Learning Chopin's Prélude in G Minor Op,28, no.22 in 2 Months

[brahmsadvocate]

This spectacular piece has recently been brought to my attention from my piano instructor.
It is just under a minute long and before attempting the learning process I had thought; "This will be so easy for my recital since it is short and the sheet music looks very tolerable".

Boy was I wrong.
I am a seasoned pianist and have been playing for 7 years. I am currently in grade 8 RCM but typically choose recital pieces at levels 9-10.

With these octaves in the left hand, I am not properly positioning my writs and I constantly lock it up while playing. I also developed tendonitis over the years and it comes and goes. The right hand is another struggle since my fingers continue to stop holding down notes during a tie when I need to switch my finger positions.

If anyone can help me technique-wise since I cannot seem to get my wrist loose enough and the piece up to speed.

Thank you to anyone with suggestions!

[hopefulauditionpasser]

hi is your octaves technique based on your forearm? one pitfall i had when i first started doing octave work was hearing all these notions about wrist and wrist relaxation, so i tried to play passages relying mainly on wrist action.

after reading up on something regarding martha argerich's octave technique, where it originates from the forearm and hinges on the elbow, most of my tension problems dissappeared. speed will need to be built from the ground up again though.

i think a video of your octaves might be helpful?

[dizzyfingers]

If anyone can help me technique-wise since I cannot seem to get my wrist loose enough and the piece up to speed.

Thank you to anyone with suggestions!

What are your current practice methods on this piece?
It might be easier to tell you what you're omitting.

Are you practicing this with the emotional intensity and double forte a performance would warrant?
(because that would be a mistake)

What studies in the LH have your undertaken that might prepare you for this piece?

[jonathannyc]

[quote author=brahmsadvocate link=topic=72524.msg742693#msg742693 date=1760409457
With these octaves in the left hand, I am not properly positioning my wrists, and I constantly lock it up while playing. I also developed tendonitis over the years, and it comes and goes. The right hand is another struggle since my fingers continue to stop holding down notes during a tie when I need to switch my finger positions.
[/quote]

Hello BrahmsAdvocate,

Although I would need to see you playing to really know what you are doing, it is most likely that you are playing the octaves with rigid wrists, probably using the entire forearm in a locked position, and unaware of it. I've encountered that in many students who have come to me, and that rigidity is the shortcut to inflammation and carpal tunnel syndrome.

There is a cure.

All of us pianists need to cultivate flexibility in our wrists in any type of configuration, and certainly when practicing octaves. One of Liszt's students said that his brilliant octaves "looked as if he shook them loose from his sleeves." In other words, very elastic and loose wrist motions with minimal movement.

Not all octave work is played with identical movements, but in the G-minor Prelude, if I were to revive it into concert-level condition, I would first practice rather slowly, not with passionate power (not yet), and calmly build up those smooth and elastic wrist motions until they become automatic.

When Horowitz was asked how long it took for him to prepare his legendary performances of Liszt's sixth Hungarian Rhapsody (do check it out, by the way), he said he worked carefully and slowly on octaves for three months before even beginning work on the Rhapsody itself. I mention that out of respect for the process - it takes time, even for a keyboard wizard like Horowitz.

Best regards.
__________________________
https://www.bakerpianolessons.com/

[roncesvalles]

There are two main sources of tension in octave playing, the fingers and wrist. The fingers can be tense due to the necessity to extend them in order to encompass that octave interval. Further tension can come from having to spread more fingers if the octaves have a legato line.  When I practice octaves, I try to be conscious of these natural kinds of tension and release them when I can. Often the music will tell us where this can happen through rhythm or phrasing. But you can practice in rhythms and grouping to play a certain amount of notes, then release the hand to a neutral position, then resume.  This practiced release will often be an exagerration of what happens in reality, but like the necessity of breathing in involved passages, it is part of a mechanism that can find relaxation.

For the wrist I try a variety of things. First is floppy hands, to play a passage slowly with maximum looseness of the wrists, like you're dribbling a basketball, not pressing down on the keys once you've sounded them. So the overall motion is A. looseness B. moment of resistance against key to sound notes C. looseness again.  It's a little like the soviet method of boxing, where all your motions are fluid and loose until microseconds before impact where you become solid to affect the target, release afterwards, and repeat.  I use this exercise as a baseline for relaxation, to set the ideal which I'm capable of in perfect conditions. For speed, I work on speed, by playing things in rhythms and groups. For rhythms I take a problem passage and do any two notes as fast as I can do them with articulation, releasing tension on the second notes. I'll do this for every note in the passage, so if the passage is something like a descending G, F#, Eb, D, I'll play G-F#, then F#-Eb, then Eb-D. Once you're very fluent with these you can do groups of three (in the same example, G, F#, Eb, then F#, Eb, D). You can do four, five, up to the amount of notes in the passage. Remember the fluidity of your floppy hands exercise and always release after sounding the last notes. Another thing to do is grouping based on your larger-scaled arm movements. If you go to youtube you can search Josh Wright or Denis Zhdanov and "octaves" and they both go into exercises like this. If you have a harmonious mechanism involving arm, wrist, hand, fingers, then likely  your forearm will have some lever action descending towards the keys. In the spots of the prelude where there are octaves on repeated notes, while trying to keep your mechanism loose as in the previous exercises, try to repeat 3-4 notes per falling arm lever (which goes into the image of Liszt "shaking" octaves out of his sleeves) releasing at the end of each grouping and repeating. There are groups of 5 in this prelude, so you can aim for doing 4 notes per fall, then doing the 5th note with a new fall on the beat.

Whether you do these or not, the principle is to find ways to release your tension in your hand, fingers, and wrist, allowing you to play with fluidity that is more controllable over time than brute force, which can cause injury or otherwise a lack of control.