Slow & fast muscle movements

[oguzcan]

Hi. I've just finished Mr. Chang's book and started reading again. I'm trying to make sure there's nothing I don't understand completely. The thing about slow play & fast play confused me. It's stated that slow play should be done after fast play, because fast muscle movements should be learned first and these muscles should be used in slow play. There are examples like lifting the hand and waving the fingers. But how can we understand if we are using the correct motions or not? Is there things we must watch out instead of the lifting and the waving? Or will the hand make the correct movements automatically when we play fast first and then slow?

Thanks a lot for your time.

[zheer]

Hi , i think Mr Chang is a very intelligent man, his book will put you on the correct path, or atleast get you sarting on thinking in a more practical way. However in all honesty the book wont teach you haw to play the piano, nothing can replace having a good piano teacher.

[timothy42b]

Let me give an example.

My teacher wants this week's lesson piece at MM=120.  I can do the left hand at 130, with short bursts of 150, with a kind of rotation motion.  Naturally the right hand copied that motion.  But as I tried to go faster, I ran into a speed wall at 80.  Plus, the hand had to shift slightly for the next measure and I couldn't land that one right.  By experimenting, I found that the rotation simply didn't work on the right hand.  Instead, a kind of pulling motion did, and I got that hand up to speed too.  And even better, then I realized that also let the right hand stay in position, and the difficulty with the next measure disappeared without working on it.  Now I can slow down that motion to work on it.  But I could never get the other motion fast enough, even though it worked for the left hand. 

Yes, a good teacher probably could have watched and spotted it right away, but we don't always have the teacher around when we practice. 

[oguzcan]

Thanks for replies.

Timothy;

Something similar has happened to me too with a fast left hand part, but I'm more concerned about motions that a more subtle. I mean, the motion you have mentioned is a detectible one, even without paying much attention. What I wonder is, is there some imperceptible motions we have to watch out every single moment when playing. Is there some kind of analysis for that?

Zheer;

I'm a composition student now. I'm studying piano with a teacher in my school, usually about once a week or two. I always ask about my playing motions and posture but I'm a very paranoid person and I want to make sure that everything is right. My teacher migth be in a bad day, maybe looking at a different angle... Or even, she might not notice it. And actually; she is not around when I'm practicing so I don't want to pick up bad habits during practice.