Topic: OCTAVE HELP? Bernstein I'd love a reply from you and others. (Read 1948 times)

futureconcertpianist · on: January 08, 2007, 10:34:07 AM

Hi everyone,

I am learning the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No6, and in the double octave section, I have it going at a good speed and I am able to control the tone of each individual octave and thus able to express the phrase more rather than just typing octaves lol, however, when I get to a certain speed my thumb starts to get tense and ceases individual exetions, and instead my whole forearm makes the down action and thus gets very tense quickly, also I tend to lead to the black notes with a forward movement of the arm and wrist but at a certain speed I cannot do this.
So how can I solve this problem and at the high tempo not to start to use my larger limbs, and how can I prepare to the black keys without using my whole arm in the rappid tempo?
Do you recommend just practising playing octaves fast on a single octave without moving?

Also when preparing on the next notes I use a slide rather than an up action, so should the side movement be made with the fingers alone or should they be made with the arm and wrist? I follow the principles of Matthay so he says we shouldnt lift and instead just slide, can this get in the way with octaves? should I have a small lift for sake of having more space to move and relaxation?

Also should I have an inner rotational pressure for every single octave? Or should I alternate between inner and outer rotations? Matthay in his book, recommends the rotation on every note we play but I am not sure which direction he wants me to rotate on octaves.

In a word, give me as much information as your experience can give me on playing rappid octaves, thanks from FutuerConcertPianist.

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