Beethoven op 2/1 triplets are pushing every single bloody button that they can!!

[busondelssohn]

Hi, I need some help. I'm going to a competition in February, it's a multiple instrument youth competition, I'm of course entering in the piano category. I'm playing Beethoven op. 2/1 first movement, Brahms intermezzo op. 117/1, Bach prelude and fugue in b flat major bwv. 866, and Bartok alegro bárbaro.
So I'm having problems with the Beethoven, a piece that I picked up again for this competition. Those little sixteenth triplets at the beginning are really causing problems  , even though when I first learned the piece I got them fine. It's come to a point where I get to those sets, you know, these sets of ca. five of those sixteenth throughout the piece, and the first one is completely off rhythm, but the rest are good. This is making be really nervous about the competition. Any tips, both for nervousness and for those sixteenths?
Thanks

[brogers70]

I had problems with those same triplets. This may be obvious or not very helpful to you, but what I found helped was just to imagine the sound of those noes played cleanly and beautifully just before I actually played them. A clear mental image of the sound was the biggest help. All sorts of other things I tried, consciously giving a little impulse to the hand, focusing on keeping the fingers close to the keys, obsessive slow practice (some of that is good, of course), experimenting with the angles of my wrist, were nowhere near as helpful as just imagining the correct sound an instant before playing.

[pianistavt]

I don't usually click on vague titles like "need help" but I did this time...

May I suggest you update your title to read "Trouble with triplets in Beethoven sonata 2/1"?  You might get more responses.

[busondelssohn]

@pianistavt, how d'ya like them apples?

[pianistavt]

@pianistavt, how d'ya like them apples?

LOL.  Precise And Dramatic - - perfect!
I hope you're Beethoven Op 2 turns out the same...

[lelle]

The following is the sort of advice that is easy to roll your eyes towards, but it worked very well for both me and my girlfriend when we were piano students. It ties into what brogers70 said.

Basically, focus on what you want to do rather than what you don't want to happen.

Work on your triplets in the practice room and focus on getting them the way you want. Whenever you succeed, take a mental snapshot of what you did to accomplish the result. Then focus on doing that thing again so it becomes automatic that you direct your mind this way at the required spots.

Later, when performing, tell yourself "I'm gonna do exactly what I did in the practice room" rather than "oh no I hope I don't mess up the triplets".

My girlfriend discovered this when she had trouble with nerves before auditions. She realized that if she consciously focused her mind on just doing exactly what she did in the practice room, it went much better than if she focused on "oh no this is hard I hope I don't mess up". As long as you've learned the piece and mentally documented what you do when it goes well, and practiced directing your mind this way for any troublesome spots, this can be a useful strategy.

[busondelssohn]

Thanks tons

[lelle]

To add to that, this applies to other "don't" thoughts, such as "ok here comes the triplets, don't tense your wrists". It worked much better to go "ok here are the triplets, time to move my fingers like this while creating the physical feeling that was like this like in the practice room".