Playing Repeated Notes

[mousekowski]

I'm studying a piece (Moszkowski's Caprice espagnol) which features rapid repeated notes in the RH. Had anyone got any tips about economy of movement etc?

I've tried it on various different pianos (recently a Yamaha C3 grand and a Kawai upright). How do I know whether it is the piano's mechanism that is limiting my speed, or whether it is my own technique. It feels easier to play the repeated notes up to speed on the Yamaha.

[noambenhamou]

Of course it would be easier on a grand you have gravity working on your side .
I want to say if your technique was excellent, you can play super fast repeated notes on any piano, but it's just not the case. This is why eventually piano players must upgrade their piano. The technique could vary a little bit if you MUST play the upright since you probably HAVE to let the note come up all the way BEFORE you play that same note again. On a good grand, you don't have to let the key come up fully.

But regardless, I think your upright must have better action than mozart's piano, so just keep practicing.

Listening to this piece now, yeah - you need a grand piano. I want to tell you don't waste your time on the upright. Learn the notes, but really practice on a grand.

1) use the correct fingering.
2) move your hand to the right as you play 4,3,2,1
3) Don't play all the way down to the bottom of the key, it will just slow you down
4) obviously don't let the note come up all the way

This is the type of piece that you can't just sit on any unknown piano and play. You have to get used to the piano action before you can perform it.

Good luck my friend.

[mousekowski]

Thanks for your reply. I think you are spot on when you say that you can't just walk up to any old piano and expect to be able to play the repeated notes cleanly.

[phillip21]

I would add that if you have a piano that is not marvellous for repeated single notes (alas mine falls into this category) you will also have problems with fast repeated chords and octaves - Erlkönig is always more of a challenge for me than it probably should be!

[aclaussen]

removed

[danhuyle]

Czerny study Op299 no22 in repeated notes. Good starting point and recommended

[butterfly10]

Wow

Lots of the advice.

Thank you very much.

[emma_kate]

It is all in the wrists, and don't stiffen your arm.

My arm is actually very stiff when playing repeated notes (I'm practicing Alborada del gracioso). Any advice on that?

[nyiregyhazi]

My arm is actually very stiff when playing repeated notes (I'm practicing Alborada del gracioso). Any advice on that?

Your arm is probably bunching up too much and becoming excessively held- to stop it being pushed up by the reaction from the keys. If you practise very slow and feel how the arm hangs behind finger and shoulder as a chain (without too much pressure on the fingertip), you can release all the efforts. It's good to even pull back very slightly with the whole and arm and expose any slack or bunching up in the chain. When you can transfer the supporting role from finger to finger, without the chain bunching up, it can hang freely in good alignment without any danger of the arm collapsing.

At faster speeds there's no time to stop on each finger, of course, but the arm learns a good alignment in which it can remain very stable without being "held" in position. In this alignment, it's weight easily stops it getting pushed up by the finger actions- without any pressing from the arm. Everything floats on top of the force that the keys push back at you- like a cartoon character hovering on top of a big jet of water. The arm can still hang loosely- without feeling held in place. If there's any bunching up it's much harder to find this floating feeling.

I don't understand the expression "it's all in the wrists". It's vital to keep them loose, but it's the fingers that need to provide the action. A flapping wrist could never work.  Even in repeated octaves, the best discovery I ever made was that the wrist does not necessarily need to be moved actively. If it stays loose, it moves more than enough in response to movements that are initiated elsewhere- notably in the hand.