Balance between fingers in the same hand

[Bassman]

I am playing the Adagio Cantable (2nd Movement) of the Patitique Sonata by Beethoven, at the beginning of next month.  This is before judges where they will judge me on EVERYTHING!!!!!  The middle part of the chords are mostly played with the  1 and 2 fingers on the right hand.  The piece is marked as PP for those.  P for the melody in the right hand, and P for the melody in the left hand.  I am trying to get the ablsolute smoothest possible way of playing the right hand fill in.  I want it to sound like a "sting is pulling out the sound, smooth and connected!" NOT individual notes.  Much like a Flutest would play the note is what I am looking for.

ANY IDEAS besides mental imaging of the string being pulled and stretched out.

-THANKS

[senecalakeguy]

several of the Dohnanyi exercises will promote finger independence and give you more control of each finger in terms of weight, movement, etc.  i would look into these and that may aid in the amount of control used in passages where the "strongest" fingers need to play "in the background".  also, play the background spots seperately and also the melody spots seperately then put them together.  good luck!

randy

[johnnypiano]

You need to think mainly of the top line; sing it to yourself, think of the sound growing and coming down.  Do not take the p and pp too literally - it's all relative.  The right hand may be mf at times, which is where you get a better catabile.  Make sure the finger tips of the fingers playing the underneath notes are always on the key surfaces just before playing.  This will ensure as much legato and control as possible.

I think that in Beethoven the underneath notes need to be heard as individual sounds however soft.  Listen to the String Quartets and to the balance of sound of the inner parts.  Good luck for Judgement day.  John   

[shasma]

the name of this topic made me think of the piece i'm playing right now, träumerei (schumann)... it's by no means as complicated as pathetique, i know (lol) but it's essential  to probably balance the different shades in träumerei. i usually start off by merely playing the medody a couple of times so i really know what i want to be heard the most. when i play the song itself, i try to think of myself as somebody else hearing the song for the first time, can they hear the melody clearly? that usually helps me to find the passages where i'm not playing the melody clear enough.
hope you do well on your performance