Op.28 No.4 Chopin Prelude

[arpeggiated_chopin]

Hello everyone! This is my first post on this website, and I wanted it to be one of a question of mine. Recently, I've fallen in love with the 'clicking torture device' and I have been using it religiously when practicing exercises and pieces I'm working on. Recently I've been working on Chopin's Op.28 No.4 prelude, an easy one...Until measure seventeen! I was wondering if anyone else had ever encountered difficutly keeping in time with the big jump from b-b left hand octave to a-c natural-#d-f#.
The suggested metronome marking in the Schirmer performance edition is 54-58 (Largo).
When I slow it down to a snails pace of 45, I can manage it just fine, so I suppose the best thing to do is to practice the jump while incrementially increasing the metronome speed.
Any suggestions, or past experiences studying this piece? Thanks a bunch. 

[xpjamiexd]

Well tbh Chopin uses Rubato so it's not necessary to stick religiously to the tempo as slowing down\speeding up is generally used and in this piece can be very effective (as long as you don't over do it)

[slobone]

Hi arpeggiated_chopin, and welcome! That's a good question.

I don't think it's a good idea to get in the habit of using rubato to cover up a difficult measure (although some very well-known pianists have been known to do it!)

The metronome marking you're talking about -- is that 54-58 to the quarter note? That actually seems a little fast to me. Usually people play this piece very slowly and soulfully. You might check out Youtube to see what tempo others are using, or buy a recording.

As for leaps, the first thing I always do is to pretty much memorize the measure where a difficult leap occurs. That way, I can look at the keyboard and not at the music. In general, for any hard passage, it's always a good idea to learn the notes so well that you never have to stop to think what note is coming next.

Other than that, I guess I would just say do a lot of repetitions. I don't think the tempo you practice at is as important as just doing it so many times that it becomes automatic. You should be able to feel how far the distance you have to move your left hand is.

I'm sure there are people here who will have better advice than me. Good luck and hope you're enjoying Chopin!

[b0mbtrack]

I actually play it so that each chord in the left hand is one beat in lagato, thats how slow it should be.