Arpeggio Technique

[silyaznfoo]

Before, when I did a bunch of arpeggios for my exams, my teacher didn't really comment. But now, I need to learn more arpeggios and my teacher says my technique is all wrong. She says that when I cross my 4th finger over my 1st in my left hand I use wrist and she says your wrist is supposed to stay still and only move your arm. However, this is almost impossible for me. Am I missing something here??

[jlh]

Your teacher is right.  You should avoid all unnecessary wrist movements during crossover of fingers.   The faster you go, the less wrist motion there should be, because at slow speeds in order to get legato, you need to connect the notes.  At fast speeds you will get to the crossover note faster, so you don't need to connect the notes like you do at slower speeds.  Also, if you try to connect the notes by wrist movement while also trying to go fast, you will be limited in how fast you can go.

[ramibarniv]

Before, when I did a bunch of arpeggios for my exams, my teacher didn't really comment. But now, I need to learn more arpeggios and my teacher says my technique is all wrong. She says that when I cross my 4th finger over my 1st in my left hand I use wrist and she says your wrist is supposed to stay still and only move your arm. However, this is almost impossible for me. Am I missing something here??

jlh said it as it is.
I'd like to add some, though without seeing what exactly you're doing it's hard to correct it.
Perhaps the word "cross" is a bit confusing. Do you know the different between crossing and shifting?
Crossing is bringing the thumb under the palm while the hand doesn't change its angle, not right or left, not tilting either way, only moving the entire hand and forearm in the direction you're going.
Shifting is taking the entire hand/forearm and moving it in the direction you're going without the extra use of the thumb going under the palm.
Shifting has to be done fast, so there isn't an obvious gap.
The best arpeggios are the ones which use a combination of crossing and shifting.
Try very slowly to cross your 4th finger over your 1st in your left hand, go as far as you can bringing the thumb under the palm without changing any angles in your hand. You haven't reached yet the next note to be played with the 4th. Now, that you went as far as possible without twisting your hand in any direction, take the remaining distance with a shifting movement.
Hope it's clear, if not, ask again.
Good luck,
Rami

[rc]

I wrote up a response, then realized jlh said it better

These things are hard to describe in words and easy to misunderstand.  Keep the advice in mind but you will still have to spend your time playing around practicing the movement, when you get it right you will know - it will feel and sound right (smooth, connected, comfortable).

A good exercise is to isolate the crossover, play the finger before the thumb, thumb, crossover to the 4th, then back again.  Up and down over and over, at different speeds.  I also extended it to two notes before and after the thumb, then three.  Expanding outwards until the whole thing felt right.

[silyaznfoo]

The thing is, after crossing, if I don't move my wrist and I shift instead, it isn't legato. Is the solution simply to shift very quickly?

[ramibarniv]

The thing is, after crossing, if I don't move my wrist and I shift instead, it isn't legato. Is the solution simply to shift very quickly?

You are right, there isn't legato in fast arpeggios, it is only an illusion and yes the best solution once you do it correctly is to shift very fast.
Good luck,
Rami

[landru]

You are right, there isn't legato in fast arpeggios, it is only an illusion and yes the best solution once you do it correctly is to shift very fast.
Good luck,
Rami

Since I'm working on left hand arpeggios now as well I am very familiar with what the original poster is going through! For slower arpeggios my teacher said that the "gap" while you're moving your hand can usually be "masked" in the repertoire by your right hand which is usually not having a gap at the same time.

[ramibarniv]

Since I'm working on left hand arpeggios now as well I am very familiar with what the original poster is going through! For slower arpeggios my teacher said that the "gap" while you're moving your hand can usually be "masked" in the repertoire by your right hand which is usually not having a gap at the same time.

It's true that most of the time the gap would not happen in both hands at the same time, but "for slower arpeggios" you don't let the gap happen altogether, slower arpeggios can be done legato with some turning of the wrist and elbow.
Best,
Rami

[landru]

It's true that most of the time the gap would not happen in both hands at the same time, but "for slower arpeggios" you don't let the gap happen altogether, slower arpeggios can be done legato with some turning of the wrist and elbow.
Best,
Rami

True - I just put in "slower" because some of us aren't yet up to either very fast arpeggios OR completely legato slower arpeggios - we're still working on it! The goal of course is to have complete legato, but my teacher was telling me there is a way to have the piece sound okay until we get there.