a question about "crossing hands" on piano
How is it notated on the sheet music? Will it be obvious?
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Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. -- Act V, Scene V, Macbeth. -
Well, if the notes you have to play with the left hand are higher than the notes you have to play with the right hand, you'll have to cross hands, unless you're some kind of mutant or something! -
Most of the time, the editors like to put a footnote concerning this, because sometimes you can play with one hand what is intended for the other, for the sake of makeing it simpler and more natural, to avoid this editors normaly put in a footnote saying "l.h. over the r.h. (and vice-versa)".
In Dover's edition and Breitkopf's edition of B's sonatas you'll find this a lot."Wer ein holdes Weib errungen..."
"My religion is the one in which Haydn is pope." - by me
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"Set a course, take it slow, make it happen."Comment
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I've never seen any note of it except when the left hand comes up to the upper staff or vice versa. Otherwise, it should be understood.Comment
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Right over left and under,
Left over right and under.
Oh no, sorry, that's when I was in the Girl Guides!
[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited March 06, 2004).]~ Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things ~Comment
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Generally crossing hands is up to the performer. It is whatever is comfortable for you. If you want to play everything on the lower staff with your right hand and vice versa, that is up to you. As long as the performance is brilliant we don't care.
The most natural time for hand crossing is when a hand, let's say the left hand is playing a nifty little accompaniment pattern in the middle of the keyboard and suddenly, intead of melodic stuff going on in the upper register, a little phrase appears in the bass. It is usually easier to reach over with RH and play it than stop the pattern with LH, take over that pattern with R.H. and have L.H. play the bass lick.
In such a case the composer or editor will include a little R.H. over the bass lick, but it isn't really necessary.
I have seen music where R.H. /L.H. is indicated by I ignore the advice and, in the words of Frank Sinatra (or in this case Frank Sinistra) I have done it "My Way." Whatever works.
The worst composer for tangling hands is Ravel. Often the hardest part of those pieces is: which goes under? which goes over? Sometimes it switches so often that the hands collide and injure each other.
Is this enough rambling over a simple question?
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