op.25 no.12

[ahkow]

How does one get rid of the accents from the repeated notes (Eb G Eb' Eb')

[Kassaa]

Practice repeating notes with 1-5, and when playing the etude think from the lowest note to the highest note and play it in one movement instead of repositioning your wrists and hands on a repeated note, think of it like waves .

[ahkow]

oh thanks my friend told me about repeating notes too.. forgot about it. i remember that he also said trying to make it as legato as possible

[robertp]

Two things, both related:

1. Speed. When you pick the tempo up, it becomes much harder to accent those notes.

2. Practice staccato, except for the notes Chopin wanted accented. This worked wonders for me getting it up to speed.

[a-sharp]

on a less-related note - (eek - a pun! completely unintended LOL) -

why is this so hard to memorize? I had no prob. with the 1st 2 pp. a few months ago - but for some reason now, the 3 page I just can't friggin' remember the chord progressions. Is it just me? After like a week, I think I have about 1/2 the 3rd page, which is insanely slow for me...

[ahkow]

keep repeating the 3rd page slowly and pay attention to the sound of each bar, than play from 2nd (or 2nd half of 2nd page)-3rd, than 1st-3rd page..

This is way easier to memorise thhan Winter Wind

[robertp]

I found the third page the hardest to memorize, but once memorized it needs less maintenance than the rest of the work. I suspect that's because it's got the unexpected, a bar where the descent is different from the ascent, another where LH5 is on G for the first note, but in the next figure it's on Ab.

For a month when I did run-throughs I always started with page three. All sorts of verbal memory cues. Take the bars that are easy to memorize and work back and forward from them.

[richy321]

For eliminating unwanted accents, I found it helpful to practice it with shifted accents: First accent the 1st note of each beat.  When that is under control, shift the accent to the 2nd note, and so on to the 3rd and 4th.  This is easier said than done, but it will come eventually. You end up with complete control over accents.  This is needed in this piece because there are many places where the accent is shifted to the 2nd or 3rd note.  For the main stretch in practicing this piece, however, I play it without accents, in order to ensure control and avoid over-accenting. 

This piece was surprisinging easy for me to memorize, and I'm not very good at memorizing. I think the reason is that I have listened to many recordings of it, until the harmonic progressions were well ingrained in my mind.  If you hear the harmonies in your mind, it will tell your fingers what to do, just like playing a simple song.