Any good piece for practicing double thirds

[mick8431]

I am very shaky on double thirds technique..
Do you recommend any piece for practicing this technique so that I can enjoy the music and improve my technique at the same time. I know chopin Etude Opus 25 No. 6 is one of them... but it is way to hard for me... please advice

[steve jones]

You could try a Bach two part invention, with the RH in thirds?

SJ

[bench warmer]

Take a look at at the Chopin Nocturne op37#2. It has a bunch of thirds & fifths in the right hand. Not an easy piece but easier than 25.6.

[mikey6]

I see no reason as to not doing the Chopin - if double thirds are hard for you, and you need to work on them, there's no sence in doing an easier piece which isn't going to help.  The Chopin will improve other ares of your playing as well - and the LH is harder than the right anyway (So I'm told - I'm learning it at the moment, but haven't looked at the Left in detail yet )

[ramseytheii]

Lots of Liszt pieces have shorter passages in double thirds, for instance the second Legend, or a bit longer passage in la Leggierezza.  Just remember that double thirds are concentrated counterpoint, by which I mean that each voice is a melodic line in itself.  Therefore practice the voices separately, and do not search for a single "physical" solution to playing thirds - you won't find it.  Cortot, in his edition of the second legend, has very creative ideas for practicing thirds.
About the abovementioned Chopin nocturne, the great pianist (Wagner heard him and said he would be greater than Liszt) Vladimir de Pachmann wrote, "The legato thirds seem simple?  Ah, if I could only tell you of the years that are behind those thirds... The artist will spend months on a Chopin valse.  The student feels injured if he cannot play it in a day."

Walter Ramsey

[thracozaag]

About the abovementioned Chopin nocturne, the great pianist (Wagner heard him and said he would be greater than Liszt) Vladimir de Pachmann wrote, "The legato thirds seem simple?  Ah, if I could only tell you of the years that are behind those thirds... The artist will spend months on a Chopin valse.  The student feels injured if he cannot play it in a day."

Walter Ramsey

  Moritz Rosenthal to DePachmann after hearing his 25 #6 etude:"Now you have the tempo, you can put in the 3rds."

koji

[avetma]

25/6 is very good for streghtening fingers in third-position. You don't have to practise with left hand and in tempo, but there are only few basic patterns (eb minor harm., chromat., c major double rh and similar). It is very usefull to practise it. Even very slow.

[le_poete_mourant]

Prokofiev's Etude No. 3, C minor, covers thirds in both hands.  It's a really cool piece.  But it's just as useful to just practice chromatic thirds without any musical intentions.  Work out some technical exercises, even if you just play a type of 1-2-3 exercise, it will work well and get your fingers moving better. 

[Waldszenen]

Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriccioso has some rapid thirds in it and aren't really too difficult (but do strengthen your technique).

There's also thirds in Chopin's Barcarolle and Berceuse.

[chocolatedog]

There are some Cramer Bulow studies also concentrating on double 3rds...... not as tricky as the Chopin study, but still fiddly nevertheless.....

[ted]

I'll trot out my usual pianistic cure-all for everything from pox to piles (so to speak). Improvise using any particular movement you wish to develop, in this case double notes. That way you can make it as hard or as easy as you require and create something enjoyably musical while you are doing it. A piece by somebody else might not target your specific weaknesses thoroughly enough.

[mikey6]

There's a double thirds study by Moszkowski as well, op.76 I think.  I haven't seen the music, so not sure how difficult it is

[phil13]

How about Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.10 in Db Major?

That might be a slightly easier tackle than 25-6.

Phil

[dnephi]

Liszt's Mazeppa does pages of double thirds.  Especially if you do the suggested practicing technique in the Schirmer edition...  But yea that's pretty hard.  What about scales in thirds? 

***Wait! March Wind by MacDowell is the perfect exercise.  Check it out.  op. 46 No. 10 I believe***

[burstroman]

The Czerny Toccata is good practice for double notes.

[richy321]

Like several others, I advocate going directly to the goal itself:  Chopin Etude Op 25 / 6. 
Since this is apparently the reason for most pianist's interest in playing thirds, why not harness the musical inspiration contained in this piece to build technique?  At least for me, I find that musical context and musical results are the most powerful factor in technique development, in addition to knowledge of the workings of the playing mechanism, of course.  For this reason, the Chopin Etudes serve both as invaluable material for technical growth as well as a standard for measuring achievement. 

The problem of thirds is no different from the rest.  There is no special technique for it; you simply (or not so simply, it can be very detailed) apply everything you know about technique, and within the musical context, the execution will surprisingly come together as part of the musical expression.  It really is a source of wonder to this 66 year old, whose fingers feel very clumsy tapping double trills on a table top, yet at the piano  playing this etude just today, there was a  marked leap in ability.  I will say that there are some physical issues occuring with my arm that may be related to it.  If I learn more about it, I will post it.  It could be pretty interesting.

Richy

[mike_lang]

Are you looking for diatonic or chromatic double thirds?

For diatonic, I can suggest exercises 2a and 2b of the Brahms 51, which have been very helpful to me.

For chromatic, I strongly suggest you attempt the thirds etude of Chopin.  If you find it too difficult, you might try to get hold of Cortot's edition of the etudes, which provides useful exercises.  You will reap rewards from the etude, whether you bring it to performance level or not - after all, it is an etude of thirds in isolation.

Best,
ML