Chopin's Scherzo in B flat minor

[chopiabin]

I was wondering how difficult Chopin's Scherzo in B flat minor op.31 is. I heard someone in a practice room playing it today, and it just made me wonder. Can anyone who has played it tell me how long it took to master it?

[Max]

It's not as hard as it sounds. If you have a generally good technique, it will come quickly - it repeats a lot, and the coda isn't too hard either.

[jon]

This song is not easy to learn, but it definitely sounds harder than it is. It took me about 3 and a half months of hard work to completely master this song but it is worth it. Having finger agility and flexibility is very helpful with this piece. This is one of my favorite songs and in my opinion one of Chopin's greatest works because it shows almost every aspect of Chopin's music , so I hope you learn this song because it is very rewarding and a great piece to have in your repertoire.

[allchopin]

It'' take you about as long as how well you want to be able to perform it - for me, a few months.  I still don't have it to the point I want it but I've pretty much stopped practicing it due to a sudden change of plans at my school (apparently the orchestra needs someone to play the Rach2 with them ).  It is a difficult piece in a few spots, with much repetition and slow 'resting' spots, and a lot of fun overall; My favorite Chopin scherzo.

[Pumpkinhead]

yea,I agree with that. This scherzo isn't devishly hard when compared to, say, Mephisto Waltz, but it is an extremely advanced piece nonetheless. The really hard part is refining it, cause this song is very difficult to perform without complete confidence.

Best Regards

[puppetmaster]

I've been learnign this pice for about 3 weeks now, the first part that repeats itself I have pretty much done, it just needs some perfecting. I am now at the first key change, I can do this part at about 150 bpm for now but i know it needs speeding up(referring to the part where it significantly speeds up). Anyone have any advice for learning it?

[Sketchee]

I'm still working on it. It's so long... Getting the sections to have a connected feel is where I'm at now.  I'm probably not going to have to play it for a recital until the spring and I was assigned it last spring (... but I procrastinated most of the summer.)

It's not my favorite piece, but playing it is still rewarding.

[quintet_op81]

I also agree that the length of time to mastery depends on the level of mastery you wish to achieve.  It's not a technically difficult piece- this was the first Chopin scherzo or ballade I learned.  It's also somewhat kind to the small-handed pianist, which is good.

The trap, I think, is that this piece sounds so beautiful even if you don't play it all that well, so you can be fooled into thinking you've done a good job when in fact there are many more layers of musicality you could've worked on.  But such a pretty piece!!!!!