Help! I ran out of keys…

You’ve gotten through the first few pages with separate hands, getting comfortable with performing that beautiful opening, and just as you would keep going onto the development, the end of the exposition has a deep note. A note so deep, it doesn’t fit on the Keybird! what to do… There could be nothing more annoying than a surprise like that, especially when you’re short on time, but don’t worry! There are many ways to fix this little hiccup, so let’s look at a few of them:

Transpose

This is your number one go-to solution. Take the rest with a pinch of salt… Simply take that deep note(say A0), and throw it one octave up, to the higher equivalent (A1) voilà! If it sounds weird and out of place, just transpose a couple more notes around it, until you’re happy with the sound of it. Many times piano repertoire is written with left hand octaves, meaning playing two of the same note, and octave apart, so you’d already be playing it!

S.K.I.P.

No, I would never advise you to skip a note, this is quite different. This means a whole different thing: Sometimes (o)K If Passed (over)… Chances are, your piece has a few notes beyond your Keybird register, and transposing didn’t work for you in that case. Trust me, nobody will notice. (Unless you literally run off the keyboard and hit empty air searching for keys)

Cover-up

This one is sort of related to the previous one… If you’re name is not Paul Wittgenstein and you might have two hands at your disposal, chances are you’re playing something with the other hand while this little guest note has to happen. See where I’m getting at? This would be a perfect time to emphasize that beautiful second melody line or voicing in the other hand to distract the ears away from the “sleight of hand”

Fill out

Now we’re getting a bit more experimental! This method will definitely not work all the time, but here is where you can really express your personality. (for better or worse) Some pieces will require you to be doing runs, rhythms and clusters up in the C7-C8 register. Take the top few notes at your disposal and play the same rhythm as written (more like suggested at this point) in the score. When executed well enough, you’ll be surprised to hear that there could be a slight change of getting away with it!
Well, those are my 4 go-to methods for tackling the good old not-enough-keys problem. I hope you can utilize at least a couple of them in your own piano playing. Happy practice!
Back to blog