Chopin's "Black Keys Etude"

[Jaydee]

Hi, I'm currently learning the Black Keys Etude by Chopin, Op10. No5 as one of the pieces for my end of 2004 performance assessement at my school.
I was wondering if anyone has any practicing ideas/techniques for this piece.  Most people say it obviously calls for wrist rotary actions in the right hand, how exactly is this done?  What is recommended for pedalling in this piece?  I have learnt the entire piece, however I am still trying hard to get that overall fluent 'sparkle' especailly in the right hand.  Perhaps there are several different techniques in approaching this piece?  

Thanks guys!

[Chitch]

That's a very uncommon selection for performances (people like you make examiner's smile!).

What they might mean by wrist rotation in the right hand is trying to balance both the strength exerted by your fingers and the "wiggling" left and right of your wrist. I'm not too familiar with this piece, but that's just something I would try. Maybe Ed or Mei-Ting would have better ideas...*COUGH*.

[eddie92099]

That's a very uncommon selection for performances (people like you make examiner's smile!).

It's not really that uncommon. Doubtless the examiners will have heard this piece hundreds of times already - an uncommon piece in my opinion which would make an examiner smile is something either unpublished or unplayed,
Ed

[The Tempest]

Use pedal sparingly. The LH chords must be dry and so must the melody.

[cziffra]

whatever you do, do not listen to gyorgy cziffra's recording- it is so stunning you will NEVER be able to play it with any degree of satisfaction for the rest of your life.

[Jaydee]

Wow, in that case I MUST have a listen to Cziffra's playing of the etude.
Do you know where I can get an MP3 version, or perhaps a site that has audio streaming?  If not I'll go check the local university libraries.

Thanks!

[pianomaestro88]

I bought the Horowitz "Live and Unedited" Re-release of the 1965 Carnegie Recital and there is a bonus DVD and on it he plays the etude in his living room. It's really interesting. Just thought I'd mention it...

[Chitch]

I bought the Horowitz "Live and Unedited" Re-release of the 1965 Carnegie Recital and there is a bonus DVD and on it he plays the etude in his living room. It's really interesting. Just thought I'd mention it...

I wish I had money to burn like that. (j/k )

[eddie92099]

Wow, in that case I MUST have a listen to Cziffra's playing of the etude.
Do you know where I can get an MP3 version, or perhaps a site that has audio streaming?

I'd be happy to send the mp3 to you,
Ed

[Jaydee]

I'd be happy to send the mp3 to you,
Ed

That would be great!! How big is the mp3 file?  Because my email account which is hotmail, has only 2mb storage.  The address is chinkyjimmy@hotmail.com

Do you use any sort of instant messenger, such as MSN messenger which can transfer files?  Or have any ideas of sending the mp3?

Thanks! Look forward to listening to the recording!

[allchopin]

You may get the desired "sparkle" from bringing out the right hand melody more, while leaving the left somewhat burrowed away, yet retainig the tempo.  When reaching the highest notes (the melody, created right at the beginning), reinitiate a forte volume and decrescedo from there.  Right hand stays marcato.  Make sure that you are playing it fast enough (can never play this one fast enough ), otherwise the life will be drawn from it.
What school are you attending?

[Jaydee]

Use pedal sparingly. The LH chords must be dry and so must the melody.

When using pedal sparingly, when would you actually use the pedal?  For example in the first bar with the 3 chords in the left hand, would you pedal all through that, or have 3 individual pedals, or something else?  To me it sounds just a little 'too' muddy holding the pedal through the entire first bar.

[eddie92099]

Do you use any sort of instant messenger, such as MSN messenger which can transfer files?

I have added you to MSN messenger. Speak to you soon ,
Ed

[Robert_le_diable]

I hope this is useful information for practising this etude.

This piece is not only a black key arpeggio exercise but also an exercise in tone colour and counterpoint, with two distinct melodic lines being played off against each other – one in each hand.

The opening section (bars 1-16) is relatively straight-forward with four 4-bar phrases in the sequence tonic, subdominant and dominant. The touch must be legato throughout and careful attention must be paid to the pedal points, otherwise you will smudge the arpeggios.
The second section (bars 17-48 ) is where the real test of this work is to be found. This is where the white keys become into play through a series of modulations and the figuration turns into a steeplechase with each key change. Pay close attention to the transition from bar 32 onwards – two beautiful arabesques must be pedalled for the entire two bars each one – followed by the heavily prepared return to the tonic from the dominant from bars 41 to 48.
The final section (bar 49 onwards) starts as a shortened restatement of the opening theme, with a transition from bar 55 to 66 into the coda (bars 67 to the end). Unlike the main body of the work, this coda must not be pedalled and is a test of legato playing.

Good luck!

[Jaydee]

With regards to the last few bars of the piece, (the coda), is there any technique used to improve the accuracy of both hands.  I am referring to the passage just before the descending double octaves.

[meiting]

This piece is not only a black key arpeggio exercise but also an exercise in tone colour and counterpoint, with two distinct melodic lines being played off against each other – one in each hand.

two distinct melodic lines? That is not true, unless you call an embelishment of the SAME melody line to be a different one. That's all the right hand is - an embelished line from the left hand.

The opening section (bars 1-16) is relatively straight-forward with four 4-bar phrases in the sequence tonic, subdominant and dominant. The touch must be legato throughout and careful attention must be paid to the pedal points, otherwise you will smudge the arpeggios.

You mean except where Chopin writes staccato right? I also don't quite see what the pedal point has to do with smudging the arpeggios - a pedal point after all only means the same bassnote for a period of time, which actually doesn't occur in these four bars. Or maybe you mean pedalling, in which case I would suggest following Chopin's pedaling as they, surprisingly, work rather well.

The second section (bars 17-48 ) is where the real test of this work is to be found. This is where the white keys become into play through a series of modulations and the figuration turns into a steeplechase with each key change. Pay close attention to the transition from bar 32 onwards – two beautiful arabesques must be pedalled for the entire two bars each one – followed by the heavily prepared return to the tonic from the dominant from bars 41 to 48.

What happened to the parts between measures 4 and 17? The transitions in mm. 7-8 and 15-16 needs to be done very sensitively, especially the G-flat to F in the left hand from 15-16. After 17, the white keys do come into play. But they're also in play before, or do you not consider C-flat, D-natural, or C-natural to be white keys? The passage from 32 onwards should NOT be pedalled for the entire two bars, but rather for the entire FOUR bars, as Chopin intended and wrote. The "heavily prepared" return to tonic is one of the most amazing passages, and THIS is a pedalpoint, which means when you're playing this part you need to keep the low D-flat in your ear, even if you can't hold it by hand or by pedal.

The final section (bar 49 onwards) starts as a shortened restatement of the opening theme, with a transition from bar 55 to 66 into the coda (bars 67 to the end). Unlike the main body of the work, this coda must not be pedalled and is a test of legato playing.

The coda must not not be pedaled. Use your own judgement at pedaling rather than just chopin's markings. He was using a very different piano from what we're using now, and sometimes the pedaling still works, but many times it doesn't. You have to use your OWN judgement and play it so that it sounds good - it doesn't matter how you get to that point. Remember that for all our discussions, the only thing that really matters is the end product. You can practice legato, staccato, fast, slow, soft, loud, whatever, but if in the end your performance of it is sh1tty, then nobody's gonna want to listen to it.