A Secret Octave Technique for Piano

livingpianos.com/how-to-play-p...

[@Tn089-b6g]

Didn't know luke skywalker was a pianist

[@paskky913]

AHAHAHAHAH

[@Elvis_Roberto]

LMAO

[@germansheppard10]

Haha he even sounds a little like him

[@atommachine]

May the Forth be with you.

[@renda1982]

😂🤣

[@haydenrouse4907]

My wrists always creep up when playing octaves and this completely fixed it! I've been learning the Grieg concerto and haven't been able to play that double octave chromatic scale to satisfaction and now I can!

[@quocbaonguyen4588]

as always thank you sir for the tip /technique! looking forward for more!

[@Dominique632]

Thanks for the great tip, Robert! Definitely gonna try that !

[@buddyclem7328]

Thanks for that technique! It really helps. I will practice this method and I think it could improve my playing after a broken hand. Thank you very much.

[@VyvienneEaux]

Fascinating! I just played some octaves to see how I normally do it, and I think I'm curling my second finger a little naturally. Now I'm going to try doing it on purpose.

[@slapmyfunkybass]

Thank you so much. This tip really helped.

[@dylanm8145]

This was such a good tip thanks 😊

[@kamiko8021]

Mind blown. Thank you for this jaw dropping insight

[@suichan_itsumokawaii]

Tysm for this, was a huge help to me!

[@loypx]

omg thank you!!!!! just tried it 1sec ago and im amazed at myself lololol

[@77sincere94]

Experienced it also, All Glory to Jesus Christ in The Highest Amen🙏🏽💯

[@789armstrong]

thank you for this excellent advice. I would love to watch you play Chopins Octave Etude.

[@alexven92]

Wow I'll try this and if it works, this is golden advice!

[@RetroGamerVX]

Thanks Robert, never thought of that, makes it so much more comfy :o)

[@m.a.3322]

I too am in love with the Liszt B Minor sonata. Possibly the most beautiful sonata I've ever heard!

[@ayhamshaheed7740]

Yep

[@CraigSutMusic]

Wow it really helped! Fantastic, thanks!

[@VetsrisAuguste]

That’s brilliant!

[@mckernan603]

I think this has to do with keeping the 1-5 span tight and thus more secure at high speeds. I think you can get the same effect by keeping the whole hand curved inward while playing octaves. Curving it inward will also allow for more powerful chords.

[@grigorpetrov8006]

When the fingers are curled in towards the hand and wrist, the center of weight/gravity of the folcrum-the wrist, becomes lighter and easier to move. It's like trying to pick up a bowling ball with arms fully stretched out versus picking the ball up from your feet. It's simple physics. So why NOT curl all fingers not used during fast octaves? I use this technique and it works fabulously.

[@conorshields6538]

Great thanks

[@rainbowfox1934]

Thank you for the tip. I am learning broken chords in boogie woogie which are hit hard.

[@luisafonsoandre]

thank you for the tip Robert! ;)

[@MrNowarah7]

Thank you sir.

[@NoferTrunions]

Hummm, curling the 2nd finger _moves the center of mass of the hand closer to the wrist joint_ which requires less arm muscle force to overcome the inertia of the hand when playing fast octaves. (May also explain why some play octaves with vertical thumb and 5th fingers such as Lang Lang, Argerich and others)

[@Adyapd]

cool! thankyou..

[@AlfaAxel]

That was a nice tip! I sure got it, this useful tip. I always feel a little pity on the little finger, the pinky, so small and competing with the other fingers :)

[@MegaPetrof]

Oh wow! I saw this dozing in bed this-morning and thought... well if that worked, how come none of my teachers didn't mention it? Or the fabulous Josh Wright? Two hours later, I sat down at the piano with this vid still rolling around in the back of my head. OH MY WORD MY OCTAVES NOW!!! FABULOUS!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

[@grigorpetrov8006]

Josh ain't THAT fabulous. He makes it look fabulous. Lol

[@robbbmm]

Holy cow it works!

[@JoshuaAalampour]

THANK U

[@grigorpetrov8006]

Hey. Here's another "Secret Octave Technique". When playing continuous chromatic octaves, first practice the 4th and 5th fingers LEGATO first and then put the thumb back with them and simply "bounce" the thumb while playing the 4th and 5th fingers as legato as possible. So, 90% of the arm weight will be over the 4th and 5th fingers. Works amazing!! Robert! Feel free to give me credit if you like!! Lol

[@LivingPianosVideos]

You're exactly right! Unlike the 4th and fifth fingers, the thumb can't possibly play legato. You must play the bottom note of the octaves staccato.

[@eddydelrio1303]

My teacher studied with Josef Lhevinne and taught me the very same. In my teaching I refer to it as a magic tent pole that prevents collapse of the hand. However, its important that the bend happen at the big knuckle (what is called the metacarpal phalangeal (MCP) joint, not just at the finger joints. I also make a demonstration of trying to crush a raw egg by compressing it on it ends in the center of the palms: can’t do it due to the strength of its curve.

[@grigorpetrov8006]

Also, practicing octaves at a slow speed but fast wrist bounce while making sure you are keeping the thumb and 5th fingers as nearly touching the keys as possible. Any excess motion ABOVE the key surface will deduct from octave speed. This will train the hand where exactly where the key surface is. Robert! Feel free to give me credit if you so desire!!

[@Microsoft-Windows]

The fortepiano didn't have this problem as keys travelled half the distance I.e. it was much more responsive. One of the reasons I'm actually considering to have two pianos, alas want not to compromise on the quality of neither one..

