As for playing scales and getting more speed - the process is mostly mental.
Also, I've read some of your other posts about returning to the piano, doing an ARCT etc. I went through a similar process and actually enjoyed it - even the theory. Stay the course!Ian
I have an entirely new strategy to try in regards to increasing my speed. No more slow practice to try to increase speed for me!
Well, not so fast (pun intended). Slow practice still has its place, but it must be slow-motion practice. This means that one should first work out fingerings and motions at the intended speed. That's very important, because fingerings and motions are often different at different speeds. Scales are a perfect example with thumb-under at slow speed and thumb-over at fast speed. Once fingering and motions have been worked out, you can go back to a slow speed and ramp it up over time. The idea behind slow-motion playing is that you can keep working on refining the motions (they will be exaggerated and better visible at slow speed), work on any tension or other discomfort issues and you can focus on accuracy and clarity. So, ideally, one would use both slow-motion and fast-motion practice. They both have their benefits.
allthumbs: Despite the huge amount of links that Bernard posted, I still feel that there are some information missing specifically for this nocturne.I must have played this particular Nocturne well over 100 times (exluding when I once learnt it) and I have changed the version very much during the years. I have also changed my view how this last scale should be performed.I believe that, despite that you are expected to keep a rather strict tempo with left hand in Chopin's music, you are allowed to slow down this particular bar and concentrate to perform it musically interesting rather than ultrafast. If you want to keep the tempo, 16:ths in 126-132 will not take you very far but you are rather expected a tempo in about b=200 or even more in 16:ths. Add to this that you should make a crescendo->diminuendo and play it in p or mp. Not an easy task.I prefer a musically interesting passage of this scale than chocking fast performance.Technically, it is an E-major scale and as you change direction at the top, you get some keys for free as you can roll them forwards and backwards. E-major is perhaps the easiest scale to perform really fast as it fits the shape of the hand well so the pre-conditions are good.This Nocturne was found in a letter to Ludwika (Chopin's sister) as to practise before playing his 2:nd concerto. Says quite a bit of his sisters skills at the piano doesn't it? If you check the triols of left hand in the middle section and listen to his 2:nd concerto, you will find a very similar passage.
I should have made it clear that I prefer look upon it as an E-major scale. It can of course also be a C-sharp minor or a F-sharp dorian scale ,
Today I was teaching a student how to play a C major scale at top speed straightaway – that is without any need for years of practice – She was a beginner and we were just starting to learn scales. Here are the steps I used.1. We started by playing the scales in chords. Right hand: CDE (fingers 123) played together and FGAB (fingers 1234) played together. First aim: to get this pattern of notes and fingerings firmly ingrained and memorised. This involved repeating CDE several times, and then shifting the right hand all over the keyboard playing CDE as a chord. This is really a feat of visual co-ordination: you must identify visually the relevant keys and once your eye locks on it, your hand will always hit it right. So the training here is in visual recognition of the pattern and in “locking” the sight o the pattern you want to hit. Later on we will train to do this without resorting to sight. But for what I want to say here, it is not necessary to enter these details. Then we did the FGAB group and finally we played the C major scale all over the keyboard in clusters: CDE – FGAB – CDE – FGAB – etc.2. The next step was to break these clusters by “rolling the hand” rather then by finger movement. Again I will not spend much time explaining this here. It is easily demonstrated, and the student could do it with ease. At this stage, I pointed out to her, that she was already playing the two clusters at the scale at unbelievable speeds: infinite speed when plying the clusters (what can be faster then together?) and just a tiny bit slower then infinite speed when rolling the hand. The problem of course was moving the hand from E to F. That shift will always be the limit: you will only be able to play the scale as fast as you can shift the hand.3. Now comes the point of this somewhat lengthy explanation. I then proceeded to tell her that the way to practise this shift was to isolate it: Play the E with the 3rd finger, then displace the hand sideways so that the thumb plays the F. The aim is not only speed, but total accuracy. 4. And now comes the fulcrum where this whole question hinges. She could move from E (3rd finger) to F (thumb) with great accuracy and speed. But her other fingers were all over the place. So I pointed this out to her, and demonstrated what her aim was: Not only he had to move fast and accurately from E (3rd finger) to F (thumb) – as her other fingers (234) should land exactly on top of GAB the moment her thumb arrived at F. That of course creates a whole universe of problems – including her resistance and revolt that she had this extra goal. As a good rebellious teenager, she was happy only in achieving the superficial aim of moving from E(3) to F(1), and was outraged that I would dare to suggest that she should add anything else to her work load. Nevertheless (being a black belt in five martial arts) I quickly convinced her to do as I was suggesting, and after a couple of minutes of mindful repetitions she could do it perfectly. 5. Now the point here is this: Had I not paid attention to this sort of excruciating detail, she would have perhaps practised a whole week a perfect move from E to F, but a totally sloppy placement of the fingers that would be needed later on. At full speed, the scale would be a mess, because her fingers would be out of place, therefore either she would hit the wrong notes, or she would have to slow down to continually “reach for the keys” with the fingers and constantly readjust finger position. She would be practising a certain move, but she would be neglecting what I call preparation, that is a careful thought out strategy for the fingers to prepare for the next movements.6. So, anyone who is struggling with any passage/piece for months is doing something very wrong. And usually what is wrong is the “preparation” and the lack of attention to preparation. They hope that somehow if they just sit down at the piano for 10 hours a day improvement will somehow follow. It will not. In fact, if you are sloppy, that is all you will be practising: sloppy preparation with the obvious consequences. If you pay excruciating attention to details, after a couple of minutes of intensive concentrated and mindful practice, such details get ingrained into your subconscious and you do not need to think about them anymore. This is truly the secret of speed learning. But everyone wants to go on automatic pilot before they have acquired an automatic pilot! 7. The only talent needed here is the talent for discipline. And believe me, this is no small talent. Best wishes,Bernhard.
Topic: Fast scale passages 