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I now come to Octave Technique for which every sort of studies have been and continue to be written. Now the real octave wrist, combining great strength with high nervous tension and suppleness, is a gift of nature, like the capacity for playing staccato bowing on the violin. But those who do not possess the power can develop it to a limited extent. There are several methods of playing octaves, one being with a loose wrist and the 5th finger slightly stiffened. This is a good way for octaves in a slow tempo, but when speed is required it can only be secured by nervous contraction of the arm, the wrist being kept stiff meanwhile. To accomplish this needs much muscular strength, as the advantage of the loose wrist has to be discarded, and whenever the rapidity of the tempo increases, the stiffening of the wrist must increase also.

As far as the practice of octaves go, I do not think merely playing them in scales is efficacious, and, as I have already said, there are so many studies devised on this most difficult branch of piano technique that it is best to work with them. Those of Kullak are, I find, especially excellent. It is very unwise ever to work at octave playing for more than ten minutes at a time, as it is so fatiguing and may injure the arm if overdone. But there are ways of helping oneself to relieve exhaustion during long sequences of octaves. Some of these devices are useful for all, though generally each player finds out means for himself according to the structure of his own particular muscles.

To illustrate what I mean by these helps against fatigue, I will give an example from the A flat Polonaise of Chopin. The great octave passage in the second part for the left hand lasts 34 bars, which is a tremendous length, as all pianists know, and the strain may become almost unbearable.

Extract from the A flat Polonaise of Chopin, showing
Octave passage in left hand, which lasts 34 bars.

Here it is a considerable relief to think of the passage as in a semi-circular motion from left to right.

Above illustrating the mental device of placing each
group of four Octaves as component parts of half a circle.

Again, in the enormously difficult octave passage for the right hand in the Sixth Rhapsody of Liszt, it will be found to be of assistance to keep changing the position of the wrist from being high to becoming low.

First position of hand with wrist held high in Octave playing

This very small action of the wrist gives respite for a second from the tension, and sets the momentum of the nervous contraction going again.

Second position of hand in Octave playing,
with wrist held low to give relief from fatigue.

This same movement can apply to most continuous octave sequences of any length, provided they are in scale-like progressions, or in the form of reiteration. But for octaves which move in arpeggi, this same action would not answer, because here the mind has to be occupied with the matter of judging the distances, or I should rather say, feeling them. For all jumps are very uncertain quantities, and no eye judgment can be possible where a high rate of speed has to be obtained. Therefore in arpeggio-like octave passages only a mental device will be of any help in the difficulty. This contrivance is to imagine the octaves in groups of threes in the mind, no matter what the rhythm is in which they are written. I take an example out of the Hungarian Fantasie of Liszt for piano and orchestra to show the idea.

Extract from “Hungarian Fantasie” of Liszt,
showing difficult Octave passages.
Note : The lower bridging lines indicate the mental
measurement of the Octave passages
in Triplets. The upper lines

Thirds should be worked with pressure of the finger on the top note, that is to say, in the third of C and E the pressure should be on the E, in the third of D and F on the F, and so on up the scale.  (Picture 1) In continuing the scale, after having struck C, with the 1st finger or thumb (taking the right hand ascending), the finger is raised and D is approached with the 2nd finger. The 1st finger on the C is taken off very abruptly, almost as if it was on a spring hinge, whilst the top note E is held by the 3rd finger, which becomes slightly stiffened and is kept down after the lower one has been raised. (Picture 2 and 3) The bottom note of the third might almost be 3/4  of the value of the top note by the way it should be released, practically equivalent to the following example :

Example to show holding on of top note in Third Scales after lower note has been released.

though it will not be distinguishable in the sound of the rhythm. This method is, of course, only for slow practice; the action will disappear in fast tempi, but what will remain is a clearness of outline on the upper notes of the thirds, which is the object to be achieved. The wrist should be held higher than in ordinary scales, where it is kept low, except at the passage of the thumb. But by holding the wrist somewhat elevated in third scales, it ensues that the pressure of the top fingers is accentuated.

