How To Play Octaves on Piano
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2021
- In this video we discuss how You've Been Playing Octaves COMPLETELY Wrong and how to play them correctly.
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bruh, this is one of the first things my teacher taught me on my lessons! like i literally had to dothe thing with the hand and the lap. Now i appreciate her even more (?
One thing that really helped improve my octave technique is playing them like this, but also staccato. I got this from practicing Chopin's Op. 25, No. 9-the repeated figuration for the right hand really forces you to practice them that way. When I decided to take on Op. 25, No. 10, I was pleasantly surprised how relatively easy it was to execute the chromatic octave runs at near the prescribed tempo with no tension. But anyway that étude is a completely different beast altogether.
Dear online piano teacher! Thank you for addressing this issue. I have been struggling a lot with this kind of things since the very first time my playing piano. The problem is either I have an awkard posture finger or a wrist pain after playing the piano. Thank you for explaining this from sicentific and historical point of views, also with the heart of a teacher. It means a lot for me in playing the piano better and for sharing a good knowledge with my fellow friends who are beginners. I pray for you and your family’s health and happiness. Love from Indonesia. 🌻❤️
I'm glad the video was helpful! Thanks you for your support!
@@PIANO_LAB stay healthy and happy! 🌻
@@PIANO_LAB I have same problem aching tiredness and sometimes burning in the wrist especially left one. At speed would gravity be fast enough say for the famous octave run in tchaikovsky piano concerto?
Always enjoy your input; it is uplifting, sending good will around the world.
@@ciararespect4296 I'm not Craig, but my sense is YES.
Currently learning the lit(var) song from “a silent voice” and a variation includes an octave passage. This video has really helped as I am only a beginner!
YEAH. That’s such a banger
That was a great movie
I found your channel a few days ago and watching just a few of your videos have improved my technique immensely. My biggest struggle has been octaves for a long time and by applying what you said in this video, I could immediately play octaves accurately, quickly and without tension.
Love it!
Same here 💯
On point! I remember getting a formal study on a university and this is what my professor taught me to prevent straining my forearms when doing octave runs. She said something about "applying the dead weight so you'll press the keys with any effort and the only thing that you need to do is to lift your forearms.. then repeat the process." I get what she meant, I just need to practice it.
Going through all older videos, again, in sequence; after his new short reference, this one happened to be next on the list. Have been cultivating this 8va technique for 6 months; I encounter scads of sequential 8vas, in various forms, in my jazz scores. Per C's demonstration, started experimenting very slowly, to make sure that the sequence up and down was right. Then, as speeding up, the muscle memory held. Don't need to think about any more. Extensive sequential 8vas? Bring 'em on! So thanks Craig and other followers of good will.
Argerich has one demonstration of her playing sequential 8vas at superwoman speed; the perfection of this technical aspect.
wonderfully put together with scientific views and suggestions
You're a phenomenal teacher! Thank you!
Agreed.
Dave M
Thank you! Wish I'd known this in my early years. Every pianist should be made aware of this.
Excellent video. I'm learning boogie woogie/rock and roll piano and you just helped me a lot!
Also helps with ragtime, esp. LH. Thanks.
Just keeping the hand in octave position (at least if you've got pretty small hands like kine) is already making my hand tensed
I'm learning Summer, from Vivaldi. This really helped me. Thanks!
Oh octaves how you pain me! Now to implement this🙌🏼✨
Indeed!
Octaves are a specific case, need a specific technique.
Mind-blowing reduction of my arm tension - thank you! Would you please also elaborate on whether the hand knuckles/wrist/the entire forearm-wrist etc should be stable or loose, and which between the forearm and the wrist initiate the upward movement?
Thanks, that was helpful
Thank you a lot!
That's so True :)
there's also a technique for playing octaves by the melody, it depends on if it goes up or down in the register.
One finger is "heavier" than the other.
It can be the 5-4th, or the 1st. It leads the way.
Also depends on if both hands are playing octaves or just one, than the hand that plays octaves has to feel more "lighter" and we have to "hear it" before playing it in our head
Russian old school technique :)
Great commenting. Thanks.
Just saw a few seconds and it reminded me of the discussion on how to strum your guitar or pluck a bass guitar. The trained musician, athlete or martial arts fighter uses a whole muscle system. Much comes out of a relaxed back and shoulder in music, they do little movements and coordinating them with the hand takes time, in every profession.
