Chopin's second ballade

[acp56]

I have played a fair amount of Chopin, including some of his more difficult pieces.  I recently began to work on the second ballade, and after feeling proud for working through the first two pages, realized there were six more. It was very intimidating.  I decided this would be my first ballade to learn, but didn't realize the commitment it would take.  What are some strategies for tackling this piece?  How long should I be preparing to spend on it?
I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.  My real goal in beginning this thread was to deal with my intimidation.  Thank you. 

[communist]

It's only eight pages and it repeats a lot of the same motiffs. The only way to tackle this is to practice the presto sections over and over very slowly and then speed them up when they're in your fingers.

[quantum]

Work in small sections.  Divide up the piece and start rotating sections between practice sessions.  Don't always start playing the piece from bar 1.  Might be even helpful to start work on the Coda first.  Spread the work of practicing the coda over all the other parts of the piece. 

Start looking for patterns in the piece. You will soon realize how much of the material is repeated, but changed in some way with each repetition.  The piece will seem less daunting once you begin to see the big picture and where all the smaller parts fall in place. 

Expect to spread a good amount of time working on various elements of the piece.  It is not a learn the notes, and expect it to run itself kind of work.  Work in small manageable sections, and you will get there.  Don't take the whole piece in one bite, that would be daunting. 

[ramseytheii]

It is always a good idea to study etudes in conjunction with Chopin's works.  Some etudes that would be helpful and instructive for this ballad: op.10 no.1 in C major; op.10 no.7 in C major; op.10 no.8 in F major; op.10 no.12 in c minor; op.25 no.12 in c minor.

op.10 no.7 especially relates to the coda of the second ballade; op.10 no.8 illustrates the right hand technique in the presto sections.

Walter Ramsey

[acp56]

Thanks for all the advice.  It is appreciated.