Although it be held higher than in single note scales, the wrist must still be kept absolutely relaxed, and the pressure must be obtained through the forearm acting direct upon the fingers. When the 5th finger is arrived at, it should be placed on the key on the side or ball of the finger, the wrist being meanwhile raised even a little more, and the hand inclined in the direction upwards to which it is proceeding. (Picture 4)

Descending, a similar inclined position is taken by the thumb. (Picture 5)

In the left hand it is the thumb in the ascending scale, and the 5th finger in the descending one which assumes the position.

At the end of this chapter on page 60 I give what I find the best fingering to be used for simple third scales, and also for chromatic scales in thirds.

Picture 1
Position of hand upon commencement of Third Scales

Picture 2
Position showing the raising of the lower finger whilst
the upper one is slightly stiffened and held on.

Picture 3
Position of hand in Third Scale after the progression from the
1st Third to the next one has been accomplished.

Picture 4
Right hand ascending assumes the above inclined position in
passing from the 5th and 3rd fingers to the 3rd and 1st.

Picture 5
Right hand descending, showing inclined position of the hand when
passing down from the thumb and 3rd fingers to the 5th and 3rd.

Well, I will start from the first third in the scale of C major, which will be C and E. Next come D and F, and in attempting to pass rapidly from the first third to the second one a difficulty will be immediately encountered. This is the ungovernable tendency of each finger to run apart from each other, and refuse to pull together at all. A purely mental difficulty though is this, and it can be overcome by training the mind, and accustoming it to govern the hands and fingers in complete independence one of the other. In fact I am convinced that in general, technical facility and control can only be obtained by great mental concentration, and not merely through mechanical practice.

That is why some people are able to learn to play a scale in thirds in an hour quite decently, because they possess the necessary power of brain, while others who may have quite as much musical talent will never master one at. all though they work six hours a day at it! I do not mean to say by this that thirds do not require an enormous amount of study, because of course they do, only to be successful the practice must be accompanied by much concentrated brain effort. Therefore one of the principal efforts of a good pianoforte teacher should be to stimulate in every possible manner the mental faculties of his pupils.

To commence then with the study of passages in thirds: A great many people seek to play these in what I term a “player-pianistic style” instead of a “pianistically plastic” one. By this I mean that they make a point of striking both the notes that compose thirds together with exactly the same pressure of tone, thus giving no doubt an absolutely mechanical precision to double note progressions, but thereby taking away from them, in my opinion, all their melodic character and charm. For I maintain that all passage playing, whether it be in thirds, sixths, or single notes, should necessarily preserve a melodic outline,”I otherwise it degenerates into mere sequences of notes for the display of agility and loses every musical significance.

For whereas some regard elaborate passages as entirely mechanical embellishments, the earnest musician will realize that this is not often the case; on the contrary, close analysis will almost always prove them to be intricate and reasoned embroideries of melody.

Now in single note passages it is easy to obtain some sort of musical contour, because the brain has only one line to develop. But with double notes this is all far more complicated, especially as the melodic ideal remains to be achieved here, just as much as in the simpler case. And hard enough as it is to accomplish satisfactory results with only one finger to think of, what is to be done when two are having to be managed at once?

I propose here to discuss briefly the higher or advanced technique of pianoforte playing as is to be found in the study of Thirds, Sixths and Octaves. Of course this is really a highly complicated subject about which innumerable books and treatises have been written without nearly exhausting all the material for discussion to which it gives rise. But the few remarks that I am going to make now are chiefly intended for the practical help of working students, and I shall confine myself more or less to explaining one or two of the methods which I personally find useful in mastering the difficulties that occur in these complex stages of virtuosity. For as modern pianoforte technique requires great development of double note playing and such-like independence of the fingers, so it must be the aim of every student to discover the easiest and shortest cuts which may bring him to proficiency in this branch of his art.