Same note in left and right hand?

[lars_o]

Hello everyone...

I'm new to this forum - and the Piano... I've had some musical training as a child (electronic keyboards) and I've played Guitar for some time (I'm 35 now). When we moved into a new home a few month ago, I got the previous owner to leave us his Piano (Yamaha LU 201c) and started practicing again. It had only been a big dream of mine to play Piano. Right now I'm able to manage pieces from Schubert's Album for the Young (Op 68) pretty good. And I've made some Progress on Liszt's Consolation No. 1 - I'm still looking for a teacher to work with but I also enjoy learning on my own for the time being...

My question is about something I noticed in Consolation No. 1 but I've also seen it on other occasions... Sometimes the left hand seems to be supposed to play the same note that the right hand is currently playing. (In Consolation 1, bar 10, G#). There , left hand is a quaver while the right hand is a crochet, so the left hand can play the note after the right hand - so far so good. However, I'm pretty sure that I've seen something like this where both hand seem to be supposed to be playing the exact same note. What does one do in such situations? I wish I could remember a better example but maybe some of you know what I mean...

Thanks,
Lars

[birba]

No, I do NOT know what you mean.  I haven't the faintest idea!  There's only one g-sharp in measure 10, played simultaneously with the e above it.  And right hand is not a crochet, it's a half-note.  Don't get it.  You're going to have to be more specific.  Sorry. 

[lars_o]

I'm sorry, it's the 9th bar. And as I said, I think it's clear what's meant there as the note in the left hand is played later then the note in the right hand.

I do remember coming across a piece where it wasn't clear at all because the two notes were occurring at the exact same time. Maybe somebody else can remember seeing something like that  - but I keep trying to remember to find it again...

[birba]

Maybe you're talking about something you heard on a cd.  A lot of times, a pianist will anticipate slightly the left hand in a romantic piece when they're supposed to be played together according to the music.  Is this what you mean?

[littletune]

I think I have seen that too  in some easy pieces that I found on internet  It's like you're supposed to press the same key with left and with right hand at the same time, or you're holding a key with the left hand but then you're supposed to play that key you're already holding with the left hand also with the right one.... and I think sometimes it's like that you can decide with which hand you wanna play that note, or sometimes you're really supposed to play the left hand one octave lower than it's written. I think   

[birba]

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[rmbarbosa]

You have an example of what you say in Invention nr.1 two voices, of Bach, in bar 13, where there is a same E (mi) played RH and LH. In such cases, we may choice wich hand plays the note.
Best wishes
Rui

[stevebob]

On occasion the same pitch is employed concurrently in more than once voice.  Sometimes the execution is simultaneous; sometimes they are played in succession and overlap because of the nominal duration of the first occurrence of the note.

Here’s an example of each device from works by Chopin.

(1) Simultaneous execution (from Sonata Op. 58, first movement):



(2) Successive execution (from Nocturne Op. 55 No. 2):



When the overlap is simultaneous (first example), play the note with the hand that is most convenient in the context of the passage.

When the notes occur sequentially (second example), each instance is played separately and held for the duration indicated (or sustained by the damper pedal where appropriate).

[birba]

Oh, now I get it! 

[lars_o]

Thanks for the great examples and explanations! I really appreciate it.

[assutu]

I made an account just to inquire about this. Thanks for the help

[tunneller]

Ok, now I'm completely confused

SteveBob, looking at that second example, the RH G must surely be held for the whole bar and allowed to fade out with time. The pedal marks are indicated so it is not sustained by the pedal. Except the LH "G" says to be played with thumb, and a bit later that same thumb is playing an octave lower. Doing it with the middle pedal doesn't quite work either.

The only way I could think of playing this woud be to use RH thumb on the lfirst "loud" G, hold it until a fraction of a second before the arpeggio comes up, then play that note again with the RH thumb but at the now quieter "p" level and hold it with the RH thumb for the rest of the bar as the LH heads back down the piano.

Aha!! All makes sense if the "1" circled in red is seen as referring to the RH thumb, not the LH thumb...

Tricky !

[stevebob]

I interpret it somewhat differently; I would play the second iteration of the G softly with the left thumb and immediately resume holding the note down with the right thumb for the duration of the measure.