How hard is the revolutionary etude?

[vesivian]

  Hi there i am about grade 5  in piano and was wondering if the revolutionary etude is easy piece.I heard it was one of the easiest etude written by chopin and was wondering if i should give it a go. I printed out the first page and although a little hard to keep the speed consistent , could play the first page. I found the first pages challenging for a while and soon it became easy. If i were to continue could you please tell me what i can do to improve my performance? p.s I do not want my teacher to know i played this piece , i want to surprise her for her birthday.

[thalbergmad]

Teachers don't like surprises, especially if you cripple yourself attempting to play it.

Wait until you are grade 8.

Thal

[nikolasideris]

You know...

For me and my hands and my experience the octaves etude and No.3 and a few others are 'easy', while the revolutionary is quite hard (then again I haven't worked hard on making it happen), as is the 4th etude (the C# minor one).

It largely depends on your skills, your hands, your experience, etc.

But it remains that any Chopin etude is hard to begin with!

[vesivian]

Well , i tried the first page and it was fine , wasnt that hard like i expected.My hands are quite big and my fingers are long so it was easy , also i am doing hanons exercises.

[thalbergmad]

also i am doing hanons exercises.

Shock, horror

Thal

[gyzzzmo]

You could ofcourse try playing it, you might even gain some left-hand technique. But since the piece is likely way too hard for you to play properly within 2 years, the 'suprise' of your teacher might be not that pleasant.

[vesivian]

I guess your right , i think for the time being i will just play the opening parts and just maybe one quater of the part where the RH gives the main melody. Seems pretty easy to express my emotions and feelings , but i noticed that if i do not warm up my fingers it feels hard and stiff to move with speed. 

[stevetrug]

Hey Vesivian, I tried to jump to harder pieces before I was ready, and in retrospect I believe it was the wrong thing to do. Personally speaking I began to get hand / wrist pain and learnt some pieces badly. It also ingrained some bad habits which took longer to remove than I'd like.
IMO, and I'm no expert, small, progressive steps is a better approach.

[nearenough]

I am an amateur and can play it, so it can't be that hard.

[gyzzzmo]

I am an amateur and can play it, so it can't be that hard.

There are also amateurs who can play Rach concerts. So Rach concerts can't be that hard.

[chopinsmaster]

I learned the revolutionary etude after about a year and a half of teaching myself and it turned out okay; in fact for some reason I found it to be one of the easier etudes for me. Does this mean I would recommend anyone else to do it? No. Does this mean I would do it again myself if I could go back knowing what I know now? No.

[braintist]

Difficulty is a very subjective thing. The techniques required for the rev etude is mostly left hand dexterity. You can try learning but you will take quite sometime to get to the actual speed. You can start by putting the metronome at 60 per crotchet or slower initially. Then until you feel comfortable increase the speed gradually (like 10 bpm more each time) until you can reach the actual speed of 160. It may seem like a waste of time but it is pretty helpful in digesting tough passages (which is basically almost everything). And never be overly ambitious and play too fast as it will do more harm than good.   

[steviesteps]

No no, don't waste your time getting bogged down with chopin that's too hard for you.  You'd gain a lot more from starting Bach (I presume you haven't yet if you're doing grade 5 and wanting to play the rev) and things other things more at your level- technique and enjoyment wise! It's all well and good playing a few bars to impress your friends but unless you go about things properly you'll never be satisfied.

[claude_debussy]

Nah, ignore the nay-sayers.

Give it a try.

Practice with a relaxed assurance which will grow.

The piece, like many Chopin etudes, gets more difficult as you approach the higher levels of its execution.  But even playing it at a more relaxed tempo, with care and good hearing, is a big plus. 

Don't hurt yourself with it, don't push too hard, be patient.

For the scariest performance of it ever, check Richter's version on YouTube -

Andre Watts on Mr. Rodgers isn't bad either

good luck, it's a beautiful piece -

Claude

[carbe]

I also think you should play it if you want to. It isn't very inspiring to play pieces which you don't want to play, just for the grades sake. You should play what you want. Maybe it will not be perfect, or maybe it will, but you can always update it in the future. You will never be completely finished with a piece in my opinion, it can always be better!
So give it a try!

[slow_concert_pianist]

Not terribly hard....hmmmm, strike that!

Terribly hard for those who are on the threshhold of mastering the technical requirements.

Impossible for those who have not mastered the technical requirements. This piece is about grade 15. Take it on when you reach grade 14.

[carbe]

Not terribly hard....hmmmm, strike that!

Terribly hard for those who are on the threshhold of mastering the technical requirements.

Impossible for those who have not mastered the technical requirements. This piece is about grade 15. Take it on when you reach grade 14.

But if you don't know which grade you've reached? Many of us doesn't have grades in our countries.
Why not try to place a piece if the will exists?

