how to practice on an upright/baby grand?

[david456103]

I have a very hard time practicing the opening of Ravel's Ondine on my baby grand,and it is sometimes hard to adjust on a steinway/yamaha, etc. Any tips on how to practice the tremolo chord on a non-grand?

[awesom_o]

If you're having to 'practice' the tremolo's, you don't have the correct technique in place for playing them.

If you have the correct technique to play the tremolo, all you need to do is rehearse the music, and on any piano, so long as it is reasonably in tune and the keys don't stick, you will have a good rehearsal.

[indianajo]

ha. Young people.  Only technique holds you back from a tremelo?
I never knew piano could do an octave tremelo until I bought the Pictures at an Exhibition sheet music age 30.  Now octave tremelos show up all the time on HDTV where you can actually see what the performer is doing at the keyboard.  In fuzzyvision it was all pretty vague, and the Chicago orchestra didn't do octave tremelo on Lingua Mortua; they had the violins wiggle their bows.  I realize now Joann Castle used them on her honky tonk piano on Lawrence Welk, but my parents never watched that show.  Something about dancers in skirts scandalized them I am sure, now that I see the reruns on PBS.   
So I'm trying to build the strength to do octave 64th note tremelos age 63. I've been building strength on Lingua M for a couple of years, moving from awful to just plain bad. 
Moving from a free & fast 1941 Steinway console to a fast but heavy grand would require a whole new level of muscles.  That is not going to happen, I'm pretty sure. 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Just get used to it.

And isn't a babygrand the same thing as a grand?

[david456103]

thanks for the input everyone!
@rachmaninoff forever: the action on a baby grand is slower than that of a grand, and the volume is generally louder, so its hard to make every note sound while maintaining quietness.