Chopin - Fingering Nocturne in C # minor Op. Posthumous - Big Scale

[presto agitato]

Hello friends.

How to master the big 35 notes scale at the end of the piece?

What fingering do you use?

Thanks

[gyzzzmo]

Practise alot of scales. I use standard fingering.

[pianowolfi]

4 on D#, 3 on G#. And 1 on A.

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

I practised the E major scale a lot, starting on every note... It really helps you become familiar with it!
I use the same fingering as pianowolfi, 4 on D#, 3 on G#...

[shaunarundell]

This of course is just playing the seven modes starting on the scale notes of E.

E   Ionian (major)
F# Dorian
G# Phrygian
A   Lydian
B   Mixolydian
C# Aeolian (natural minor)
D# Locrian

Playing each of the modes using the E major scale fingering (i.e. F# Dorian starts on 2, G# on 3, A on thumb, etc.) is a great way to get the scale burned in.

If you really want to speed it up and get it  fast, clear and pearly you want to use

1. Rhythm groups (fast fast slow, slow slow fast, etc.), mail me if you want more details, I have a pdf with about 15 different rhythm groups, its a lot more subtle than you think

2. Tuples - i.e. in duplets, triplets, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s and 8s. So play 2 octaves accenting every 2nd note, 3 octaves accenting every 3rd, 4 with 4, 5 with 5, 6, 7, 8 your will have divide into 5 octaves or less octaves, so you will start and end each on different notes. Yet again, I have a link to a web page that describes ths in detail

It takes years to get really fast and smooth scale (10+ years 30 minutes a day - i.e 1,500 hours), but if you use these 3 lots of techniques for 20 minutes a day on E major for a month or 2, particularly the segment from the C# nocturne, you should get close to a professional level.

Then of course you want to expand the tuplets & rythm groups to all the modes (major and minor) of every scale -> 200 scales and then do them in octaves, 3rds, 6ths, 10s, double 3rds, pp, mp, FF, >, <, etc, etc etc and then all the appegios. You see why it takes years.

shaun

[stevebob]

It takes years to get really fast and smooth scale (10+ years 30 minutes a day - i.e 1,500 hours), but if you use these 3 lots of techniques for 20 minutes a day on E major for a month or 2, particularly the segment from the C# nocturne, you should get close to a professional level.

I'm curious where those figures come from, and to whom they're meant to apply.  Everyone's musical background, practice habits and innate "talent" are different, so assigning a precise time frame to the acquisition of any skill and claiming it's universally applicable is frankly absurd.