Thumb under question

[lloyd_cdb]

LH, playing 5-2-1-3-2-3-1-2-5 up and then down the keyboard. I'm not sure if my thumb position while doing 3-2-3 is affecting me.  I'm wondering where people keep their thumb when doing that section.  Do you keep it under your palm, move it out and then back in, or maybe a halfway point? Intuitively, I keep it under as I would think that would keep my velocity consistent.  But in doing so I feel like it might be stressing my wrist which would then have the opposite effect. Also, I feel as if I'm coming down to hard on the thumb on my way back down.

[faulty_damper]

I don't even think about where my thumb is but it's relaxed so it's just by the hand.

[p2u_]

LH, playing 1-2-5-3-2-3-5-2-1 up and then down the keyboard. I'm not sure if my thumb position while doing 3-2-3 is affecting me.  I'm wondering where people keep their thumb when doing that section.  Do you keep it under your palm, move it out and then back in, or maybe a halfway point? Intuitively, I keep it under as I would think that would keep my velocity consistent.  But in doing so I feel like it might be stressing my wrist which would then have the opposite effect. Also, I feel as if I'm coming down to hard on the thumb on my way back down.

I just got up and I haven't had my first cup of coffee yet, so I have no idea what exactly your are playing, but in general, I don't think I do much deliberate "thum under"; lateral arm movement and adaptation of the hand structure is probably closer. You do what is natural. Trying the passage slowly from a (half-)standing position (like the old "keyboardists", who played without thumbs) may give you an indication of what exactly you have to do with your thumb. Also, doing Taubman/Golandsky's forearm rotation exercise (including the double rotation!) on YouTube for a while may help you diagnose the problem. Contrary to what people think, theirs is not an exercise to learn how to move the key, but a study of angles.

Paul

[lloyd_cdb]

I guess I was tired when I posted that.  I didn't mean 1-2-5, I meant 5-2-1-3-2 and back down. I edited my first post.

faulty,

That was my exact thing, I started thinking about it and now it's in my head  

p2u,

thanks, I'll take a look at those exercises.

[p2u_]

p2u,

thanks, I'll take a look at those exercises.

I forgot to add another way to look at this problem. You may have heard about "symmetrical inversion" (you can place a "mirror" at D or at Ab/G#). Mirror the left hand passage with your right hand and see what you can learn from that. An A chord in one hand, for example, becomes a Cm chord in the other. An A major scale from tonic to tonic will be E flat from g to g, etc. This is a fun way to practise and works for both hands. I wouldn't play the hands together, though, because it doesn't sound exactly nice...

EDIT: Here's the scheme of mirroring keys for quick orientation:

Code: [Select]

A => G
B => F
C => E
D => D (stays the same)
E => C
F => B
G => A

F#/Gb => Bb/A#
Ab/G# => G#/Ab (stays the same)
Bb/A# => F#/Gb
C#/Db => Eb/D#
Eb/D# => C#/Db
Paul

[lloyd_cdb]

That's great, thanks for the edit.  I had read about it but never actually tried it in practice.  It's great to see it visually.