BC/32-DE/1), R.H. (FG/1-AB/23-CD/45)


Requires great dexterity and lots of slow rigid practicing before trying out the results.

Good luck!
Da

[iumonito]

If you try to play an arpeggio at that speed, chances are you will be playing something closer to what is written.

For smaller hands, alternating hands works great, to get there in time and with volume projection you have to overlap, which is the concept behind what is written.

A glissando here seems rather weak.

[lostinidlewonder]

You have no choice but to play inbetween the notes. I guess if you have not have much experience with music that requires you to play inbetween notes, then this passage will be impossible for you. One has to develop a sense of touch playing inbetween the notes creates just as clearly as they sense playing single notes.

If you try to share this passage with two hands or use two fingers on the same notes you are just going to set yourself up for a great deal of problems which will take a long time to control and sound acceptable. It is best to try to play it as written in this case.

[BoliverAllmon]

One of my old teachers was learning this piece when she was young. She worked on that measure for days. 6 hours at a time. Finally her dad had enough and asked her to quit practicing. She says that was the only time she was asked to stop. She also said most people play glissando.

[anda]

best luck with this concerto - and esp the 3rd part's coda (toughest part - at least for me)

i don't think glissando is a solution - prokofiev obviously didn't indend it to be played like this (otherwise he would just have written glissando!). what i did (and i'm not saying it's the best solution, i just say it worked for me): place my palms completely flat one next to another so as to cover all keys beetween c1 and d3 (actually, i didn't much use my fingers, i played this with my palms - the part of the palm where the metacarpiens and phalanx meet) and roll the palms. i played the e3 with my left hand over right hand- it's 1st beat, it has to be clear rhythmically, and also for coordination with orchestra). also, i never practiced this in slow motion (i don't know how this can be done), but went directly for final  tempo, keep the beat (count in one) and just make sure i always got the roll inside one beat.

hope you can understand what i tried to explain (esp because i found this to be the simplest way to play this passage) - sorry, poor english (and even worse english terminology )

edit: about "the competition" - i loved the movie, but i still don't get one thing: since they (the actors, or anyone on the set) don't have to play, and therefore the producers could choose ANY recording , why did they go for such poor recordings??? i mean, the emperor was sort of bearable, but prokofiev 3rd was dreadful! if you know why, please share, it's been bugging me for a long time.

[sonatainfsharp]

One thing to realize about post-Romantic music is that most of this stuff you see are just gestures and not to be taken literally; more so theory than to be executed as written... unless you computerize the recording and slow it down, a simple glissando will be just fine. If you can tell the difference between someone playing it at concert tempo with a glissando vs. the correct rhythm and notes, then you have too much time on your hands. ;-)

I studied with one of the newest premier 20th century interpreters... he was the only person so far to record every Xenakis piece every written. He would laugh at how literally people take some scores and waste time making a computer-perfect interpretation when it's all just gestures and theory.

[Etude]

One thing to realize about post-Romantic music is that most of this stuff you see are just gestures and not to be taken literally; more so theory than to be executed as written...

Then again...

[jhon]

actuallyh, it simply appears to be a C major scale...

[Dazzer]

obviously anyone can see that.



anyway, for those interested, i devised a method of practicing. To play the way its notated, I simply played it first as an appeggio, using only the first notes of the pair. Then mentally i'd force myself to move those fingers slightly to the right. Takes a bit of work, and i can't really get it accurately, while playing through.

oh well.

[mmx]

Is not immpossible to play 1 finger 2 notes at a time.But for me is immpossible.Is kinda need the more speed while playing this at the same tempo.

[Dazzer]

Sgouros does some mean stuff in those measures. i think its parallel scales. at some phenomenal speeds.

[BoliverAllmon]

I screw up and hit two notes at a time all the time. Why would it be so hard to do it on purpose? or is it that I just have bigger fingers than others?