chopin fingering

[chopingurl]

Hi everybody, i'm a 15 yr old jr. in highschool and i've been playing for about 5 years.i recently began learning the chopin etude opus 10 #3 its simple until the middle section ,but the fingering there is killin me.slowly i'm fine but i can't get it up to speed.   what is a good fingering for this section?

[88keys]

Exactly what part of the middle section are you refering to?

The whole thing spans something like three pages and quite a few different patterns, so you'll have to be more specific if you want fingering advice.

But I do have one tip for you right now: there is no need to play this section very fast. Chopin wrote poco piu animato, so it should be played only a little bit faster than the original tempo. By no means should it be played "presto". It may very well be that your fingering problem stems from you attempting to play this section in too fast a tempo.

[chopingurl]

sorry i wasn't specific enough,the section i'm having trouble with is actually towards the end. the parallel sixths.the edition i have gives no suggestion for the fingering. i have tried a few different ways but i can't  get anywhere near the right tempo.i know this is a basic question but i'm stumped.  

[88keys]

Hey, it is not such a basic question!

Those sixths are quite tricky for me too, and I'm quite an advanced player.

The problem is not in the fingering. From a pure technical standpoint, this passage is not that difficult at all. The real difficulty in this passage is mental, rather than technical: In order to play it properly, one must understand its musical structure.

Take a look at the first two sixths. Together the four notes form a diminished 7th chord (D,F,G#,B). And the next two sixths are made of exactly the same notes, in a different order!

The third pair is made of the notes C,D#,F#,A which is exactly the same kind of chord, only one tone lower. And the fourth pair is again made of the very same notes.

This kind of pattern continue all throughout the passage, except that in some places, the second pair in the group goes a semitone lower instead of being repeated.

Sounds complicated? Well, this is exactly why relying on the fingers alone does not yield good results. The patterns described above must be consciously learned by the brain, so that the fingers will 'know' where to go.

Here is how I recommend to learn this passage:

After making sure you've understood the patterns I've listed above, go to the piano with the score.

Do not attempt to play the whole thing yet! Take the first measure, and play it as slowly as you need to get it right.

Resist the temptation to speed up the tempo! Instead, concentrate on making both your mind and your fingers comfortable with the pattern you've just played. Only AFTER you've achieved this, should you attempt a faster tempo. And remember, there is no need to play this passage too fast.

At first your progress will be slow. But after the first two or three measures, it will get considerably faster as the patterns are generally repeated thoughout the whole thing.