Rhapsody in BLue

[rubleski]

I'm learning Rhapsody in Blue and I'm doing pretty well. Does anybody have any practice tips/techniques for any part of this song? But right now, my main problem is the part, near the end of the song, where both hands play the same note then the right hand does a chord in a neat rythem. Anybody have any help for that part?

[ted]

I play that quite often. What exactly do you find difficult about that section ? What goes wrong with it for you ?

[rubleski]

when i play it, often my hands come in wrong. when i play the repeated note with my left or right hand, often my timing gets messed up with the other hand and i play the repeated not with both hands at the same time. I know the notes perfect and i can do it great slow, but when i get up to tempo i cant get it to work , i always do that repeated thing a couple of times.

[pskim]

when I performed this fun piece I practiced it by counting like CRAZY and practicing by putting very strong accents on the first and the second beat.  This take some getting used to but your body will feel the rhythm once you know where the accents should fall.

[rubleski]

Today I was really bored so i worked on the part where the left hand does the melody in 4 notes and the left hand does fast jumping chords, and there's a bunch of flats in it. I hate those 2 stupid tripilet mesueres though! They are hard hard for me to figure out lol. I probably spent 1 hour just on that part. GO ME

[rubleski]

sorry meant *right hand*

lol

[ted]

Rubleski:

The bit in flats is nice though, isn't it - well worth mastering the triplets. Just feel each hand independently - you'll get it sooner or later, probably quite suddenly.

As to the staccato section, it would appear you just need a bit more slow practice. Curiously enough, bits like this are easier to get out cleanly on grands (double escapement action) and heavy touch pianos than on light touch pianos and uprights.  

[leyton]

If you are referring to the cadenza (I guess you could call it that) that starts with repeating C-sharps... I initially had problems with that too.  I eventually learned it by separating my hands.  That is, I played the left hand down near middle C and put my right hand up near the top of the piano.  For obvious reasons, you can hear the difference between the two hands.

[rubleski]

Im going to be trying out for the chance to play this with an orchestra when i go to blue lake fine arts camp (its in michigan) in a week. Im kinda nervous this is the first concerto competion ive ever done. I found out that some clarinet guy won last year (its open to all intruments) and it got me thinking how people can even compare any other intrument to the difficulty of a piano IMO. I mean i play saxophone and i beileve its a ton easier. . . Also . . . it would really suck if some dude thats 2 years younger than me plays some rachmanioff concerto or some impossible song. Anyway... any tips for playing?

[abe]

rubleski,

Lol, i just wanted to say, I was at a competetition a few months ago, and one of the winner's was a saxaphonist, and petty much he played a jazz tune with a lot of improv, (it sounded like random notes me). I thought it was unfair he placed above some pianists (including me) that were playing pretty difficult peices, but then again one of the judges was a jazz specialist so that might explain things. And I don't have much advice for you predicament, except that R.I.B.is a really fun peice to hear, and the judges and audience will most likely like it as much as any other peice that is played, so you have a fair shot at winning. Good luck!