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Topic: Can i play it like this (A bar in the G minor ballade)  (Read 1655 times)

Offline kghayesh

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Can i play it like this (A bar in the G minor ballade)
on: November 04, 2005, 07:52:23 PM
I am having some trouble in a bar in Chopin's first Ballade.
It is at the a tempo and ff part after the first Meno Mosso. (In www.sheetmusicarchive.com version it is the 6th bar in page 5). The bar that begins with a E A E RH chord.

My problem is that the A is a dotted semibreve, that is it is supposed to stay pressed throught the bar. When i play it like that and then play the fast triplet octaves and then the remaining 4 octaves i tend to have some wrong notes coz my hand is somehow stressed due to the continually pressing finger no.2.
But, when i press the A and release it when playing the octaves, they come clear and exactly right. I don't think it differ so much coz i can use the pedal to substitute for the required A.

I need some advice please
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Offline stringoverstrung

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Re: Can i play it like this (A bar in the G minor ballade)
Reply #1 on: November 04, 2005, 08:41:21 PM
I am having some trouble in a bar in Chopin's first Ballade.
It is at the a tempo and ff part after the first Meno Mosso. (In www.sheetmusicarchive.com version it is the 6th bar in page 5). The bar that begins with a E A E RH chord.

My problem is that the A is a dotted semibreve, that is it is supposed to stay pressed throught the bar. When i play it like that and then play the fast triplet octaves and then the remaining 4 octaves i tend to have some wrong notes coz my hand is somehow stressed due to the continually pressing finger no.2.
But, when i press the A and release it when playing the octaves, they come clear and exactly right. I don't think it differ so much coz i can use the pedal to substitute for the required A.

I need some advice please

Delicate use of the pedal is an important part of the true art of piano playing. When it sounds right, feels right and looks right, it's OK. Of course it's not easy to get the pedal right every time on every piano (eg 1/4 pedal - 1/3 pedal)

Offline quantum

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Re: Can i play it like this (A bar in the G minor ballade)
Reply #2 on: November 04, 2005, 10:18:31 PM
Yes this is possible, as long as your pedal does not overly blur the melody.  Another solution is holding the A for only part of the bar so you can have another pedal change in the midlle of the bar. 
Made a Liszt. Need new Handel's for Soler panel & Alkan foil. Will Faure Stein on the way to pick up Mendels' sohn. Josquin get Wolfgangs Schu with Clara. Gone Chopin, I'll be Bach

Offline kghayesh

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Re: Can i play it like this (A bar in the G minor ballade)
Reply #3 on: November 05, 2005, 12:46:32 AM
Quote
Another solution is holding the A for only part of the bar so you can have another pedal change in the midlle of the bar.

Yeah but if i do that, the A will be gone at the pedal change in the middle of the bar.

Offline quantum

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Re: Can i play it like this (A bar in the G minor ballade)
Reply #4 on: November 05, 2005, 03:04:00 AM
You could try to hold the A until the pedal change, but if it is do difficult at the moment maybe a half pedal would do the trick. 

When I play it I try to keep all tension away from my 2nd finger, so that the finger flexes as the hand moves around.  Rather than use muscular tension, I let the boundaries of the two other white keys surrounding the A keep my finger in place. 

Made a Liszt. Need new Handel's for Soler panel & Alkan foil. Will Faure Stein on the way to pick up Mendels' sohn. Josquin get Wolfgangs Schu with Clara. Gone Chopin, I'll be Bach
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