How to play faster?

[faa2010]

Is there a technique to play a piece a little bit faster? 

Here are some pieces where one needs to play faster:

Jeux d'eaux - Ravel,
Valse op. 64 no. 1, Fantasie Impromptu, Etude Revolutionnaire - Chopin,
Fly of the Humblebee - Rimsky Korsakov

How to pass from a moderato to a vivace?

[pianist1976]

Is there a technique to play a piece a little bit faster? 

I don't know if such a thing (a specific technique for speed) exists. Working very hard and slow with casual raising of speed tests usually makes increase your ability to play a piece faster. It also seems that some people have a greater innate facility for speed than others.

[becky8898]

Hi FAA2010: Theres two parts to this.  First if you have the mechanical ability to play fast.  If you do , its easy to tell. Just put your right hand thumb on middle C and play 12345432 over and over. If you have good speed there then you have the mechanical ability . The hard part with playing fast is all the goo in your brain.  No seriously , its true.  Most people who try and play fast dont know there pieces well enough.  They think they do, but they dont.  Not to take credit for this, but my teacher taught me this.  Say the alpahbet out load as fast as you can.  I bet you rock at it .  Now Take the Alphabet and starting with the first letter say every other letter going all the way to the end as fast as you can.  I bet you arent very good at it.  Its the same thing with those fast passages in music.  You think you know the next notes, but you dont really.  Your loaded with brain Goo and the instructions to play the next note just arent clear.  My teacher makes me really learn my passages , so there is no mental hesitation from one note to the next.  Its usually not your mechanical ability its your brain.  I no this was kind of confusing, but it all works for me anyway . Im the only kid in 8th grade that can say every other note in the alphabet lightning fast. 

Hope that helps -

Cheers, Becky.

[stevebob]

Try reading C.C. Chang's Fundamentals of Piano Practice.  (It's a free download; just google it.)  It's certainly not a great book, in my opinion, but among the worthwhile ideas in it are those that relate to speed walls and what Chang calls "parallel sets."

In a nutshell, the strategy entails isolating the smallest chunks of a piece that can be played in one hand position and then practicing them hands-separate at high speed.  In my experience, it does work (and this concept alone made the experience of sifting through a lot of poorly written and questionable crap worth the trouble).

[brogers70]

Is there a technique to play a piece a little bit faster? 

How to pass from a moderato to a vivace?

The technique which does not help, I think, is to learn the piece very slowly and carefully and then try to gradually increase the speed. That approach just makes me tense.

I think it helps to try several different things. Do work on learning all the notes slowly and carefully, but also try from the beginning to play short sections in one hand fast. Start with just two notes of a run if you need to, but make them very, very fast. Then go to longer bits. Find the hand shifts that are the rate limiting step and practice them in isolation very fast. Keep working on that until you can play the whole thing hands separate faster than you need to. Then do hands together - the speed will crash, but only until you figure out the coordination.

Once you reach that point, vary your practice a lot. Go back to hands separate sometimes and work on the hard hand shifts again, play the whole thing at tempo, play the whole thing faster than you can so you see where it falls apart, play the whole thing slowly so you can relax and remember the notes. Try playing it up to tempo out of the gate, without a lot of warm-up. Over time you'll get faster without tensing up.

One other thing, suggested by Chang, is, when working on speed, always to end the session by playing the piece slowly enough that you feel completely relaxed and make no mistakes. He says that helps solidify things in the brain, and I've tried it and it does seem to help.

I also like Becky's comment about goo in the brain - a lot of times, trouble with speed does seem to come form not knowing the notes as well as you think you do.

Bill

[doryanne]

Hi, I find Bill's advices very useful as I have problems with speed, too: I can speed up but not too much and not with the best results, that is the notes will not be equal anymore.
Thank you!

[nygiantsfan3342]

. Im the only kid in 8th grade that can say every other note in the alphabet lightning fast.  Cheers, Becky.

Becky, no doubt you are a very bright 12 year old, but how can that statement be true?  Did your school test all the eighth graders in alphabet skills? 

[becky8898]

hi nygiantsfan3342 - dont take everything so serious . I was making a point.  your right how would I know if I was the only kid.  But there wont be many. 

