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Topic: Alborado del gracioso  (Read 1616 times)

Offline pizno

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Alborado del gracioso
on: April 22, 2005, 05:02:07 AM
I'd love to hear from anyone who has played Alborado del Gracioso by Ravel.  I'm very drawn to the piece but those double third glissandos scare the heck out of me.  The rest of it seems doable, so I would hate to avoid the whole piece because of those, on the other hand I don't want to work up the piece then not be able to ever get those glissandos, or lose the skin of my fingers trying. 

Offline Skeptopotamus

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Re: Alborado del gracioso
Reply #1 on: April 22, 2005, 05:39:23 AM
ooh i JUST JUST finished that piece.    maybe just try the glissandi first.  also, having big hands helps with the rest of this piece, so grow your hands bigger.

Offline tds

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Re: Alborado del gracioso
Reply #2 on: April 22, 2005, 10:25:17 AM
if worse comes to worse, you could just play the top note gliss with some vague drag of lower notes. in fact, this should sound ok. what matters the most is brilliance and sparks. so missing some of the lower 3rd/4th won't ruin the piece. trust me.

also, try not to over practice these glissandi. as you know they cut your skin. fantastic piece, ain't it. all the best, tds
dignity, love and joy.

Offline pizno

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Re: Alborado del gracioso
Reply #3 on: April 22, 2005, 01:49:49 PM
Yes it is a fantastic piece.  I have just been learning the first couple of pages and reading through the rest.  I am female so do not have monstrous hands, but I can reach a 10th so I think should be able to handle it.  So far it does not seem to be the most comfortable piece in the world - but it looks (and sounds) like so much fun!  Thanks for your Glissando suggestions.  My teacher told me some people actually practice it with tape around their fingers!  Coming down is easy, it's the going up which rips up the back of my middle finger.  What was Ravel thinking?

Do you have any other suggestions for playing it?  Practicing it?

Offline IanT

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Re: Alborado del gracioso
Reply #4 on: April 22, 2005, 04:37:51 PM
These glissandi can be quite painless if you practice them right!  The important thing is to start by not actually playing the notes.  Just place the fingers that you're going to use on the keys as if you're going to play the glissando but then just drag the fingers over the surface of the keys without depressing them.  Make sure that you make all the arm motions that the passage requires i.e. drag up to the top notes and back down to the bottom notes.  But remember, don't play the notes yet!

Once you've got the RH arm motions feeling easy and natural, add the LH (you can actually make noise with the LH!).  Interestingly, keeping the LH accurate and rythmic is probably the hardest part of this passage.

Once you've get the LH and RH fluid and working well together (still without making any noise with the RH) you can start to let the RH sink gently into the keys and start playing the notes.

If you've got everything flowing you should have no problems.  The glissando becomes effortless (and a lot of fun!).

The problems and pain come from the stops and starts caused by a hesitant approach.

As far as fingering goes, I use 1 and 3 going up and down but I don't think that this is particularly important.  Use whatever's best for you.

You'll find that this passage actually becomes one of the easier parts of the whole piece.  Those passages with the repeated triplets in the RH though - that's a different story!

Have fun!

Ian

Offline pizno

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Re: Alborado del gracioso
Reply #5 on: April 22, 2005, 05:01:46 PM
Thanks for the glissando advice.  And yes, I can see those triplets will be a challenge!  Do you use the 3-2-1 fingering?
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