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Can someone help me with recommended technique for playing 32nd notes. I know how they work but maybe there's a better way. For 8ths, it's 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, 16ths, 1 e and a 2 e and a .... but I don't think playing the notes as fast as one can is the ideal technique as I read someplace (which is probably the case with 64ths).
Thanks in advance.

You just play 2 notes per subdivision of your 16th notes. The speed of the notes all depend upon the tempo of the piece. Mozart uses 32nd and 64th notes all the time in slow movements of his sonatas, but not so often in his fast movements. Same for Beethoven, now that I think of it.

"Playing the notes as fast as one can" is not ever a legitimate way to read music. 64th notes are just twice the speed of 32nd notes.

Here are 2 counting techniques I found doing some googling: 1) 1e+a+e+a 2e+a+e+a 3e+a+e+a 4e+a+e+a 2) 1-count-ing-thir-ty-sec-ond-notes, 2-count-ing-thir-ty-sec-ond-notes, 3-count-ing-thir-ty-sec-ond-notes, 4-count-ing-thir-ty-sec-ond-notes, etc.

I tend to like the first since it connects with the basic way of counting.

Here is a movement full of 32nd and 64th notes, including 64th note triplets (96th notes):

Depending upon the overall tempo and depending upon the time signature, I don't see any point in counting every single note, particularly when you are dealing with a passage in thirty-second or sixty-fourth notes.

In a passage such as this one:

(from the second movement of Mozart KV546) it would make little sense (to me) to try to count every single thirty-second note. Use the left hand to set a reasonable tempo, count as I have indicated, and simply make sure that the left hand sixteenth-notes and consequently the right-hand thirty-second notes are played very evenly.

Counting every single note in a pattern such as 1e+a+e+a 2e+a+e+a 3e+a+e+a seems totally unnecessary, and is overkill, isn't it?. Surely anyone should be capable of playing a group of four notes evenly without having to count each one. Counting every note means you lose the sense of the real beats in the measure, a loss of forward movement and direction and certainly a loss of sense of phrasing, all of which should be a part of learning, right from the beginning.

Regards,

BruceD, I see! In that case, then a da da da da, da da da da or one note syllable played two beats per 16th is all that's necessary or simply hearing 2 beats per 16th notes. 32nds and 64ths don't appear very often. Someone remarked somewhere that they're often in slow classical music divided into lots of beats but they are often seen in virtuoso music ex. Art Tatum transcriptions (breakneck tempos). Hence, the question for thorough understanding. I think when reading virtuoso music, it's probably best to play the best slow, harnessing the notes then gradually increasing the tempo over time with the aid of a metronome is recommended.

I agree. If you can break it down to the 16th note, you should be able to figure out the rhythm for 32nd and 64th notes from there. Eventually, you then get to the feeling of the 8th note or whatever note is the basic beat of the piece. And slow practice can be helpful, especially if you don't quite get what those 32nd notes should sound like.

That's a good, and often recommended, procedure.

Regards,