I Figured Out How Yuja Wang Plays SO FAST

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[PIANO_LAB]

These are my top 3 takeaway's from watching Yuja Wang play. Obviously there are more things that we could notice but these are the observations that I thought would be the most helpful to you the viewer. What things did you guys notice? Hint: Rotation?!?) Comment below!

[mayiask]

4th thing i noticed: she simply is Yuja Wang

[benharmonics]

That thing about the elbow is very interesting! I have to try that now.

[east]

I tried doing those three things and now I play just like her! I just have to leave the keyboard turned off.

[concernedcommenter]

I love the relaxing between notes idea. That’s actually an amazing technique I would have never considered.

[saikoujikan]

She also twists and contorts her body so that her arms are always centred on the octaves she is currently playing. She is never stretching to reach the right or left side of the piano with her arms, only her waist.

[garycitro]

I was going to make some wiseass comment, but the fact is your video is truly insightful. Thank you for taking the time, man!

[PastPerspectives]

Having played for 10 years, that first one is what it’s all about. Studying works like Schubert impromptu no 3 will teach you that technique.

[ananthd]

While I understand shorts are better for the algorithm, I think this is a topic which deserves a long form response. I would love to see a more detailed breakdown.

One thing I find interesting is how good piano players use their head as a counterweight. Yuja Wang does this well. She is very efficient with her movements, and also often seems to generate force from her upper arm. I'm still trying to figure out the precise mechanics of how she produces that sort of tone that fast while not leaving the keyboard. Perhaps it's some sort of elongated sustained push for the scales. It's hard to talk about in detail in words.

I would be more interested in an analysis of Cziffra. Some of his movements leave me absolutely perplexed. He is an absolute master of jumping, and is quite a bit faster than Yuja Wang playing this transcription in his videos. See his Grand Galop Chromatique video, it's the same batshit crazy left hand stride which he uses in the Tritsch Tratsch Polka arrangement Yuja Wang uses here. I have watched that video for years and I'm still bewildered at how he does it. It's in this video at the 1:30 mark.

[chester]

"For speed does not suffer tension, while force craves it"

[ryan_]

I've seen a lot of these techniques be commonplace for a lot of wind instruments. As a euphonium player, we're usually instructed to play in a relaxed manner with our fingers on valves and little to no tension in order to play without any sort of restraint.

[pianohugo]

Awesome analysis. Her technique is so elite!

[CMM]

I'm not a piano player. That was a good analysis of form and technique. I know the number ome enemy of speed is tension.
I message my hands to play fast lead guitar.

[coderebel]

What might also help a bit is practising several hours a day, every day since childhood and advanced training with professionals for many years.

[erika]

Have you heard of the Taubman Approach? This is how it was discovered - analyzing different virtuoso pianists to figure out what specifically they were doing at the keyboard to make themselves virtuosos.

[benoitschwob]

I sometimes watch and listen Yuja Wang work playing with speed ×1.50 or more, since YouTube allows to change speed.
It's amazing, for example on Flight of the Bumblebee... 😂

[woahwoahwoaxjjxo]

this single youtube short just helped me improved my piano skills more than any other video on youtube

[cszrwi]

I noticed the incredible beauty of the music she gives to the universe. That is a human thing. Transparency. The playing disappears and all that is left is beauty.

[DavidMiller-bpet]

This is a very helpful video from an observer who is qualified to isolate some of the principles verbally. Actual practices. Often, many cannot isolate specific techniques because hands, especially these technical greats, are quicker than most eyes. Watching these great players is valuable investment. I also discovered, when working super up tempo on scales and arpeggios, fingers have to remain closer to the keys, with small movements from the forearms. We mortals have to work these techniques up from slower tempo-motion with attention to detail.

Great study for all of us working together as progressing pianists.

[beethovensg]

And she breathes properly, always, every time, initiated her solar plexus/ torso towards the instrument. All to be efficient expressive and stamina.