Guys, I would like to ask for an opinion on a simple matter that, in my view, can hide some pitfalls. I'll get straight to the point: how do you play repeated chords (even simple octaves) at speed? Do you use the "wrist bounce" or do you work with the "forearm"? Listening to M. Vitale's seminar, he emphasized the risk of using the wrist because, according to him, the elastic capacity of such a movement is too subjective and cannot be "standardized" as a method. Therefore, he emphasized the need to perform forearm work. I would like your opinion on this matter.
Well!! The retort has many approaches. It also depends on which specific step. Understanding what comes after that chord to know where the hand must go.
Maybe post a passage in detail.
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nancy
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Reply 3 by nancy
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fabio73 wrote:
Well!! The rebuttal has many approaches. It also depends on which specific step. Understanding what comes after that chord to know where the hand must go.
Maybe post a passage in detail.
I fully quote and add that one must also see where the hand is coming from and what the timbral needs of the passage are...
Personally, I play octaves and repeated chords using exclusively wrist movement, but also by slightly moving the forearm back and forth so as not to fatigue the wrist itself.
It depends on which chords you are talking about, what the range is. Two-note chords, three-note chords, or 4 and 5 notes? I play octaves with a different technique compared to two-note chords up to the fifth. It needs to be contextualized; otherwise, a definition cannot be given.
I am adding another detail: the anatomy and physiology of your arm. Technique cannot be decontextualized, not only from a single passage, but also from the pianist who must adopt it.
If there were a single indication for everyone... Masters would not be necessary. Even the extension of such chords, which was mentioned, depends on the shape and size of the hand and the entire muscular apparatus. Vitale perhaps wanted to refer to this relativity. It is certain that good wrist flexibility can cancel or diminish the energy of the repeated note, whether it be a single note or a chord. This shock absorber acts as a "landing gear" whenever we impact the keyboard with more or less energy. And it can be more or less "rigid," "firm." It is evident that the rapid intermittent relaxation of the entire muscular apparatus also concerns the wrist. Visually, it is difficult to identify the movements of great pianists. The "minimized" movements (and therefore also those of the wrist and forearm) are difficult to perceive visually. We can see almost "a sublimation," "a distillation" of movement, and this cannot be useful to us in traveling the path of deep understanding. Precisely, the Master, if aware and attentive to observing the student, will be able to suggest what the student "must not do." In this regard, I would like to recall this conviction of mine: I believe that the Master must suggest what the student MUST NOT do and leave in them what is right to reach the goal. I do not much like the "do as I do" method of teaching, and I believe that in the long run it totally depersonalizes the student. Furthermore, it is not certain—and we know this well—that movements and solutions that are right for the Master are right for the student, both due to differences in muscular and anatomical conformation and due to different levels of ability and experience. So.... a situation complex to explain in words.....
Great Paolo!! Even in the Academy this maxim prevailed... what one must NOT do. I am in full agreement, and indeed by clearing the field of things that don't work, only what the student has to say and show will remain, and not the other way around.