Another example would be a soccer player who accelarates the ball to 120 km/h. He puts all of his body, from the foot to his neck muscles, into the kick. Being relaxed and flexible is the key, and practice/patience. Start slow and get faster over time. Like every other muscle memory skill.
Armweight + Octaves = Frogger (well maybe). Arm weight has finger supporting hand & forearm. So to get to the next octave. the fingers "jump" (not totally unlike a frog) relaxing while ballistic and landing on the next octave. ALSO a young girl pianist on youtube said "think Up" which made a lot of intuitive sense. (I wish I could remember who she was!)
And THANK YOU SO MUCH for those fantastic references (!)
This is a great teaching video. Comprehensively researched and expertly narrated. Unfortunately, I have difficulty hearing speech when accompanied with background noise or music. Would it be possible to produce them without a backing track? (It’s not a deal-breaker - I’ll still learn from your instruction regardless 😊)
Reviewed again. Working a piece that is about 65% sequential 8vas in the RH, often doubling the melody. Half of those show a crushed note with R thumb. I worked this technique specifically for a couple hours, RH alone, slow then upping temp....hands together. After a couple hours, I was feeling it: the arm weight down; one has to use some arm muscles to get up off the key bed with a tiny rebound effect from the keys. The harder move for me requiring more concentration,? 8vas repeated on the same notes with small lift and then weight back down. I like my progress today. Coming along nicely. Thank you.
Dave M
How'd you progress? Sorry I am curious
@@naomigwolfe8112 No worries. Yeah, once this was established, working slowly then speeding up the tempo, this general skill stuck in my muscle memory. Now the 8va passages are easily recognizable and the technique is easy; a great feeling of mastery, doubling of a note adds weight and calls attention to itself, melody perhaps but also frequent doubling in left hand for harmonic foundation, and occasionally melody in the left hand. Now octave passages are fun. The crushed note(s) with the thumb were on the same note as the lower of the 8va, that made it easier and added strike drama emphasis. Thanks for asking. Fun stuff. We're all working together.
Great stuff. Will get started on a few 8va sequences. Scads of them in the mostly arranged jazz style that I live in. Will feel like a fool but will try the legs first, for fun brain-body intro. Your schtick is helping so many players at all different levels of experience. Kudos from Oregon, and apparently all over.
Dave M
Do you have any tips how to play stacks of fifths in the left hand? For example G#-E-B... G# is at the C2 section of keyboard register.
What about playing the black keys in octaves?
My hands are neither small nor large, I can barely reach a tenth with a full stretch, and a ninth is acceptable.
When I try to play black keys octaves with my first and fourth fingers, I slightly rotate my hand to the left!?
Is that a good or bad habit?
And i feel tension if playing like that (black keys with 1st and 4th, white keys with 1st and 5th fingers)
Please give me some advice.
Thanks alot.
This video put more emphasis on a problem I wasn’t yet aware of than on what to do, how to play. This approach made me very impatient and left me wondering if there was going to be any demonstration at all. I am still not sure which fingers to use with my right hand on a chromatic scale so I find that disappointing.
The piece you showed in the beginning as a joke is the piece I'm actually working on, lol.
Okay, so, my question is, say you have a bunch of octaves on white keys- do you just use 1 and 5 over and over again? I have fairly big hands and have been trying to do some alternating between 4 and 5, but I'm not sure if it will work at a fast speed.
but very small hands automatically have tension because of the stretch .... how do we deal with that ?
First try to adjust your chair a bit higher. If there's no option for adjustable chair try creating a space under the palm by slightly raising the wrist through raising the elbow (not the wrist solely). Make sure you don't raise the shoulder which usually happens when first trying this. Hope this helps.
Open your hand as late as possible, like a butterfly, when you reach the keys - aka don't pre-form the octave shape in the air
My problem is that my hands are too small :,( I can only reach the keys when I stretch and put my fingers at the very edge. So when I play octaves in a sequence I often press a wrong note cuz I cant reach the whole way.
Try playing 5ths instead. It might sound kind of metal, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Or, you could try 6ths with the melody on top.
Or heck, maybe they make a piano with smaller keys?