[chopinsmaster]

You know what, scratch what I said earlier in this thread:

I learned the revolutionary etude after about a year and a half of teaching myself and it turned out okay; in fact for some reason I found it to be one of the easier etudes for me. Does this mean I would recommend anyone else to do it? No. Does this mean I would do it again myself if I could go back knowing what I know now? No.

After really thinking about it more, I would not hesitate to do it again if I went back. Basically my entire learning of piano, my entire building up of technical ability (I have been told that musical ability came naturally for me), was based on doing pieces that I wanted to do, regardless of their relative difficulty. Countless times I tried to take a more "proper," structured approach, and just so many times I couldn't do it. The "easy" pieces (a.k.a. the pieces I should have actually been playing...) just did not satisfy me enough to keep me focused.
If you want to play this piece, do it. Just do not expect yourself to do it too quickly and easily.

[scottmcc]

For the scariest performance of it ever, check Richter's version on YouTube -

every time I hear Richter play something I am reminded how much better his was than just about everyone, in every regard.  it's good that he left us so many recordings.

[bcr20c]

Teachers don't like surprises, especially if you cripple yourself attempting to play it.

Wait until you are grade 8.

Thal

You must be kidding me. I could already play 'Waterfall' and 'Chromatic' when I was Grade 5 - point being, grades don't matter (neither does age) - but technique, together with the ability to interpret music appropriately, does matter.

[stevebob]

I wonder if silly nicknames are now supplanting the prosaic opus numbers in popular usage.  (Until recently, I had never encountered the recently-coined ones outside of Wikipedia.  Who in the world decided on the likes of "Sunshine" or "Cartwheel"?  And why?)  Call me old-fashioned, but I don't understand the usefulness or the appeal.

[pianist1976]

I wonder if silly nicknames are now supplanting the prosaic opus numbers in popular usage.  (Until recently, I had never encountered the recently-coined ones outside of Wikipedia.  Who in the world decided on the likes of "Sunshine" or "Cartwheel"?  And why?)  Call me old-fashioned, but I don't understand the usefulness or the appeal.

I agree and subscribe every word. While Chopin hated and tried to fight against the stupid titles the editors invented during his lifetime, today people do not look happy with the few stupid titles that survived and must invent new stupid ones. I also think that one part responsible of this mess is Wikipedia with its free, uncontrolled and quality filter-less editing.

Chopin is probably turning on his grave. While stupid titles such as Nocturnes' Op. 15, "Les Zephirs" or Scherzo's Op 20, "Le Banquet infernal" almost passed away, people needs to create new stupid names. It's very sad.

[wilmerguido]

Well... As long as you can play it properly, why not... But if you can't, play something else for the mean time, then try it again after a few months ... I was just playing Bach 2 part inventions when I tried 10-12, and surprisingly, I was able to play it quite properly, then I kept on pushing myself, Rach prelude in g minor, Scriabin etude... was it Db, i forgot, then Chopin Scherzo no.2. Afterwards, I became too ambitious and went for Liszts's mephisto waltz. I was really struggling so I set it aside and went for some other pieces: Liszt's Waldesrauchen, Chopin Ballade No. 1, a few chopin nocturnes, then, when I went back to it... I managed to be able to play it... Not properly yet though... working on that

I just want to know... how many people are going to kill me when i say that I used to call Chopin's Etude Op.10 no.12 Revo etude? I just realized today (while reading posts) that calling Chopin's works by their invented names is actually a no-no...

[carbe]

I just want to add that it may take damage on your self-confidence if you play something which is to hard for you. I'm sure you can make it if you practise it really hard, but it may take long time and it will maybe hurt your self-confidence as a said.
It was like that for me when I started to practise pieces which in fact wasn't on my level. I managed to play the pieces, because I practised really hard, but while practising I felt bad because of all the misses that occurred at the same time.
But if you really want to play the piece... then you should do it!

[ted]

I have always played exactly what I wanted to play without taking any notice of anybody, especially teachers, and nothing terrible has ever happened. In the end music is to be enjoyed, and if you really like a piece you will only resent not trying it. Therefore I suggest you give it a go. What's the worst that can happen ? After a couple of weeks you might find it's a bit hard for you and you need to come back to it later on - no harm done. One thing sure, nothing is ever going to get any better by not doing it.

[skunkfunk9]

I think it's one of the easier etudes.  I am a saxophonist, and it's the only etude that I can play. 

[thalbergmad]

If you can play that on the saxaphone, that is incredible.

Thal

[skunkfunk9]

I meant on piano.  lol

[sucom]

If you like this piece and it inspires you, I would just go for it and give it your best shot!  In my view, feeling real inspiration to play something is the very best way to improve your playing and take it to the next level.  It may well be that you won't quite reach the speed of Richter, lol, but at least you will have fun trying!