How to speed up Bach Invention No 8?

[maczip]

Hi everybody.
I hope for good advice how to speed up. I have been working on this very nice littel piece for a while, and it sounds great in my oppinion, Iīd  like to speed it up though. At the moment I reach only 112 quarterbeats. Koroliov (which I admire as one of the best Bach interpreters) plays it at about 138.
When I try to speed up, I always tighten up especially left hand and shoulder, and fingers donīt move regularly any more. There must be a way tp train the cerebellum, which executes these kinds of speedy movements.

Thx

[brogers70]

Things I've found helpful for speeding up Bach inventions and suite movements are:

1. Even after you have put the hands together, practice hands separate. That often takes off some of the stress that leads to tension.

2. Don't try to ramp up the speed gradually. Try to close in on your target speed from two directions; do some ridiculously fast hands separate practice, not worrying too much about errors. Then slow down to a very comfortable and relaxed speed. Alternate between very fast and relatively slow practice.  Over time you'll find that what feels "very comfortable and relaxed" is faster than it was before.

3. When you are doing the very fast hands separate practice, pay attention to where everything falls apart. That will tell you which movements are rate limiting. Then experiment with ways to making just those movements as fast and easy as possible. Remember, this is fun; you are just experimenting without any pressure.

4. When you go back to doing mostly hands together you naturally will not be able to play as fast as hands separate, but you should be a good deal faster than when you started.

[maczip]

Thx a lot.
Quite new ideas.
Will try... with fun

[sucom]

I agree with Brogers70 on this.  Every so often just go for it, and don't worry about mistakes too much.  Just push yourself and see what happens.  More often than not, doing this will also  show up small areas that you may need to practise a little more. Pushing your speed every now and then on pieces in general will gradually speed up your playing overall.

Another thing I would do for individual pieces is to use a metronome and very, very gradually push the speed up in increments of 5 or so, making sure that you maintain control with each repetition.  In this way, you barely notice that you are playing quicker each time and it can be quite amazing how much faster you find yourself playing a piece (and remaining in control) after you have repeated it this way many times. 

[maczip]

Did work so far. I reached a speed, which I find nice for the piece when I am playing it. (Thatīs the most I can expect)

To get even better, I guess, I would have to study much, much more, and probably would never reach a technique of somebody who has studied the piano for 20 years