Group 3

Letizia it's all the same mechanics, whether we are going from p to f or p to ppp.

What does change is just the degree of weight that you use. Depending on the piece/composer, etc, the degree might be microscopic, yet perceptible. 

Let me know if that helped answer your question! 

Dr. Leann Osterkamp He It helped. Thanks!

Michael Fingers will never come into play here. 

The keyword you used that shows the problem is "reset." The only reason one would need to reset is if there was an issue with the Drop or Stay, i.e. pressing or freezing on a note that requires a release of tension. 

When we play a note using the drop, the end of the attack should leave your hand completely at rest with zero tension, as though you hadn't even started playing the piece. This means that you are immediately free to move and drop on your next note. 

this technique feels counterintuitive at first with long/fast phrases because it seems like it is too "bouncy." However, we are staring with a larger motion to demonstrate and learn the technique. when it is mastered, every drop will be incredibly small, imperceptible, and efficient. That's how we are able to drop on every note. 

Let me know if this helps get you started! 

Here is the part of the score:

Anthony Hernandez hi there, nice work! I'll try to address all of your questions.

1. With fast yet soft playing: Yes, this is a struggle for many because it is very difficult. The drop does seem counterintuitive at first because it SEEMS that it will never be able to be at tempo and it seems very unmusical at first. However, the funny part is that, if we do the opposite of the drop (aka playing with our fingers and NOT our arm weight) we will actually never achieve the control and speed we need to. 

The reason soft fast playing is so hard is 1) everyone tends to equate soft playing with finger playing OR pulling up off the key OR leaning our torso away from the keyboard. Why? it can give the "feeling" of doing soft quicker or give us "kind of" correct results more immediately. However, all of these will max out at a tempo that is under what we desire and injure us long term.  2) soft fast playing requires that we learn how to be at an advanced level of "drop," being able to do drops on every note at an incredibly efficient small motion. As you will learn in my next video, if we cannot consistently control drops in a more exaggerated motion, there is no hope to do it at peak efficiency. It takes a lot of patience to work to this. 

2. With the question regarding being too loud on the thumb part of your hand: this has to do with playing too much with your finger and not enough with your weight/arm. Right now, all of your arm weight in that section is sitting on that half of your right hand, which is why those notes are always louder than desired. Because the weight is not able to freely shift from one part of your hand to another (playing exclusively with weight is how we achieve this), you can see that, in an attempt to voice your pinky, it is having to "poke/press" at the melodic notes. It is impossible for a press to compete with the full weight of your arm. What is needed is for your arm weight to be able to be shifted to the other upper part of your hand at the correct moment to enable the pinky to be played with arm weight, rather than pressing your fifth finger.

3. With the subito changes from F to P: Because you are playing a lot with your fingers instead of weight, your dynamic range will be limited. Right now, you are maxing out on the forte side of your dynamic range, so, when you go to be suddenly quiet, it is very difficult to, as you were never quite loud to begin with... therefore, you don't have a lot of space to work with to get any quieter. Using more arm weight and achieving a warmer louder sound will allow the subito to be more obvious and impactful. 

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have further questions- 

Anthony Hernandez I would need to do a bit more of a one on one lesson with you to really "diagnose" everything that is happening :)

However, from what I currently see, your rotation is almost exclusively from left to right (horizontal, think west to east). To get weight to the other side of your hand, you will need to incorporate more shifting at more of a diagonal angle (think northeast). I don't see a whole lot of motion inwards towards the fallboard. Weight shifting (though related to everything we are talking about) is so vast that it would merit another two week intensive to learn about how to best shift weight. 

Feel free to bring this up at the office hours on Friday and/or ask Dominic if we can schedule a two week intensive on best practices of weight distribution/movement :)