Chopin Scherzo no 2 tips/advice

[sfff]

Hello all.

I have been playing this piece for a while now, but I have never truly mastered it. Two parts in particular have been difficult for me, but I believe they involve the same technique.

The parts that trouble me are the ascending right hand runs right before the first recapitulation of the opening and the leggiero portion which has a similar constant right hand motion.

I would really like to know the best way to practice these sections because I am getting nowhere on my own. I also feel as if mastering this technique is vital because I have seen similar runs in many pieces.

Thank you in advance

[kellyc]

1. get a good teacher
2. Or get a knowledgable pianist to watch and listen to you play .
3. Or record yourself and post it here so we can listen to what you are doing. 
4. Provide some background on yourself as to where you are in your playing level.
5. Expand on the sections that are bothering you. Breakdown the runs into very tiny little sections and look for the first sign of your hands losing control.
6. Slow it down and see if that fixes the problem.
7. Try and note if there are other pieces that give you similar problems. 
8. even though it is the right hand giving you the problems, play the left hand only . See if your concentration might be breaking because of what the left hand is doing.
9. Record yourself and sit back and listen. Take your feet off the pedal so that what is happening is really clear.
10. Thats it for now. I could list twenty more things in person, but I'm really only making an educated guess. Best of Luck.

Kelly

[krystellle]

Hi!  I've also taken this scherzo up again.  The biggest problem is the last arpeggio up and down before the reprise and before the middle section.  I wonder if anyone plays it with the r.h. alone.  To get the force and sound in each note, I have to divide it between two hands.  The arpeggios before, I don't find any difficulty.  The other hard part is the second part of the central section.  I have to remember to keep the hand relaxed - a continuous articulation with no tensing up.  But this is a technique that needs to be acquired with lots of slow work.  I can't explain it to you.  But remember, when you stretch for those notes in the passages you were talking about just before the reprise, your hand has to bound back into a relaxed "holding-a-ball-in-the-hand" position.