Adding notes and then dropping them

[1piano4joe]

Hi all,

I did this today for the first time to try and build speed and was very pleased with just how well this worked. I have never heard of this. Does anybody here have any experience with this?

I will tell you what I did but first I will tell you WHY I did this.

I was ANGRY. Just fed up with my left hand's inability to play waltzes, nocturnes or rags in a fast enough manner. All previous practicing, just did not yield the results I was looking for. So this is what I did.

Wherever the left hand played a single bass note I added more notes regardless of the sound. Sometimes the left hand now played an octave and sometimes now a chord. This was determined by the chord "shape" that the left hand was leaping to next.

For example, if the chord in the left hand is Eb Bb Eb fingered left hand 521 and the bass note was a single Eb or G then I would play an octave in the left hand and not the single bass note.

In another example, the left hand had to play a root position g minor triad of G Bb D fingered 531 but first had to play a single Bb in the bass. Well, I fingered that Bb with 3 (and not 5) and added G and D. So, all I was doing was playing a simple g minor chord and then just repeating it an octave higher to the right. I went back and forth and back and forth. I was able to get this unbelievably fast (for me anyway). Next, I removed those two notes that I had added and was not only playing faster than I could previously but was able to go even faster than when it was two chords. Holy mackerel!

I'm not sure but I think preserving the hand shape between the two hand positions is part of why this works. Another possibility is that when I played a single bass note, I was not using the proper touch. Using two chords and shifting changed something. Now, I was really just lightly bouncing off the keys in a nice arc. I found myself experimenting with the height of this arc to change dynamics. I had so much more control, speed and dynamic capability. I am just in shock over this.

I guess this is a form of over practicing. I have read about something similar where if I have to leap an octave I read I should add another octave and leap two octaves instead.

I'm sure I just reinvented the wheel but I'm just so elated. I'm hoping that with this new practicing tool I can bring some much needed zest to some of my pieces.

Thanks for reading, Joe.

[outin]

It helps for me too. One reason must be that when playing just a single note with left 4 or 5 my hand and arm get weak and lazy. My teacher always has to remind me about not "dragging" the left...Like you said, playing the whole chord helps to keep the structure together...

[ted]

I have always found, for the reasons of balance mentioned, left hand octaves in ragtime far easier than single notes. If I have to play a single note down there I often use the third finger, even occasionally in Chopin, for example 10/5 and 25/1, not that I know a lot about classical, it just feels more controlled. That is only if a decent sized leap is involved. Within about a two octave jump I would probably use the fifth finger.

[nyiregyhazi]

In the abrsm edition of Chopin waltzes they mention practising with a whole octave before dropping the thumb but keeping a similar hand shape.

If you cross reference this with Alan Fraser's definition of inversion, it all makes sense. Try lifting the thumb as high as possible, and you'll see how weak the 5th becomes. But even traces of this habit are harmful when you learn to point the thumb down even when it's not playing (to stop it lifting up) you stop inverting and keep security in other fingers. It's a matter of having a good arch rather than collapsed knuckles.

[outin]

But even traces of this habit are harmful when you learn to point the thumb down even when it's not playing (to stop it lifting up) you stop inverting and keep security in other fingers.

I think you need to add some punctuation for that to make sense. I know what you meant, but will everyone? 

[nyiregyhazi]

I think you need to add some punctuation for that to make sense. I know what you meant, but will everyone? 

Yes, there was supposed to be a full stop after harmful.