I don't know why I, with my tiny hands, want to keep learning octave-heavy pieces, but I do. And when I practice, my hands and forearms get tired. The most fatiguing passages lately have been the broken-octave sections of the Mozart and the outro section of Bare Necessities (though the ragtime section has plenty of octave challenges as well).
I've been looking for some good resources on playing octaves more efficiently (and with less fatigure), and I found two extremely helpful videos from Kate Boyd, "The Piano Prof" on YouTube:
- Playing Octaves Faster with Ease: Piano Technique Tutorial (1/2)
- Effortless Octaves at the Piano (2/2)
Among other things (summarized below), she writes about how you can build endurance by playing, then resting, then playing, then resting. It's basically the same idea as interval training in running. Or HIIT training in aerobics-style classes. So it makes sense.
Anyway, I've summarized her suggestions in this blog post. I recommend watching both videos, though, as she uses examples and demonstrates by playing passages from various pieces.
(One thing she says is that long octave passages are simply hard! And that they're designed to be virtuosic! This is a good thing for me to remember!)
She also said that when playing octaves we want to avoid two things in particular:
- Playing with tense extended fingers
- Playing out of alignment (I think this is part of my problem with Bare Necessities; particularly in the outro, my right hand is having to play at the very highest end of the keyboard, so it's easy to fall out of alighment for several measures.)
Video Summary
Without further ado, here are her suggestions, with my comments:
1. Aim for efficiency. Video your own playing, and ruthlessly study it, seeing how you can maximize efficiency. Wasted motion causes fatigue, so think about where you can eliminate wasted motion.
She also gives a good tip, something I had not thought about before: Practice very slowly with a focus on minimizing the "up and down" motion between octaves as much as possible. Also, play on the edge of the keys, since that requires the least amount of resistance.
Possibly due to my "floppy hands" exercises, I'm pretty sure I have some wasted up-and-down motion going on in the Mozart. Not so much in the BN ragtime and outro sections since there are various inner notes being played between octaves. But this exercise will come in handy in the few walkups/downs in in the ragtime section.
2. Release in the direction of the next note. This helps us to be more efficient. Don't think of up/down. Think of moving diagonally or elliptically. To do this, you always need to think at least a note ahead.
This is good advice that I've heard from several piano teachers over the years. I also re-learned it when studying Jonny May's stride technique; I wrote about that here. This is a good reminder because I think I could make greater use of it in the Mozart.
3. Relax between octaves. Students "frequently fix their hands into a tense, tight position and use their entire forearm to play repeated octaves." Build in brief moments of relaxation between octaves, particularly below the thumb and in the middle of the hand. She suggests this exercise:
- Play one octave, then shake your thumbs out
- Play two in a row, then shake your thumbs out
- Play three in a row, then shake your thumbs out
I could definitely do more of this in both my pieces.
4. Maintain a supple a hand and play the octaves by tapping or painting(?) at the wrist. The hand cannot be rigid. Play from the wrist. Think "comfortable leather glove" vs "rigid plastic mold of the hand." Have a feeling of looseness inside the hand when you play. See practice suggestion from #3 above.
I like the visual of the leather glove vs the mold. A picture (in the mind) is worth 1,000 words of instruction.
5. Group notes - learn to play multiple notes "in a single, physical gesture." How you group them depends on the context and the passage you're working on. Focus on the one physical gesture for the group. Two ways you can group:
- by meter (drop full weight on first/strongest beat; play surface of keys for rest of group. Much more tiring to drop into the bottom of the keys on each note.)
- by contour (the shape of the phrase - rising/falling) - Play all the notes in a particular direction in one arm motion; use a new arm motion when the direction changes.
This advice is so helpful! I definitely see places where I can do this in both pieces.
6. Richochet. Think of how a rock skims the water. Needs to have enough momentum to be able to skip. (See video for exercise.)
Those first three notes of the Mozart octave sections? Perfect example of where richocheting will work.
7. Add micro-pauses. "Look ahead and plan, ahead of time, your places of rest." This can help avoid accumulated tension. Could require finishing a beat a tiny bit early so you can have a brief moment to rest.
I'm going to practice this in the Mozart broken-octave section. I think it will help with the tension.
8. Focus on the bigger phrase, keeping a sense of the context -- where the notes you're working on fall within the larger phrase. Practice individual voices; figure out the phrasing--high point, low point, etc. Once you understand how the phrase works, then you can choreograph your movements.
Yes. Always keep the bigger picture in mind!
I hope it's OK that I've paraphrased so much of Prof. Boyd's video. If not, I can take this down. Until then, I'm going to use this written version as a guide when practicing my octave sections!
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