Octaves, finger 4 on black keys or not?

[cabbynum]

I personally use finger 4 on the black keys as it is more accurate and much easier to move up to a fast tempo like that. I got a lesson from a teacher who told me finger 4 in octaves is bad as it turns the wrist ever so slightly and can cause tension.
I personally get more tension when playing octaves with 5 all the way.

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

[j_menz]

Whether it turns the hand/wrist depends on the size and shape of your hands, and whether that's a damaging turn or a more comfortable one depends on those same factors. 

I use 1-5 most of the time myself, but that may be just a matter of (not inconvenient) habit. Larger hands and/or longer 4th fingers make the 1-4 more comfortable.

That said, you shouldn't get tension either way, and I suspect it has more to do with other factors than the finger employed. It is possible (though without observation, by no means certain) that switching between 1-4 and 1-5 encourages you to use your fingers more in playing the octave, whereas using only 1-5 encourages to hold tight and  use your wrist into a braced position. If so, that is the more likely culprit.

[pianoplunker]

I personally use finger 4 on the black keys as it is more accurate and much easier to move up to a fast tempo like that. I got a lesson from a teacher who told me finger 4 in octaves is bad as it turns the wrist ever so slightly and can cause tension.
I personally get more tension when playing octaves with 5 all the way.

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

I most often alternate between 4 and 5 sometimes 3 ,4 and 5 depending on the passage. And sometimes just 1 and 5. with me my issue with octaves is my thumb tends to be inaccurate so I have to practice with focus on my thumb more than the 4 or 5. My thumb is dumb

[cabbynum]

whereas using only 1-5 encourages to hold tight and  use your wrist into a braced position. If so, that is the more likely culprit.

That seems like what it is to me. I feel the need to hold that position the whole way. I'm not sure how one would play extremely fast chromatic or semi chromatic passages with just 1-5. The ending of Rach 3 is fairly very much chromatic. I tried playing that today with 1-5 for a solid hour. I couldn't get it anywhere near as fluid or fast as when I use 4 on black keys. I guess I have a long 4th finger?

Also before anyone says "you can't play rach 3!" I know I can't, I've played. Bits of it though, first two pages of course, few bits of the cadenza to the first movement, first 3 pages of piano parts in the 2nd movement, and the opening 2 pages to the 3rd and the final 2 pages.

[awesom_o]

It totally just depends on how you want the octaves to sound. Sometimes I do 1/3 on black keys, sometimes 1/4, sometimes 1/5, and somtimes a mixture of any or all. Sometimes only 1/5, but it would be for quite a specific sound. 1/4 is great for general usage.

[faulty_damper]

In the past, when my technique was inferior, I used any combination that fit the keyboard at the moment.  This meant 1-3, 1-4, or 1-5.  Since then, I learned how to squeeze the palm to play the octaves to avoid tension and increase the speed at which I could play them.  With the squeeze technique, 1-5 is the easiest simply due to the extra leverage of having the largest span, though I can squeeze with any combo.  This also negates the negative effect of having to raise the hand high to play loudly since the speed of the squeeze determines the loudness.

But anyway, it's my opinion that your teacher doesn't know what he's talking about.

[apollon1717]

I personally use finger 4 on the black keys as it is more accurate and much easier to move up to a fast tempo like that. I got a lesson from a teacher who told me finger 4 in octaves is bad as it turns the wrist ever so slightly and can cause tension.
I personally get more tension when playing octaves with 5 all the way.

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

Legato octaves?  or non legato..obviously there is a big difference in management of motions and movements.
Some considerations
1/Long fingers on black keys are allright and reccommended..
2/Octaves 1-5 provide a better bridge but when using 5 on black key forces a bigger motion because pinky is shorter..bigger motion is loss in speed...maybe not always noticed but nevertheles a fact..
3/ moving up or down to a black key does not need a twist of the wrist but an inward motion..an adjustememnt so to say ..
4/when going from 5th to 4th let go of the thumb as quickly as possible and "pivot",by means of speaking,ever so slightly on the 5th..
5/non legato octaves should be played with a slight forearm rotation towards the thumb..

Hope it helps.