Hello all,

Do you find difficulty hitting the right notes in otherwise easy pieces as you speed them up? I can be note perfect on a piece and may even have it totally memorised, but even if I increase speed gradually I still can't get it accurate and note-perfect if it needs to go really fast. The worst case for this was that Allegro by Dussek on the grade 6 syllabus, but I've had it happen in other fast pieces.

Does anyone have any remedies for this?

Perhaps practising your pieces in 'rhythms' will help, and at a slow tempo. By 'rhythms' I mean a slight swinging feel.

e.g.
instead of crotchet crotchet crotchet crotchet
you have: dotted quaver, semiquaver, dotted quaver, semiquaver, etc

Hope I wasn't too confusing, I have a hard time expressing myself through words.

This should not be practised at a fast tempo. But I find it helps.

When i have to play fast pieces istart them really slow then i keep on playing them again and again until i get to the right speed. It's a slow process but it works

If you get really frustrated with certain bits like i did on 'allegro assai', use a metronome and start slow and gradually go up by two until you get to the right speed and then find you can still do it!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Perhaps I have tried to speed pieces up too quickly, thinking in terms of weeks rather than months. Playing in rhythms - I hadn't thought of that. I will give it a try. I do tend to get rhythm problems in very fast pieces anyway so changeing the rhythm temporarily might make me look at it again in a different way.

Thanks again,

Fred

Ive found a really good method for this practice.

I take my teachers method, which is to use a metronome, and only increase it by lets say 1 quave/crotchet etc beat for ever 3 correct plays (of a certain passage).
And then to go back and practice in rhythms.

I then couple this with a theory by ermmm....JS Bach, (i think it was him).

He said you should practice a piece slowly, fast, legato, staccato, fortissimo, pianissimo.

The Dussek is driving me up the wall.... I can play it well when it's about half (or even a third) of the marked speed, but when I try to speed it up, my left hand starts doing funny things with the semiquavers... I think the only way is to speed it up gradually. Or take it a bit slower than marked if it's impossible.

Yes, I agree. I had the same problem, and I think the only answer is to speed it up *really gradually*. I may have rushed it a bit because my exam was looming - I could play it well at speed sometimes - but totally messed it up in the exam. I knew it was dodgy, so got all tense. If you go in knowing you play it well at a certain speed - and play it at that speed (even if it's a little slower than marked) - it should go better. I'm planning to go back and speed it up slowly (if that makes sense ) now that I have all the time in the world. Even though the exam's over, I'd really like to prove to myself that I can make a good job of that piece.

good advice all round, only want to add that (although it can be frustrating and sometimes not possible in the run up to an exam) playing it as many times as you need to to be confident at speed A, and then speeing it up just a fraction, means that when you have really learned it you will reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally know it! Easier if you don't have an exam looming though....!

edit: OK, that's what fred just said - missed that, sorry!!

that is always an option - remember the marking in the copy is only a guide.

It's possible to get the specific comment that a piece was below speed, and still score well

accuracy should take priority to speed

i thought my teacher told me that if u can get it well at a slow speed, with consistent and precise notation, then u;ll have no problem to play at a higher speed.

It doesn't mean you can go straight from slow to full speed though!

Hi Fred

MatildaT is dead right about practising using different rhythms - this works a treat.

I posted what to do in a reply to Leia21 about the last movement of the Moonlight. You should find it here.

Hope it helps

Steve

After reading that, I feel really keen to work on the Allegro again now, whereas I was feeling rather defeated by it.

Thank you so much for the advice!

(I'm building up a collection of printouts by the piano!)