Scriabin Sonata Help

[kevinkelly]

Hi! I'm new to Piano Street and this is my first post. I was hoping I could get some practice tips. I'm working on Scriabin's 5th sonata and I'm having a heck of a time with the jumps at m80-87 (and other places throughout the piece like this.) Anybody play this before or something similar and have any tips for me on speeding it up and "securing" it (if even possible?) Thank You!

[j_menz]

Hi! I'm new to Piano Street and this is my first post. I was hoping I could get some practice tips. I'm working on Scriabin's 5th sonata and I'm having a heck of a time with the jumps at m80-87 (and other places throughout the piece like this.) Anybody play this before or something similar and have any tips for me on speeding it up and "securing" it (if even possible?) Thank You!

I haven't played this actual sonata, but I have played pieces with similar figures.  The scor I have doesn't have bar numbers, but of my counting is correct this is in the Presto con allegrezzo section? 

The polyrhtyms complicate things and can lead you to be not quite as certain as you would be without them as to the when as much as the where to leap, so I'd suggest you try an amended version without the leap until you have got that aspect completely comfortable.

The leaps themselves are much easier if you don't think of them as leaps at all, just chords in different places. That may sound odd, but in my experience it can make a world of difference.  As an interim stage, make the leap from the top of the  bottom chord to the bottom of the top one.  Practice slowly so that you can 100% nail them every time - every inaccurate one is a set back, so don't be afraid to rweally slow it down.  Only once you are completely sure of them at that speed, then step it up a notch (JUST a notch). Repeat until you are at about 120% of the speed you ultimately want to play it all the while keeping that level of accuracy. After that they're easy. 

[kevinkelly]

Thank You! Your advice is already helping me immensely!

[mousekowski]

I agree with jmenz. These leaps are hard. My drill is to do some play - move - play practice to make the jumps more secure and then after that, think of each cluster of six chords as a single entity.

I also find playing the passage through alternating slow and fast helps, as does lots of hands separately practice.

Enjoy playing Scriabin 5. It is a wonderful piece.

[pianoamit]

Hi! I'm new to Piano Street and this is my first post. I was hoping I could get some practice tips. I'm working on Scriabin's 5th sonata and I'm having a heck of a time with the jumps at m80-87 (and other places throughout the piece like this.) Anybody play this before or something similar and have any tips for me on speeding it up and "securing" it (if even possible?) Thank You!

These leaps are notoriously difficult... Incidentally, they get worse in the last couple of pages, if memory serves me right.

I would suggest to you to increase the jump by one octave, and practise that slowly, and slowly increasing the tempo keep practising this. It will will force you get used to the hand travelling over a large distance. When you then go back to playing what is written, it will be much easier (and in my experience also more accurate).

[andreslr6]

I can also add to jmenz's suggestion, to make the movement between the chords keeping your hands as close as possible to the keyboard, almost as if you were doing a glissando but without touching any keys in between of course , and to make that movement as fast as possible too.

The thing is that if you practice the movement separating your hand too much from the keyboard you'll end up loosing time because you'll be making extra movements when you get a tempo and may even have inaccuracies; and the "as fast as possible movement between each chord" will remove any doubt by the time you're playing it a tempo making them more accurate, and will make the leaps feels as mere reflexes of your body.