I`ve a technical question here. I have trouble playing running notes especially for chopin pieces. Do you think the length of the finger counts? I do not have very long fingers and usually, all my running notes tend to be very messy. is it because of lack of practice? or i`m just physically unable to play pieces like these due to my fingers?

Please specify what kind of running notes, and what you mean by messy? You miss notes a lot? It doesn`t sound clean? It`s not as even as you would like it?

It doesnt sound clean at all. Tend to fumble a lot. eg, chopin`s etude in c minor (Revolutionary etude). I could never play the left hand cleanly.

I think that if you practice hard and long enough, then you could achieve the result you`re looking for. Even if you don`t have the longest fingers a piano-player could want. But never give up, always overcome the difficulties which lie before you in the way of the piano. Don`t let your weaknesses become your downfall.

Pianoman5

Yea..but don`t you think that pianist with longer fingers will have the advantage?

A skilled pianist has a definite advantage over a not-that-skilled long-fingered pianist. I thihk the biggest stretch in the left hand is an octave. In the right hand, there is one chord that spans octave-and-five-twelveths.
Are you trying to practice too fast? I did once and it sounded...full of crap. Speed is almost the last thing you want to worry about (believe it or not) on etudes like these.
Are your muscles trained to move to the right fingering when they`re supposed to? Or do you have to think about every turn you make? Play it enough that you can hold an iced cream cone with your right hand and play the left hand at the same time.
Don`t be mistaken. The left hand is not dead. If you look at the articulations and the slurs in the left hand, you`ll find that it sounds sorta like a harp. Uuuuuppp and dooooooown. LOL! I hope you get the idea.
Is your piano extremely light(Yamaha concert grands) or extremely heavy(Samick World series verticals)? If it`s extremely light, then you have to control the velocity that the keys go down more. If it`s extremely heavy, don`t play with cold hands (that means warm up) and control the force of the keys going down.

You are probably right. Speed is the last thing to go for. Sometimes i wonder, how long a pianist takes to master a rather difficult piece. Say, chopin`s etudes. Could professional pianist like vladimir azkernazy sight read those pieces? without even have to practise them?

i think for the etude you mention(op.10 no.12) does not need long fingers, but it is difficult to play the left hand in a balance and ordered way.

however, long fingers have definite advantage in playing some of chopin etude, like op.10 no.1, no.8 etc, because some of the notes separate so distance....for example you have to play c by thumb and the next note is "g" but you have to play it by your seond finger...however, if your wrist is soomth enough you can play it.

small hand has advantage too, small hand can have faster speed , mozart hand is not big himself, you can play mozart, mozart song needs no big hands, but still, his song can be not easier than chopin

you can use pedal when play chopin, the pedal can hide your "messy" notes, however, you can not use much pedal in mozart...haha