@@PepperDeVillle pianos with smaller keys are quite expensive I think, also I think it's better to get used to normal sized keys because if not, you'd only be able to play octaves well on a smaller piano (which are very scarce)
@@hisky. I actually didn't know that smaller piano keyboards actually existed, but I guess they do. So, if the person is playing a lot in public, they should figure out a work-around using a standard keyboard. But, if they want to play at home for their own enjoyment, maybe it would be worth getting the smaller keyboard, if they can even find one. I guess whatever they do, I encourage them not to despair, but rather to figure out what works for them. They may need to become a bit of a composer by re-writing music that would normally have octaves.
@@PepperDeVillle I agree, also I think 5ths are the way to go because most laypeople, even some amateur musicians can't distinguish between 5ths and octaves
Brilliant I just asked a question on another video of yours but found this. It's 11pm here so am itching to try it out but have to wait till tomorrow. Thanks
I was wondering whether this would work in fast octave passages like bach busoni chaconne etc. Would gravity be fast enough to play in correct tempo?
Watch Martha Argerich do 8vas.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et yea, she's way out of my league and a machine :)
@@ciararespect4296 Yeah, out of everyone's league; but for that reason she's the one to watch to see potential, perfection of the technique after long cultivation. I have no doubt that she had to go slow when she was first developing, on 8vas and everything else. Great comment. Thanks for the nod.
Are you saying not to engage the triceps at all to extend the arm at the elbow when playing octaves? If so, are you sure dropping via gravity alone is fast enough to play octaves at speed? I thought I read in some piano technique text that use of arm weight from gravity alone is not fast enough for most repertoire and that some muscular exertion is needed to extend the arm.
Again, watch Martha Argerich demo on fast 8vas, and her playing as well.
I love your piano channel ❤️
Thank you!
fantastic. What is the camera on the window? A pentax?
The SLR? We have so many cameras can't remember which one is in the background lol 😂. But we do have two Pentax 35 mm cameras. So yes, probably! Film is a hobby of my wife and I.
nice for you! I also have countless of film cameras, but my wife doesn't share this hobby too much; for me both, piano and photography are passions, but I'm a developer. I'll watch your channel@@PIANO_LAB
what book does this tobias matthay book come from
Your face when you're doing the octave passage! 😂😂😂
Idk why but somehow i fk up about very ez things but i can play octaves so easily somehow. For me playing ocraves definetly ha something to do with smooth motions instead of anything else
0:28 Thomas Mark's book?! 😂
💖💖💖💯
I play octaves but not comfortable with them.Earl Hines is the best at it
Listo... Ahora sólo me falta una mano más grande
I can do octaves in my right hand just fine but left hand oh my god what a pain
Weaker hand is seldom as facile as strong side.
Doesnt seem tiring to me but i keep hitting multiple keys with single finger.
But how do you play those fast? If you wait for gravity is not going to be fast. Did I miss something?
No waiting. I developed it in a few months. Fast enough.
I have watched your video several times. I can play octaves at Crotchet = 120 on most days and 128 on days where I am really limbered up. Please could you demonstrate fast octaves? Perhaps even just playing the octave section Liszt 6th Hungarian Rhapsody (not necessarily the whole of the section) or the Moszkowski Étude No.9 (shown in your video) or Erlkönig by Schubert. I am so curious to see how you developed this in a few months. I would love to learn from someone who can demonstrate the results of their method.
@@michaelharvey702 Following Craig's overall tutorials, I speeded up my 8va work a lot. Using a higher wrist, coming down from higher. Have to work it a lot. Martha Argerich has a demo on fast 8vas. I got that reference from Josh Wright.
interesting, lots of work to do🤔
Glad you enjoyed it!
Another witness that it works.
Just get a medieval finger stretcher from a flea market
Great idea, I want to be able play the piano like Robert Shuman!
Just my sort of fun crack. It helps in lots of ways. I could go out to my garage, put my fingers in a vice and pull hard.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et 😅
@@RUT812 Let's have fun. Too much seriousness in the world, for not enough return.
Passively letting your arms fall robs you of speed.
The only thing this “expert” can do is drop his arm on his lap and pantomime playing on a keyboard, conveniently with no sound. Only take advice from people that can actually DO IT, this guy clearly cannot.
Yeah, because this is the only video on my channel. Or on octaves for that matter. LOL 🤣 Haters going to hate!