Single-handed success

Mark Tanner’s tips for using hands separate practice in three of this issue’s scores

Freixas’s Diu que una rosa... is a beautiful miniature, which couples together the simplest of accompaniments and an exquisite rose-petal melody. Hands separate practice will allow the LH to gently murmur away with its open fifths and grace notes, almost without having to think about it, as though it’s being strummed on the open strings of a guitar. The tune needs a perfumed quality – careful, independent practice will help – until it could almost sound like someone humming in the room next door.

Falla’s Serenata Adaluza will benefit from a good amount of sectional practice before attempting to combine these into one. Once the LH has gained the freedom to move lightly and rhythmically – often covering wide intervals – one objective will be to find ways of presenting the different melodies so that they don’t appear hemmed in or bound by bar lines. The flamenco-type rhythms that magically materialise towards the end of the piece need to be played quite strictly, while avoiding sounding overly prominent.

In his Spanish Air, Le Couppey is an example of a French composer writing in a Spanish style, and he was certainly in esteemed company – Debussy, Ravel and Bizet, to name but a few. The LH notes should be staccato throughout, and this makes it an excellent contestant for hands separate practice, since the RH’s melody is mainly flowing and smooth. Accents on the off-beats are among its Spanish character-giving traits, though these oughtn’t cut in like shards of glass – more like the natural stresses a singer might make on certain words or syllables.