Is this piano part playable?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SKYflyer
  • Start date Start date
S

SKYflyer

New member
This is a clip from a song i composed, and whenever i try to play it on my piano or weighted keyboard, it gets all muddled and messed up because i can't play it fast enough. I was wondering if this would be playable with some practice/speed training. If so, any advice on improving my playing speed would be appreciated.

Here is the song clip: http://home.comcast.net/~dajoda2/glueclip.mid

Here is the sheet music for the piano part: http://home.comcast.net/~dajoda2/GlueClip.GIF

The song is played at quarter note = 110 tempo, 4 quarter notes per measure.
 
Just looked at the score. That part is totally playable, there are worse, just look at some of the parts of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto (specially the 3rd movement).

In the past, what I have done with fast passages such as this is set a metronome at very slow speeds (I've started from as slow as 40BPM). At those slow speeds, what you want to do is play each note rather deliberately, yet making sure that you're not using your arm to assist with volume. You want to make sure your fingers move from the knuckle and make sure to keep them in an arch. You may want to raise the fingers slightly higher than usual at this point (remember we're just practicing), which helps you feel the muscles better.

If you have issues with finger strength and find that you use your arm to shove those keys down, then one effective method I was tought at a young age was to practice on a hard surface such as the cover on the piano. You put the cover down, and "play" the passage. The object is, again using the fingers and fingers alone you want to get to the point where you get a relatively loud knocking sound which is consistent among all fingers. Don't rush this, it takes time to develop, specially for the 4th and 5th fingers (the ring finger and pinkie).

Back to the metronome. As I said, I would start from around 40BPM, repeat it 2-4 times, and notch it up by 2BPM. 2BPM is a small enough increment that you don't even feel. Plus you don't realise how many repetitions you're making (repetition helps develop automatic muscle memory, before you know it, you have memorised the notes, you're not even thinking about it, and your fingers go where they need to go, which leaves you concentrate on what's important... the feeling behind those notes, the actual music). BTW, if you're counting that's about 140 repetitions, if you repeat it 4 times per BPM switch moving from 40BPM to 110. However, I like to go past the target tempo, as then when I pull back to the target tempo I feel rather relaxed and comfortable.

That passage requires you to be relaxed and work mostly from the fingers. To help you stay relaxed, you may want to induce a bit of a circular motion in the elbow, following the contour of the figurations, sort of letting your arm "breathe". However, the point is, you're not shoving those keys down with the help of your arm, which is what a lot of people tend to do when their fingers aren't developed enough to help get loudness, which is counterproductive as it's much easier to play fast with the smaller muscles of the fingers rather than the whole arm, as well as it makes you get tense and can lead to issues such as tendonitis.

Hope this helps.
 
8 notes (demisemiquavers) x 110 bpm
= 880 notes per minute
= 14 key presses a second
= 1 key press every 68 milliseconds

The physical limit for muscle contractions in the forearm is around 40 milliseconds between contractions.

It's pushing it. You'd need a very well trained player witrh good finger independence to perform this. Especially for any extended duration of time.
 
I'm no virtuoso so take my opinon as just a player's. It's too fast; I'd pass on it if someone asked me to perform it, particularly if it were extended. I know folks who'd do it, but it is really pushing some limits. So whether you'd get it with practice? You might in a reasonable time if you've got some solid years of experience on weighted keys.

If you go for it, noisewreck's shown the way.
 
frankieballsss said:
Its The Attack Of The Midi Programmers.
:D

All you guys are a bunch of woose's :p All it would take is about a good 1 month of practicing... Oh no! Not practicing! We don't need that....

Just do yourself a favor, use step entry, and have the sequencer trigger piano samples. That's what they do in studios nowdays anyway. If you think classical performances aren't also edited to fuck... think again...

God forbid someone should sit in front of a piano for about 8 hours a day for a month. :rolleyes:
 
noisewreck said:
God forbid someone should sit in front of a piano for about 8 hours a day for a month. :rolleyes:

The problem isn't usually the desire to do that, it's being able to afford to do so :)
 
Hugo H said:
The problem isn't usually the desire to do that, it's being able to afford to do so :)
You're right of course :) It was more of a rhetorical outburst :D
 
Yeah, my reply came across as too serious.
Wouldn't be nice to be paid to do just that?
 
noisewreck, i still have my doubts as to whether the series of two alternating notes can be played. Maybe the series of 4 alternating notes in the beginning can be played, since you have 4 fingers to spread the speed on, but when you are just alternating between what would likely be your thumb and 4th finger for the series of 2 alternating notes, it gets a bit rough... like impossible!
 
Nope, just have to make sure that your wrist and forearm don't get tense. Relax, relax, relax. Take it slow. It will take time. I wasn't kidding about the "8 hours a day for about a month" thing if you're not in tip-top shape. The hardest thing to do is to stay relaxed at those speeds, specially if you're not in shape.

If you're above intermediate level, almost expert (and if you're not then you'll definitely struggle with that passage above) I'd suggest you look at "Daily Finger Exercises for the Advanced Pianist" by Ernst von Dohnanyi. They're great for developing finger independence and strength.

In your original question you didn't qualify whether it was playable by a pianist who's not in shape, you asked if it was playable. It is very much playable, but you have to be at a level that you can tackle a Chopin Etude or two ;)

Wouldn't be nice to be paid to do just that?
Yes! Don't I wish :(
 
As a former classical pianist, I'd say plenty easy. Any studio musician worth anything would be able to play it. It basically boils down to one decently quick figure and one two note repeating thing. What makes it easy is that it's basically all wrist. Easy for a pianist.
 
Just wanted to say I just tried it. Now mind you I haven't practiced for about 5 years, so it was a bit on the sloppy side, but it's totally doable. I could definitely do this rather comfortably if I practiced for about a week. Definitely easier than some of the stuff I've done in the past. Specially concidering that the notes fall rather comfortably under the fingers.

Seriously, if you've never done so, listen to the 3rd movement of Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto and follow the score if possible to see how hellish it is. I think the art of virtuoso piano playing is dying, concidering the market for classical music nowdays.

Anyways... what you have in your .GIF doesn't require virtuoso level performer just some practicing and patience.
 
Back
Top