A Visit To The Royal Court

I've only glanced over your previous videos, so I'll not compare your playing in this one to those. Your fingers appear to be moving well in the left hand double notes in the first section. As soon as the repeated chords come in you rigidify your fingers and use your arm to shove them into the keys. The right hand seems to have lots of up and down arm movement on each note, too. I'd say you want to get those fingers moving more and this should reduce the need for the arm to play the notes. You definitely want to get your fingers playing the notes of the chords rather than the arm. As your double notes are looking good, you could break up each 3 note chord into double notes to tap into that finger movement you have, then approach the 3 note chords with the same finger movement.

I've only glanced over your previous videos, so I'll not compare your playing in this one to those. Your fingers appear to be moving well in the left hand double notes in the first section. As soon as the repeated chords come in you rigidify your fingers and use your arm to shove them into the keys. The right hand seems to have lots of up and down arm movement on each note, too. I'd say you want to get those fingers moving more and this should reduce the need for the arm to play the notes. You definitely want to get your fingers playing the notes of the chords rather than the arm. As your double notes are looking good, you could break up each 3 note chord into double notes to tap into that finger movement you have, then approach the 3 note chords with the same finger movement. Your observation helped me to notice the unwanted left arm compensation activity. However I also need a solution for the up and down movement that occurs when the RH plays the 16th notes.

Darn I thought this video was going to show you playing at the Royal Palace in Temisoara! I thought, "My, he's coming up in the world!" Oh well... The playing is not bad, would have to see at closer range to help out... All best, AFF

The right hand is a bit tricky to see, but I did notice the movement you mention. One solution could be to over hold one finger throughout the entire passage (maybe the thumb), which would serve two purposes. Firstly, it would anchor the hand and reduce the vertical movement of the arm to a manageable level. Secondly, it would provide you with a sense of structural security that I think may be missing at the moment. Another option is to look at the section of the Craft book (page 142 in the first edition: Maximize finger articulation, eliminate arm shake) and DVD. It gives an image of incredible clarity of how much the fingers can move, and how passive the arm can be when the fingers are moving. I'll agree with what Alan says in the book though - it is very difficult at first. I hope that is of some use to you. Perhaps next time you do a video you could have the camera to your right and that way we can get a better look at that side.

Or you could simply watch some videos of Kemal on YouTube and then try to mimic his finger action in slow motion: the slower you go, the more you should exaggerate the 'up.'