Chopin Etude Op 10 No 5 for "Project 27"

[fleetfingers]

It's time to post our final Chopet recordings, right? Here is 10/5.

I would appreciate any feedback. I learned this piece months ago and have continued to work on increasing the speed and improving the musicality. Does it feel rushed? Please let me know if you have any suggestions to make it better.

Played on a K Kawai Grand and recorded on my phone.

[pianowolfi]

Wow, congratulations! This has grown a lot! To me it doesn't feel rushed at all, you are at same places accelerating for musical reasons, and that fits very well. Some transitions between parts (where there are ritardandos) sound to me a tiny bit (but really only a bit) artificial, as if you just learned that you have to stop there instead of just "breathing" and then let it flow on. And I'd suggest to work on a lighter ("melting") touch in some of the piano sections.

I am not ready with my etudes, I mean well I could record them but it doesn't really make sense. But I am staying in the project. I have been very busy with teaching and other stuff lately, so I'll post my versions later. Anyway, cygnusdei has given us a new deadline 

[fleetfingers]

Thanks for listening, pianowolfi! I appreciate the advice you've given me; I think it is spot on. And I love the word "melting" - I'm going to think of that in those piano sections.

That is so funny that you say my transitions sound artificial because they sort of are! I was given advice from a friend to take breaks in the music, and sometimes I overthink when and how they should occur. Hehe, I will try to make them flow more naturally.

I know there is a new deadline, but I needed to put this piece to rest. Posting it here has made it official for me and allowed me to put it away for a while. But, I still want any feedback people are willing to give because it'll always be in my repertoire and when it comes back out after resting, I would like it to be better.

[mousekowski]

Dear Fingers,

I enjoyed your Op10 No5 recording. It sounds like you've done lots of good work on it.

I agree with wolfi that the pauses sound slightly contrived. Why not try playing through a few times with the first note in each group of three in the RH plus the chords/notes in the LH (in other words omitting the 2nd and 3rd semiquaver of each group of three in the RH)? This might enable you to feel the onward flow of each 4-bar phrase.

Do you keep a record of how many hours you have spent practicing this piece? Last year I clocked up 24hours of practice time on Op10 No11 and 24 hours on Op10 No12. I didn't really feel 'on top' of either of them, but I felt that I'd made some good progress.

[fleetfingers]

Hi, Mouse.

Why not try playing through a few times with the first note in each group of three in the RH plus the chords/notes in the LH (in other words omitting the 2nd and 3rd semiquaver of each group of three in the RH)? This might enable you to feel the onward flow of each 4-bar phrase.

I will definitely try this. Thanks!

Do you keep a record of how many hours you have spent practicing this piece? Last year I clocked up 24hours of practice time on Op10 No11 and 24 hours on Op10 No12. I didn't really feel 'on top' of either of them, but I felt that I'd made some good progress.

Hmmm, no I don't keep records like that. Sounds interesting. I'm going to start doing it, because I think I spend too much time "playing" the piano and not enough time "practicing". I've easily spent 24 hours playing this one - probably much more. As an amateur, I don't have any strict deadlines for learning pieces and I don't have a teacher to set a standard for me that I must strive to reach. Are you basically saying that I need to put in more hours before I'm on top of this piece? I'm sure you're right. The number of hours I've spent practicing it in a truly productive way is not very high - maybe even less than 24 hours. That isn't to say that I haven't worked hard on it because I have. It just means that the total time I've spent may seem like a lot; but, if I could break it down and only count the productive hours, it may not amount to very much. Well, you've given me some things to think about. Thanks so much for listening and for taking the time to post a response!

[mousekowski]

I'm glad you found my thoughts interesting.

One thing that occured to me when I was practicing Caprice Espagnol today might also apply to your Op10 No5. (I know you said you were resting it at the moment, but this may apply when you take it up again...)

It is great fun to hack through Caprice Espagnol very fast. Unless I'm incredibly self-disciplined, I'm going to have to spend most of my practice time repairing 'fast play degradation'. Presumably this means lots of slow practice and hands seperately practice. How do you avoid 'fast play degradation' with Op10 No5?

[fleetfingers]

Although I had to google "fast play degradation", I am familiar with the concept. I was led to Chang's book and read a little of what he had to say about it. That's probably a good idea to always play it at least once slowly at the end of each practice session. Is that something you do?

What I normally do is stop as soon as I feel it happening and leave it alone for the day, sometimes for a few days or longer. Giving it a rest seems to help. Should I try playing hands separately? Are some notes in the right hand uneven, or are they being played too quietly?