Fast Pianissimo

Hi Alan, I am struggling now with achieving a fast pianissimo accompaniment pattern for the left hand (16th notes of FCFC,GCGC, and other similar patterns where the hand doesn't need to move around the keyboard). Everything sounds really nice in slow practise - there is a nice balance between the left hand and right hand, but when I try to bring it up to tempo it gets louder. The overholding and finger lifting (DVD chapter 8 ) excercises have been extremely helpful for me to play fast passages evenly, but I am still struggling with extending the dynamic range of fast passages. Is it just a matter of time and getting the hand to "know" it's skeletal strength so it can achieve a finer control of dynamics while still playing fast? Or is there a specific practise technique you can offer to achieve fast pianissimo? I found I can sometimes achieve fast pianissimo with a more rigid hand and wrist rotation, while staying very close to the keys, but it is not very consisent, and I also assume rigidness is not a good thing when playing. Thanks, Zack

Hi Zack, I'm sure Alan will be able to answer your question. --I think one of the best ways to play fast is to NOT play at a slow tempo and work your way up. But try going full speed, play block chords/notes. This gets your hand and upper arm used to the motions needed. Once that's learned, it's a matter of letting the arm do the motions, but release the fingers so they can now do singularly what was already learned to do when they were played as a group. Bob T

Remember, standing up in your hand skeletal structure is an exercise designed to acquaint your hand with its sense of structural power, but it is only Stage One of your workthe foundation upon which you must build further. To gain speed in you pianissimo you'll have to "upgrade" to Stage 2 where your fingers are much more active and no longer glued to the keyboard. Everything floats ABOVE the keyboard and, as Chopin wrote, the finger "free falls" into the key. You can use some discreet muscle power to increase the speed of the fall, but the overall impression is one of lightness and a distinct absence of large amounts of effort... You're aiming for efficient use of the lever. And yes, at some point you have to take it to speed immediately instead of working gradually up to tempo. Both practices are useful - try to figure out when you need each one... AFF

Thanks for the replies. Based on your answers, I guess I just need to wait and give my hand more time to develop the sensitivity to the keyboard. If I try to float my hand to much right now I feel too much effort in my forearm and shoulder and I lose the sense of connection with the keys. This makes my sound very inconsistent and if I try to play too softly I get no sound at all sometimes. On the other hand, when my hand "stands" on the fingers it feels very secure but I can't get a really soft pianissimo. When I play fast it sounds more like mp. I think I will keep practising both slow and fast and try to gradually float my hand more. I am also looking forward to the books so I can read about stage 2 in more detail.

Sounds like your plan is pretty sensible. There's one other way to quickly arrive at a : drum your fingers on a table top like you used to drum your fingers on the desk in school. It's very light, weightless, but it makes a nice strumming sound on the wood - a sharp, fast series of 'thoks'. Then transfer that feeling to the passage in question... Onward and upward, AFF

: drum your fingers on a table top like you used to drum your fingers on the desk in school. It's very light, weightless, but it makes a nice strumming sound on the wood - a sharp, fast series of 'thoks'. Then transfer that feeling to the passage in question... Onward and upward, AFF So now that I have the book I can see that there is so much more (fun) work of refinement to do. I am trying to do some tapping practise on my desk at work - it feels very light weightless and fast when the arm rests on the table - but when the playing the piano the arm is floating in the air. It is challenging to get this same weightless feeling when the arm is in the air - I think the ATM with the imaginary threads pulling the fingers back should help here. I have one question about this way of playing - is there more curling introduced to the motion once the imaginary threads shift down to the middle knuckle (proximal joints? After watching the DVD I have learned to inhibit curling most of the time and make sure most of motion comes from grasping through the top knuckle - do you recommend to reintroduce it now for slow fast work, or am I misunderstanding this ATM? Zack

If you feel you want to curl more, you should probably do it. If you notice a positive effect on the sound, you were right. If you notice some anomaly creeping in, go back and regroup. I really concentrate on activating the lumbricals and whole finger flexion a large part of the time because that is the perceived weak link in the chain as far as I am concerned. But eventually you want to be able to 'mix and match', to use as much lumbricals and as much curling as you need to get the sound you want. And remember "Out the Back Door" for a hyper curling exercise... Sounds like you are on a roll with this anyway... Great! AFF