Thread: Hardest technic

I think the hardest technic to master is not co-ordination based mechanism alone ie: running 16ths against 16ths, 17 against 5 , octaves, playing at mech speed...etc. <_<
I think it lies in getting a good pianistic tone. :huh:
What do u think? And alot of pianists(esp) has made a grave mistake of seperating technicality and sound into 2 different components. I think technic is ONLY a means of getting the desired tone/sound.
But the hardest music I&#39;ve yet been able to conquer is Chopin&#39;s Etude 1...I figured that I&#39;m not going to be able to get it...so I might as well just chuck it aside. U need inborn qualities to play Chopin nr1. Strong , big hands which have definate good shape. Playing fast enough wihout getting a good bite on the notes will not give u that huge arc that Chopin intended. I can&#39;t...it&#39;s really difficult. So I&#39;ve stopped trying to do that awayyyyy long time ago.
Well, back to the topic? What do u think it&#39;s the hardest thing to do on a piano? I think it still comes down to pianistic tone at the end of the day.

And I also think that very often, music that seems easy, are actually difficult.
I remembered working on this Beethoven Sonata, Op 10 nr 1, last movement, last section: coda.
I had it for months...just trying to get the perfect diminuendo. It nearly, NEARLY drove me nuts. The music was utterly fast, and the LH chords had to get from ff( from final recap ) to ppp within a measures of 10 or so.... And it looks so decievingly easy... yet the diminuendo was almost impossible. AAArrrgghhh&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; The pains of a pianist&#33; Who would know&#33; An unnoticing audience would always be dazzled by our showmanship ( Liszt, Islamey, Rach 3 and blah blah blah )... but I asuure u , there&#39;s nothing difficult abt. those supposedly virtuostic pieces. Real showmanship lies in wielding impossible pianistic control. IE : p to pp to ppp and dim. Looks easy? Nope... Really, REALLY difficult.

Mozart is a hard nut for me&#33; I am practising his piano concert no 21 right now. I think Mozart is one of most difficult to play. Noone will forgive you one false note. With Liszt, no problem, but Mozart... And then his expression, horrible not to make it mechanical and also not to make it romantic. The Pedal use, extremely difficult.

Technical most difficult huh, well after a long injury on my left hands thumb, much is impossible for me right now :unsure: like some Liszt, Rachmaninov , where the left hand is treated too bad. I must train the thumb to come there again

The Brahms triple octave trills in the first piano concert, first movement, seems to be a good thing to break your fingers :P

Real showmanship lies in wielding impossible pianistic control. IE : p to pp to ppp and dim. Looks easy? Nope... Really, REALLY difficult.
Yeah, I agree completely on this. It&#39;s hard to do proper and natural dim. It&#39;s really funny though. It&#39;s much easier to do cresc. than dim. Esp at the piano. Playing softer would often bring about uneven tone if the technic is not there.
Hey, DW where&#39;s the finger thesis u had? U should post it in this site. Great interesing summary for different fingers stereotypes and problems. Guys, u should check out her article on Finger Bible. Interesting to read.

I&#39;ve got to agree than tone is the hardest to perfect. It took me sooo long to perfect ppp octaves and fff octaves... to get them to sound rich and full instead of harsh. Fastness just requires a lot of practice... tone requires practice, and experience.

It&#39;s hard to get the sound I hear in my head out of the piano.

Sometimes when I hear someone play something in a recording I think "How did he do that?" and hopelessly attempting to imitate him.

Yes&#33; Yes&#33;
And after a while, I sort of convince myself it has got to be the piano&#33; Not my fault...hee

^_^ ^_^

Fastness just requires a lot of practice... tone requires practice, and experience.

Yes&#33; Yes&#33; Agree totally.
BTW, WELCOME CT&#33;&#33;&#33; Hope to see u post more&#33;&#33;&#33;

About hard technique...what about wide jumps? How do you practise them?....I got the problem in a Hungarian Rhapsodie (no. 6) ...there and not only there are some really wide jumps, and I wondered how to practise them the best...I am now playing them with a little break between and fingers getting in the position of the aim of the jump...then making the break shorter and shorter...