Long time piano student. Hit a roadblock, need help with basic technique please!

[moosecakes]

Good morning all! I've been a long time lurker, but finally made an account to ask a few questions. A bit background on me, I'm 20 years old, premed student, avid piano player and huge chopin and rachmaninoff fan. I began playing piano around the age of 4, and took lessons for a few years, stopped playing until I was about 12, then began taking lessons again for about 5 years. I am currently in college and study almost nonstop, but this semester I have a light load (and get to graduate early!  ) so I want to spend a lot more time reworking my technique and improving. The most difficult pieces I can play are Chopin op 64 no 2 waltz and Bach-liszt fantasy, I play it this way, though I play the octaves at the end as well:

&list=UL (not me in the video, but that is the version I play for those familiar with the piece). I am able to play most pieces at the grade 6/7 level, if they don't have lots of running trills.

I have been plateauing for a while now. I never learned scales and I feel I am being held back by this. I have lots of trouble playing running trills in most pieces, which is why I learned the bach liszt piece, to help practice with that. In that key I can play running trills more or less fine, but I want to be much better than that. For example I can play Chopin's C sharp post hum. nocturne perfectly all the way until the very end where there are those running trills. I have practiced them ad nauseam to no avail.

Can some of the more experienced members/ teachers provide me with links to sheet music for scales for me to practice, and in what order/ how to go about doing them? Can anyone give me any advise for playing running trills? Can anyone provide insight on how to break through this level 6/7 barrier I am stuck at?

I will be very grateful for any help! Thanks for reading, and awesome forum!!!

[arctic_mama]

Hi there!

I am NOT as advanced as you, but saw major benefits to being proficient in scales.  After a lot of investigation I settled on a text by one of my favorite authors - Philip Johnston of PracticeSpot.  He wrote a wonderful method book on learning scales called Scalea Bootcamp.  I highly, highly recommend it.  A very systematic and thorough approach, common sense, clear instructions.

https://www.insidemusicteaching.com/bookstore/scalesbootcamp/index.html

After that, work on some Czerny, if you haven't already.  Between Scales Bootcamp and the School of Velocity (the Czerny study, one of them anyway!) you should be in much better shape for the passages that are causing you difficulty