Cheers Becky.

[nygiantsfan3342]

Sorry Becky, I was just giving you some grief. I forgot to add the requisite "smilie face". 

[tootsie34]

Hello Piano students and teachers and musicians in general.
I have been teaching for 20 years and have a degree in Pedagogy. what I've learned through experience and seeing the results in my students, I would like to outline my "Edge method" for playing something fast and how to get there without sounding like a balloon whose air was just let out of it.... lol
Step one: BEGIN AT THE END, YES YOU HEARD ME, THE END OF THE PIECE. (Many can start, fewer can finish...) Take the last measure and move progressively backwards.
2. Begin the multiples right hand first, left hand and then put them together. WHEN YOU PUT THE HANDS TOGETHER, THE BRAIN WORKS IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WAY.
3. Use "MULTIPLES": Begin with a chosen measure and you will go note by note.
4. Repeat each note RH and then LH separately 8x (or 4 if 8 overwhelms you) 7x,  then 6,5,4,3,2 of each.
5.  Before going hands together add:  SINGLE DOUBLE, DOUBLE, SINGLE: e.g. say there are 4 16th notes, play note 1 once, note 2 twice, note 3 once, note 4 twice. Go back to start of measure and reverse it. Note one double, note 2 single note 3 double note 4 single.
6. Put the hands together from 8-1 and single double, double single.
7. Now play the measure as written and you will find you blast through it because you've made every connection possible.
9. Now continue with the measure before or after.
10. If you feel overwhelmed by starting with 8 times, use 4,3,2,1, single double, dbl single. Before you know it, you likely will have it memorized and amaze yourself with the speed and evenness of the hands.
NOTES: You may also just do this with difficult passages to even out the phrase line or section. Be sure to connect the hard part with the easier part that came before and goes after for continuity.
Also, REWARD YOURSELF! Make it a game. Take your favorite food/snack. Each time you conquer a beat, have an M and M, lol. If it’s a game, it won’t be boring. THE END RESULT OF THE PRIDE YOU FEEL IN YOUR SPEED WILL BE THE! REWARD ITSELF.
Work in sections. Nothing says you must use the Multiples for 10 measures. Do as much as your brain and body tell you how much you can handle. Frustrated? STOP for 5 minutes. Watch TV, do homework, stand on your head.... any distraction works, then return. If it’s not working one day, let it go. It means your brain is still processing; like a computer trying to close down 10 programs at once.... give yourself time.
I am attaching an example of multiples as an audio file using two measures from the Final Movement of Beethoven's (Sonata quasi una Fantasia) #14 Opus 27 No. 2 aka "Moonlight Sonata", the Presto Agitato, mm 8 and 9. This way you can hear how it goes....
I CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO SEE YOUR SUCCESS!!!

Joanna Silverstone Nicholson
Master Teacher
Naples Conservatory of Music and Arts
www.naplesconservatory.org
info@naplesconservatory.org


info@naplesconservatory.orghttps://www.naplesconservatory.org
 

[zeusje]

Hi Tootsie,

I wonder if I understand your scheme well. Do you mean repeating single notes? Or repeating phrases? If the music consists of chords played on a single beat you propose to play those notes separatly too?

Grtz. Bert

[faa2010]

Hi everyone,

I quite appreciate the advices for his topic, thanks and keep giving more.

For Becky: I can agree with you that there are two parts to check in the speed issue: the mechanical ability and the goo in the brain.  Do you think that another way to check your mechanical ability can be with how it is your typewriting skills?, I mean, if you typewrite fastly, do you have a fine mechanical ability?

For Tootsie: Is it fine if I learn only one sheet per week?, or 2 measures per day?

[ch101]

Hi everyone,

I quite appreciate the advices for his topic, thanks and keep giving more.

For Becky: I can agree with you that there are two parts to check in the speed issue: the mechanical ability and the goo in the brain.  Do you think that another way to check your mechanical ability can be with how it is your typewriting skills?, I mean, if you typewrite fastly, do you have a fine mechanical ability?

For Tootsie: Is it fine if I learn only one sheet per week?, or 2 measures per day?

but i thought we are talking musical here.

