Chopin's F Major Ballade: Double-Note Tremolo

     A pianist writes: "I was wondering if you could

F. Chopin 1810-1849

offer any suggestions for how to approach the following right hand passage in the F major ballade, particularly the lower line.  I don’t see another fingering option besides 32-51.  The thumb and fifth finger are so different in length that I can’t get them to sound their notes simultaneously, and I feel like I am sort of stabbing at the B natural and A with an independent motion of my thumb.  At speed, it doesn’t work at all."  

Chopin F major Ballade Excerpt

     Since I can't see exactly what she's doing, it's

hard to give a precise diagnosis. However, there are certain issues that are common to this sort of passage that she might want to consider. The first three bars apparently work satisfactorily. One way to start is to try to figure out what is different about the first three bars and the subsequent bars. Yes. Instead of relatively small intervals in close proximity, we now have larger intervals making the distance between the top notes farther.
   

    Since the passage is directly in front of the torso, try leaning slightly to the left in order to avoid twisting and feeling constrained. Remember, too,

that the thumb likes to play in the direction of in. Play slightly in the direction of in for the chord with the thumb and five (shorter fingers) and slightly out again for the longer fingers. These are tiny gestures. 
      This shaping may solve the problem for her. If not, she can try adding grouping from the wider interval to the smaller one. It's a little like a series of two-note slurs, but very close to the keys and virtually imperceptible. By thinking of starting from the larger interval, you give yourself a nano-split-second of time to get to it from the interval of a fourth without stretching.

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Concerto Accompanying

     My student asked for advice on playing the orchestra part to the Grieg concerto so that he could accompany several of his students. He showed me certain tutti passages that presented technical problems, which we solved. But we both

agreed that his main issue was that the notes weren't learned. I know. Bummer. Just because you can play the solo part doesn't necessarily mean you have the accompaniment in your fingers. When sight-reading is not your forte, there's no way around learning the notes. 
     Still, other considerations arose. An orchestral reduction is just one editor's opinion as to what

notes to include, even if that reduction is by the composer himself, it isn't necessary, especially for rehearsal, to be locked into those particular notes. So, pick and choose what to play. My suggestions are these: 

Cut tutti passages (unless the soloist really wants to feel a completeness). This will save note learning time. Play a few measures before the solo entry to give the soloist a running start.

Keep a steady tempo under the soloist, allowing his/her rubato to play off of your regularity. This is the most important. The second piano in this situation is both conductor and orchestra. Breathe with the soloist without disturbing the pulse. The orchestra is not allowed to adjust the tempo in order to search for the correct notes.


Play with sufficient sound so that the soloist feels  supported.

Listen.

Bach Sinfonias for String Trio; Haydn Sinfonias for String Quartet

During this period of sheltering in place I have felt inspired to be better organized and review my publications, among other things. For my string-player friends, I can now offer transcriptions of Bach's keyboard Sinfonias at 15% discount. Each part is now $5.95. The score is $6.95. As an amateur cellist, I find these morsels both fun and inspiring, having played them all on

J. S. Bach

 the keyboard. Bach stated in his introduction that "...above all a cantabile style" is desired. What better way to realize Bach's objective that to play them with instruments whose primary goal is to sing. Click on the links below to visit Amazon:

Violin

Viola

Cello

Score

                 

Franz Joseph Haydn

In other news, selected early Haydn Symphonies are available in string quartet form for immediate digital download HERE. What! You say. No offense to our wind-player friends, but they work quite well as quartets.

To be used only after the all clear is sounded!

The Pianist in Isolation

     

    Today I finally finished all of my New Yorker back issues, all the way back to January of 2018. Yes. Then, thinking forced isolation shouldn't mean that my brain and all systems need to be shut down, I read through all the Haydn piano sonatas. Yes. This was very enjoyable. Next are the Mozart sonatas, then Beethoven. Probably then I'll finish all the oatmeal cookies I baked three days ago.

Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven

     It's very satisfying to go through "all of" something. My German friends tell me that finishing something, anything, is considered a good deed in Germany.

     So, my piano friends, during our isolation period, why not make a point of, say, reading through a complete cycle of something. Take some music at your level. Take music you can manage without struggle, even at a snail's pace. This can be very instructive. If you

don't have any complete cycles in your library, you can fill in the gaps for free at imslp.org.
     Do it. Start now.

Grapefruit Cake Incident on Kindle

Dear Blogees,

Some of my readers—well, a few—okay, two have wondered why my semi-autobiographical book The Grapefruit Cake Incident and Other Stories Instructive and Cautionary from a Musical Life isn't available on Kindle. This set me wondering, too. And, having put the correct wheels in motion, the said book is now available for direct download to your own device or visit Amazon here:

The Grapefruit Cake Incident

Chopin's Barcarolle: Trills and Other Imposibilities

     A student writes: "There are so many passages [in Chopin's Barcarolle] that at first view seem basically impossible. I am intimidated any time I see trills and other ornaments."
      Whenever a student complains of difficulty with ornaments, I feel moved to begin my standard lecture on the topic. It begins: All ornaments indicated only with a symbol require a place in time. We pianists have to decide which notes to play, how many, in what rhythm and how to fit them with other voices. When someone has trouble with a particular ornament, it usually means they are throwing themselves at it, trying for a machine-gun effect, when in fact, a carefully worked-out rhythmic plan will solve the problem. 
      This does not mean that in performance a trill or other ornament needs to sound pedantic. Once the design of the passage that includes the ornament has been carefully worked-out, it is usually possible to disguise the rhythmic regularity or abandon it entirely, leaving the coordination between it and the other voices intact.
       Consider this example in measure 20. It really is not necessary to hire an assistant.

Chopin Barcarolle, M 20

      Now have a look at a simple solution.

Where you see the arrows, use the 5th-finger E-sharp to rotate the hand toward the chord. It is not necessary to hold down the thumb eighths, as the pedal will do that for you. Likewise, measure 21 may be executed as follows.

Chopin Barcarolle, M 21, As Played

(Alternatively, the 16th-note F-sharp may be played with the left hand.)
     Understandably, my correspondent adds to his complaint several passages of trills in thirds, such as the ones in measures 27 and 28. They all may be handled in much the same way. I finger them using 1-5 to 2-4. It is possible to use 2-3 on the minor third.

Chopin Barcarolle, MM27-28, Thirds Trill

     

The upward pointing arrow signifies a slight move in toward the fall board. Remember, the thumb likes to play in the direction of in. The downward pointing arrow indicates a slight move back out again toward the torso. Practice these gestures first alone very slowly to feel the pulse. Then add the left hand to feel the coordination. At first, it may seem a little like patting the head and rubbing the stomach. Allow the hand to be mostly perpendicular to the keyboard in this case, rather than at a marked angle.
     The next impossibility has to do with playing passages in sixths. Very often, perhaps usually, the technical grouping is different from the way the notes appear on the page. The sixteenth-note sixths in measure fourteen are printed with six notes under one bar. This causes brain freeze. We could try to play in groups of two from upper to lower. This is already an improvement. But there is a still an easier way. Do you see it? Try this:

Chopin Barcarolle, M 14, Sixths grouped in pairs from lower.

A few comments: I play the dotted-quarter sixth with 1-5 (a small point). Remember, after a long note it is perfectly alright to start over with fingering; it is not necessary to make a literal connection to what follows. No one will yell at you, or even notice. The final sixteenth, the octave, will propel you very easily to the next downbeat if you use the fifth finger as a hinge and move rotationally. This approach to parallel sixths works well in other passages.