Oversized chords-what the heck??

[Goldberg]

Hey,

Is there any trick to playing those huge chords that stretch past the octaves? I've been playing a lot of David Lanz lately and in his song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (it's actually an arrangement of Keith Reid and Gary Brooker's song sorry). Well anyway the chords are like CEA("a" of course being not the one directly below "c"). Of course others include BDG and ADF...you get the idea. Well they don't have those things next to them where you break up the chord...I seriously can't remember what those are called! dang...Well anyway I can actually stretch that far on the piano-but barely, and it really hurts...is there any other way? Or are you supposed to use the cheap way and move the low note to a more standard position?

[marino]

Try arpeggiating the chords really rapidly. And if you do a few stretching exercises, you should be able to gain at least one more key in your hand's reach. Here's a couple:

 

For general stretching: Play a D with your 1st finger, then Eb with second finger, D with 1st, E with 2nd, D with 1st, F with 2nd, and keep stretching one semitone at a time till you reach your maximum span - then return closer to the D, one semitone at a time. Repeat with all combination of two fingers: 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-4, 3-5, 4-5. Of course, every combination will have its own max extension. After a while, try reaching one more semitone without sacrificing legato.

Why starting from D? Well, if you play this with both hands, you could start from two Ds one octave apart, going up with your right hand and down with your left, and the physical configuration of the keys will remain the same.

 

For tenths: Play C-G-B-E (bottom to top) as in an open Cmaj7 chord. Finger 5-3-2-1 with left hand, 1-2-3-5 with your right, two octaves above. Play slowly and decidedly, legato but WITHOUT holding the keys down. For the next steps, keep the same notes/hand position, but play groups of double notes: Alternate CG with BE, then CB with GE, and finally CE with GB (if possible).

Repeat this whole mess with all chord types (Cmaj7, C7, Cm7, etc.) and transpose it to various keys. Keep your arms and wrists relaxed and *don't force anything*.

 

Warning: Stretching exercises should be done with care, a little at a time and always supporting your fingers with your wrists, elbows and upper arms. Never try to hold down two distant notes for a long time. Also, don't start cold - always warm up your fingers beforehand.

 

Hope this helps

 

Carlo