Chopin Waltz op 69 n 2 played by Costanza (12 yrs)

[costicina]

The first Chopin of my daughter....

She had to learn it in a hurry for a little recital at school, so it's still a work in progress.

Any advices/suggestion to improve will be welcome!!!

[candlelightpiano]

That really was quite beautiful, Costanza, and especially considering you learned it in such a short time!!  It's one of my favorite Chopin waltzes and always reminds me more of a Polish mazurka than a Parisian dance.  Hearing this piece always makes me feel wistful, like I'm wishing for something I cannot have and feel a little sad.  So if there's one thing I would do differently, I think I would play it a little slower to make it sound more wistful and sad.  But you have a nice touch, you bring out the melody beautifully and you already play this piece very well.

[costicina]

You are right, Choo, she tends to hurry a bit, because she is stil unsure. And the LH should be much much more light....I hope she'll be able to cope with nerves next week, when she is going to play it in public (not a very competent audience, I have to admit, nonetheless....)

[perfect_pitch]

I think overall this piece just needs a lighter left hand, and although maybe not slower - I would play with the tempo and rubato a little bit more. Really exercise you're right to stretch time a little between the sections and the key changes.

Sadly enough though - I didn't really hear any changes overall in dynamics. It seems a little linear in sound. It could be the microphone, but if not - think of the quieter moments and the bigger more intense moments and ensure they're played with the right feel.

[costicina]

Thank you for the suggestion, Perfect, you're sure right, the piece needs badly a more nuanced dynamics. I think that she is still to worried about hitting the right notes at the right time to focus on expression and interpretation. But she's a sensitive girl, and I'm sure that as soon as she gains confidence, there will be an improvement in the 'musical' content.....

[49410enrique]

very nice work!

ok quick fixes, (also how long until the performance? this can help us tailer 'what to do' specific to the situations).

1.  lets help costanza solidify her memory and mechanics, have her with the score first play the entire piece with the left hand.  first time have her focus on that. 2nd time have her in her mind or if she can handle it sing  or hum (or la la la ) the RH melody while she plays the left hand.

2. let's give the piece some unified movement/direction, have constanza visualize a waltz, not neccessarily strict boom cha cha boom cha cha boom cha cha but give it a definiate 'down' feel on beat 1 and up 2 up 3, down 1, up 2 up 3, she can try with off the piano with a tap w her hand on the music desk while her arm is moving down, then while she lift her arm up tap  tap on the way up then tap down tap up tap up, this will give her sense of teach up beat leading to the next large beat, by the end of it , she should almost be feeling this in a slow 'one' like a single slow triplet, yes that sounds right.

3. simialr experiment as 1 and 2, let's ahve constanza play throug the entire waltz w only the right hand w music, then work to try to play it all RH without the music, also feeling that downward motion on one while 2 and three are lifting.


4. when the two hands can each play their part hands separate w memory and down up up feel, then put them together again. but put them together at a slower tempo than the finishing hands separate tempo first to ensure we don't lose what we worked on then build back up to the 'performance' tempo.



i'll stop there for now, this can be a lot alread depending how much time we have to adress but those are the details that will have the biggest impact ont he piece per time invested. also slightly 'unreleated' but make sure she is sleeping more or sleeping better, you woudl be surprised how being more strict on a earlier bed time and ensuring deep restful sleep going into a performance makes A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE it is almost as important as actually practicing.

nice 'visual' of how i think this waltz feels (i.e i wouldn't neccessarily strict ballroom dance it,  but more an elegant 'stage waltz')
this is how i see chopin's waltz 'danced to' , this is a different waltz but i think the visual impact can help her 'see' the dancers moving to her playing

[costicina]

Thank you so much, Enrique!!!! Your suggestion are, as always, very thoughtful and enlightning. Costanza is supposed to perform the piece on Monday, but we can keep on polishing it thereafter, since she likes this piece.   So far, I insisted mostly on the LH  pattern (1 accent-- 2 light-3 light), otherwise you kill the elegant, sliding nature of a waltz. I also teached her how to dance it, with a nice long and puffy skirt with little flower. The poor Felipe, too, was forced  to dance with her and with me  (of course he disliked fiercly the experience).

We'll try to do the HS work you suggest this week end, I agree that it's essential.

Thank you again for time /patience you dedicate to us, you can't figure out how much we appreciate your generous help !!!!!!!

[49410enrique]

The poor Felipe, too, was forced  to dance with her and with me  (of course he disliked fiercly the experience).

