Scales in double thirds and double sixths, Section VIII (page 61) of the Plaidy exercises below, recommended by Rosina Lhévinne. According to her, they “limber the fingers very beautifully” and the double sixths are the most valuable for advanced students.
Any of you guys have experience in practising them?
Haha I used to do all of these! It took a while for me to learn the fingerings for the double note scales, but it’s really useful once you get it in your system. One thing to probably think of is to keep the wrists always loose and don’t try to force a legato. In fact, I think of them as two voices that are non-legato because when you place them fast, it really doesn’t make sense (I.e. if you wouldn’t play fast scales legatissimo by over-holding, then why would you try to do the same when it’s everything harder with double notes?). I have a few theories that I develop about good double note playing and I hope to prove that they work once my 25/6 and 25/8 are in good shape!
I read about the Plaidy scales in an interview with John Browning and I obsessed about them because he mentioned how he showed these to Barber when he used Browning’s pianism as the basis for the work, and that is why the double note passages are rather challenging in that piece.
Respect for learning them all!
Like you, I also think they’re quite useful, especially the double sixths.
It is indeed very important to keep the wrist loose, and sometimes quite high to accommodate the fingers.
According to Browning (who worked with Madame Lhévinne) the top line of the right hand and the bottom line of the left hand should be legato - that’s the challenge. He demonstrates them here:
Right, I agree, but I guess what I was trying to say is that the priority should be the consistency in articulation/release (they’re one and the same in my mind) of all voices so that the sound is legato as opposed to the physical overlapping - I just mentally make a note that the top voice of the right and bottom of the left are held slightly longer than the inner voices. I suppose it also depends on the hand because although I can stretch an 11th, that’s only because I have a larger palm so that’s just a discussion about the distance between the tips of 1 and 5, and with my shorter fingers, I have a more difficult time to maintain healthy hand positions. I make it happen by having wrists that are loose not only to accommodate the articulation/release, but also to accommodate the best position for each one. I use the reaction from one articulation to “jump” to the next so that it becomes a “chain” of comfort zones.
Tru, datz Whut mah Russian teachers told moi about most double notes prax - consistency of the length and tone of each note creates da illusion of legato.
Diz especially tru for some of the Brahms Paganini Book 2 double note scales in both hands.
I think my obsession really started (like many others) hearing the legendary Lhevinne double-thirds. I was thinking, “How does it sound like a normal scale?” So I just played it with both hands and realized that you have to replicate that sound which really doesn’t involve a true legato.
This is very interesting. I do think though that one should try, when practising double thirds or sixths, to play the top line of the right and the bottom line of the left hand more legato than the bottom line of the right and the top line of the left hand. This also creates the illusion, in faster tempo, that you play all “voices” legato while in fact you don’t. But it also depends on hand size, finger size, flexibility and clever fingering how well you can manage this.
Apart from the length and release of tones, what further determines the quality of double notes is to strike them EXACTLY together as much as possible. This can be achieved best by letting the fingers fall from the same distance. When in thirds for example you find it difficult to play them evenly, it’s often because you lift one of your fingers a bit too high, so that it’s a fraction too late.
With all this, I always remind myself that the EAR is the ultimate guide.
