VIDEO: Scriabin Etude in D-sharp minor Op. 8 No. 12

[nightwindsonata]

Any comments or feedback is welcome!

[anacrusis]

Good job! My feedback is that it looks like you are struggling a bit with the technical demands of the piece. To me it looks like your wrists are stiff which causes you to 1) need to use more effort than is necessary and 2) causes you to need to use uneconomical movements to get more power. Do you have a teacher who could guide you on how to keep your hands and wrists loose while playing chords and octaves?

[nightwindsonata]

Good job! My feedback is that it looks like you are struggling a bit with the technical demands of the piece. To me it looks like your wrists are stiff which causes you to 1) need to use more effort than is necessary and 2) causes you to need to use uneconomical movements to get more power. Do you have a teacher who could guide you on how to keep your hands and wrists loose while playing chords and octaves?

Do I have a teacher? Yes. Is he helpful for this sort of technical advice? Not really. The joy of a year and a half of online lessons :/, hoping to get a more physically-conscious professor during my master's. Any advice for exercises to help me gain flexibility?

[thirtytwo2020]

Well done!
I agree with anacrusis that it looks and sounds like you could use a bit more physical freedom.
Just a spontaneous thought - my feeling is that you are 'holding on to' the keys too much. In my experience, this kind of octave work etc work better if you're not afraid to 'fly' a bit more - allowing the arm and hand to really rebound. It may feel counterintuitive - as if you won't be in time for the next note - but once you get into it actually allows you to play with more flow.
I would practice octave scales and arpeggios with this in mind. 

[nightwindsonata]

Well done!
I agree with anacrusis that it looks and sounds like you could use a bit more physical freedom.
Just a spontaneous thought - my feeling is that you are 'holding on to' the keys too much. In my experience, this kind of octave work etc work better if you're not afraid to 'fly' a bit more - allowing the arm and hand to really rebound. It may feel counterintuitive - as if you won't be in time for the next note - but once you get into it actually allows you to play with more flow.
I would practice octave scales and arpeggios with this in mind.

Are you talking about the right hand, left hand, or both? Also, I've been toying around with the idea of studying the Liszt Eroica Etude to complement my quest to acquire a superior octave technique, do you think that would be a helpful pursuit? My end goal (for now) is the Dante Sonata but of course to pull that off well in concert I need to be very relaxed and organized in my approach.

[thirtytwo2020]

I'm talking about both hands.
Of course you could have a look at the Eroica Etude, but if you are on a 'quest to acquire a superior octave technique', I think you need to take your time and not try to force pieces like that up to performance standard right now. I would use it more like an exercise. 

[nightwindsonata]

That's how I was thinking of it. Any other ideas for good pieces to develop good technique (I know Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 10 works a lot on octaves, but it feels very different to play)?

I'm talking about both hands.
Of course you could have a look at the Eroica Etude, but if you are on a 'quest to acquire a superior octave technique', I think you need to take your time and not try to force pieces like that up to performance standard right now. I would use it more like an exercise.

[quantum]

Good job!  It is a difficult piece.  I like how you managed the dynamic buildup to 2:00. 

For the LH you can use your wrist as a pivot point much more, as opposed to just aiming with your fingers for the wide space chords.  Loosen up at wrist and allow the wrist and forearm to take more of the workload.  It would allow you to think of those large chords as being taken in one hand even though one needs to break them. 

If you would like some visuals, watch some videos of Kissin playing Scriabin (not just this piece), and observe how the wrist and forearm are very active in similar demanding LH passages. 

Even though the LH is written in straight 8ths, that doesn't mean it has to be played that way.  Some notes are more important than others, and it is quite stylistically appropriate to flex the timing and use agogic accents.

[gipsypiano]

beautiful thank you

[stringoverstrung]

Congratulations.

not easy by any standard.

[anacrusis]

Do I have a teacher? Yes. Is he helpful for this sort of technical advice? Not really. The joy of a year and a half of online lessons :/, hoping to get a more physically-conscious professor during my master's. Any advice for exercises to help me gain flexibility?

Sorry for not getting back sooner. And sorry to hear that your teacher is not helpful I'll have to think a bit about that because it's difficult to write about. I might write some ideas later.