The Minute Waltz

[chopinfan_22]

If anyone could, I'd like some tips for Chopin's Minute Waltz. I'm sure many of you have heard it. It's three pages long, and very fast. If anyone can give any advice on how I should go about learning this piece, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

[rapmasterb]

I learned the minute waltz around two years ago and it is the piece which first encouraged me to get serious about the piano because I realised I was at the level where I could actually handle really cool music (or at least reasonably try to). But anyway if you are learning it I would give you the following advice:

1. The correct fingering for the first Ab - Bb trill is 2-4. Practise this from the start cause it will seem really hard and pointless if you have been practising with 2-3 after a few weeks.

2. Work out all the fingering in the fast section from the beginning. Crystallise it. Be absolutely sure about it.

3. Study the note values carefully specifically the turn-like figure on page 1 as this is hard at speed.

4. The slow practise you do on this piece is vitally important. I would recommend that you do not speed this piece up for a few weeks after starting to learn it. Even when you do I would recommend that for every 10 mins you spend practising it fast you spend 50 mins practising it slowly. Not just slowly but VERY VERY slowly. This may sound excessive but I know from bitter experience that you an easily get bad habits the first time you learn it.

5. Apart from this slow practise I would also dedicate significant amounts of time to the jumps in the left hand in the fast sections. Just spend time repeating a single one again and again till you feel like you could never splash the chord. It's worth it.

6. Remember that it is a waltz and as such you must give accentuation to the first beat of every bar in the left hand. This is what gives a waltz its strength. Practise this accentuation from the very start even at slowest hands seperate practise. If you do this the audience will not even notice it but a performane would be sorely lacking without it.

7. It is Chopin so rubato is a must and especially in the middle section. I would start thinking about what you are going to do with the piece from the very start and in the minute waltz you should treat rubato as being as important as the dynamics (i.e extremely important).

This is all only from my humble experience but I hope it an be of help in learning this great piece.

[mwhite]

Thanks for the tips rapmasterb.  I started working on this piece too just recently and am wondering whether I should continue.  I had forgotten how fast this piece is normally played.  Would it be permissible to play it at a slower rate?  I just listened to  recordings by Van Cliburn and Mikhail Pletnev, Pletnev playes it even faster than Cliburn.  If I have to play it this fast, I should quit right now.  I was hoping to hear a recording by someone in student's corner to maybe give me some confidence before I proceed with this piece.
Mike 

[rapmasterb]

I had exactly the same thoughts when I learned it and in fact I would have given the exact same analysis when I was at your stage. I urge you not to be intimidated by the speed you hear people playing the piece. I know from experience that you will actually be able to achieve a greater speed than you think you are capable of. I suggest consistent careful practise (which I am sure you are doing). You will achieve these speeds (or at least an acceptable speed) it is just a matter of when. Stick at it believe me.

[mwhite]

O.K.  I have time on my side... I'm retired.   I will continue to work at it and other pieces that I have always wanted to play. 
Thanks again for your help.
Mike

[rimv2]

I had exactly the same thoughts when I learned it and in fact I would have given the exact same analysis when I was at your stage. I urge you not to be intimidated by the speed you hear people playing the piece. I know from experience that you will actually be able to achieve a greater speed than you think you are capable of. I suggest consistent careful practise (which I am sure you are doing). You will achieve these speeds (or at least an acceptable speed) it is just a matter of when. Stick at it believe me.

Typed in the style of a true masta

[mcgillcomposer]

O.K.  I have time on my side... I'm retired.   I will continue to work at it and other pieces that I have always wanted to play. 
Thanks again for your help.
Mike

Mike,

Don't be worried about playing it super fast.  The title refers to a minute waltz...meaning a small waltz...it is not a temporal indication.  If you eliminate the speed, the piece is quite simple...and like most Chopin waltzes, very repetitive.  Just relax and see how you do.

- Andrew