czerny op 849 n. 11 - left hand

[deandeblock]

Hi folks,


I have been practicing this study for a little while now and am struggling to speed it up without becoming really sloppy... In order to find out what the hell i am doing wrong i made this short video with focus on my left hand.

As you probably can see there I am doing it totally wrong, why are my fingers so high up? Is it because I am also doing the Hanon exercises which state that fingers should be held high??

Is there anyone who can give me a little guidance on how to overcome this and practice the right way?



Thank you!

[deandeblock]

better quality vid:

[adodd81802]

Seems like you already know the answer to your problem! and i noticed the same thing before reading all of your comment.

problem that can lie with studies such as Hanon and Czerny is that they can reinforce bad technique which is something you have to be careful. it takes longer to unlearn something then it does to learn something new.

you need to ignore Hanons theory on high fingers anybody will tell you that. so once that has sunk in the question is how to fix?

I've not experienced this before. but I did develop a weird thing for a later while where if I trilled with my 2nd and 3rd fingers quickly my little finger would start to raise up. quite a weird thing and I fixed it.

First do your standard 1-2-3-4-5 as legato as possible. try and keep your fingers on the keys at all times. do it slowly and speed it up ensuring that your fingers are staying curled, and where possible always touching the keys.

Next try the same but staccato, again just keeps them fingers still curled. You can obtain staccato without even taking your fingers off the keys if you can whip them up quickly enough without raising the finger.

My teacher would say that you knew you could play staccato if people could watch without sound and not know when you were playing staccato!

Once you've got that down work on the C major scale but just doing 1 octave practice tucking that thumb under without lifting any fingers now to stop the 4th and 5th rising when you tuck the thumb under make a conscious effort to touch your thumb and 4th when it curls under and then press the F. it will sound choppy but we are fixing the technique no the scale.

You can do the same for left hand or RH coming down, when you bring the middle finger over make your thumb and 4th touch.

This movement you want to exaggerate that you're not bringing your hand over but more whipping it across the thumb.

Another thing you can do, is bring your piano cover down over your hand as you play the C scale. bring the cover as low as possible that you can still physically play the scale but with little movement to ensure that your fingers and hands aren't coming away from the keyboard too much.

Just throwing some suggestions out there. if you want any videos to show what i'm suggestion, feel free to ask.

Also as a side note your wrist particularly the left hand looks a little stiff like all the work is going in your fingers. You will always struggle if that's the case.

[deandeblock]

Hi adodd,

yes, i was struck by looking at the movements of my own hands/fingers in this video.

When i come home later tonight, i will give your suggestions a try and come back to you


Thank you for the response!

[deandeblock]

About those stiff wrists:

my teacher says she thinks I got some hidden steelwires in them somewhere