BALLADE op 118, No. 3

INTERMEZZO op 116, No. 2

Sight read these in the past, but now really want to learn them.

Mid section of 118 so lyrical and beginning of 116 I identify with.

Mistakes and all, everything sounds so good to practice on, on my new AA (OK, I know you all must be sick of hearing it, but...I have never wanted to get up a 5AM and just play everyday, like I do now!)

LL

Oooh, they're both great.

118 to me always sounds so muscular and almost military...I always imagine a horse jumping across the keyboard.

116/2 is completely different, very intimate. I always enjoyed the performances where it almost sounded like someone was in a (very musical) reverie, almost improvising in a very intimate way.

I imagine both sound great on the AA!

I adore Brahms, though I've never tried either of those pieces. I have the sheet music, though, and I'm having trouble with my piano mojo. Maybe a new Brahms piece would help me get my groove back...

I played both of those. 118/3 is more straight forward, and fits the hand pretty well. 116/2 is slightly more awkward - esp. the middle section, which took me a long time to learn.
If you want to compare fingerings for that section at any time, let me know.

Good luck.

Most definately Phlebas.

I have been trying the 2 cross over and floating to 4 or 5.

LL

quote:

Originally posted by lilylady:
Most definately Phlebas.

I have been trying the 2 cross over and floating to 4 or 5.

LL

That's pretty much what I do. It helps me if I make sure the note before the big skips (either downward or upward) are well anchored, and then a double rotation for the skip.
If I'm not clear let me know.

I am afraid that I do not know what you mean by a double rotation.

I tend to use the use of black keys for finger placement. It is a take off from learning to use the organ pedal keyboard. So I am trying to learn this by feel, and luckily some of the giant steps let me use the F sharp and E flat for location feel.

Do you or others do this as well?

Heck, with bifocals and a higher music rack than on my old spinet, I can no longer stretch my vision to see the keyboard as well as the music. Something that will take a long time, I fear, to adjust.

LL

If what you're doing works, then fine, but I'll clarify what I mean.

It's hard to explain in writing when you're not in front of a piano.

By rotation, I mean rotation of the forearm. One way to think of rotation is single rotation and double rotation.
Single rotation means a one movement rotation - for example, let's say you want to play a 5 finger exercise using just rotation technique. If you play a C with your thumb, you might do a single forearm rotation toward the thumb side so that note plays. If the next note you play is D with the 2nd finger, since you've already done a single rotation to the thumb side for the C, the D note is a single rotation toward the 5th finger side of your hand so the D plays.
Once you continue up the scale it gets a little more complicated: To play the E with the third finger, you might do a double rotation (or a kind of up-down, or back and forth depending on how you visualize it) to the 5th finger side because you already have rotated in that direction to play the 2nd finger. You do the same double rotation for 4th finger - F - and 5th finger - G - but when you come back down, you do a single rotation for 4th finger - F - because you're reversing direction.

So how does this apply to the middle section of the 116/2 Brahms piece? You follow the same idea of single and double rotation. If you look at the first 7 notes of the right hand in the middle section (e-e-d-d-f-f-e) you might do single rotation (sr) to the thumb side on E, sr to 5th finger side on E, sr thumb side on D, double rotation (dr) on thumb side on D because you are moving the same direction as the previous note, sr to 5th finger side on F because you are changing direction, dr to the 5th side on f, sr to thumb side on e.

This is all a Taubman thing, which I don't apply to everything, but works beautifully in this passage.

Got it!

Do it!

Just never had called it something!

Well, Phlebas, I just finished practicing the 116/2 mid section as you suggested. I had to go slower than think a little more.

Hard to relax while thinking so hard, but I think if I do it a few times, it will become more natural.

Thank you for the tip.

Now, can you help with the section right after that with the grace notes? I tend to play them like the previous measures only a little faster, but should I be playing the grace note all by itself?

Darn, I wish I could find a recording!

LL

Nina....yikes, now when I practice the 118 all I can see is flying horses!!!

But boy is it a nice change from the pretty Chopin things I am still working on. That bass really shows up nicely on a Mason.

quote:

Originally posted by lilylady:
Well, Phlebas, I just finished practicing the 116/2 mid section as you suggested. I had to go slower than think a little more.

Hard to relax while thinking so hard, but I think if I do it a few times, it will become more natural.

Thank you for the tip.

Now, can you help with the section right after that with the grace notes? I tend to play them like the previous measures only a little faster, but should I be playing the grace note all by itself?

Darn, I wish I could find a recording!

LL

I think I played the entire piece the same tempo - ie the 8th notes in the middle section the same tempo as the 8th notes in the andante sections. The middle section seems faster because of the time signature, and the 16th notes, but it's really the same tempo.
In the last section I play the grace notes just before the beat.