Wrist Rotation Q

[steve jones]

Consider the left hand in the opening of Beethoven Op79. You have a chord with the root seperated in time from the third and fifth by a quaver, right? This is something Beethoven does all the time, but Im unsure of the correct technique to use.

Is it best to achieve this using rotations of the wrist?

Or is it more appropriate to use discrete downward motions?

Right now Im using wrist rotation (unless staccato), but Im having trouble keeping it even at speed.

Cheers people, you truely are a gift from the allmighty!

[xvimbi]

The right movement is the one that feels good, gives you the desired result and doesn't lead to injury. You should experiment with the different possibilities until you find the proper way.

This situation comes up all the time, not just with Beethoven. Sometimes, the first note is held while the others come in, somtimes it is not. If it is held, the easiest would probably be to drop the hand onto the other notes by rotating the forearm. If the notes are legato or detached, you have a myriad of possibilities. Forearm rotation is one of them. Another one is to play the first note, then raise the wrist  and let the hand drop onto the other notes by lowering the wrist. The whole thing is akin to bouncing. Another way is to play the first note, then lower the wrist and strike the other two notes by moving the arm in while raising the wrist, i.e. in a forward scooping motion. This works well when the first note is accented and the following ones are not (e.g. at the end of a phrase). Then, of course, you could combine all those motions in various ways. If the notes are detached, you can lift the entire hand and move it over. Etc.

That's just the tip of the iceberg(TM)

[steve jones]

Cheers xvimbi. I shall experiment and see whats best on a case by case basis.