Yes finger exercises are definitely no fun but I do think they would help in this situation. And if you had a current teacher I'm sure they would have you in some kind of finger exercise book. Even five or 10 minutes a day would be helpful if you can force yourself to do it.

Also maybe I wasn't clear but if you wanted to drop a note from the chords I personally would drop the lowest note not the f. And then play the reamaining two notes with 1 and 2 or maybe 1 and 3.... I'd have to go play it again to figure out what I was doing yesterday and I'm too lazy to get up off the couch right now :-).

At any rate good luck! I thought your most recent video was already improved from your first ones so I'm sure you'll get it.

Re your suggestion about dropping a note, sorry! I didn't have your notes out when I was at the piano. I'll try it without the bottom RH note... I'm guessing though that I will miss that low because of the depth it adds. But I'll try it, it's always instructive.

What do you think of skipping the last Ab at the end of each measure? The the RH rhythm would be 1&2&3- 1&2&3- ....

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I thought your most recent video was already improved from your first ones so I'm sure you'll get it.

Thank you!!! I think just not being so stiff is really helping. I'll keep working on it. And yes, I agree, finger exercises are definitely something I need right now.

Do you think this is the book:

Dohnanyi Essential Finger Exercises: Piano

BTW, re finger exercises not being fun... I always like playing Hanon and scales, I still do actuall. But it's the ones like the Dohnanyi or other ones that are weird and unpleasant sounding that I never liked!

I'm guessing that's the book - it seems to get good reviews! And as a bonus, you can also learn German and what is that first language - Hungarian???

As far as skipping the last note, it definitely changes the rhythm and the overall feel, but in a way I kind of like it. Instead of a steady rocking/swaying feel, it becomes more partitioned, with those longer notes as punctuation, almost, if that makes any sense. I suppose it's a completely different feel than the composer had in mind, but if I didn't know the piece, I don't think I'd think anything was amiss.

I found the Dohnanyi exercises exercises on IMSLP!

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As far as skipping the last note, it definitely changes the rhythm and the overall feel, but in a way I kind of like it. Instead of a steady rocking/swaying feel, it becomes more partitioned, with those longer notes as punctuation, almost, if that makes any sense. I suppose it's a completely different feel than the composer had in mind, but if I didn't know the piece, I don't think I'd think anything was amiss.

Exactly. First of all, as I said I'm not a purist. But also, that section should be sort of quiet and subdued, so to my mind, something that helps me achieve that will be good.

Thank you again for all of your help with this!!!

Also not a piano teacher. But the first thing I notice in all your videos is that your hand seems stiff. Do you do any Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais? How do your arms and shoulders feel while playing? Where are you playing *from* in your body--your fingers? Wrists? Forearms? Shoulders? Torso? Legs? Feet?

If you do not have complete freedom from tension in your body, and if you aren't playing from your feet and sit bones, then passages like this are challenging to play. Try simply *allowing* the passage to emit from your hands rather than making it happen. If that makes sense.

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the first thing I notice in all your videos is that your hand seems stiff.

Yep! This exactly.

I have never had any formal (or informal!) instruction in Alexander or Feldenkrais, although I've read about them, and I do have some knowledge of releasing tension from my experience (years ago now) with Aikido. Some day I'd love to have some hands on instruction from a piano teacher with this kind of training. Maybe someday once this awful virus is no longer such a concern (should that day ever come...)

In the meantime, since this thread and everyone's super helpful comments, I've been trying to play without (or at least with less) tension in my arms/hands. Working on having a gentle roll (for lack of a better word) in my arm/hand has made a difference already.

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playing from your feet and sit bones

I did have a teacher (one of my earliest teachers) who taught me about this, it's something to really focus on now, I think, for this piece and all of my playing. When I originally recorded the video (the clips in the first post in this thread are all from the same recording), I was trying to get a recording to share for the ABF recital. My overarching focus was to not play any wrong notes.

Well, that is the absolute wrong way to play! And I can hear it so clearly in the recording. I have other recordings which, while maybe not note-perfect, don't have the same kind of tense undertone.

So even just switching my focus away from that and focusing on flow and on the feel of the piece, my body changed immediately.

Anyway, thank you for these comments! I am continuing to work on it.

I downloaded the finger exercise book, and I think playing some of those while also working on not having tension will be very helpful.

Very pretty piece.
I would do 124 and hit the upper note with 5. keep weight off my right hand. maybe curve my pinky a bit to strike straight down rather than with the whole finger -- would take strain off the other fingers.

Since I play the organ now I don't have to worry about expression. But I still play like a pianist with curved fingers -- less overall hand movement. So easy to tell who started off with piano that way.

Very nice piece. I think you are doing a fine job.

One critical thing I've learned as an organist is that if a mistake sounds good or is made in the same place, it's no longer a mistake but an arrangement.

Also, if you make it sound good and you like the product, don't get too hung up in "am I playing it right?"

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maybe curve my pinky a bit to strike straight down rather than with the whole finger

My hands aren't big enough to do this. But I am having some luck with focusing on being very relaxed and having a very subtle amount of arm rotation. It seems like it doesn't take very much to make a big improvement, actually.

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Very nice piece. I think you are doing a fine job.

Thank you!!!

I had a great practice session last night. This piece went very well, hopefully sometime I'll get a recording that's close to the level that I played it at last night.

My other pieces also sounded great yesterday. I think I had forgotten that tension is something that can creep in at any moment, and staying relaxed something you need to keep as a regular goal. After this thread, I've been attending to it more, and yesterday I think what I was hearing were the results of that.

Also, this might sound odd, but I've been making it a point to get more exercise lately, and I think my body and soul are benefiting from that, and it's coming out when I play as well.