We'll try to do the HS work you suggest this week end, I agree that it's essential.

if you can do hands separate drills early this week (i.e. be done with them by thursday) that would prob work best. i think from friday-sunday she should practice performing vs practice the piece, that is by then pretty much all her sit downs to play should be  from start to finish as if she were performing, no stopping and fixing a bauble mid play through, she should learn to play thorugh the errors and practice at keeping the piece together if she misses something. also develop a plan for her on where in the piece should should skip forward to if she forgets where she is or memory lapses, i.e. 'memory stations' as i like to call them. in the face of a crash she can quickly recover no big deal.

try to make the sunday practices like performance, even dress up bow, etc. the more you can mimmick the 'stage ' the better.

poor felipe, perhaps he is just more of a j strauss ii kind of feline. like this little guy

[costicina]

 
You made our day with this cat's waltz, pure GENIUS!!!! Costanza is delighted (like me), and since she ADORES you, I'm sure she'll follow your advices. They are very helpful for me, too: I'm afraid I'm performing very badly my double role of mother/teacher.
I'll let you know how it's going. If Monday her performance won't be a complete disaster, we will ow it mostly to you....

[emill]

hello Costanza ,

How I wish I knew the language of pianists to offer you some advice ... I am most frustrated at this stage of my life for having given up the violin when I was a small kid .. whenever I hear music played by young persons like you.  Oh well, the advice are already there .. let me just say I find in your playing the music. THANKS!

[costicina]

SO nice of you to say that, Emill,thank you!!!!
For Costanza the piano will always be only a 'hobby', not her life, as it is for Enzo....Nonethelss, I hope so much she won't give up such a marvellous source of joy and inner enrichment....

[starstruck5]

The spirit of this piece is absolutely there already!  Chopin himself would admire it I think -sorry for not getting around to it earlier -it might have lifted my depression -

[costicina]

Thank you, Starstruck, your kind encouragement is most welcome!
But I'm a bit worried about you and your 'bad moment'. Suffering myself of depression (I've got a sort of bipolar disorder), I know too well that hell.
Anyway, count on us: you have many friends in this forum, who do care about you and like you...it's not much, I know, but sometimes little things can help!!!
I whish you all the best

[candlelightpiano]

You are right, Choo, she tends to hurry a bit, because she is stil unsure. And the LH should be much much more light....I hope she'll be able to cope with nerves next week, when she is going to play it in public (not a very competent audience, I have to admit, nonetheless....)

How did the recital go?  I'm sure Costanza performed beautifully.  She is a very fine pianist, already, at such a tender age.  She is a much better pianist than me and there's plenty of Chopin's spirit in this lovely piece.

[costicina]

Thank you, Choo, you are always so kind!!

The mini-recital was a success, she didn't played as well as she does at home, but overall she was able to remedy  with admirable cold blood some minor memory slips and wrong notes. Anyway, the audience didn't notice: most of them don't know Chopin from Bach  . Costanza was also asked to play another piece as an  encore, and she performed Schumann's Intermezzo, not too bad.
The funny thing is that many parents asked me to teach their sons/daughters (they know I've coached her): but I would feel like cheating, since I lack any formal qualification as a piano teacher...
Anyway, it was a positive experience: I whish she had more opportunity of playing  in public, to learn how to cope with nerves etc....Let's see

Let us know how is going with your injured hand! As soon as you'll start again the FI, maybe Costanza could join you!!!!

[littletune]

Congratulations for the successful recital!  
(I play sooo much easier pieces and I was making mistakes all the time and once I completely forgot what to play with the left hand!  )

[candlelightpiano]

Marg: I'm so happy that Costanza's recital went well and she even performed an encore!  You have a very fine pianist in the making!!  My hands are better and I'm now practicing according to a rigid protocol - 10 mins 3 times a day only!!  But better than nothing.  So I'm starting to play a piece I've played for a million years (not classical - maybe if it's good enough, I may post on Birba's thread hee hee hee) and Consolation (because I forgot all the notes after 3 months!).  After I re-learn Consolation, I'll go back to FI.  Oh, Costanza will be way ahead of me in FI in no time at all.  Look how quickly she learned this waltz.  It was amazing to see!!  I could never learn it in such a short time and perform it!

Littletune:  You do very well in your recitals.  I wish I had your guts!

[costicina]

  I'm so hapyy you can practice again!!!!!  A break from piano sometimes is a positive thing: for instance, after the recital Costanza didn't touch the keyboard for days (and so did I). Now she ASKED me  to start learning her new pieces, and with a renewed enthusiasm!!!!
She has a lot to learn from you. The project of a 'FI workshop' after the summer could be a great idea!!!!!

[cuberdrift]

Hey I learned this when I was twelve too in one week 

IM SO PRO  I BETTER THAN THIS NOOB 

lol joke

Hey, at that age I didn't actually care that much about dynamics/rubato/phrasing/speed yet. I was just on on hitting the right notes and making it sound melancholic. But as a more experienced performer, yeah, you do need to slow down. View Rubinstein's version in Youtube as a good example. Also you need to put dynamic changes.

Good luck and stay put!