alternating action

[Kapellmeister27]

ive jsut finished reading abby w.'s book and i was wondering if anyone could help define what she calls alternating action a little better.

she uses it when referring to octave trills and i have a pieve right now that contains one thats giving me a hard time and i think this wpproach would work well

i know its hard to explain and easy to demonstrate but could someone please clarify what this is a little better?

[steinwayguy]

I dont' know if I could explain it specifically for octave trills, but I can explain it (hopefully coherently) in general. It is actually meant to be thought of as one motion (incidentally there are two- down and up). Begin with your arm up, and very relaxed. Drop it with your hand diagonally upwards at say, a 45 degree angle. When you're about to make contact with the table, make your wrist snap down (not violently) until your hand hits the table. That is your first motion. The second "action" begins instantaneously. Naturally, you will rebound off the table after you hit it with your hand. As you are coming off the table, hit it again, in a sort of reactionary manner.

Yes, that probably isn't very lucid. Just tell me, and I'll try again.