Playing Uneven note groupings

[harryedgar]

Hi there everyone - first post for me and just a question hoping for some tips.

I'm currently learning The Chopin Aeolian Harp etude and also La Leggierezza by Liszt - not to mention hoping to one day learn Chasse Neige etude as well - and I'm wondering if there are tips out there for playing the groupings of 5 against 6 notes - whether they are imperative for instance - considering I am not in any way a professional and am basically just playing for myself.

Any ideas would be amazing - thank you

[iansinclair]

Well... the ideal is, of course, to play them as written, quite independently of each other.  And again, the ideal is that the six would have a very slight -- very very slight -- emphasis on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes while the grouping of 5 would be emphasized -- if at all -- on the first only.

Right...

Anyone except a really really competent concert pianist will admit, however, if they are honest, that the tendency is to play 4 of the 5 notes of the group of 5 with notes from the 6, distributed as feels best to them at the time.  The emphases, if any, are more important.

How to practice?  Hands independently until both hands are really smooth and even and up to tempo.  Then try to put them together.  Good luck...

[faulty_damper]

The important thing to think about is the beat; everything falls between them.  If you start thinking in terms of 5 notes or 6 notes, that's when trouble happens.