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Hello all, this is my first post on the forum, please excuse any mistakes I make.
I've been playing piano for about 5 years, but only started getting serious about it within the last 2 years. My teacher is a more casual teacher, and frequently takes breaks spanning multiple months. Because of these large gaps, I haven't been able to consistently develop my technique, so my technical skills are lacking, but my teacher says my skills with expression are above my technical level. Recently, I've played Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2, Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, and I'm currently wrapping up Debussy's Clair de Lune.
I've been really looking forward to learning one of the technically easier Chopin etudes, and I've found that the Op. 10 No.3 etude doesn't look technically challenging, and I personally rate it as one of my favorite Chopin etudes.
My question is, am I ready to play this piece? I don't want to learn the notes, but completely butcher the performance. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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In point of fact, only you can tell whether or not you are "ready" to work on this Etude. Look at the more difficult sections (measures 38-41 for example) where the descending/ascending fourths can be a challenge and require precision and good fingering; while the con bravura section (starting at measure 46) is relatively easy as far as the mirror-image patterns are concerned, but getting it up to tempo and trying to keep the hand supple with the 5/2, 3/1; 3/1, 5/2 fingering may not be easy and can result in strain.
You have to give it a try, I guess; no one knows your precise capabilities with this work.
Regards,
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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Hi Almer Seems like life would be easier if your piano teacher was around for regular lessons.,,, is it possible to find someone?
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Henle would give you some basic guide. There are no easy Chopin Etudes. My guess would be that op 10 no 3 would possibly be too hard based on your pieces. https://www.henle.de/en/detail/?Title=_9124I would look into his Nouvelle etudes. This one is my favourite. What about this one? Etude f minor KK IIb, 3,1Piano 6 medium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXTBOCdxI5Q
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Chopin also wrote a lot of preludes. This one was recommended to me recently and they generally are approachable that the Etudes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MbNktroYQ
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Projecting and shaping the melody of the opening theme over the other voices is another technical challenge. If you have experience doing that and playing horizontally from other pieces, then you may well be ready for this Etude. Schumann’s Traumerei from the Kinderscenen has similar requirements but is technically less challenging, and would be a reasonable preparatory work. Scriabin’s Etude Op 2 No 1 also has this type of technical requirement, in addition to bringing out inner voices contrapuntally at times. This would also be a reasonable preparatory work. You can hear how Horowitz handled it below. Pay special attention to the melody and projected inner voices when emphasized: https://youtu.be/NSsKJIzwapAWhile all three pieces present a similar technical challenge, in terms of relative difficulty, I would rank these as below (I’ve played all three): Chopin 10/3 > Scriabin 2/1 > Traumerei
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Thanks for all the responses! I'll definitely try it out, but it looks like from the responses I might find it a bit difficult to play well at my current level. I may end up coming back to it in a few months or a year, after working on some of the preparatory pieces that Sweelinck suggested. I'm still looking for a moderately challenging piece, preferably by Chopin, to work on after I finish Clair de Lune. Any suggestions?
@dogperson I actually found someone recently and will be doing trial lessons over the next two weeks, hopefully they are more available!
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Welcome to the forum, Aimer!
5 years, only 2 seriously and you're wrapping up Clair de Lune? That's pretty good. I've been working hard for about the same time (possibly closer to 6 years but with a 1 year break during a move), and recently worked on Clair de Lune. I found it very difficult, but learned so much from it. Particularly bringing out upper voices above melody lines in the same hand, interesting timing, etc. I haven't yet worked on 9.2, but did the nocturnes in C#min posthumous (20) and Emin (72.1), both of which were not nearly as difficult imo as Clair de Lune.
Regardless, it seems we're similar in time and goals. I find it doesn't come easily, though, it is taking a lot of work to get to the next level, or even to be very comfortable at this one. I'm working on the 2nd movement of Grieg's sonata in Emin, and enjoying this quite a lot. I'm also working my way through the Bach Inventions...this is a new undertaking, and I feel that it will help improve my playing by teaching me different skills, and compliment the Romantic repertoire nicely.
