Hello all,

Now I´m study my first Haydn Sonatina and having very and very dificulty to realize the ornament!! Fist, I try do a mordent very slow... After I try just think in the fingers.

I think I'm doing something wrong but not sure what but don´t know what...

Is there any technique that deals with only ornamentation?

tks

A mordent is generally played as 3 quick notes: principal note/lower neighbor/principal note. C/B/C, for example. Or A/G#/A. You don't need much technical skill to do it, but flick it off as quickly as you can.

Coordinating this with the opposite hand can certainly be harder, though. I'd say work on this hands apart, then report back to us.

Perhaps you are thinking too much about your fingers. Try concentrating on the sound.

First, learn to do a grace note (1 note, then as quickly as possible another note, such as G#-A). This will make all ornaments easier. Think of playing a second, but with the notes very slightly out of sync (and of course you must release the grace note quickly as well).

Make sure you have all fingers on and into the keys before playing the ornament.

Then play the whole ornament as a single guesture.

Check that all notes are separate, so avoid pressing keys together.

Ornaments also have to be incorporated into the larger motion - they are embeliishments, not the main thing. Said otherwise, if you concentrate too much on the ornaments they often come out tooo loud.

Some fingerings are more suited than others. Particularly finger 4 is often a weak spot.

Temporal placement of the ornament is also important: before or after the beat, stretch the first note of ornament, etc.

Tks for your response wouter79,

I tried to do what you said. Keeping my fingers over the keys before performing the movements. After, more and less about 30 minutes, relaxing my arm, this began to work. I still have difficulties but thanks for the advice. I'll do that over the next few days and show the results to my teacher.

Great, let us know how it goes