thanks to bernhard and the dropping notes technique

[maestoso]

very helpful and is making the transition to ht a possibility i thought i never would get my hands to be "independent" of each other but since employing this technique im unlocking the "click" in ht playing.

[leucippus]

very helpful and is making the transition to ht a possibility i thought i never would get my hands to be "independent" of each other but since employing this technique im unlocking the "click" in ht playing.

How long have you been playing?

I've been trying to learn some harder parts of Für Elise and I've been having a lot of problems trying to do HT.  I've learn each hand separately pretty well, but I still find it extremely difficult using the note dropping method to "sew" them together.

I've actually found that going back to sight-reading and just playing both hands together at an extremely slow pace is working better.

Learning hand-independence is without a doubt my biggest hurdle.  I think if I can ever get to the point where I can really feel like I'm fully hand-independent I really start to soar at learning pieces much quicker.

I'm actually starting to choose pieces that have fairly easy HT.  Like they at least they are both hitting notes that are with similar timing.   I think the thing that really throws me off with Für Elise is that some of the right-hand notes are way "off-time" relative to what the left-hand is doing. 

I've even been thinking about just playing them with incorrect timing until I get the hands together and then see if I can deal with the off-set timings after the fact.  Maybe this is just a difficult piece to be initially learning HT on. 

I'm not even sure what level Für Elise is, but it seems to me that a lot of beginning pianists seem to play it.  Well, maybe they are only playing the easy parts.   

[jolly01]

Good evening,

As I'm in the process of learning and working on Fur Elise, I thought this was an interesting post that finally got me to register.  I've had some success with the note dropping, but what I think has had a bigger impact, especially with this piece, is cycling.  Two notes, then a bar, then a bar connecting to the next.  When I'm playing Fur Elise, I've found my biggest hurdle is continuity in the middle part.  I know the notes HS and HT, but always seem to hesitate between bars.  This is where the cycling is bringing improvement.

Leucippus, I think I found in a post by Bernhard that Fur Elise is grade 4 or 5.  By the way Leucippus, I've found a lot of your posts to be very inspirational-thank you.  And thank you very much also to Bernhard and Chang's book.  They've both been very helpful to me-the most significant influence since I learned what the keys were.  I've only been learning to play for just short of two years now-no teacher (can't find more than one in my city).

Regards
Brian

[leucippus]

I've only been learning to play for just short of two years now-no teacher (can't find more than one in my city).

Hi Brian, welcome to Piano Street!

I've started the piano less than two years ago myself. 

I like what you suggested:

"Two notes, then a bar, then a bar connecting to the next"

Maybe I'm not doing it correctly.  I'm trying to drop in just a few, and then a few more, etc, but I'm doing them all in succession trying to build up longer and longer runs of notes.  Maybe I need to back off and just drop in a few "here and there" at different places and kind of build outward from those "anchor points".

To be quite honest I haven't actually read the details of how Bernhard describes doing this. 

Once I get the jest of an idea I often run with it before I've learned all the details.  So maybe I need to take a timeout and go back and read some of Bernhard's posts on the topic of note dropping in more detail.  It certainly sounds like great concept.  I'm just thinking that maybe I'm not far enough along yet.  But it could be that I'm just approaching it incorrectly.

[maestoso]

How long have you been playing?

i have been seriously playing for about 2 months. i have tinkered throughout my life but i never owned a piano and i played everything by ear but never with proper fingerings. but i'm playing guitar for 22 years so it's just a matter of transposing.  as far as the note dropping try do a repeat pattern like bouncing octaves with your left hand and then just do nonsensical stuff with your right hand. i'm working on chopin nocturne op 9 no 1, and it is in 6/4 time with crazy eleventuplets so it has been really helping me with other pieces. i shouldn't even attempt it but it is the most beautiful piano piece i have ever heard so it is equivalent to heroin and i am a junkie!

[leucippus]

i played everything by ear but never with proper fingerings.

I personally don't believe in "proper fingering".  I think every individual needs to work out what works best for them.  Although, I do believe that a person should be aware of their fingering and make a decent attempt to find the best possible way to play something.

I find that sometimes suggested fingers in score is quite useful, other times I'm wondering if the person who wrote the score was double-jointed or something weird like that.  I will instantly, without hesitation, use fingering that feels the most natural and flows with the least effort which often requires that I use differnet fingering than has been suggested in written score.  Although I should mention that Bernhard pointed out specific cases (particularly with Chopin's work) where an understaning of a larger movent of arms and hands is required to really appreciate some forms of fingers.  I can understand that.  I just haven't run into it yet as I haven't even begun to consider any of Chopin's works.

as far as the note dropping try do a repeat pattern like bouncing octaves with your left hand and then just do nonsensical stuff with your right hand.

That's a good suggestion.  I never really thought about trying to do "homemade exercises" for the purpose of getting a handle on the note-dropping technique.  I'll have to try that too.