Ok, so I'm ... well, I'm older than you! Well, most of you anyway. I restarted lessons about five years ago with the ultimate aim of passing G8, something I should have done in school if I hadn't been so lazy.

My exam is next month, and I've learnt the pieces and scales, and my sight-reading is very gradually improving (as long as I get something marked "largo" I'll be fine )

I have some technical problems with my pieces that I can probably get round, but the worst one at the moment is the opening bars of the "Arabesque No 1" by Debussy.

A series of triplets in both hands, the notes need to be very light and even, like a princess dancing in a diamond ballroom. Unfortunately, when I play it, it's more like a drunken lumberjack running down a rocky mountain wearing wellington boots on the wrong feet.

Can anyone suggest any exercises that will even up my playing? I think the culprit fingers are the ring fingers (4th) on both hands, particularly noticeable on the right hand. There's no realistic alternative fingering that would work.

Thanks

Edward

I don't think I can say anything too helpful, only that I also know how difficult it is for me to get those 1st bars sounding delicately flowing & even. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Hi Edward

People often do not realise that delicate playing actually requires very strong fingers; only those have the control to play like this. Weak fingers merely flap around uncontrollably.

I reckon Hanon's 'Virtuoso Pianst Book 1' will provide the help you need. Each exercise works on specific sets of muscles in a repetitive (so easy to learn) and systematic way.

Good exercises for strenghening the 4th fingers are: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14.

Nos 10 & 14 are especially good for 4th finger.

Hope this helps

Steve

I suffer the same affliction as you . I have been told that getting good finger independence will really help solve the problem. One exercise which has proved very useful for me is as follows:
place your left hand on the keyboard, with your 5th finger on e, 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers on f# g# and b flat, and thumb on c. All the fingers should be pressed into the keys. Keeping your wrist still and your arm relaxed lift up just your little finger keeping the other fingers on the keys, and play a forte e. Then do the same for all the other fingers. Then do different combinations of fingers (2+4, 5+3, 1+5+3). Make sure that the only thing moving is the finger which is playing. Then do the same on the right hand. I've been practising this for about 5 minutes a day for the last couple of weeks and i have noticed a huge improvement already. Once your fingers become stronger and more independent, you'll have much more control of them, allowing you to play much more evenly. Hope this helps.

Schubertiad, I use this exercise myself and also teach it to my students. Do be careful though, its a very tough exercise and can seriously hurt your hands. Stop at once if it hurts at all and go back to it again at a later stage. Very good exercise though

I recently played the "Arabesque" in my Grade 8 and got 28/30 for it so I must have been doing something right!
The triplet v duplet is a tricky bit of co-ordination to get right. The first thing I did and would suggest is to play them seperately making a mental note of each one's sound and rhythm independent of the other part. I often do a midi to help me to listen to the mathematically accurate sound of the two together. I'm not saying they should be played this way though. While practicing this piece, I listened to various recordings to get a feel for the flow of both hands and how it was presented in professional performances. Finally, I practiced them together myself. At first making a mental note of which L.H. quaver played with each first note of the triplets. Once I was sure that I was accurate I just continued to practice and eventually something just clicked, independence of each hand I suppose, and I could just comfortably play the triplets lightly and effortlessly over the L.H. accompaniment. This process worked for me and gave me good results.
There is always a tendency, when doing this rhythm, to slightly swing the pairs of quavers just so they feel more comfortable against the triplets. This is one of the difficulties that needs to be overcome, but often, isn't.
Hope its of some help to you.

Gae

Thank you for your considered and useful post. However, I don't have a problem with the triplets over the duplets, believe it or not! It's the opening two bars (and the other times they recur in the piece) where the effect MUST be light and even or the impression given is unlikely to win you friends. I've been trying the suggestion of Schubertiad and that's very... interesting. For example, how hard I found it to play 1, 3 and 5 leaving 2 and 4 down! And vice versa. I've also been practicing it very slowly, and changing the accents, and it seems to be getting better (fingers crossed!)

Now for those pesky scales in sixths! (And the diminished 7th arpeggios.) I made a check list of all the required scales and there are over 100!

Kind of related to this discussion..I'm having A LOT of trouble playing the 2 or 3 bars just before the middle 'section' of the piece. Bars 34-36 i think...I can't do the finger changes, can play it slowly but as soon as i try to speed up my fingers go to pieces and i start missing out notes. My piano teacher says that it doesnt sound 'too bad' and is 'acceptable' but compared to the rest of the piece which i now feel reasonably comfortable with playing, this bit is terrible...any help would be appreciated.

A good cheat is to start a rit early on - that way, only the first bar of this passage is up to speed. Sounds musical, too.

Steve

I've been recommended Hanon to help with the Bach Gd 8 piece for Trinity . I just can't seem to get the two hands to play evenly together, and it sounds really messy.I've just ordered Hanon BK 1.

But it does say 'poco mosso' for the last 8 bars before Tempo Rubato ! So I dont think you can slow down early.
This probably the hardest bit to get right as there is also a 'hairpin' cresc and dim on the last bars before 'tempo rubato'
As for the beginning, depending on the piano you might be able to use a touch of soft pedal, though maybe not everyones cup of tea.

Try to play it as if your hands are floating in mid-air. Then very softly play it, as softly as possible, doesn't matter if you don't make a noise for the moment, just as long as your finger touches the keys. Gradually work on it until you get it perfect. You shouldn't be using your fingers to support your arm, use your shoulders to.

Also, try playing a chord as loud as possible. Next play it a little softer, then softer still etc. Try to imagine that your fingers are glued to the keys and you can't take them off. Do this several times everday and you'll find that it helps you play music which requires a very delicate touch (ie Debussy). For this piece, you might want to play broken chords instead or even the bit you are having trouble with.

Hi i did use the fingering marked for the opening few bars, but then from bar 3 I used 5th finger for all the held notes and a very light touch of the pedal. Try playing as groups of chords then dotted rhythms .

I remember just practising those bars thousands of times before i got the right sound and even touch i wanted.


As for b 34 - 37 slow practice of RH to notes only (all 5th finger), lower half , as chords then as written. it did come eventually The other helpful tip for this is to play each beat backwards ie start at bar 37 beat 4 and then 3 ,2 ,1 bar 36 4,3 etc do this very slowly a few times the try the correct way round.

I completely scrambled up the keyboard for that section in my exam, although the rest of the piece I played well. I still got 29! However, I could do it perfectly before I went into the exam. For the rising thirds I was using 24, 53, 24, 53, lifting the 3 after the 53 and turning th 2 and 4 over the 5 to make the top line legato. I practiced it for ages without the triplets underneath, but when I put it together, using 1 and 2 for the triplets, I was told to play them like they weren't there - make sure they sound but dont dominate. It's definitely the hardest part of the piece!