Mastering Tricky Passages and Answering Your Questions: Live with Dominic Cheli

I’m really stuck with the left hand tremolo for Pathetique 1st movement. I think my stretch is too small to only use rotation. I can just barely reach a 10th. Thank you! 

Hello. My name's Maxi and I am 13. I am absolutely honoured to be here and part of the tonebase community for the first time. I absolutely love your courses! I know this is turning into a bit of a Beethoven session  but I had a short question for you about the first movement of the Tempest sonata. When it comes to the opening, especially bars 8 to 16, I find it doable to play the notes with the articulation that's marked on the score at speed, it's just that I then find it difficult to incorporate the crescendo to forte (first to bar 13 and then to the start of the first subject in bar 21) while keeping the articulation because we have to play the second note of each pair slightly quieter to get the slur and  then make each pair slightly louder. Any thoughts on how to practise these bars to have better control over this devilish passage? Thanks so much!

Thanks to Jarred Dunn's wonderful dynamics course, I have discovered that I am collapsing the rh dip joints on fingers 4 and 5. Perhaps this is due to previous instruction on using flat fingers for a "singing tone." 
1) Do you have any suggestions/exercises to remedy this?
2) How does this relate to producing the singing tone?
Thank you so much for doing these presentations!
Pat

Thanks for doing this Dominic! My question is about m134-135 in Mozart Rondo 511- smoothly transitioning between the trills. 

Hello Domenic,

I'm re-learning the Prelude & Fugue in C Minor from Book 1 of the WTC.  There's the infamous Presto section in the Prelude which I would like to play as fast as I can while keeping the hands together.  Do you have any practice tips or techniques for keeping the hands together at the faster speeds?

Here are a couple of things that have seemed to help me, and I wonder what you think of these or whether you have others:

1. I try to lead with my Left (weaker) hand, having the Right hand 'wait' for it before hitting its notes.

2. I try to lift my hands slightly before the 1st 16th note of each beat, dropping them together onto the notes, so that at least the beats start together.  The other notes still drift apart, as it seems like each little glitch between certain fingers (usually 4& 3 or 4& 5) gets exagerrated when trying to speed up the tempo.

thanks for these sessions, they are great! I learn from everybody else's questions as well as my own!

Tricky for me: the penultimate measure in Burgmuller's "Arabesque" (opus 100 no 2) - how to keep the 16th notes light, clear, quick, AND (most difficult for me) together in both hands. Thanks.

Thank you so much for this Q&A.   I am new to tonebase.   I am 70, and returned to the piano in 2021 after not playing for 30 years.   I have challenges with the following pieces:

Mozart Sonata in G, KV 283, final presto movement.   When playing fast sixteenth note passages in broken thirds in measures 9-12 (right hand) and 13-17 (left hand) my fingers sometimes get “tongue-tied” and twist or reverse the notes.   The same happens with the left hand in the first movement, measures 17 - 22.    Is there practicing approach that can correct my problem?

Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor, (1830):   Measures 15, and the uneven poly-rhythms on last page.  How do you count these measures and play the rhythms so that it sounds smooth and musical?   I appreciate your suggestions and help.

Hello!

1. Bach, WTC I, Prelude C Minor, fingering of the Presto section.

2. Mozart, K330, I dexterity bar 56; bar129-130

3. Mozart, K331, III Allegretto Rondò Alla Turca, 16s avoid rigidity and mantain tempo bars 89-96; differences in appoggiatura with two-legato bar101 vs appoggiatura without two-legato bar108 (Henle edition)

Ciao! 

Hi Dominic! 

I'm struggling with the LH in the Chopin Etude 25/1 (the aeolian, of course). 

I have really small hands and I'm wondering what you think of Barenboim's fingering in the LH where he will cross over and use 2 on the upper notes.  i.e. 5-3-1 and cross his fingers up to 2?

HE looks totally chill when he plays that way, but when I try it I'm worried that it will sound bumpy at tempo.

Jarred suggested that I try to practice with the normal fingering in a detached (non-legato) way, but I'm not happy with how I sound.

Thanks a million!

Hi Dominic,

1) I would be interested in your view on left hand fingering for Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 9.  For instance, the first F and C in the left hand and typical thereafter.  Henle recommends 5 to 4.  Ekier shows 5 to 4 and alternate of 5 to 3.  What is the best choice overall for the whole pattern given the goal of legatissimo.  Given these are Etudes and Chopin probably wants us to suffer somewhat to learn how to use our hands I wonder if the 5 to 4 stretch over a fifth is just the point?

2) Beethoven Sonate. Op. 90, left hand issues generally in bars 55-58 and again 204-208.  These four bars somehow leave me feeling defeated.  What would you recommend to help ease the struggle?  Generally I don't seem to have the strength to play these in a relaxed way and evenly.

3)  Chopin Prelude Op. 28, No. 3.  General question to play leggieramente, piano, no pedal and to play evenly.  Especially bars 7-11 (fingering suggestions as well?).  Also, how to stay relaxed with the constant expanding and contracting of the hand?  How to deal with different pianos (heavy touch or very light touch and adjust if you are used to one and somehow have to figure out how to adjust from note one?

Thank you so much for doing this and for your help with this.

Doug

Thank you, Dominic! I enjoyed this very much! SO informative and inspiring!

Thank you Dominic Cheli again for another excellent lesson.

For Chopin nocturne op9 no1 B Flat minor. I am having a hard time keeping my hands relaxed with connecting the octaves. Most of the edition recommended switching between 3-4-5 fingering to keep it legato. But I found it hard with small hands to use 3 and sometimes 4. Like bar 20, I can do 4-5-4-5-4-4 easier than 4-5-4-5-4-3. Or even just all 5. If I use pedal anyway, does it matter if I only use 5? Other problem areas are bar 36,37. thanks for your help.