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#590952 - 10/05/07 06:28 PM
Small hand tricks
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Full Member
Registered: 05/08/06
Posts: 231
Loc: Chicago, IL
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Ok, so I always hear about there being tricks to overcome huge chords (10th and even 11th) for people with a smaller reach (I've got like a 9th), but I've never actually heard anyone say what they are. So for example, Rach 2, how in the world do I do that? Or any other chords like that?
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#590953 - 10/05/07 06:33 PM
Re: Small hand tricks
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2000 Post Club Member
Registered: 10/05/02
Posts: 2846
Loc: RHUL
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Either roll them, or seperate a bass note from the chord and play it as a grace note. The former is (or rather, can be) more accurate to the written chord, while the latter is suited better to a louder dynamic & allows you to play a straight chord (but is also not always suitable for the music). with Rachmaninoff even people with large hands will sometimes have to use these tricks, he wrote a lot of big chords (the op.33/4 etude for example).
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#590954 - 10/05/07 07:02 PM
Re: Small hand tricks
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1000 Post Club Member
Registered: 05/18/07
Posts: 1159
Loc: Singapore
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I have smaller hands, the size of a 7th. When I play big chords in Rachmaninoff's pieces, I stretch out all of my fingers and use a note in each of the chords to connect the chords. I do alot of hand stretching too.
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#590955 - 10/06/07 12:50 AM
Re: Small hand tricks
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Full Member
Registered: 05/08/06
Posts: 231
Loc: Chicago, IL
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I'm not exactly sure what you mean by rolling chords? I'm not really familiar with that technique.
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#590957 - 10/06/07 01:28 AM
Re: Small hand tricks
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Full Member
Registered: 09/09/06
Posts: 255
Loc: Colorado
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Rachmaninoff himself even seperates the beginning chords in the intro. It doesn't sound good rolled. I do the same. he plays the lowest bass not as a grace note and then etc... It actually makes the effect of tolling bells much better.
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#590958 - 10/06/07 01:33 AM
Re: Small hand tricks
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Full Member
Registered: 05/08/06
Posts: 231
Loc: Chicago, IL
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I know what arpeggios are I just didn't know that you would ever play a chord that way. But hm, I guess I should check out Rach's own recording... Except he could actually reach those intervals.
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#590959 - 10/06/07 01:41 AM
Re: Small hand tricks
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Full Member
Registered: 09/09/06
Posts: 255
Loc: Colorado
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which makes it all the more interesting.
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#590960 - 10/06/07 05:13 AM
Re: Small hand tricks
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Full Member
Registered: 03/19/07
Posts: 116
Loc: California
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i confront this problem on Rubinstein Melody in F. there are some instances where you can play the topmost note of the chord with your right hand thumb to alleviate the left hand, but not all the time on this piece. i usually will have to sag my hand over the edge of the piano using the very tips of the keys to be able to hit the big chords sometimes.
this also occurs in Traumerei by Schumann
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#590962 - 10/06/07 12:31 PM
Re: Small hand tricks
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1000 Post Club Member
Registered: 07/26/07
Posts: 1226
Loc: Atlanta
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I have small hands. I sometimes take one of the notes with my left hand. Or I'll drop the fifth from the chord. Or I'll do an inversion that suits my hand better. As long as the overall effect is still the same many people will not notice.
_________________________
Pianist and teacher with a 5'8" Baldwin R and Clavi CLP-230 at home. New website up: http://www.studioplumpiano.com. Also on Twitter @QQitsMina
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