chopin etude, op 25 #12

[Lucy]

Words can't express how much I love this piece  

I'm currently learning it ... it doesn't seem exactly difficult as such once you get the idea ... although I seem to have problems getting it up to speed, and just making it really fluid with the gorgeous melody coming out ... it seems to be a difficult one to polish ..

Anyway, does anyone have any general advice on it ... how to practise it, and just generally make it work ... and any background info on it for that matter ... sorry, this is a really vague question, feel free to yell at me, incompetent fool that I am ...

thanks for taking the time to read this ^_^

[allchopin]

Well, i have played this etude and i can tell you right now that it IS hard, despite the deceitful beginning.  Yes, at least the basic pattern does create only 1 problem, but as the song goes, they get weirder. and actually, the other hard part of this song is retaining the tempo throughout because your fingers are gonna get really tired (well mine do).  what i did to practice is just play the hands separately, putting them together slowly, then trying to play it as fast as i could. are you able to put both hands together yet,as it takes coordination here.

[zoolander]

I played this etude a couple of months ago, and I also found it hard to polish, and my fingers also got very tired.
When I think of this piece now I kind of regret playing it.
It is to me the "darkest" of all the chopin etudes. Its in C minor, and has some of the same "mood" as the revolutionary etude, anger, grief... (I've also heard it called the second Revolutionary etude). But its even more than that. And its much more deeper than the other more dramatic etudes like the op. 10 no. 4 and op. 25 no. 11. I just cant set words on the feelings.

If I knew this before I started practising it I would certainly chosen an other etude, and saved this one until I could play it right from the heart without having to bother about the technical difficulties.

I've decided to not play on it for a while now, and maybe I bring it up later when I feel that I am in the right mood.

[la_carrenio2003]

I play this etude for more than 10 years and I find it easy,so I can recommend you how to work on it. The question here -as in all arpeggios stuff- the change of the fingers 5 to 1 in the same key. You have to ensure that you're not jumping or elevating the wrist in that moment.By first, you can repeat MANY times the moment of the change -a much as you need to feel warm up and confortable- i.e. on the r.h. 1st measure 2-5-1-2, back and forwards, avoiding excesive shaking of the hand and only articulating with the fingers fast and lightly.After that you have to practice the arpeggio dividing it in sections which will turn longer.The idea is learning to feel how many impulse do you need to do the whole passage. There are 2 more important moments: when the arpeggio comes back down, in which case you have to turn the arm direction, and the moment when you finish one arpeggio and start the new one. I'll explain this with the first 2 measures, r.h.  -obviously this has to be done in the entire etude, separate hands-.
1. You play g-es-es-g-es several times with fingering 2-5-1-2-5, up and down until you can do this freely. NO JUMPING WHEN YOU CHANGE 5-1.

2. Play fast the half of it: es-g-es-es-g-es-es-g-es.
3. Practice the turn bacK: form g to g -the middle of the measure-
4.Practice the change of harmony-last beat of 1st measure-1st beat of the 2nd-: g-es-es-g/d-as-d-d-as
4. Play the whole two measures together.

Sounds hard, but it isn't, it's certainly a lot of job but if you do it, it will be OK soon.


Hope it helps and it was a minimun UNDERSTANDABLE, it's hard to put in words such a mechanical details. Let me know if it worked.Bye, and never be ashamed of answering, my dear, that's the best way to learn.