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[pies]

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[noelle]

Learning that prelude I taught myself the jumps just by ... playing them over and over.  I tried to "feel" the notes I needed my fingers to land on.  It helped to play one chord and then jump and hover over where I would play, adjusting before I did so.  Then to bring that all up to speed, if you catch my drift.

Once I could do it with my eyes open I practiced with my eyes closed, and now can play the entire prelude "blind."

[richard w]

Jump early. Aim to get to the destination notes before you need to, and, as Noelle suggested, give yourself time to hover above and feel the keys. With practise, you will be able to make any adjustments you need to in time to play the chord. When moving the hand, make sure you remain close to the keys by moving your hands in as straight a line as possible from one position to the next. This is to avoid having to hit the destination keys at an angle, which makes jumping much more hit and miss (emphasis on 'miss').

Practise will make perfect, but whilst you are learning feel at liberty to add a bit of flexibility into the rhythm to give yourself the time you need. Making the extra time you need to take to get the notes seem like a deliberate part of your interpretation is part of the trick of playing the piano. 


Happy practising.



Richard.

[quasimodo]

Practise will make perfect, but whilst you are learning feel at liberty to add a bit of flexibility into the rhythm to give yourself the time you need. Making the extra time you need to take to get the notes seem like a deliberate part of your interpretation is part of the trick of playing the piano. 

Lol I noticed this even when listening to famous great performers' recordings  . When you listen carefully, you can have a more or less idea of how hard a jump/transition might be, but as a matter of fact, a little delay in these passages often sound good.

[wintervind]

Aim first! but don't just throw your hands and hope they make it.
Practice the movement to get there without accually playing the notes. Then start playing the notes but making absolutely sure that you play the correct ones no matter how slow it seems. If you insist on playing correctly they you will play correctly. It works for me!

[anda]

Practise will make perfect, but whilst you are learning feel at liberty to add a bit of flexibility into the rhythm to give yourself the time you need. Making the extra time you need to take to get the notes seem like a deliberate part of your interpretation is part of the trick of playing the piano. 

that is very true. what is also true is that a big jump means a very large interval. and the human ear needs time to completely percieve and enjoy such an intervl - therefore it needs time! so it's not just that it "seems like a deliberate part of your interpretation" - it actually should be so.

[anda]

as practice method: practice hs until you can play the whole passage hs with your eyes closed, at final tempo, and you feel pretty sure on it. than, if you have contrary jumps (and the main problem is that you can't watch both hands), when you play you should always watch the weaker hand.

[jason2711]

as practice method: practice hs until you can play the whole passage hs with your eyes closed, at final tempo, and you feel pretty sure on it. than, if you have contrary jumps (and the main problem is that you can't watch both hands), when you play you should always watch the weaker hand.

i can adhere to the hs working... I started learning this piece when i was 13, and though i didn't quite understand it, it was possibly the first piece that i ever loved to play that much.   I accidentally learnt this part hands separately since i didn't understand the notation used, but worked out well, since i can now play that without thinking, allowing me to concentrate more on the music itself when i still play it

[ehpianist]

Focus on your thumb.  Practice the jumps with only your thumb and this provides a good gauge for the distances.  Then little by little start adding the other notes in with the thumb.


Elena
https://www.pianofourhands.com

[chopinguy]

Someone I think has said something similar to this, I'm just adding to it.

When you play large jumps, practice it slowly, but when you make the jump, bring your hand to the correct position as quickly as possible.  You'll want to have sort a snapping motion, snapping your hand from one position to the next.  So, your hand will be hovering over the chord, note, whatever you're going to play, a little bit before you actually play it.  This is supposed to teach your arm exactly how far to move on the keyboard, so that at faster speeds it's no problem.

This is only a general technique, so if you need to tweak it a bit for your piece, go ahead.

[anda]

as practice method: practice hs until you can play the whole passage hs with your eyes closed, at final tempo, and you feel pretty sure on it. than, if you have contrary jumps (and the main problem is that you can't watch both hands), when you play you should always watch the weaker hand.

one more thing - i forgot to mention it: move the eyes earlier! you should be looking at the landing point before the hand even began the jump.

[wintervind]

I SECOND THIS!

one more thing - i forgot to mention it: move the eyes earlier! you should be looking at the landing point before the hand even began the jump.