Octaves

Hi Prof. Fraser I've been trying to work on octaves using the suggestion you made in your DVD (hyperrelaxation and practicing moving fingers). But I still have a lot of prob with octave scale passages esp when it involves alternating black and white keys. I tried to play octaves inside the keys with the grasping motion but the sound becomes very very messy since I'm not able to reach the full octaves even with relaxation and the grasping motion to generate the arch structure. But I've been watching small children play octaves without a prob on Youtube. What is it that they're able to do that I am not able to do? Thank you for your feedback. Abbie

Aha, I think you are overdoing the grasping. It is a very subtle trick. The smaller your hand, the more you have to just flop it and only maintain the tiniest bit of grasping sensation. You can learn it just by calibrating. Flop your hand and grasp as much as you have been. Notice the discomfort. Begin to flop and reduce, flop and reduce, a little less grasping each time, until it feels great. Continue to flop and reduce until your hand really feels like a rag and you can't control anything, you start to miss notes and play sloppily. Begin to reinstate miniscule amounts of grasping. Do you get the idea? Somewhere along the line between too much grasping and too floppy, there has got to exist the ideal point. It just takes a little inquisitiveness to find it! Let me know if this helps... AFF