Mephisto Waltz no1

[decard]

hello guys. I've been working on Liszt's mephisto valse for a while. I'm currently in the waltz part of the piece, which has repetitive notes, and I encountered a serious problem. I can play the parts of the piece in its normal tempo very well, but when I try to play it from the beginning, I get tired and cannot play it. So it's a kind of durability problem. How can I solve this?

[nightwindsonata]

what kind of tired are we talking about? If it's a mental tired/concentration issue, you will have to build up stamina over time. If it's physical tiredness, you might be playing in a less than efficient manner, and should work section-by-section to ensure that you're moving your wrists and arms without tension, and staying as loose as possible.

[anacrusis]

If you get physically tired from playing the earlier parts of the piece it's a technique issue. You should not get tired at all. I don't think there is a quick fix, you need a teacher who knows their stuff to take a look at your technique and help you change it.

[decard]

thank you, to solve this endurance problem, i started exercises with my arms and wrists. I lift weights and arm wrestle with my friends, interestingly I can say that it reduces my fatigue

[robertus]

thank you, to solve this endurance problem, i started exercises with my arms and wrists. I lift weights and arm wrestle with my friends, interestingly I can say that it reduces my fatigue

Good idea! I would recommend to build general strength compound movements (bench press, deadlift). People often overlook that Liszt, etc. were physically very fit. A pianist should be able to do 100 consecutive pushups, 25 consecutive pull-ups, and bench press their BW, and deadlift 1.5 BW. 

[anacrusis]

thank you, to solve this endurance problem, i started exercises with my arms and wrists. I lift weights and arm wrestle with my friends, interestingly I can say that it reduces my fatigue

Keep in mind though that you are not looking to reduce fatigue, you are looking to never develop fatigue during the piece in the first place. If you can play it without fatigue ever appearing, the technique is right, else it's wrong.

[dinoimeri]

Hello, decard.

I think there are three key things to change in order to solve this problem:

1) Loosen your thumb completely;
Make sure it's always free of tension. If the thumb is liberated, so will the rest of the hand.

2) Make sure you loosen your elbow also;
Checking if your elbow is free of tension is another mechanism to help you make sure your playing is relaxed. There's a lot of energy coming from the elbows, they should be able to transport this energy. Think about the basketball players and how far they can throw a ball using this energy, without any particular strength or stress.

3) Make sure you use the natural bouncing energy of the keys;
You have to feel the threshold of the repetition. In other words, don't push inside the key. Let it go back up by itself. Try to find this timing of the repetition of the key and use it in your advantage. If you play in a slower tempo then try to find a long sound, but if you try to accelerate in a fast tempo you will need a shorter sound.

I hope things go well.

Dino

[pianopro181]

If you get physically tired from playing the earlier parts of the piece it's a technique issue. You should not get tired at all. I don't think there is a quick fix, you need a teacher who knows their stuff to take a look at your technique and help you change it.

Well that depends on what you mean by ‘tired’. If by that you mean ‘tension’ well it’s actually impossible not to have tension in piano playing. Tension isn’t the issue, it’s the inability to be able to control the tension and use it to your advantage.

[pianopro181]

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[symphonicdance]

I agree with the comments of others.  I think the player needs to ensure he/she has the correct and efficient body movements/motions to tackle all the different, technically demanding sections.  His/her teacher should be able to spot any issues and help. Also, he/she'd be better off to build up his/her body strength, like doing suitable amount of daily exercise (whether running, gym, racquet sports, or even yoga, tai-chi, etc.)