Piano Forum

Piano Street Magazine:
How Many Hours Should You Practice the Piano? – The Lines Between Science, Method and Passion

It is a timeless question, a persistent voice in the mind of every pianist: “How many hours must I practice to truly improve?” It springs from a perfectly legitimate desire to measure the commitment required to transform our ambitions into sound, whether that means playing a simple minuet or dreaming of the world’s most prestigious stages. Giulio Cinelli from Pianosolo.it guides us through this classic topic. Read more

Pages: [1] Go Down

Topic: alternating action (Read 1972 times)

Kapellmeister27

Guest

alternating action

on: March 24, 2005, 03:12:24 AM

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?

Logged

steinwayguy

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 991

Re: alternating action

Reply #1 on: March 24, 2005, 04:58:24 AM

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.