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Topic: Help in "Le petit chien"  (Read 6665 times)

Offline faa2010

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Help in "Le petit chien"
on: February 21, 2011, 03:03:11 PM
I have played Waltz op. 64 no 1 of Frederic Chopin for a long time, and I still have problems in memorizing the slow part (what an irony), and I can play the first and third part (the faster ones) but when I start to accelerate more, my fingers messed up.

Could you give me some advices or tips to improve in this piece? If I played it in a recital, could I play the faster parts fairly slow?
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Offline birba

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Re: Help in "Le petit chien"
Reply #1 on: February 21, 2011, 03:18:26 PM
Le petit chien?!  Where have I been all this time...
It depends on what you mean by FAIRLY slow.   If you can make it convincing, play it at the speed that is most comfortable for you.

Offline becky8898

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Re: Help in "Le petit chien"
Reply #2 on: February 21, 2011, 06:48:57 PM
Hi : Memorize the middle part. I mean really memorize it. get to the point you can write out the music from memory. Play it in your mind . Its not that long and there arent that many notes.  Learn the harmonic progression in the left hand. You should almost be able to figure out what comes next even if you didnt know the music. 

Take the first and last part and slow it down as much as you can and still have it sound OK to you.  Have a few friends listen to you play it at the slower tempo and see if they like it.  Then start again and ever so slowly pick up the tempo.

The average pianists music sounds well no other way to say it - amaterish because by and large when they first start a piece they play to fast and push to hard , and when they finish a piece it is to slow and they dont push hard enough. That is a philosophy my teacher has pounded into my brain about a gazillion times.

Good luck in your recital

Cheers, Becky

Offline faa2010

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Re: Help in "Le petit chien"
Reply #3 on: June 06, 2011, 01:11:59 PM
Thanks for your advices and suggestions.  Yesterday was the recital and "le petit chien" I played turned out to be very good despite confusing the mistakes (and my parents bought me a little stuffed dog).

Ironically, when I played the Nocturne op. 9 no. 2 I did between 3 or 4 loops because I had lost the track due to playing the wrong keys.

I was worried about the piece which turned out to be good played in the end. What a life!

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