Fast octaves - wrist strain

[Trebor]

Another thread about the Clementi sonata. There's a right-hand section with scale passages in alternating octaves (i.e. low G, high G, low A, high A, low B etc.). This goes on for quite a while (and moves from scales to arpeggios) and as I get near the end my wrist begins to seize up and hurt. I'm assuming this is due to a mix of lack of muscles and tension building up. Are there any exercises I can do which would help with this? Thanks.

[YetAnotherKlavierist]

The strain is probably in the wrist. Try the following:

a) use the metronome to find a speed at which you can do it, and build up from there - this will build up stamina
b) whilst playing, raise and lower your wrist at a comfortable speed to try and prevent it from seizing up - doing 'something' with your wrists will help them not to lock in place
c) if you can stretch 1-4 instead of 1-5 for some of the octaves, try it and see if it helps

[Trebor]

Thanks, I'll try those (and congrats on not going for the obvious joke involving wrist strain and male adolescents ).

[Steve Hopwood]

It is no coincidence that composers writing for modern pianos steer clear of this ridiculous note pattern. It was fairly easy for the players of Classical fortepianos; it is next to impossible on a modern instrument because of the extra weight each key carries.

If you are determined to play this piece, then you need to build up your stamina over a period of weeks. Play the passage slowly and stop when your wrist becomes painful. Avoid unnecessarily exaggerated wrist rotation. You only need a tiny movement - the less the better. Be happy to slow the passage down even when you can play the rest of the movement up to speed. Don't bravely put up with pain; playing the piano is not supposed to hurt.

Even better, change the piece. There is some tremendous repertoire by great composers in the group.

[YetAnotherKlavierist]

I had the opportunity recently of playing the first movement of the Pathétique on a fortepiano, and it was incredibly loose compared to a modern piano's action. I wonder if they'd let me lug one in to an exam should I encounter a similar passage again .

[petite joueuse]

Oooooooooh. Tell us more about the fortepiano.....Where did you get to play it? What did it sound like? Why are there so few of them around?

[anacrusis]

I think I know which fortepiano it was...I can tell you, if I'm right, then YAP did a jolly good job of playing it, too. The one I'm thinking of lives in Edinburgh, and is a modern copy - though YAP has also got some real antique ones to go, too. I think there are fewer around because they need tuning as often as harpsichords, have a narrower dynamic range than the modern piano, but their silvery tone does bring out a different aspect to the music which was written for them. The mechanism is lighter than a modern piano, so prolonged trills and fast Alberti bass lines are less strain to produce on them.

[YetAnotherKlavierist]

Yep, it was that one - lovely instrument . The other piano I rather enjoyed was the one with the split sustain pedal to sustain from middle C upwards or from below middle C downwards separately. Works really well with a section of Mozart's A minor sonata, K310, where the melody is in the bass and can be sustained without the right drowning it out. Granted, the split pedal is needed less on a modern piano due to the wider dynamic range, but it was great fun .