Thoughts/questions About Practice

Greetings all. I signed up to this wonderful forum recently with the intent of asking a few questions, and have finally managed to organise my thoughts in such a way to be intelligible. That said, I'm going to chuck down everything I think of as I type, so my apologies in advance for a lengthy post. First off, a bit of my background. I've been playing the piano for 14 years, though I didn't start to get serious about it until about 5 years a go. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, from my current perspective), my training never involved any mention of technique. At the time it didn't bother me, until one day I began to experience pain in my forearms - a forerunner to tendonitis. Fortunately, this led me to 2 important solutions: Alan's book and the Alexander Technique, so I see the experience as being positive overall. Over the last 3 years I've been putting into practice the methods in the first book and DVD and my experiences with the Alexander Technique and have seen my playing evolve considerably, though I'm still no virtuoso. I currently play piano in a rock band, and also play classical music for my own enjoyment. I do feel that I'm beginning to have enough understanding to interact with other musicians on the topic of technique, hence this post. So, onto my thoughts/questions: From my experience, the thumb in scales plays a pivotal role (literally and metaphorically). Most of my practice involves either physical legato or overholding, and ensuring that there is plenty of space between the thumb and whichever finger is playing previously or next. However, there are some scales that seem to pose difficulties either due to rapid changes of the thumb (C whole tone) or getting the thumb on black notes (F# or B major pentatonics, for example). Can anyone suggest any strategies for improving this aspect of scale playing? I've recently been exploring arpeggios, a major weak point in my technique. I guess the problem I have is passing the thumb - something that pops up in some of the pentatonic scales, too. I've recently been focusing on connecting the thumb's notes with the preceding and following notes. There is more security, but it's still a fairly awkward process. Again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here's a few thoughts specific to Liszt's Liebestraume No 3: Most of my thoughts here focus around the cascade at the end of the first section - the first part of the piece I struggle with. Here are a few strategies I've developed to overcome the difficulty, to varying degrees of success : 1. Since the right hand plays doubled notes, I've broken down each pair of notes into the base components. Changing from fingers involves 4 different changes: 2 to 1, 2 to 3, 4 to 1 and 4 to 3. So I practice all four separately then in combinations. I've found this quite useful, since it ensures awareness of what's going on. 2. Practising each right hand part as a separate line - I've found this useful for moving between the different positions, though I've not been able to retain the stability here to playing as double notes. 3. Blocking out all 4 notes in each position at once. I haven't played with this as much, but I imagine it will help with finding the notes more accurately. Despite the varied methods of practice, I still struggle with this part of the piece, so any thoughts would be fantastic. Thanks to all for reading my wall of text, and thanks in advance for any replies. Nick

Hi, I don't have nearly as much playing experience as you, but perhpas I can be helpful on one point (or if I am doing something wrong maybe other can correct me). For arpeggio - have you experimented with extreme rotation? Something like Alan's "windshield wiper" excercise from the DVD where you hold the 3rd or 4th finger and use extreme rotation to get the thumb alternately to the note above and bellow your pivot note. For example, a C major arpeggio, right hand - play CEG wtih 1,2,3 and hold the 3. Now rotate your hand so extremely that the thumb can play the C note by going straight down - make sure to rotate and not swivel. Go back and forth between lower C and upper C while still holding G with your 3rd finger. It feel very awkward to me too - one thing that makes it gradually less awkward is to intentionally collapes the arch and build it back many times while still holding G with 3 and upper C with the thumb. It helps if you sit a bit further back so the arm is almost straight and if your 3rd finger knuckly is as high as possible. Let thumb lead the motion and feel as if your arm and shoulder simply follow. If I do it a few times I can eventually feel something lets go in the shoulder and upper arm making the entire arpeggio more smooth and secure. Now, when playing fast arpeggios (I am not there yet) there is no way that you will have time to rotate that much - the hand will jump to a new position , but I hope that the neural imprint of rotation will enable the arpeggio to sound perfectly legato. In fast playing the notes don't need to be physically overlapping to sound legato - but your ability to manipulate the key needs to be as refined as physical legato, so you can get the exact dynamic that the ear demands from each individual note, creating a melodic line without hearing "thumb bumps" in the arpeggio. I think that a tiny break in the sound between fingers does not bother the ear as much as a sudden change of dynamics caused by the thumb falling into its key - so I would say, practice perfect physical legato and then abandon it. If only it was as easy to perform it as it is easy to write. If you don't have Alan's second book I highly recommend you get it - it's all about abandoning the secure physical legato and creating an unstable equilibrium - leading to more freedom of movement for the hand and finger and therefore many more voicing options. Zack

Hi Zack, thanks for your reply. I've been using the windshield wiper idea for other things recently, but didn't consider utilising it for arpeggios. I'm glad you mentioned it. I haven't checked out the second book yet, I've been meaning to buy a copy, but I tend to get distracted by other things I'm teaching myself. I've recently been focusing on my song writing skills, though I was quite pleased recently when I wrote the bridge for a song recently that involved areas of my piano technique that didn't exist a few months a go! So much learning to do, and so little time to do it in. It's all fun though, since everything I learn ties in with everything else.

