One More Newbie Question

Here's a baby example for right hand, yet I can't play it quickly (in legato). C-B-C-D-C 4-3-4-5-4 Question to Alan and those who mastered Alan's technique: when you play this example at fast legato, you: 1) play and feel it no differently from any other fingering, e.g. 2-1-2-3-2, because all my fingers are equally "activated" 2) have to adjust for my weaker 4-5 fingers by swinging the hand left-right (aka taubman rotation). Also, my hand might hover over the keyboard in this situation. 3) have to exert greater force in my lumbrical (grasping) muscles, and ignore the resulting wrist tension 4) I do have to contract lumbricals more forcefully than if it were 1-2-3 fingers, but since I've practiced so much, this doesn't result in tension anymore This seems like an elementary example, but it is important for me to understand what I am doing wrong and how to overcome it. Also, in general, do you EVER hover over the keyboard? To be less vague, let's say that I consider the hand to "hover" whenever the centre of the hand (the metacarpal) is located above the white keys (not above the edge of the keys). This results in quieter playing, and the fingers stroke the white keys perpendicularly. I've been noticing lately that my hands "prefer" this kind of playing, yet I don't want to develop a bad habit, so I need to know if it is actually good or bad Thanks!!

Hi, I have struggled with similar issues (see one of my older posts about "weak" 4th and 5th fingers). 1) play and feel it no differently from any other fingering, e.g. 2-1-2-3-2, because all my fingers are equally "activated" This is not quite accurate. Every finger feels different and every combination feels different. However, they should all eventually feel easy and comfortable. 2) have to adjust for my weaker 4-5 fingers by swinging the hand left-right (aka taubman rotation). Also, my hand might hover over the keyboard in this situation. This might be good as an exercise, but this is not how you would actually play it. The rotation helps you reduce wrist tension, but it is no the rotating wrist that moves a dead finger, it's an active finger that is working with the wrist. When playing any 5 finger pattern for example, if you keep your wrist loose you will notice that it "wants" to rotate a little bit to align the hand behind the finger - don't keep your hand stiff - let the fingers do the work and the hand follow. If you play 1,2,3,4,5 in the right hand, you will notice the hand wants to slightly move to the right and rotate (supinate) slightly. Forcing the wrist to remain in a fixed position in the air stiffens everything. On the other hand, rotating so much back and forth on each finger cuts the smooth motion and makes it harder to shape a melodic line properly - but it is a good exercise if your wrist is not loose enough. Also, if you do the rotation exercise - don't cheat the legato - make sure 2 notes overlap and you don't collapse your hand. Go in slow motion several times if you need and pay attention to the sound. 3) have to exert greater force in my lumbrical (grasping) muscles, and ignore the resulting wrist tension If you feel wrist tension, something in your movement is not efficient. You don't need to exert greater force, you need to learn how to move tension free. Go even slower than you currently do and overhold 5 fingers. Learn how to lift each finger individually maximally high while not stiffening the wrist (look at the "breath in - breath out" motion in the DVD). When I first did that I didn't have the finger independence to lift 3,4,5 individually without tensing everything else and pressing very hard into the keyboard. With a few minutes of slow and patient exercise every day I can now lift them individually without almost any pressing (but still keeping all the keys depressed). Don't practise this for too long - it's a mental exercise, not a mechanical one - finger independence is a neural issue not a muscle mass issue, so do it in very short bursts and very often, and if you feel any tension stop and continue after resting. 4) I do have to contract lumbricals more forcefully than if it were 1-2-3 fingers, but since I've practiced so much, this doesn't result in tension anymore Again, it's not an issue of force. You need to teach your body to have efficient movements. No muscle works in isolation - the hand, the wrist the finger all move together to align properly and with conscious slow practice you can explore how to move efficiently. I have struggled with similar passages for months, and I was quite stubborn with trying to play it fast. I tried to practice it "just bellow" tempo and "almost" get there, but the result was inaccurate and full of tension. What I feel helped me the most was to forget about tempo and just focus on reducing the tension. I didn't really play the music anymore at this point because forcing myself to keep correct rhythm would immediately create tension again. If you need to play 4-3-4-5-4, depress all 5 keys (GABCD in your example) and slowly lift just 4 and depress the C again. do it several times and each time try to reduce the effort. Keep a loose wrist by doing the "breath in -out" motions - the wrist is not fixed in one location. You will find that if you reduce the effort too much, sometimes other fingers leave their keys - you lose your structure. Don't let it happen, increase the effort again slightly to maintain a firm grasp of the other 4 keys. Eventually you will find a point where you need minimal effort to individually lift each finger without pressing into the keyboard and without tension. Once you get to that point, you can start working on getting speed, but there is no point trying to do something fast (tension free movement) if you cannot do it slowly. Also, in general, do you EVER hover over the keyboard? To be less vague, let's say that I consider the hand to "hover" whenever the centre of the hand (the metacarpal) is located above the white keys (not above the edge of the keys). This results in quieter playing, and the fingers stroke the white keys perpendicularly. I've been noticing lately that my hands "prefer" this kind of playing, yet I don't want to develop a bad habit, so I need to know if it is actually good or bad Thanks!! I am still not sure what you mean by hovering, but from your description it doesn't sound bad, it is just a different way of playing, and eventually you will learn many different ways of playing for many different sounds. I actually don't understand why the 2nd metacarpal is not almost always above the keyboard. Alan recommends learning the "Gothic" arc first, which means the 2nd metacarpal is the highest point in the hand and it should be as high as possible - so the 2nd finger is almost perpendicular to the key (but still curved). This doesn't mean the lumbricals are inactive though - make sure you are still using the finger - don't keep it dead and don't let the hand take over the work - the hand does participate, but it is the follower, the finger is where the work is generated. Alan actually teaches "hovering" in his second, although I am not sure if you both refer to the same thing. In any case, learning "standing" and perfecting your legato is a crucial step before "hovering" - you need to keep some level of pressing to teach your hand to use its skeletal structure efficiently. Wow, it turned out to be a long post. Just a word of warning - I am not an expert in piano playing or in Alan's technique. I am sharing my experience and understanding and I might have share some of my misunderstandings as well - when in doubt, watch the DVD again and explore on your own - feel what is right for your hand.

