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My approach to needing to play effectively and reliably on an unfamiliar but lousy piano (especially without any chance to practice on it) is to try to rise above the deluge of problems, on the fly. …

. :) (I should add that, many years ago, I did finally get myself to take such etudes seriously, and although I could already "play the piano" to a certain exteny, the improvements in my finger capacity …

First, accompanying a soprano or mezzo or alto singer, you probably do not want to double the melody, in general. For that matter, depending on the singer's preferences, you might want all your sound …

In addition to holding the keyboard in place, and allowing for diagonal stringing... these provide room for playing un-inhibitedly (when appropriate) at the outer ends of the keyboard, without running …

First, a minor ninth can be fun... but can also be a typo. I have no idea. About the fingering: I myself would try playing the Eb-Bb-Eb to have thumb on the top Eb, and cross over to get my second fin …

If the piece is slow enough, you can get corroboration about your hands' location from feeling the black keys versus white keys... Even in faster tempos, feeling the adjacent keys when your hands "lan …

As with the other answers, and as you probably already knew or intuited, the basic patter for descending thirds is 53, 42, 31. Then the question is about the next bit. Often, hitting it with 53 works …

Apart from "systems"... I think that the main idea is to be soooo familiar with scales (in all keys), chords/arpeggios, and typical chord progressions, so that the bulk of classical music would be jus …

If you're just sight-reading stuff that is written with the top two voices in treble and the lower two in bass, it might be easiest to just "play as written", meaning right hand gets the top two, left …

In addition to other useful answers... there is more to "a chord" than just playing the triad or triad+seventh. Choice of inversions and other arrangements of the notes is part of the art of playing f …

Another possibility is 5-2-1-3-2-3-1-2, which allows the hand to move less... which could be relevant, depending on phrasing. That is, for some people having the 3 and 2 cross over is easier than movi …

In addition to other good answers: while have a good basic knowledge of scales and chords (and keys!) is very effective in reading Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, "even" Debussy and Stravinsky, for Satie i …

Adding to and reiterating other good answers: Try moving your chair/bench farther away from the keyboard, so that playing "right in front of you" in the middle of the keyboard is not awkward. Similarl …

Being a bit older now, though never making a living by playing the piano, I'd think it would be unsustainable to think about playing as a percussive instrument... because your forearms and fingers would …

I'm not sure about the 180 pace, but one technical way to get off that octave in the left hand is to "bounce" from the bottom note through the top, to give your left hand some impetus right-ward. (And …