Are these as hard as they sound?

[Shagdac]

Trying to learn Heroic Polonaise in A flat, Revolutionary Etude in Cminor, andLa Campanella by Listz...HELP!!!
Don't know why I'm having such a hard time getting these, but it seems like every measure is taking forever. Does anyone else have difficulty with these? Any advise on easiest way to learn?

[Jemmers]

La Campanella should be the hardest of the lot.

I'd say the revolutionary etude might just be easiest of the bunch. Not that any are actually EASY, but everything's relative.

I suggest you practise more, and if you still can't get it, pick up easier pieces. No point breaking your hand on pieces you can't play.

[chopiabin]

The reason you are having a hard time is that these are very difficult pieces, especially the the heroic polonaise and La Campanella. If you are too frustrated, drop one of them and come back to it after you have done some harder stuff. This will give you the experience you need to make the pieces sound the way you want them to, AND you won't die trying to get them perfect.

[e60m5]

If anyone needs to ask whether pieces such as the Heroic Polonaise and La Campanella are as hard as they sound, they probably shouldn't be trying to learn them in the first place...

But in any case, good luck if you keep trying! Careful not to injure yourself!

[Hannah Joy]

That depends on your level of ability!  I find it best to take pieces apart backwards.  Start at the end of a hard section and play the smallest parts over and over, even as few as four 1/16s.  Gradually go back adding a few notes at a time.  It takes a while, but it does help your fingers to fit the music.  You might have to dissect it again every once in a while, if you start speeding through and missing notes.  Happy practicing!

[Beet9]

Erm . . . If it's so hard for you then maybe you should play some other pieces.  Though if you're a decent player you really should be able to play the revolutionary etude.  La Campanella is a completly different story . . .

[steinwaymodeld]

LOL
finally found a topic i can say something

I played all of them

Revolutionary is easiest, which sound way harder than it really is. And it improves your left hand a lot too.

La Campanella, it is like concentration of all the fundamental techniques into a single pieces. Which pushes the limit of the fundamental technique(like, jumps, trills, independence of fingers) to the extreme.

Heroic Polonaise, which i like the most, is a very physically demanding pieces, especially the middle section, and that's the toughest spot, it took me a whole solid month to learn the middle part. And the hardest thing on this piece is the large range jump of the left hand, but since it's very repetitive, so once you got the thing, it should be okay. And after you done playing the right notes, the musical development of this piece is actually the most difficult part overall. As there are so many repeat, so are you gonna play them all the same way? NO! And how you gonna proceed to the end from the beinging? Hwo you give it the 'heroic' feeling and 'dance' feeling? These question took me long time to think, and that's one of the pieces i actually spent time to do research on.

Well, good luck with all that. And a final recommendation, don't do all of them together, or you will just kill yourself.

And i can tell, if you don't already have the technique of playing Revolutionary and Heroic, please don't do the La Campanella, it will be just a waste of time.

[steinwaymodeld]

final note,

except Revolutionary, both La Campanella and Heroic sounds way easier than they really are.

[chopiabin]

The way I see it is that La Campanella is very difficult physically because it requires extremely good coordination and stamina. The Heroic is much more challenging musically.

[bitus]

Chopin is full of patterns...
Heroica must be played very relaxed... especialy the middle section. I would say the hardest section is the second page, where the melody comes in at the octave with a lot of chords. Take one minute and analyse the score, the harmony, form, etc.
Campanella... If you have any trouble with the first two and still try to learn it.. I'll be praying for you
The Bitus