Breakthrough: It Helps To Focus on Ugly Faces

I stumbled upon yet another breakthrough while working on Maple Leaf Rag the other night. It's related to the thumb-tuck technique that I learned about on the Ms. Lindsey YouTube channel.

There is one part near the end of Maple Leaf Rag "C Section" (I hate calling it the "C Section," so I sometimes refer to it as the "Trio," which is actually its proper name) that has given me trouble from the moment I learned it. I don't have bar numbers with me, but it's the section with the broken diminished G chord in the left hand, which immediately jumps down to an A-flat octave. There are a few problems with this section:

(1) Because of the big jumps immediately preceding it, my hand is already tense/tired by the time I get to it.

(2) The jump from "5 on G" to "1 an octave down on A-flat while playing the octave" is awkard, particularly at tempo.

(3) My stupid thumb won't stay down!

So Thursday night, I decided to very deliberately try to keep my left thumb tucked under until I absolutely needed it.

And--who knew?--having the thumb tucked under makes the shift from G to A-flat (see #2 above) much easier.

Here's a video explaining it all:

So, if I keep my wrists relaxed (with the help of floppy-octave practice) and tuck my thumb under, not only will my left hand not tense up when I get to the diminished chord, but I'll be able to jump more quickly and easily to the A-flat octave!

About Ugly Faces

Friday morning, I wanted to make a video of the "C Section" because it was sounding really good Thursday night. Sadly, I kept messing up and messing up and messing up. That always seems to happen when the camera is turned on.

I watched one of the mess-up videos before deleting and cringed at the awful, ugly faces I make when I'm playing the piano. I'm so happy when I'm playing, but I look like I'm constipated and trying really hard to have a bowel movement.

So, I made a video about that. I don't know who I was making the video for; I guess I was just talking to myself.

I lie. I was making the video for you, dear readers.

Anyway, I talked some about my ugly faces, and then I decided to play the C Section as a demonstration. And guess what.

I played that section better than I'd played it Thursday night or Friday morning.

Do you want to see the ugly faces? I thought so! Here they are!

(Yes, I know I need lipstick. I am the Lipless Wonder, as my brother so helpfully called me as we were growing up. If I can ever find a lipstick I'm not allergic to, I'll gladly wear it!)

The Breakthroughs

So, my final two breakthroughs of the week are these:

1. The thumb-tuck is going to help me overcome my problems near the end of the C section.

2. If I make a performance video where I'm not thinking about making a performance video, I'll probably play just fine.

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