missing technique -- a wrench in the plans

[Bob]

I may have asked this before, but it still hasn't sunk in yet...

You plan out your piece.  You begin working the plan, but at some point the piece is beyond your technique, not necessarily outrageously beyond your technique though. 

What do you do?

How do you get that technique?

What do you do with your original plan?


At some point, if you've learned everything you can about the piece, but it's just a matter of playing a little bit more than you can, wouldn't the piece turn into a technical etude for you?  Unless, you just give up on it for awhile...  Say you have the piece well under your fingers, memorized even, you know everything about it, know exactly how you want to interprete it... it's just a matter of being able to play 10 clicks faster on the metronome, or say 20 clicks, or 30? 

It would also seem that in the pursuit of that technique, you might let nuances and things slide because those are no longer the goal -- the goal is attain that missing technique and put it back into the piece.  The piece can turn into notes and rhythms. 

Working section by section really isn't the answer because it's not a matter of learning the piece.  It's a matter of developing more technique.


Any ideas for getting out of this situation?  The answers I can think of is to vigorously go after that technique, have the technique before you even begin the piece, or just give up and be happy with what you can accomplish on the piece.

[abell88]

Hmm...depends on your philosophy, I guess.

Don't know if this is helpful, but I remember my teacher once giving me a movement of a Mozart sonata. I worked on it for a few months, learned all the notes and rhythm, but just couldn't play it fast enough. Then he told me that it was actually a couple of grades ahead of my current level, and he'd just wanted to see how I'd do with it.

We put it aside for a couple of years, then I tried it again. At that point I was able to play it without too much difficulty, and I had the great advantage of already having the notes in my fingers.

Alice

[robertp]

I second that, Alice!

Long time ago, when I was around Mozart K. 545 level, my teacher gave me WTC 1, C minor prelude.  I was terrified, but I trusted him totally. Several things came of it. I was inspired by the piece and the trust, so I worked harder. Got a lot technically out of it (we were also doing Hanon and Czerny). Didn't get it up to tempo. Time passed, technique grew. Came right back into the fingers, and there it was a tempo.

[allthumbs]

Greetings

I agree with the above posts. Learning a difficult piece and playing it slowly at first will help in developing technique. As you become really familiar with the music, you will be able to gradually overcome the technical difficulties that the music presents and eventually you will be able to play it at speed. Phrasing, dynamics, voicing, tone etc. are another matter but, these too can be accomplished as well.


Cheers