How would you play this?

[George K]

Working on some Poulenc.

I've always found this passage, with the descending 6ths vexing.

Starting at the 2nd measure of the passage, I've played as annotated. I find it difficult to keep my thumb "in phase" playing this.

So, I'm thinking "fuck legato" and rather than going 5, 4 , 3, 3, 4. playing 5, 4, 5, 4, 5.

Does that make sense?

Any other suggestesions?

[Axtremus]

@George-K said in How would you play this?:

Working on some Poulenc.

I've always found this passage, with the descending 6ths vexing.

Starting at the 2nd measure of the passage, I've played as annotated. I find it difficult to keep my thumb "in phase" playing this.

So, I'm thinking "fuck legato" and rather than going 5, 4 , 3, 3, 4. playing 5, 4, 5, 4, 5.

Does that make sense?

Any other suggestesions?

What's the tempo?

OPTION 1:

If not too fast and your hand is big enough, I'd say the following gives you the best chance for "legato" in the melodic line without relying too much on pedaling:

5 4 3 2 3
2 1 1 1 1

OPTION 2:

If hand not bit enough, and tempo not too fast, try:

5 4 5 4 5
2 1 2 1 2

Pivot a bit on the thumb to get a facsimile of legato.

OPTION 3:

If the tempo is fast, I'd say optimize the fingering for speed and just wing the legato with pedaling.

Good luck.

[George K]

Thanks, Ax.

Random video for tempo...

Link to video

Passage at 1:27.

[Axtremus]

OK, at that tempo, I'd go with OPTION 3: optimize the fingering for speed and use the pedal to take care legato. (If the hand is big enough, this may still converge with OPTION 1.)

[Axtremus]

If you don't mind cheating a bit, a suggested cheat below that allows faster speed without requiring large hand (by skipping a couple of harmonically inconsequential notes):

[George K]

@Axtremus thanks! I’ll try that tomorrow.

[LuFins Dad]

I play it by saying “Alexa, Play Poulenc…” It does pretty well…

[George K]

OK, another question.

The second part of Joplin's "Cascades."

I played this years ago, and was pretty comfortable with it, except this measure. The arpeggios is awkward for my hand. The only fingering I've seen is to play

5 4 3 2 1 4 2 1 in the first measure. For my hands, I find it easiest to land on 5/3 for the first note of the 2nd measure.

Any suggestions?

[LuFins Dad]

Make sure there are no black spots on your white keys. That will screw everything up.

[George K]

@LuFins-Dad said in How would you play this?:

Make sure there are no black spots on your white keys. That will screw everything up.

1. Your comment was as helpful as the last time you replied in this thread. Thanks!

2. You're also a racist.

[LuFins Dad]

@George-K said in How would you play this?:

@LuFins-Dad said in How would you play this?:

Make sure there are no black spots on your white keys. That will screw everything up.

1. Your comment was as helpful as the last time you replied in this thread. Thanks!

2. You're also a racist.

Not at all. Black keys need their own separate safe space. That’s just good wokeness. You should also no longer use the note name B# for a white key… That’s Cultural Accidental Appropriation.

[George K]

@LuFins-Dad said in How would you play this?:

Not at all. Black keys need their own separate safe space. That’s just good wokeness. You should also no longer use the note name B# for a white key… That’s Cultural Accidental Appropriation.

(Expensive) Scotch all over my keyboard.

[Klaus]

@George-K What works well for my hands is to play the upper line with 5-4-3-2 and the lower line with 2-1-1-1. If you have tiny Trump hands, that might be difficult, though.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rlG5bCaP5olHL5kiOBpEmqKbJBGokXnr/view?usp=sharing