my LH hurts when playing HR2 by liszt

[jiwongirl]

hi pianists, i have a bit of a problem, maybe someone can help me out 
i'm learning liszt's hungarian rhapsody no.2, and my left hand is exhausted by the time i go through the piece (sometimes it hurts)
could it be because of the octave leaps?
help!

thanks!

[aquariuswb]

hi pianists, i have a bit of a problem, maybe someone can help me out 
i'm learning liszt's hungarian rhapsody no.2, and my left hand is exhausted by the time i go through the piece (sometimes it hurts)
could it be because of the octave leaps?
help!

thanks!

Yes, the octave leaps probably have something to do with it. Regardless of what specifically is causing it, though, you are clearly doing something your hand doesn't like, and if it hurts, well, that's a bad thing!!! Any time you feel pain like that, just stop playing. Maybe even for 15-20 minutes. Pain is bad! I can't hear or see you play, so I can't judge whether or not the piece is too technically demanding for your skills, but it DOES sound like you need to build up some more endurance, at least. I'm no expert on how to do this, but I'm sure others on this forum will have something more helpful to say in this area...

[larse]

If your arm hurts, you should pyut down the piece and play it later. That particular rhapsody is very demanding and needs a technique that lets you relax, especially your wrist, even in great tempi. Which means that even in the octave leaps, you should not strain anything but what is important. And everytime you lay your arm flat, you should relax even for just a millisecond. That takes time to learn and you should probably wait with the piece and pick it back up later

[apion]

hi pianists, i have a bit of a problem, maybe someone can help me out 
i'm learning liszt's hungarian rhapsody no.2, and my left hand is exhausted by the time i go through the piece (sometimes it hurts)
could it be because of the octave leaps?
help!

thanks!

I had the same problem with Liszt #6, but I was lifting weights at the time, and my muscles just sort of tensed up. So I stopped lifting weights, and it went away.  Assuming that you have perfect technique, then it's very likely an endurance issue.

[willcowskitz]

Personally I can say that this piece and flat fingers don't work well together, and will cause pain, but that really only applies to right hand. Other than that, left hand shouldn't be too burdensome on this piece, unless you're sitting too close to the piano in the crosshanded sections. I also suggest playing black key octaves almost without exceptions with 1-4 and whites with 1-5 in order to not be forced to compensate loss of speed by arm movement.