chord evenness

[goalevan]

I've been working on Beethoven's Pathetique 2nd movement for about a week now, and after recording some of my playing, and listening to myself while I play, I notice some of my chords are uneven. And by uneven I mean each note isn't played at the exact same time. Especially on the measures that there are repeated notes with fingers 1 and 2 and a voice played with fingers 3, 4 and 5 on the right hand (measures 37-51). I've been working hands separate on this section for about a week now and have seen great improvement with the phrases themselves, but the chords are still hard to keep even.

This seems to happen also when practicing chord inversions so it's not just this piece - would this be something that will improve with experience or something I can do something to improve now?

Also - those of you that play this piece, do you use much pedal?

[Clare]

I have found that if I figure out in exactly what order the fingers are playing the messy chords (i.e. like thinking OK, the third finger always comes down first) then often the problem will fix itself. If you know which finger(s) is the culprit, and you think about that finger playing at the exact time as the others, sometimes, the problem can be helped.

Otherwise, the problem is most likely to be hand position. If you find fingers 3,4 and 5 are lagging behind fingers 1 and 2 constantly, or the other way round, try moving your hand on an angle towards the lagging fingers and see what happens.
Another reason for messy chords can be the fact that one finger is playing on a black key and another is playing on a white key. Obviously, the white key finger has further to travel so you might play it a bit later. If this is the case, you need to find a way for the white key finger to get to the key sooner. There a few ways to do that but if you just think about the finger getting there sooner, you can oftentimes solve the problem without struggling too much.

Also, of course, in this piece the top notes have to sing out. When I learned this piece I think I made the wrists generally hover more over fingers 3, 4 and 5 so those notes came out more clearly.
And I seem to remember using way too much pedal in this one. I think you could use quite a bit (sorry I can't be more specific). I tend to use copious amounts of pedal in Beethoven slow movements and almost none in fast movements.

[goalevan]

Thanks for the response Clare, and yes it does seem to most result from chords with both black and white keys, I'll try experimenting with shifting around my hand angle and position and see if that helps.

[monk]

That comes from hitting the chords from above, "out of the air".

When practicing (and performing, of course), you have to always have key contact before playing the chords. This way the notes will always come together.

Pianists with good technique always play that way. Even in fast skipping passages there will be a split-second where the keys are touched.

Watch a blind pianist playing! For blind pianists it's even more indespensable, because they have to definitely know whether they have touched the right keys.

Best Wishes,
Monk

[robert_henry]

You are lucky in that this is such an easily-remedied problem.

Your fingertips are not evenly poised.

Your hand is not balanced over the chord.  It is leaning too much in one direction or the other.

You are pushing the chord (using too much muscle to create a sound), not controlling a drop of your weight to create it.

I've gone into detail about this problem recently, but I'm too tired to search and find where it was.  It is now 2:30 AM where I am.  Just look under the last few 20 or so posts under my name.

Robert Henry