Hi, I don't have nearly as much playing experience as you, Just thinking about this comment, my Alexander teacher said something to me a while a go that relates. He said it was unusual for someone as young as me (22) to come to the technique, and that I was at an advantage because I don't have all of the accumulated tension that someone twice or thrice my age might have. I think the same relates to playing, that you are probably in a better situation than I am exactly because you have less experience, and that you've discovered Alan's piano education earlier on in your musical journey. For arpeggio - have you experimented with extreme rotation? Something like Alan's "windshield wiper" exercise... I've been playing around with this and it's been very useful. Though I'm still breaking my old habits with arpeggios, I now have a goal to work towards, rather than just the awareness that something wasn't functioning correctly (although that's half the battle). Thanks for your insights and advice Zack.

In my film I show how to play a fast scale without putting the thumb under at all... But lately I've been experimenting with a very "old school" solution which involves sticking the thumb under the second finger as SOON as the second plays (in scales going outwards) and angling the hand to the inside so it's easy to put the 3rd or 4th over the thumb (in scales to the inside). This last works more to cultivate healthy arch generation I think... AFF

... But lately I've been experimenting with a very "old school" solution which involves sticking the thumb under the second finger as SOON as the second plays (in scales going outwards) This is something I've been considering over the last few days, as I began to notice how slow I've been to react with my thumb. I can see it being of great benefit, since previously my thumb has had to move laterally as well as vertically to get to it's note, whereas with the lateral movement already dealt with, it will only have to move downwards. I believe this will help with with evenness as well as speed, since I'll no longer be swatting with my thumb - it'll be easier to connect the preceding note to the thumb's note with a physical legato with retaining speed. I'[ll report back with how I get on. I'm currently working on the Chopin C# minor étude, so this has great application for the A Lydian runs towards the end of the piece. and angling the hand to the inside so it's easy to put the 3rd or 4th over the thumb (in scales to the inside). This last works more to cultivate healthy arch generation I think... AFF Just to be clear, are you referring to a rotation along the axis of the arm as shown in your film and book, or to swivelling here? Thanks for the insightful reply. Nick

If I did a rotation along the axis of the arm but changed the angle of my arm (elbow more to the outside, hand pointing more to the inside), would that constitute swiveling? AFF

No, I've always interpreted swivelling as being a lateral movement of the hand from the wrist (ulnar or radial deviation). What you've described sounds like a whole arm movement originating from the shoulder, another, larger form of rotation. Thanks for the clarification.

There are 2 other things I have recently noticed that are helpful with arpeggios: 1) Don't stretch a full octave - this maybe obvious for some, but I used to instinctively stretch my hand to a full octave so that all the fingers would be "in position" to play their notes. This makes the hand immobile and the transition to the next octave very bumpy. Instead I align the hand behind the currently playing finger and only stretch the 2 fingers that need to connect notes. This makes the are horizontal motion more continuous and smooth and so is the sound. The only problem with that is that I miss notes more often, because I lose the sense of security from getting the fingers to the key ahead of time, but as Alan said in one of his videos "This loss of control is actually the beginning of real, more refined control" 2) I try using 5th finger orientation - so that the thumb is almost 90 degrees to the forefinger. The thumb plays very close to the edge of the keyboard while fingers 2 and 3 play very close to the fallboard. This really opens up the arch and gives the thumb a lot f space to move under the hand. After the thumb plays its notes it pushes the hand up and away to the side so that the forefinger gets to its new note. I am not sure that what I am doing is optimal in any way or that it would fit any hand size. This is just something I am currently finding helpful. Speaking of arpeggios what fingering do you use for left hand white key arpeggios like C major, G Major or A minor (starting on the root). Most recommendations I see suggest 5421421421... but sometimes I find 5321 to be easier. When doing C major for example, my 4th finger keeps hitting Eb instead of E when trying to cross over the thumb. The 3rd finger has an easier time to play E natural while the thumb still holds its C note. Should I just go with what's convenient or is there a particular advantage to the 5421 fingering? Zack

I think the 5th finger orientation sounds similar to what Alan described a couple of posts back for scales (or, at least, my interpretation of it). I've found it useful for scales and arpeggios, it's just a matter of integrating it enough now so that it's functional. Also, lifting the thumb and moving it as soon as possible is working very well, particularly for pentatonic scales. With regards to fingering for left hand arpeggios, I've always tended to use finger 3 in the ones you mention, partly for the reasons you mention. I've found finger 4 to be useful in certain arpeggios. C minor and G minor spring to mind, both of which have a black note in the middle that is only a minor third above the root. If the black note is a major third I tend to use finger 3. I find this fits the size of my hand quite well.