chopin scherzo 1

[ax166]

hi, i have been learning chopin's first scherzo for a few months, and i can play it fast enough without too much errors, but i am not satisfied at all of what i'm hearing when i record myself. could you give me a few tips about that piece? thanks

[ayahav]

Your best move is to first identify what it is SPECIFICALLY that you don't like. Then, if you tell me (us), I (we) can help you in a better way.

[Xelles]

Probably, like all YaBB Newbies, he's trying to play it faster than his recording but can't pull it off without noticeable mistakes. Just play the entire thing in Andantino a few times and that'll help...(haha)

[JeffL]

Let me assure you that being a Newbie has got nothing to do with one's pianistic accomplishments or lack of them - it's more to do with how recently a contributor to the forum has discovered the website!!  

[chromatickler]

he's trying to play it faster than his recording but can't pull it off without noticeable mistakes.

Give the guy a break, he probably got the Pogorelich recording.  

[ax166]

i have indeed the pogorelich recording... and it is my favorite recording. but i do not hope to play like him.
btw i am french, and speaking in english is hard due to my weak level in english. so i will try to tell you what i dont like.
- the first 8 mesures of "agitato" : could tou give me tips to play it well??
- when the "8va" begins, in the "agitato" part, there are groups of 4 notes at the right hand, and i have difficulties in playing that fast
- in the final, the big descent at the right hand (before the chromatic rise) : how working that?

[JeffL]

It's difficult to diagnose an illness without seeing the patient!
My guess is that you are aiming at speed rather than clarity and security. Slow practice will help you to memorise and hear the notes accurately, and speed should be worked up in short phrases only at first. If you attempt to play whole passages up to tempo you may be trying to run before you have learned to walk.
Pay good attention to the left hand when it is acting in an "accompanying" role. This will provide the solid foundation that the intricacies of the right hand part require to build on. Work out the "hand-groups" in such figures as bars 13-15 and make sure that the hand (assisted by a free lateral movement of the arm) is comfortably over them. In the left hand figure which begins the agitato do not make a sideways "jab" at the bottom note but let your wrist turn so that the fifth finger is securely over it in this and other similar figures.
Try practicing the downward rushing figure in the coda in different rhytmical groupings, with the accents falling every 4 quavers, then every 6 then on the first and third beats of each bar. Then try bringing out the single notes, f# c# d a# etc.
I hope these suggestions are useful, but no amount of words can replace the trained eye and ear of a good teacher!"

[Xelles]

Maybe I should have told you that I was being very sarcastic in my last post. Let me just break down each letter of the root word (that being sarcasm) for those of you who seem to have taken my post to heart.

Silly
Asses
Really
Can't
Aprehend
Sarcastic
Messages

[JeffL]

Thanks so much for that. Now that's the sort of post which  truly is of absorbing interest!