• Store
  • Sign-up
  • Sign-in
Menu
Practising the Piano
  • Home
  • Resources
    • Multimedia eBook Series
    • Online Academy
    • Video Lessons
    • Annotated Study Editions
    • Repertoire Resources
    • Piano Technique Resources
    • Amateur Piano Groups & Clubs
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Online Events
    • London Piano Courses
    • Practice Clinics
    • Online Performance Workshops
  • Blog
      • Practising
      • Learning Pieces
      • Technique
      • Performing
      • Teaching
      • Archive
  • About Us
    • Help & Support
    • Contact us
HomePractisingZigzag Practice

Zigzag Practice

By Graham Fitch, 2013-05-31 Posted in: Practising

The intermediate piano student who has enjoyed playing CPE Bach’s Solfeggietto in C minor will have learned how to convince the listener that the semiquavers passed back and forth between the two hands in fact make one seamless line. This should sound as though it were played with one all-encompassing hand. Mastering the piece depends on being able to release the one hand at the precise moment the other hand takes over, as well as matching up the tone so there is no bump. This little piece is excellent training for this important skill and relies on careful listening as much as coordination of the hands.

There are certain situations in our pieces that lend themselves to a type of practice I call zigzag practice. The thematic material wends its way from right to left, inviting us to explore the music in the way the composer conceived it. One such piece is JS Bach’s Fantasie in C minor:

Bach

Apart from his interest in numerology, Bach loves including cruciform shapes into his music and it is worthwhile practising it like this.

Here are two ways I suggest:

Bach zigzag 1

 

Bach zigzag 2

There are other instances when the interest passes back and forth in a similar but perhaps less obvious way, such as in this short example from Haydn’s B minor Sonata. Here, it is not so much a question of doing anything more than noticing the conversation between the hands and underlining this. We might practise this passage omitting every other note in the semiquaver passages (the repeated note) and listen to the parallel tenths that come out. We might also practise holding down the repeated note, so we anchor the thumbs on their respective keys. Needless to say in actual performance, the repeated notes should be very much lighter than everything else:

Haydn

We often find compound lines in Bach’s music, where one line gives the illusion of two. In this example from the Allemande from the B minor French Suite, if we play the repeated Bs on the second beat RH on the same tonal level as the rising D-E-F sharp line, we will sound like a donkey. As in the Haydn example, the Bs need to be much softer:

Bach B minor

Taking our cue from the above examples, I have found it is excellentpractice to apply zigzag principle to any piece we are learning.

There are several ways we can do this.

  • Go through a section of  the piece systematically playing the first bar with the RH alone before passing over to the LH in the next bar. We stop literally on the last note of the RH bar before the LH takes over. Do this rhythmically and fluently, without skipping a beat. Often this will not make musical sense, especially if the first note in the next bar is the logical conclusion of the phrase but do it anyway – it is excellent practice to inhibit the impulse to play the strong beat. This stops us rushing in performance and strengthens our control enormously. Try it – it’s not easy at first!
  • Go back over the section the other way around, in other words begin with the LH. Repeat the section like this until it is flawless and absolutely rhythmical.
  • Instead of stopping on the very last note of the bar in one hand, go over the bar line so that both hands play together on the downbeat of the next bar. This overlap is an excellent way to link the two hands. (Obviously if there is a rest, we observe this. In the event of a tie, simply leave that out.)
  • Go back over your work, this time in units of two and then four bars.

***   ***   ***   ***   ***

Special offer bundle – Part 1 (All three volumes)

Buy Part 1 of Practising The Piano (three volumes) for over 30% off the full individual prices.

[prod_btns code=”part1bundle” title=” “]

Tags: CPE Bachfantasiafrench suiteHaydnjs bachrepeated notessemiquaverssolfeggiettozigzag

Related Posts

Bach, Beethoven and Playing Fast!

Bach, Beethoven and Playing Fast!

By Informance, 2022-02-17
Posted in: Practice tools, Practising

In this month’s Practice Clinic, Graham Fitch answers questions on how to practise specific passages, legato octaves, retaining musicality when playing fast, problems with the 5th finger, polyrhythms and more in works by Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and Mozart.

Read More

Tags: bagatellebeethovenDebussyinventionsjs bachlegatoMozartoctavesreveriesonata
Bach, Beethoven and Playing Fast!
Five Tips for a Flatter Finger

Five Tips for a Flatter Finger

By Graham Fitch, 2015-04-12
Posted in: Blog

I have just returned from a weekend's tutoring on The Piano Teachers' Course (EPTA) UK, where I am one of a small team of principal tutors responsible for delivering the nation's flagship training course for piano teachers (either those starting out in the profession or experienced ones in need of…

Read More

Tags: js bachsinfoniathe piano teachers' course
Five Tips for a Flatter Finger
The Baroque Urtext Score – Articulation (3)

The Baroque Urtext Score – Articulation (3)

By Graham Fitch, 2011-11-05
Posted in: Practising

Articulation in music is understood to mean the way notes are connected or grouped - this involves accentuation and, to some extent, rhythmic inflection. While François Couperin was an obsessive control freak in this regard, it was only from Beethoven onwards that composers routinely marked articulations into the score. Open a score…

Read More

Tags: articulationbeethovenexpressionjs bachtonetouch
The Baroque Urtext Score – Articulation (3)
Handel, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Rachmaninoff!

Handel, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Rachmaninoff!

By Informance, 2021-06-24
Posted in: Practising

In this month’s practice clinic, Graham Fitch answered questions on trills, fingering, legato octaves and gave practising tips for tackling a difficult passage in works by Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff.

Read More

Tags: HandelMendelssohnMozartMozart Sonata in A major K331practice clinicRachmaninovRachmaninov Etudes Tableaux op. 33
Handel, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Rachmaninoff!
Rhythm, Pedalling, Debussy & Mozart

Rhythm, Pedalling, Debussy & Mozart

By Informance, 2022-11-17
Posted in: Learning Pieces, Practising

In this month’s Practice Clinic, Graham Fitch answers questions on problems with rhythm, practising without the pedal, a sonata by Mozart and Debussy’s Arabesque No. 2.

Read More

Tags: DebussyDebussy ArabesqueGrade 8Mozartmozart K331practice clinicrhythmrhythm felt physicallyrhythms
Rhythm, Pedalling, Debussy & Mozart
Helping Youngsters Practise Slowly

Helping Youngsters Practise Slowly

By Graham Fitch, 2016-01-28
Posted in: Practising

I've written quite a bit about slow practice, probably because getting students to practise slowly enough and focus on the right things in the process is an ongoing challenge. To get the best value out of this type of practice, we must really live the slow tempo and make the music sound…

Read More

Tags: Ithak PerlmanMozart Variations Ah! Vous dirai-je Maman K265slow practice
Helping Youngsters Practise Slowly

Previous Post

The Pot-Bellied Monster

Next Post

Chopin’s First Ballade – a Practice Suggestion

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Sign-up To Our Mailing List!

Sign-up to our email newsletter for free resources, news updates and special offers!

TOPICS

  • Practising
  • Learning Pieces
  • Technique
  • Performing
  • Teaching

LINKS

  • Online Academy
  • Informance
  • Help & Support
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Practising the Piano All Rights Reserved

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy Policy
  • T&Cs
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.OkMore Information