Problem with a measure in Chopin's Op. 44

Yeah, he says a lot of good stuff about it in that. I won't do the exercises because I hate exercises, though. :lol:

I was having difficulty earlier bringing out the right hand properly because the piano I was playing on had a muted quality in that range of the instrument, and in the range of the left hand, it's particularly loud. But my teacher complimented me on my voice balancing, and I mentioned to her that I'd first learned that technique from the 10/3 etude, so Cortot recommends a good one for that.

 

If you would like the entire Op. 10 and 25 PDF(s) (they are separate), I'll post them.

 

Not unless they're public domain.

 

I think they are, but I'll do some research first.

[edit] Not so sure now, it's the Salabert editon, which is still published AFAIK. I think I'll keep 'em to myself.

 

I got the keys to the hall with the Steinways for the weekend, and I practiced till my fingers started to tense up. Haven't done that in a while. 8) I played Chopin lots, and Bach too. Played around with extra suspensions in Bach, and some portato/legato switching. I guess you could call that "exercises" but I will probably keep some extra suspensions in performance, maybe only for repeats, and there's no telling exactly how I'll articulate in performance.

 

Now that sounds like a recipe for a good weekend to me. 8)

Have fun!

 

Now I'm angry. There's something wrong with the water in my shower at the dorm I live in - it's coming out dirty - so I might have to go home to my mom's for the weekend. :evil: Just when I've got the keys to the Steinways! My mom has a Yamaha baby grand, and it's nice, though a bit dry...but it's just not the same!

 

Or not shower at all. :lol: One might go to any lengths to practice on the good pianos.

Seriously, plumbing problems suck! :evil:

 

The problem has been fixed, apparently. Yay! I was really not looking forward to giving up the Steinways. And I think I will get to that now...

 

That's great! Glad to hear it.


8)

 

Would you believe that I went up there, and there was a stupid horn player in the hall, sitting on the Steinway's bench and practicing? hmph...I'll be going back soon.

The measure is getting better, by the way. The one after it, with all the little notes, is near perfect now, and I never thought I'd get there. The chromatic run later in the piece still isn't there yet, but that's because I've barely worked on it at all. It's not as interesting:



I've never had to play anything chromatic that fast, so it will just be a matter of repetition.

 

Stuff a dirty sock into his bell. :lol:

Glad it's getting better for you. I love that Etude, one of my favs from either Op 10 or Op 25. Never played it, but I sure love listening. Nothing like repetition to master those tough spots. I've been doing the same with all my pieces.

 

Her. :lol:

 

Oops, my bad. :shock:

:lol:

 

So, Terez, did you get any practice on the Steinways without errant horn players butting in? :lol:

On another note, I here there's supposed to be rough thunderstorms down your way today. Duck and take cover! :shock:

 

haha, yes I did get tons of practicing in, but I started practicing other stuff besides that annoying measure. At least I've finally got fingerings I'm happy with for it. That's a good start - now I just need to add speed.

Because I know we're all bored...

Been mostly practicing the courante from the Bach e minor partita. It's got some tricky stuff in it that I'm finally almost able to play perfectly. Almost. This is at eighth note = about 144-160 (I think - not good at figuring out tempi in my head, don't pay attention to the numbers on the metronome, and I know I'm just playing it about as fast as it can possibly be played):


On that one ^ I'm suspending bottom sixteenth note in the right hand, in the last measure of the first line, and etc. in the next two measures.


Trying to suspend the pedal tone somehow in this one - right now, just with a touch of pedal on the downbeats, but I've thought about using the sostenuto pedal. :lol: In the second, third, and fourth measures of the first line, I just hold the descending bassline with my finger while playing the other notes (probably staccato).


This one is fun to play, but tricky cause in that last measure on the top line, in the right hand, you have to do some rapid stuff with 4 and 5, and the RH first bit on the second line is STILL vexing me - the change of direction, I think.


This is the trickiest bit in the whole piece, but I think I've finally got it down. I'm playing the right hand staccato through this one right now, just to make SURE I've got it, and it will probably be staccato-ish in performance.


Same thing in a different key, but I'm suspending the top note of those same measures instead of the bottom one.


Same thing in a different key, but this one's harder I think, because of the second measure. And the third.

 

Wow. That looks hard. :shock: Glad it's coming together for you, though. Those rhythms in some of those excerpts look downright scary. :lol:

 

Meh, the rhythms themselves are easy for me. I played this for a master class the other day, and the lady running told me that I had a "good sense of rhythm" and that most people have a lot of difficulty with this courante because of its syncopations. But the syncopations don't bother me at all. Just the fast bits with awkward fingerings. :?

 

Glad to hear it.

I was mainly kidding. At least they fit together in some way, unlike a polyrhythm. :?

 

Yeah, it's not really hard, unless the fingering is awkward. But it is so much fun to play.