Regardless, I'm not going to tackle the Chopin etudes any time soon. There are too many other pieces to work on at my current level. When I can knock out a Chopin nocturne in just a few weeks, and I've played several pieces at this level, I'll reconsider. Just my 0.02!
Steinway A3 Boston 118 PE YouTubeWorking OnChopin Nocturne E min Bach Inventions "You Can Never Have Too Many Dream Pianos" -Thad Carhart
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Hello all, this is my first post on the forum, please excuse any mistakes I make.
I've been really looking forward to learning one of the technically easier Chopin etudes, and I've found that the Op. 10 No.3 etude doesn't look technically challenging, and I personally rate it as one of my favorite Chopin etudes.
My question is, am I ready to play this piece? I don't want to learn the notes, but completely butcher the performance. Any advice is greatly appreciated! There is a significant gap of difficulty between Clair de Lune and 10/3 and the Joplin rags are of a different nature of technicality. The nocturne is also easier. You can try and see by yourself; or like others have suggested you can start some prep work with easier pieces of similar nature and see how you are doing. Choosing a piece to study is a matter of experience as starting a piece beyond your level is not necessarily the most profitable. You can still learn a lot but you can also waist a lot of time which would be more usefully spend elsewhere. It is good to tackle occasionally a very difficult piece but then you do not have to play it all and I recommend to study it on a back burner by small chunks while working primarily on something else. For intermediate level players, it is most profitable to go by reasonable increments, focusing on developping all aspects of piano technical requirements and playing as many pieces as possible. The main issue with very difficult pieces is that you will not be able to play it before a long time an dthat will eat up all your bandwidth.
Blüthner model 6
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Like a few of the Chopin etudes, simply playing the notes isn't particularly difficult. However, these pieces were written to stretch an aspect of the pianist's technique. Of course he knew what he was doing, so they're all difficult to bring up to a decent standard. In this etude, it's very difficult to make the lines sing beautifully together.
Last edited by johnstaf; 09/15/19 09:29 AM.
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Again, thanks for all the responses!
After reading the responses and trying out parts of the etude, I've judged that I'm probably not quite ready to play it well - and I've decided to work on a few other pieces around my level (Bach Inventions, easier Beethoven Sonatas, etc), then come back to work on some Chopin Nocturnes and Waltzes before trying out the etude again. Does this plan seem ok, or would it not prove very useful toward building my technique?
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Does this plan seem ok, or would it not prove very useful toward building my technique? Almost any piece that's not too hard or not too easy will help with your technique. All the ones you mentioned are good although there are only two Beethoven Sonatas (both from Op. 49) I would call easy and the Chopin Nocturnes and Waltzes both range in difficulty from intermediate to conservatory level so you have to select carefully. Besides the Chopin you mentioned many of his Mazurkas are not technically advanced and about half of his Preludes are also not technical mountains.
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Again, thanks for all the responses!
After reading the responses and trying out parts of the etude, I've judged that I'm probably not quite ready to play it well - and I've decided to work on a few other pieces around my level (Bach Inventions, easier Beethoven Sonatas, etc), then come back to work on some Chopin Nocturnes and Waltzes before trying out the etude again. Does this plan seem ok, or would it not prove very useful toward building my technique? Since you are starting with a new teacher in the next couple of weeks, why don’t you take this time to choose a few ‘possibilities ‘ to take to your lesson and discuss with your new teacher? I would take this time to refresh a couple of pieces from your current repertoire rather than making a decision of something new.
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I'm still looking for a moderately challenging piece, preferably by Chopin, to work on after I finish Clair de Lune. Any suggestions?
Waltz in C# minor 64/2 Polonaise in A 40/1 These are contrasting, musically rich pieces offering substantial personal satisfaction, and played well, will impress most listeners.
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Again, thanks for all the responses!
After reading the responses and trying out parts of the etude, I've judged that I'm probably not quite ready to play it well - and I've decided to work on a few other pieces around my level (Bach Inventions, easier Beethoven Sonatas, etc), then come back to work on some Chopin Nocturnes and Waltzes before trying out the etude again. Does this plan seem ok, or would it not prove very useful toward building my technique?
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