Check out Godowsky's Chopin Etude reworkings. He provides practice examples that are interesting. There is a new edition of his complete works in 5 volumes (or 4, I can't remember), that has these.
Hi everyone,Just reading through this topic and have a couple things to add......There is a nice study guide to Opus 10 at https://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=631.Another thought on how to work on the etudes is ....with a buddy!a colleague of mine whose playing and intellect I respect have decided to meet once a month to play etudes for each other and discuss our thoughts and ideas. Our first meeting is in about two weeks and we will be discussing/playing
Really you need to look at what Chopin was getting at in the study you are working on.For example, the point of the first study (op.10 No.1) Is not really a study in extension, though it works as that too, but mostly a study in how to 'snap' your hand closed, to release tension. Try and find the techniques Chopin was working on, and devise small exercises to help with them.
Me too. I bough the Cortot edition of op. 10 a while ago and while I don't think they would do harm, I believe the time spent on the Cortot exercises is better spent on the etudes themselves.I recently had a revealing experience in the case of op. 10/1: I had been practicing it for quite some time without a teacher, and focused almost completely on the wrist motion (it looks a bit wave-like if done correctly, I think), and were actually thinking that the fingers should feel more or less passive, and the wrist be perceived at the main driver of tone production. Then when I started recently with a teacher she told me that the wrists are very good, but I should not neglect exact, _active_ finger articulation. In other words, as I now understand it, the arm transports the fingers to the keys horizontally, the wrist might adjust the position vertically and also a bit horizontally, but ultimately it is a finger that actively moves for producing a tone -- otherwise there will be no fine control and everything will sound blurry, uneven, and uncontrolled. After a couple of days of exercise in this direction (btw, I often practice slow-motion and legato without pedal), I feel I'm gaining substantial clarity in tone production and also a better feeling (at least I think so) for the coordination between arms, wrist, and fingers. Not sure if others had similar experiences or if this makes sense at all to other folks....
Find a piano teacher who has MASTERED the entire set. Simple as that.Take piano lessons.
I disagree. Some teachers won't teach what you want to learn, even if you pay. That's the case in my area.
They think it is too hard and say they don't want to ruin your technique
I'm interested to know, for what reason do they refuse to?
Find a piano teacher who has MASTERED the entire set. Simple as that. Take piano lessons.