Mastering Tricky Passages - Ask your Questions!
Welcome everyone - Dominic is back to help you! Do you have questions about your playing, fingering, challenging passages, or musical hurdles you’re trying to overcome? Whether it’s a simple query or a complex issue, every question matters, and every solution makes a difference! Join us live today for real-time advice and solutions from Dominic Cheli—your guide to mastering music, one finger at a time!
Leave any and all questions below!
5 replies
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Dear Dominic, thank you for this opportunity; I have two questions:
1. I still can't understand and use the weight of my arm correctly. I know very well that to avoid tension, I have to play with a very relaxed arm and wrist. This gives my fingers a lot of support, allowing them to sink well into the keys, especially in legato and phrasing. However, it slows me down and makes staccato difficult. If I remove the weight, however, I'm faster, but I feel like I'm losing my phrasing and control of the tension, which I'm starting to feel in some cases.
2. Even thirds are still a mystery😅... If I play them with relaxed fingers and arm, they're very soft and legato with a nice legato feel, but if I remove the weight and curl my fingers, my hand starts to feel more tense, and the legato is stiffer...less fluid.
I understand that these may seem obvious, but I struggle with them every day😔...
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Hi Dominic,
a question regarding Chopin's f# minor Polonaise op.44:
do you have any ingenious fingering for the infamous runs at mm 250 & 258 and any helpful advice how to practice them?
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Dear Dominic
Thank you for this opportunity. I have a question regarding the trills in Chopin Barcarolle op. 60, mm 19-21 (19: long trill in the right hand; 20-21: trill in the upper voice of the right hand with a melody line in the lower voice of the right hand) my question is how to practice these passages Thanks a lot :-)
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Hey Dominic - hope things are good! Thinking about the right hand in the opening measures of Beethoven's Sonata in C, Op. 2 #3. The succession of thirds is musically straightforward but, for me, maddeningly difficult to execute well. I've tried the two logical fingerings (won't burden this post with the details), and neither finally delivers...maybe, in the end, a how-to-practice issue. Thoughts? (First heard this sonata in the hands of Ashkenazy at Carnegie many many years ago. He of course blasted through it like it was nothing.)
Meanwhile, when are you coming to NYC for another workshop? You are my favorite problem solver! Jim Gillson
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Hi Dominic,
I'm working on Debussy's Children Corner - The Snow is Dancing.
I hope you can help me with Bar 39 LH. For me:
- using 54: hard to control the lightness and don't think I can do at faster tempo
- using 53: play the roll chord then let go of D flat but holding the rest, is not comfortable due to awkward gap between 2 and 3 fingers ... I can somewhat manage it if I let go of F flat ... transition 3rd finger from D flat to C is still awkward.
- Any tips on how to practice it? my pinky doesn't feel like it wants to move 😅
Many thanks in advance!