Hi student! I think zackm's advice is very appropriate. It also depends on the context which in a way may exclude some of the options. Personally I would use some of what Alan describes as "cocking the metacarpals". Low wrist and than prevent the the wrist from going up.with a slight rotation very slight of the forearm.The release comes with the last note. A good trick when playing these kind of trills is to not release the key's fully keep them down say half-way. But again it all depends on the context.

C-B-C-D-C 4-3-4-5-4 1) play and feel it no differently from any other fingering, e.g. 2-1-2-3-2, because all my fingers are equally "activated" 2) have to adjust for my weaker 4-5 fingers by swinging the hand left-right (aka taubman rotation). Also, my hand might hover over the keyboard in this situation. 3) have to exert greater force in my lumbrical (grasping) muscles, and ignore the resulting wrist tension 4) I do have to contract lumbricals more forcefully than if it were 1-2-3 fingers, but since I've practiced so much, this doesn't result in tension anymore A really great question. I remember spending copious amounts of time trying to solve exactly this problem. In short, you reduce tension to discover skeletal structure. Learn to stand up on those three fingers with a minimum of effort, so you really feel as if your bones are standing like a house of cards, each card sheathed in a "feather-skin" casing. Your hand will be quite high to do this at first. Then you begin to play that patterrn very slowly, dangling your fingers in such a way that somehow you manouever each dangling-rope-finger into its key. You find a way to "make the bones do the action." At this point your lumbricals are actually working, but the amount of effort involved is so low that you might not realize it. Then you KEEP this dangling bones feeling and increase the speed, pausing to re-orient every time you notice any effortfulness building up. Another thing you'll notice is that when you are doing this well, your thumb and forefinger stay really healthy skeletally. "Hovering over the keys" is great, you are really on to something. It's so nice that you "find your hands wanting to do it." It means your reflexes are naturally gravitating towards the healthy thing you have helped them discover. I talk about it in Honing the Pianistic Self-Image in the chapter on staying close to the keys... Thanks for two apposite questions! AFF PS I also heartily concur with all the wisdom found in the other answers above. Grateful thanks to Zack and Eric!

Thanks everyone, I'm currently trying out all of your advice.