I just can't get it....

[paulmoony]

I just don't improve playing the coda of Chopin ballade #1 !!
I play it over and over and I keep making mistakes.
If I do it slow, I can play it perfectly, but normal speed it
doesn't even sound like music.. and in the middle, the melody
is overpowered by my left !!
Im currently trying the playing slow at the beggining and slowly speeding up,
but i don't see any improvement
and i gotta do it in like... 2 weeks ....
someone help me out?

[fiasco]

I've been wrestling this damn thing for several months now, and it seems like I've hit a wall.  There are many many posts on here about this coda, a few of which started by me.  I believe my main problem is that my hands are small, and those 2 -5 spreads at full speed are killing me.  Somedays I play it better than others.  But believe me, I feel your pain.  I've seen on here someone said to practice it like it's a nocturne, which is helpful.  I've seen someone write that they've been playing it for 20 years and still has to practice it everyday or it's forgotten.  Obviously, if you can play it perfectly slow, then all you have to do it speed it up.  Only way to do it.  You're not going to change your fingering just to play it faster, right?  Just gotta drill it into your muscle memory, little bit faster each time.

If you listen to recordings, the emphasis is in the left hand, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.  And not everyone races through it at breakneck speed, like Horowitz does.  I think Kissin's studio recording is a little slower than average, if I remember correctly.

[klavierkonzerte]

maybe you over practised it.

take a rest from the coda for a day or 2 and play pieces you enjoy and play well then get back to it

belive you me this helps alot.

[quantum]

You don't don't think you can get it to your ideal tempo in 2 weeks, then don't.  Play it slower but with the same amount of energy. 

I wonder if Bernhard has an index of all the posts where this piece is mentioned?  I'm sure the search results are overwhelming. 

[pianowelsh]

RELAX! Dont keep going over it at speed if you make mistakes - all your doing is practsing the mistakes and you WILL trip yourself up.  You need to take a pencil and everytime you trip up circle the mistake (precisely) then ask yourself ok why the mistake was it the way i left the key before it was it because i was watching my other hand ? was it because i was getting faster and faster and i ran out of control?? and then work at fixing the problem - you need to get into specifics rahther than saying I cant play the coda, because you will build it up in your mind and the pscycological pressure of that will crack you in performance - deal with the nitty-gritty now calmly and if it means taking the tempo back a fraction overall then do it. here have been perfectly accaptable performances of the piece that have been taken at more cautious tempi.  Keep a really strong sense of the rhythmic emphasis in the coda - give yourself guideposts. People race through this - same as Ballade 4 coda and they completrly miss all the detail and get so fast and so unclear that they cant hear what they are doing and the result is they loose control and crash and burn - seen it happen lots of times.  Listen out for all the melodic material that you can and keep a taught rhythm - practice with a metronome at a speed you can get through it without stopping and gradually (REALLY GRADUALLY) creep it up - keeping it clear and accurate.  You will loose more marks in an exam for an unclear fudge of an ending than one which is a degree under tempo and if you get it beautifully clear with the pedal and well shaped with the fingers you will be doing a darn sight better than a lot of professional recordings!  Good luck - DONT PANIC!