Penelope Roskell - Ask me anything about “The Pillars of Piano Technique”
One of the most popular courses on tonebase is Penelope Roskell’s “Pillars of Piano Technique”. We encourage you to check out these lessons! If you have questions about the courses or about technique in general, please ask Penelope!
“The Pillars of Piano Technique”
(Excerpt)
How to participate
- Ask your questions until Friday December 10th
- Penelope will answer questions by December 17th
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Hello
How fur an adult pianist to decide how far out from keyboard to sit? Does that vary according to specific repertoire demands? For example, I’m playing a tango piece with rapid percussive octaves in both hands separately or at same time, sometimes spread 3-4 octaves apart. Very different than Bach Partita! Thank you.
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I've played many of Chopin's etudes, but there are a few that really escape me. For op. 25 no. 6, when I try to play it fast, the notes of the thirds don't exactly line up. For op. 10 no. 1, everything feels very smooth up until the wide A major Arpeggio (A-E-A-C#), where everything goes badly. I have wrist twisting (ulnar/radial deviation), and even when I remove the twisting, can't play the passage much faster than 125 BPM. My hands are decently sized, so I can play a 10th on white keys but not this 10. The problem. I have a short pinky, and a long 4th finger and thumb, which seem like they are making the passage more difficult. I'm not interested in learning alternate fingerings, as I do not intend to perform this etude. I'd be interested in hearing your approach to these specific problems, as well as general thoughts on these pieces. Also, do you have advice for practicing a piece where bad technical habits are already engrained (a situation I try to avoid)?
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Hi, how would you teach kids whose nail-skin connecting parts are over their fingertips, ie. the shortest point they can cut their nails is passed their fingertips? Thus, when they play the keyboard, it's their fingernails that would touch the keyboard first. So, they can't really play piano with their fingertips. They can only play with flat fingers. Just to give you an idea of how they play, they basically have to play with nail sounds all the time with their best fingertip position. Thanks in advance!
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Hello Penelope,
Working on the chromatic scale, I've hit a maximum speed at which I'm having difficulties with my left hand, especially going down, where there are two consecutive white keys, e.g. G-Gb-F-E-Eb fingers 1-3-1-2-3-1. With the 2 finger (here, going to E) feeling like the problem at speed.
I'm currently comfortable playing 16th at 110 bpm, above getting sluggish with the LH.
I've been trying the grouping workout quite a bit, targeting a different end note from the sequence, playing staccato, repeating notes twice with the previous still down, and emphasizing a different single note every time going through.
Would appreciate tips how to work on LH speed.
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Hi Penelope! Your Pillars of Piano Technique classes have really transformed how I approach the piano -- thank you so much.
My question is about playing different dynamics simultaneously on different fingers. Examples are Beethoven's Pathetique Mvt. 2 or Schubert's Impromptu 90.3, where the primary melody is played with the pinky. I imagine this really shows up for Bach 3-voice pieces also.
What are your tips and suggestions on distributing dynamics to different fingers? Especially when I want to add more color to small details of the piece (such as where I still want the soprano dominant, but something special is happening in the alto line that I also want to showcase)?
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Over the years I’ve mostly avoided works with rapid octave passages. However, during the pandemic, decided to embarque on more serious study habits! Things that I never had time for due to work schedule. (I’m a concert technician in Brazil) I’ve worked with most international artists and have observed closely how they play. Só having free time allowed me to calmly work on technique, principally Chopin etudes. My question is…… in certain passage work, like the end of Liszt Sonata, or Chopin G minor ballade, where octaves are fingered , 3,4, and 5, I have managed to get quite a bit of speed. But in earlier sections of Liszt sonata, where octaves jump, is there a specific practice technique generally accepted, which allows high speed jumping octaves? Hand and wrist positions which are”always “ used in preparing and playing!