Piano Forum

Here's my opinion on the matter, take from it what you will.

Hearing is a skill used most in the practice phase of a piece. You should be using your hearing to ensure to you that everything sounds how it's supposed to sound in a "perfect" environment.

It seems your lacking touch ability is either an underlying issue that is affecting all your pieces ,but some more than others, or that this issue is now playing on your mind and affecting your playing in other pieces too.

Adjustments required to different pianos, different environments are indeed required, but there are many other factors required to be perfected as much as possible so that you can concentrate on the sound without the worries of touch, correct notes, etc.

So it seems to conclude with regards to hearing that you need to have a 100% idea of how a piece should sound, and aim for that, and practice that relentlessly. With the intermezzo you mentioned it seems you were not even aware of your touch issue until your teacher told you? Make sure they either play it to you or recommend recordings you can refer too to help improve, listen to those examples with great detail.

Hearing, as a skill in a piece is as much as "on the spot processing" as it is recalling in your mind how a piece should sound based off that "perfect" performance and replicating that in real time. That recall of hearing is in combination with other recalls in the brain, like touch, like the height of your stool, like the feel of the keys and they all come together.

So regards to touch.

I don't have experience with the piece, and without your elaboration I do not know if you mean entire touch, touch with certain fingers, or touch with certain combinations with notes.

The problem with recommending exercises or pieces is that you're not going to play them any different, you're still going to play them with this same touch you're referencing, because it's how you play not what you play. My best advice again, is grab your teacher get them to really go through the motions with you what they are suggesting, have them get you repeat it until they are satisfied with how you do it, and again you study in great detail exactly what you did.

I commented on another post regarding playing the piano, and the illusion that being able to play one piece, means that you can 'play' the piano. (not that i'm directing at you specifically) but if we used driving as an example;

a drivers licence in the UK allows you to drive a standard car or small van.

Now in an arctic lorry, it still has the same pedals, the same gears the same steering wheel, however you have to do extra training and gain an extra licence to drive an arctic lorry, because despite the method of them being both classed as "driving" they are not the same in practice.

The piano is definitely similar in that respect that there are many technical skills required that need to be taught and refined, particularly if they do not come intuitively.

There are a number of technical exercises I can point you towards, but again, these would only improve your skill, if you already had the skill in the first place. If you're missing it, go back to your teacher and really point that out.