Once a week I’ll be posting a short and (hopefully) helpful article related to how you can learn and practice your piano pieces more efficiently and musically.
1: Fingerings:
In my experience the fingering in printed piano music copies can often leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes it’s almost as if they let a computer do it. So don’t follow them because you think they were done by experts or there is no better way to play it. My own music is completely covered in hand written fingerings, it’s the first thing I do before even starting to practise it. Do a lot of experimenting with passages to find the most comfortable and/ or efficient fingering, don,t stretch fingers unnecessarily, don’t over use one or two fingers in fast passages which can overtire them. Spread the load as much as possible between all the fingers. Also when introducing fingering to faster passages try to play it as fast as possible to see if it ‘gells’ at speed. What might work at slow tempos may just collapse when played rapidly. Working out fingerings beforehand in this way can save sometimes weeks of toil
Once all your fingering is worked out STICK WITH IT RIGIDLY. You actually memorise music through the fingering, if you constantly alter it you will never learn the piece securely.
If you would like me to look at your music regarding fingering, ring or contact me and I’ll try to help.
2: Use of the thumb in ascending scales:
When playing ascending scales at a moderate to rapid speed let the thumb move under and follow alongside the playing finger so that it is in the correct position to strike the key when it is it’s turn. So for instance when the 4th finger is playing it’s note, the thumb is already BEHIND it, ready to strike the following. This will cure any “limping” or too loud strokes with the thumb.
example 1 example 2
3: Velocity Playing:
When an experienced pianist plays a fast passage he will consciously or subconsciously divide the notes into small groups which can be played in the same hand position, or to put it another way. the note group could be played as a chord. So in example 1, an extract from Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu, all of the notes in each bracket are covered in one hand position so could be held at the same time as a chord, therefore playable with little practise at high speed, as in example 2.
So if you work on each of these small groups until they are automatic then begin to link them into longer passages the speed and memorisation should come much more quickly.