Problem with Rondo Alla Turca

[dutchy3010]

Hi guys,

I don't go to a piano teacher any more, but I like to play piano myself. So I started learning Rondo Alla Turca, and it goes pretty well, until I come to a certain part. The problem is that I can't do c#, e, a, c# at the same time. I think my fingers are too short!  Does someone have any tips for the rest of the play?

Thanks in adance!

PS: I'm sorry, I'm not a native English speaker, I don't know how it's called exactly. In Dutch it's called "cis-e-a-cis"...

[lars_o]

Do you have very small hands? Otherwise I think you should be able to reach all those keys... Maybe you can try to change your hand position a bit - For example, sometimes it may be easier to reach all the required keys if you move your fingers further up on the keys so the the fingers playing E and A are almost in the middle of the black keys. That way the distance between C# and E and also the distance between A and C# will become smaller...

HTH
lars

[fleetfingers]

Ha! That is the only part of Alla Turca that I can't exactly play either.
I have teeny, tiny fingers. If that same chord came up in a soft, slow piece, I could reach it and would play all four notes. But, in Alla Turca, it's the climax of the piece and you really have to punch it. If I play the chord with all four notes, I can barely reach it, and it ends up sounding too weak. I play it without the lower C#. Unfortunately, if you have hands that are small, you have to make some adjustments sometimes. The good news is that it still sounds great, and no one I play for knows any better anyway! 

[fleetfingers]

I just tried playing the chord with all four notes and was able to do it easily. I guess it's been a while since I've tried, and apparently I can do it now. I use the fingering 1-2-3-5 and, as lars_o mentioned, my 2nd and 3rd fingers are very high up on the keys. I've either gotten more stretchy or my fingers are stronger - either way I'm very happy about this!

If, like me, your problem with the chord is due to small hands, I suggest omitting the lower C# for now. Then, maybe one day you'll be able to include it.