arpeggio technique/ practice

[arigatuso]

Hello, can anyone suggest me some useful tips on playing arpeggios? What about technique, routines, hand/finger movements?

Thanks,
Alejandro.

[allchopin]

Heh there was arpeggio tecnique in that site that YOU suggested in 'How Fast Can you Scale in GENERAL?' !

[xenon]

Brahm's accents technique is invaluable for fast passages, as wellas runs etc. including arpeggios.  If you do not know what they are, accent the first note in each set in the arpeggio, then accent the second note, and so on.  Do this, combined with stacatto practice, and also memorize the positions that your hands have to be in to play them correctly.

Good luck

[arigatuso]

AllChopin-> What do YOU think about that book and those methods of practice? How do YOU practice arpeggios? I have been playing the piano for 2 years and currently learning Nocturne 15 in F Op. 55 No. 1 Chopin, the question is how do I practice the last arpeggios?

Thanks,
Ale.

[thetiniestspark]

Using standard arpeggio fingering, play one octave of quarters, two octaves of eigths, three octaves of triplets, and four octaves of sixteenths. Work it up to speed, and then do one key after the other. This is really fun!!  

[sram]

you'll owe beautiful arpeggios to one thing mainly and that is the beauty of your legato.

how smoothly you can connect passing thumbs, avoiding the latter to create an accent.

connect to  the note by making the thumb reach it with minimal and if possible no wrist/forearm motion, it  helps the thumb to remain light (thumb will actually play on the flat of the nail ) and achieve the necessary overlap with the previous note.
of course, you have to balance the other fingers also, but that is far easier to do.
it helps to have sufficient solidity in the finger that carries the pivoting point when the thumb is about to pass underneath.

and arpeggios should not be worked at in just a sheer mechanical way, but always with a musical intention.

there, that was my personal arpeggio dogma...haha :p

[YuanHao]

A friend constantly tells me that the wrist must not move (not a bit) when doing arpeggios, is it true? Even if I try it, I can't get the speed I need without moving the wrist (at least) a little, or I don't get the legato (unless I use the damper pedal).

However, I did consult my teacher and he tells me that when practicing (and starting), one must try not to move the wrist. But when performing?

[arigatuso]

I have two problems when playing arpeggios

if I play slow I use the thumb and the wrist to do the legato, but when I try to use this technique to play fast i cant play de arpeggio well.

if I play fast I use the wrist to connect the arpeggio, thumb remands more relaxed, but when I try to use this technique to play slow I loose the legato.  Should I practice with the pedal at high speed to obtain the legato?

I heard...
"connect to  the note by making the thumb reach it with minimal and if possible no wrist/forearm motion"

what is that of minimal wrist/forearm motion? is that true at any speed?


sorry my english.

Alex.

[robert_henry]

I don't believe in connecting the thumb.  The only use in connecting the thumb is to prepare you for a slow arpeggio somewhere in a piece.  In 22 years, I've NEVER come across one.  I'm sure they are out there, but I'll deal with them when I get there.  Arpeggios are usually fast, and therefore I practice them fast.  And one cannot connect the thumb when playing quickly and maintain any sense of the wrist doing the guiding.  

Most problems with arpeggios are from thing of the fingers first, then the rest of the mechanism follows.  The arm, through your wrist should guide the fingers.  

Robert Henry

[arigatuso]

Is it better to start practicing arpeggios on 7th chords or major chords? It's seems easier to me start with the 7th chords.  

Also, what about connecting scales with the thumb? Is there any "cutff" speed, that is, a speed when you cannot connect the scales with the thumb? 120 at for notes per tick, 150, 170?

sorry my english

Alex