Chopin etude progress-“Wrong note” #chopin #piano

[jonaslarsson]

Haha this part is the only one I've been able to play so far 😅 The other parts of this etude are way too tricky.

[viggojonsell]

Not that bad! Some general things to desire would probably be clarity and cohesion. It certainly isn't an entirely easy piece and I haven't actually studied it properly although I have dabbled with these measures in order to improve my clarity and balance between the hands, which I think you will see it helps with if you practice consciously.

A great thing that my former teacher taught me about the Chopin etudes as a set (and this applies to Chopin in general too) is that, unlike maybe Czerny or Clementi, there is always a very conscious musical idea that lies behind each piece. This is both a bit of a blessing and a curse I think since it means that you have to dig into so much more than what is on the paper, compared to a typical study by Czerny which might almost be a simple finger excersice. However, once you start to understand one of these masterful works, the music actually helps you on your way to learning it.

As I said I haven't properly studied this etude however what you can see and hear is that there is obviously a very clear melody that exists in the left hand and say what you will but I believe this melody needs to be very very clearly heard. Chopin is a composer that wrote so many fantastic melodies and (imo) this is one of the most beautiful and it deserves to be heard with impeccable clarity. In order to achieve this you need to be very confident in your knowledge of what the right hand does and even if your eyes might have to be looking at the right hand that confidence will let you focus so much more of your mental capacity on bringing out that melodic line.

I am sure there are lots of other things that can be said by people more knowledegable than me in regards to what is going on with different voice leadings and such but this melody I think is the most important here.

To get there obviously you should play slowly and hands separate which will for sure be needed for the part in 16th because that is just more difficult. I also think that you should practice using different rhythms to solidify your muscle memory in mostly the right hand, this also helps to release tension and prevent injuries.

Didn't mean to write anything nearly this long... don't know if you wanted advice but you got some anyway haha

Hope you don't mind :)