[carbe]

I have had this problem too and I still have a bit.
But now I know a lot more about playing fast.

When you practise a piece: practise slow and don't press to hard on the keys. 'Cause when you get up to speed, your touch must be low. You can't play fast with a hard touch on the keys, and that's why you have to practise with the same touch as you shall play with full speed.
Use a metronome while practising, and mark every beat with both your hands. That will make them more coordinated together.

Sorry if my english is bad.
/David

[johnmar78]

okok,,,tom play fast..

THERE ARE THREE WAYS:

1) PRACTICE IN DOTTED rthym with differnt accent.-boring way.

2) practice as it is but it takes a bit longer, when right time comes, your brain will tell you to speed up a little.

3) practice with mertonome, speed up by 10 units each 2 weeks.

[iancollett6]

Hi FAA2010: Theres two parts to this.  First if you have the mechanical ability to play fast.  If you do , its easy to tell. Just put your right hand thumb on middle C and play 12345432 over and over. If you have good speed there then you have the mechanical ability .

Thanks for this bit of info. I kind of had this insecurity that my hands werent able to go fast, I was actually getting a bit down about it! This has given me hope to play quickly.

[bronnestam]

Hello Piano students and teachers and musicians in general.
I have been teaching for 20 years and have a degree in Pedagogy. what I've learned through experience and seeing the results in my students, I would like to outline my "Edge method" for playing something fast and how to get there without sounding like a balloon whose air was just let out of it.... lol
Step one: BEGIN AT THE END, YES YOU HEARD ME, THE END OF THE PIECE. (Many can start, fewer can finish...) Take the last measure and move progressively backwards.
2. Begin the multiples right hand first, left hand and then put them together. WHEN YOU PUT THE HANDS TOGETHER, THE BRAIN WORKS IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WAY.
3. Use "MULTIPLES": Begin with a chosen measure and you will go note by note.
4. Repeat each note RH and then LH separately 8x (or 4 if 8 overwhelms you) 7x,  then 6,5,4,3,2 of each.
5.  Before going hands together add:  SINGLE DOUBLE, DOUBLE, SINGLE: e.g. say there are 4 16th notes, play note 1 once, note 2 twice, note 3 once, note 4 twice. Go back to start of measure and reverse it. Note one double, note 2 single note 3 double note 4 single.
6. Put the hands together from 8-1 and single double, double single.
7. Now play the measure as written and you will find you blast through it because you've made every connection possible.
9. Now continue with the measure before or after.
10. If you feel overwhelmed by starting with 8 times, use 4,3,2,1, single double, dbl single. Before you know it, you likely will have it memorized and amaze yourself with the speed and evenness of the hands.
NOTES: You may also just do this with difficult passages to even out the phrase line or section. Be sure to connect the hard part with the easier part that came before and goes after for continuity.
Also, REWARD YOURSELF! Make it a game. Take your favorite food/snack. Each time you conquer a beat, have an M and M, lol. If it’s a game, it won’t be boring. THE END RESULT OF THE PRIDE YOU FEEL IN YOUR SPEED WILL BE THE! REWARD ITSELF.
Work in sections. Nothing says you must use the Multiples for 10 measures. Do as much as your brain and body tell you how much you can handle. Frustrated? STOP for 5 minutes. Watch TV, do homework, stand on your head.... any distraction works, then return. If it’s not working one day, let it go. It means your brain is still processing; like a computer trying to close down 10 programs at once.... give yourself time.
I am attaching an example of multiples as an audio file using two measures from the Final Movement of Beethoven's (Sonata quasi una Fantasia) #14 Opus 27 No. 2 aka "Moonlight Sonata", the Presto Agitato, mm 8 and 9. This way you can hear how it goes....
I CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO SEE YOUR SUCCESS!!!

Joanna Silverstone Nicholson
Master Teacher
Naples Conservatory of Music and Arts
www.naplesconservatory.org
info@naplesconservatory.org


info@naplesconservatory.orghttps://www.naplesconservatory.org
 

Hi Tootsie, I tried your advice above and yes, it works fine!    Immediately solved some "knots" I have been struggling with for a long time. Thanks!