Friday, March 30, 2012

Day 4: Prokofiev Piano Concerto 2 Movement 1 Cadenza: Legato Technique

Day 4: Prokofiev Piano Concerto 2 Movement 1 Cadenza: Legato Technique

The legato technique is important to get a firm grip on your keys and to make your playing sound more fluid and increase accuracy. A supple hand is necessary to play fast scales. Here is how to do this exercise: Always keep a finger on a key (unless there are big jumps). Only remove your finger from a key when you have hit another key. Perform an up down movement for each note. This will force your finger to be firm because of the movement of your hand. As your hand is being trained to hit notes firmly, you will increase accuracy. See it like a tree with its roots embedded in the earth. This technique is the complete opposite of the Cortot technique as it requires your hand to move freely. You'll see that sometimes I shake with my hand, just to check if my hand is sturdy enough. After the exercise you will play scales much more fluid and accurately. I only use this technique on parts where there are many scales to play, for example the last part of the cadenza, which I will ! demonstrate here. The next exercise video will be the rotation technique, commonly used in playing pieces of Bach to train ourselves in finger directional movement.





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