I have a lot of difficulty moving my hand up and down the keyboard and landing accurately every time. For example a piece I am working on now (Alfred's Adult Beginners Book 1 p24) requires me to move up an octave; the L hand plays a C chord and then moves up for the L hand to arpeggiate the chord an octave higher. And then the R hand also arpeggiates the chord an octave higher from where it was before the jump.

I can play it well enough if I look down at the keyboard, but would much rather be able to move the hand without having to look.

Drilling over and over moving the L5 up and down an octave has not worked too well so far; I can get it right say 9 times out of 10 but not every time. And because I never know for sure when I am right I was starting to pause to check before playing the upper note, which threw my timing out.

Any suggestions for techniques or drills to practice?

Alex,
Take a look at this online book by Chuan C. Chang. "Jumps" is under Chapter 1, Sec. III, 7-f. The book has a lot of other great stuff in it-I have found it useful for improving techniques such as playing fast and making accurate jumps. Good luck.

http://members.aol.com/cc88m/book3.htm

Yes. LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD! Gyro will disagree, but I think it is MUCH more important to focus on accuracy in the beginning. You do it enough times *accurately*, then not looking at the keyboard will start becoming automatic.

Not having to look at the keyboard will come automatically as you gain experience. However, if you make lots of mistakes while practicing, then you're practicing mistakes.

I agree with Bob Muir. Look at the keyboard. i was having a heck of a time with leaps, and finally decided to look where my hands were leaping. Bit by bit, I find that it is getting to be automatic. I was playing Some Brahms Hungarian dances, and he is all over the keyboard. I simply had to look to see where I was going. Gaby Tu

I agree with the others. I had to learn a piece with a lot of jumps recently. I observed that my teacher also looked at the keyboard at the hand that was making the jumps, at the critical times. I think that this "spotting" assistance with the eyes may be a skill that needs to be incorporated into the playing of a piece with jumps. After all, why not put to use the facility of sight if you have it?

Agreed. And I found it helpful to focus on the spot where my hands were supposed to land again a bit in advance - not at the place they were playing the instant before the jump. Sounds trivial advice, but I tended to follow them all the way with my eyes which caused unnecessary pressure.

Ditto to looking at the keyboard for large jumps. Somthing that might help is to make the move as quickly as you can, not landing on the keys but positioning your hand over the keys. Do it many times. Do this faster than you would need to do to actually play the notes. The purpose is to position your hand very quickly and then have a second to accurately play the note or chord. Also (tip from my teacher) try making a larger jump, say an octave higher (or lower) than necessary, do this several times and then at the correct position.

Another thing you can do that will ease you out of looking is to first do it by looking at your hands and then do it looking only at one spot on the piano (where you can see the keys pretty well--don't move your head to follow your hand, though). After that try it looking at the other side of the keyboard while you do it. You will still be able to see out of the corner of your eye, but it will probably help you improve accuracy and it will get you more used to not looking directly at your hand. This will become useful if you're playing something in your other hand that requires your attention. This is what my teacher told me when there was a big jump at the end of the piece with my left hand while the right hand was doing runs. It worked, I think.

Muscle memory... you'll become more confident as time goes on, I've played stride for years and I still sneak a peak for those important phrases.

Following C.P.'s advice above, I practice looking at RH, focus on a note and target that same note an octave or two down with LH, then reverse it. I find if I am looking at either hand, I can hit a focus note in either hand without shifting my eyes. Could be I am just getting better, or seeing out of the corner of my eye, but I have built confidence is hitting a target an octave or two apart without shifting my eyes, which is building into not having to look at all as I "know" what an octave "feels" like in my hands.

Still, when both hands are moving at the same time, all bets are off.......

always initiate the jumps from your shoulder and arm, not from your hand or finger. the idea is to use shoulder/arm swings your hand to the position and then your fingers would play whatever needed. it's the best to focus your eyes on the hand doing the jumps, while the other hand plays blandly (which means you have to practice enough to memorize the movements on the non-jumping hand to make it automatic in execution).

Jumps...Without fail if there is a long sudden jump... I will sneak a peak too... I am reading all related posts... I will consider another method...Thank you for the info...Sandy B.

Sandy Moore...Your suggestion is the method my first classical teacher taught me...Thank you for the reminder..Sandy B