Chopin's Etude op.10 no.3

[pianoviolin]

Hey guys
I've been working on this Etude, and I must say, its a beautiful piece but it is a sort of challenging piece (especially the middle section) which i LOVE!
Well when it gets to the section where all those sixths come along, (the part after the chromatic fourths) do any of you know some really good exercises to make them sound clear, and not hit other keys while playing them, and also to play it at a fast pace?
thankyou.

[stevebob]

I recommend practicing each pair of slurred dyads using a variety of rhythms and articulations.

It might also be useful to visualize that both hands play the exact same pitches in different octaves, and that the pattern of contrary motions is repetitive rather than random.

[jeffkonkol]

I have been working in this piece and very much enjoy it.  The dyads are indeed the same for both hands, just in different octaves, and they follow a very predictable pattern... alternating between moving down a few steps between each chord, and then moving down only half-steps between chords... which I find a good place to mentally catch up and refocus.

The half-step movements are very ergonomically comfortable, and likely are coming more easily.  Fortunately the section starts with the more challenging movements so drilling the front section of it is a logical choice.

Most of the recordings I have of this piece have significant slowing towards the end, which is again fortunately, at least for me, as I find the slight changes in the final pattern an easy place to get confused.

[pianoviolin]

Thank you guys, you have helped me alot 

[iratior]

Difficult middle part, eh?  I would suggest -- 1.  At measures 22 and 24, in the left hand, don't use the thumb on the C-sharp, use the second finger.  This C-sharp falls on a weaker beat of the measure, so using the thumb on it puts the natural strengths of the hand in opposition to the rhythmic demands of the music at that point.  Similarly for the D-sharp of the left hand in measures 26 and 28.  2.  At measures 25 and 27, I don't think there is any ideal fingering for the sixths in the right hand.  I don't like the feel of fingering the first sixth as 52 and the second as 41.  I think I would prefer 31, 52, 31, 41.  3.  If at measure 32 the left hand is giving you grief, try fingering it in such a way as to place the thumb on the lower, rather than the higher, of the two notes!  It's wild but has worked for me.  4.  When you get to measure 38, take stock of where you are, harmonically speaking.  It seems as though you are about to slam into an F-sharp minor chord, but of course you don't;  you modulate to an implicit B-minor and then to an implicit E-minor and then to that all-important dominant, B-major.  Thinking about the underlying harmony helps to put the technical demands in perspective, and prepare for the return in triumph of the dominant B-major at measure 42.  5.  There are places in the right hand after measure 45 where 21 works better as a fingering for the lower sixths than 31 does.