[@robertrussell3935]

Btw do you have firm pinky fingers and a firm thumb when playing octaves? we

[@MarsLos10]

A couple of days ago I played a piece in which the right hand only plays octaves and I got an irritation, maybe a little bit of pain exactly below the pinky. Should I do something about it except than not stretching my hand for a while? Is that a sign of tendonitis or is it normal? My hands are quite small but I had never had trouble with my left hand, only my right hand gets too tensed.

[@visualeducation2783]

My 5th finger always touches an additional key when playing the octave, my hand is wide enough to play the octave. Can anyone help me on what to do

[@derinderruheliegt]

Move your wrist slightly up and forward for black keys, and wrist slightly lower and back (but still up) for white keys. Practice playing octaves but only sounding the pinky note, and your thumb ghosting in position.

[@thephilosopher666]

Can anyone explain how to play octaves cprrectly on a black keys? When I play octaves on a black keys, my 3th and 4th fihgers alway poke into the front board of the piano.

[@franzjosephliszt1555]

when playing black key octaves use fingers 1 and 4

[@al-murtadhaoday8344]

Franz Joseph Liszt is it wrong to play them with 1 and 5?

[@franzjosephliszt1555]

You can play faster if you use the 1 4 fingering

[@BeatriceTanLim]

This happens too me too!

[@franzjosephliszt1555]

***** if you use your wrist to play the octaves instead of just pushing with your fingers you can go pretty fast even with 1 5 fingering. Just practice with and strengthen your wrists and it will be fine

[@onedirectionandpercyjackso3557]

LP for liam payne BTW is this technique valid even if your fingers are short?

[@Rusli1659LPSoldier]

is it just me or this piano in the video was the same piano from the music video of Linkin Park's numb? BTW my hands is hard to play octaves on piano.

[@607]

What's the previous video you reference?

[@BrandonMcBadass]

Holy shit 🤦🏻‍♀️ mind blown

[@Trixex]

holy shit, can't believe I never heard of this before

[@DavidChristmas]

Hi, This video was very helpful but I started playing Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and it has really fast octaves and I can't play the octaves because it is really fast and also I want to know how to achieve the accuracy of octaves so that my thumb and my pinky finger would play the same key. Thank you and also sorry for bad english.

[@JoshuaAalampour]

David Christmas oh my god best of luck!! I love that song but there are very few people that pull it off! 💪👍🏼

[@ottoroe]

Gosh I have the exact problem with that piece. I've been learning and playing it for 1 year and I still can't play that. Really frustrating

[@wholemilky]

@@ottoroe wtf, why are there so many ppl struggling with it. It's actually really simple if you put effort into it, just practise the octave jumps by exaggurating the wrist movement and do it slowly and then quickly, do it 40 times every day and boom, in a month you'll play it perfectly. That's how I learnt it atleast.

[@delq]

I cant curl my 2nd finger because its already stretched to max

[@alexmorrison9863]

Secret yesterday, now many of us know :D. Joking aside, very VERY nice info

[@littleshredder_lev1_128]

Wow, that second finger changed me...

[@PianistLinda]

OH.MY.GOSH

[@TheLiquidFox0323]

Is there a tip for being able to actually reach the octave?

[@DanielRobertspiano]

I know some Pianists who got injured from octaves, which are dangerous when done wrong.

[@NelGabriel]

for some reason, it made my hand much more tense... odd

[@marinaalcolea]

Creating dystonia technique.

[@qwemlhjsi4386]

Piano à Cœur wut

[@marinaalcolea]

That's the weirdest octave technique I've ever seen. It doesn't look very healthy to me.

[@emmanuelturpin7181]

@@marinaalcolea TON TRAVAIL EST JUSTE EXCELLENT. J'ai pu regarder ton blog et ton parcours. Et je m'y suis beaucoup retrouvé. En ce moment je remet en cause ma technique depuis 2017 (mon examen final) j'ai eu des soucis au niveau de ma main droite (peut etre le nerf median) BREF Les informations de ton blog sont vraiment intéressantes, je me renseigne sur Dorothy TAUBMAN Merci beaucoup pour ton travail Je te souhaite une bonne continuation 😊

[@bupechikumbi3082]

Be my teacher 😱😭😭😭

[@bengie11355]

I've seen Animenz do that.

[@wholemilky]

weeb

[@harrytchen7774]

I hurt my pinky today by playing octaves

[@thestasiabug3337]

My hands are too small to do this when playing octaves with black keys and white keys in the same phrase 😂😂😂

[@PiscesSenpai]

+Anastasia Satterfield Umm.. It has nothing to do with hand size, it's about flexibility. I have small hands and I play Chopin Etudes.

[@DettolObsessed]

Dranzer Really? I have small hands too and I struggled with octaves my whole life (started playing at 4) but I noticed that when the octaves/combo includes a middle finger or pointer finger I extend /flex more. My weakness is the ring finger. If an octave has a combination with a ring finger, I'm screwed 😂 I really wish I can be more flexible. I try his tip of curling the finger.

[@PiscesSenpai]

MGE The ring finger is tied to tendons of the 3rd and 5th, it is the weakest finger.

[@volen5868]

This is horrible advice

[@KLm912]

Not once did you showcase the technique?!?! Complete waste of time!

[@JamSmoothie]

what video r u watching?

[@iampetergriffin]

Not once did you make sense. Your 2kb of text was a complete waste of bandwidth.

[@derrick2251]

@@iampetergriffin hi Peter. Love your show

[@acidset]

It's just a tip, a passing of knowledge... Or I guess you don't know how to curl your finger a bit?

[@danielsfocal9223]

blah, blah, blah....

[@acidset]

Dude, it's less than 3 minutes long. Ironically people with no patience are a hundred times more obnoxious than anything they complain about.