Prokofiev - March, From 'the Love For Three Oranges'

Hi, I've been studying this piece for my RCM examination later this month, and I have some questions about it. I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer! My first question is about this measure: I'm having problems holding down the C while playing the 16th note figure above it. How should I approach this, technically? It seems like I need to use my 3rd and 4th fingers, but I'm not able to play the 16ths quickly enough (it's a rather fast-paced piece). I've been practicing it slowly, trying to keep each note "strong," but that doesn't seem to be helping too much. Do I just need more slow practice, or is there a better way to approach this? My other question is a more general one: I would like to be able to introduce more "orchestral" touches into my playing for this piece, as it a transcription. I feel like that would really add some life to it and would definitely help my performance. Is there any general way to go about this? Thanks!!

This is a finicky little passage ideally suited to applying some ideas on skeletality. As there are 6 dyads and you have only 4, 3 & 2 to play the chromatic line with, you are going to have to repeat a finger. This gives the first clue. 1) Hold the C and take the first dyad high C-B natural with 5 & 4. Holding all that, raise and lower the central portion of your hand's arch. Make it really maximally high then let it sink and mash the keys. Sense the effort in your hand needed to make the middle knuckles really soar up from their collapsed position. You need to develop the sense of the inner part of your hand really working, to activate the grasping function more fully. This underlying function is the basis to playing the passage successfully. 2) Keeping your middle knuckles maximally high and stiffening your whole hand, raise 4 & 5 while standing on the thumb. Your whole arm rises in a rotation movement, the fulcrum being your standing thumb. Play the dyad several times with this hyper-stiffened structure. SLOWLY. And firmly. 3) Do the same technique for each dyad, discovering through sensation which fingering works best for each. Don't think about playing the dyads in succession yet, just try to find a secure, almost metallic feeling in the hand of an absolutely stable structure rooted in each of these dyads while your thumb remains constantly rooted in its note. 4) Very slowly begin playing a series of dyads as written. This collapse, this cessation of function is what has been preventing you from playing the passage well all along. 5) When you play at speed, your hand can't remain that stiff. The exercise is designed to educate your hand to its own power by evoking that power in a primitive, rough form. It wakes the hand up. The key thing is, when you let your hand be supple again, don't let it go back to sleep. There's a strong tendency for it to become not just supple but limp - here we've given the hand a stronger impression of itself. This gives us an indication as to how to approach your second question. If you want to orchestrate more, you must create extreme dynamic differences between voices. The activated, grasping hand is a far more effective tool for this than the traditional relaxed hand. Thanks for a stimulating question! AFF

Thanks for your detailed reply, Mr. Fraser! I've practiced this passage a few times using your method, and it definitely seems to be helping it along. I was wondering, however, does it matter how high I'm able to raise the arch of my hand? Since each dyad involves reaching an octave, I'm not able to arch my knuckles as high as I would be while playing, say, a reach of a smaller interval such as a 5th. Of course, that's not to say that it's not an arch; I am still able to form the arch structure itself, it just doesn't stand very high above the keys. Is this a problem?

Another excellent and relevant question. Indeed it does not really matter how high your arch goes: the wider your stretch, the less actual height you can get. What's important is the of arch creation is fully present (a manifestation of the hand's natural grasping action), your hand should move potently on the keyboard. I say make it as high as possible because it's the simplest way to stimulate the pianist to fully realize her or his inner intention. Graphic, palpable images work best. AFF

Ahh.. now it makes sense. I had been wondering how Horowitz managed to play with such seemingly "flat" hands, but upon closer inspection I can see the small arches. However, I am not entirely sure if I understand what you mean by "grasping." I can see how making a grasping motion can cause the hand to form an arch structure, but it doesn't seem quite possible to replicate this motion while playing, especially during a fast passage. For example: and, even more specifically the passage after the last: My initial guess was that the grasping action is a practical way of demonstrating how the arch is supposed to feel when fully raised, but that you need repeated practice at being able to raise the arch on your own in order to apply it to passages like these. Are there different methods of applying the arch for different situations (e.g. for faster passages such as these)? Currently, I'm at least able to all the notes for the most part, but the clarity isn't always there.

Do a little exercise: imitate what you saw in my film, I think in chapter 3, where I take a step and then almost fall over because my standing hip joint gives way. In other words, stand on your right leg only, and then try to make your right hip joint totally loose. Your pelvis very quickly collapses, your left hip sinks, and you fall over unless you catch yourself. When you walk and stand normally, do you consciously activate your hip joint at each step to keep your pelvis horizontal? Of course not. crucially active, empowering your smooth, potent walking. Similarly grasping is virtually always present in piano technique, even though we may not perceive it as such. The passages you quote are really great, ideal illustrations of what I am talking about. If you can discover the "inner grasping" of your hand, as a that is always there in the background, like a neuromotor image upon which the actual movement is superimposed, then you should be able to play these passages successfully. AFF