Starting out at LTCL

[firepanda]

Hello 

I've just finished my Associate diploma and, pass or fail, I've decided to work on a completely new repertoire at a higher level.  I've set out the following pieces with the tentative aim of sitting a Licenciate diploma.

Sonata in E-flat Major Op. 81a "Les Adieux"            Beethoven
Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor Op. 31                     Chopin
Rhapsody in Blue                                               Gershwin

Is there I should know about these pieces?  How to begin, common mistakes, hardest passages etc.  Please post anything that may be even remotely constructive.

Many thanks.

EDIT: Also, can anyone give me the approximate length of these pieces excluding repeats?  At the moment, I have the Sonata at 16 minutes, the Gershwin at 16 minutes and the Chopin hovering around 8 minutes.

[scherzo123]

Hello 

I've just finished my Associate diploma and, pass or fail, I've decided to work on a completely new repertoire at a higher level.  I've set out the following pieces with the tentative aim of sitting a Licenciate diploma.

Sonata in E-flat Major Op. 81a "Les Adieux"            Beethoven
Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor Op. 31                     Chopin
Rhapsody in Blue                                               Gershwin

Is there I should know about these pieces?  How to begin, common mistakes, hardest passages etc.  Please post anything that may be even remotely constructive.

Many thanks.

EDIT: Also, can anyone give me the approximate length of these pieces excluding repeats?  At the moment, I have the Sonata at 16 minutes, the Gershwin at 16 minutes and the Chopin hovering around 8 minutes.

I like all the pieces, my favorite of the three being the scherzo. The scherzo I was studying but I had to set it aside because some parts were bothering me a lot, and that would be the arpeggios and other runs. Those runs and arpeggios don't exactly fit under the hand quite well, so if you have small hands, you might have a bit more trouble. Keeping the tempo right is also a major problem in the scherzo. As for the other pieces, I don't know anything. All I know is that the Beethoven is insanely beautiful. I also know that the left hand in the 1st movement is stretchy, and that the 3rd movement is fast...I think.

[symphonicdance]

I am neither a teacher nor a professional, but please allow to share my thoughts on your programme, and perhaps more interested to you, the points on the Beethoven and Chopin pieces I picked up as an audience in 2 masterclasses.

You are courageous and I suppose you must be competent and confident yourself, when you pick these musically and technically challenging pieces amongst the LTCL syllabus.  I passed my LTCL entirely by self-learning last year.  I didn't select Beethoven, Chopin and Gershwin at the end, although I'd shortlisted them to be my potential picks at the beginning.  Any way, yours is a balanced enough programme.

Beethoven
The playing of the first three notes will almost dictate the audience/examiner's impression for the entire piece.  Must never never be plain.
Generally on Beethoven (as students always made mistakes) : Continue the line / phrase, keep the tension.  Important to read & understand the structure of the piece.
Full note : don't take off before end.
Keep the tempo, and don't slow down (rit / rall) unless the score asked you to.
Finger pedal will work better at various bars (sorry, I couldn't pick up exactly which bars) instead of adding right pedal.

Chopin
Rhythm can be slower, but should be in same tempo.
Don't extend or shorten the rest signs, i.e. do count accurately.
The 4 notes (triplets plus the quarter note) are important.  There's a famous Russian pianists practising just these 4 notes for 8 hours in one day to find out the sound.
RH and LH an octave apart, and they should not be played the same.
Bar 49 left hand important, but the notes of RH still need to be heard
Bar 65 con anima, LH no mechanical, wrist rolling
Same keys (to be repeated) used different fingers to create the difference of sound even the mildest.
Bar 118 et al Accent on the first note, and so emphasize, but not the other 5 in the bar.
Sostenuto section : high voice come out
Bar 264 is sotte voce and Bar 277 is p, and they should sound differently
Bar 277 LH melody and chords should not be blurred
Bar 330 LH also part the programme
Bar 334 leggiero : consider to keep the RH fingers to near the keyboard and don't hang them high
Bar 492 agitato : don't start too loud
Bar 492 RH last note D and Bar 493 RH first note D : use different fingers
Bar 517 RH elegant, soft
Bar 724 start softly then cresendo
Bar 745 et al watch out for the decendo sign

Hope the above helps (if you can understand what I wrote.  Sorry, English is not my mother tongue).  And I am sure that your teacher will provide more guidance.

Good luck.

[scherzo123]

Chopin
Rhythm can be slower, but should be in same tempo.
Don't extend or shorten the rest signs, i.e. do count accurately.
The 4 notes (triplets plus the quarter note) are important.  There's a famous Russian pianists practising just these 4 notes for 8 hours in one day to find out the sound.
RH and LH an octave apart, and they should not be played the same.
Bar 49 left hand important, but the notes of RH still need to be heard
Bar 65 con anima, LH no mechanical, wrist rolling
Same keys (to be repeated) used different fingers to create the difference of sound even the mildest.
Bar 118 et al Accent on the first note, and so emphasize, but not the other 5 in the bar.
Sostenuto section : high voice come out
Bar 264 is sotte voce and Bar 277 is p, and they should sound differently
Bar 277 LH melody and chords should not be blurred
Bar 330 LH also part the programme
Bar 334 leggiero : consider to keep the RH fingers to near the keyboard and don't hang them high
Bar 492 agitato : don't start too loud
Bar 492 RH last note D and Bar 493 RH first note D : use different fingers
Bar 517 RH elegant, soft
Bar 724 start softly then cresendo
Bar 745 et al watch out for the decendo sign

So helpful. Bravo! 

[firepanda]

Thank you very much!

My teacher has never taught or played Gershwin in particular and has only done the Scherzo years ago, so I'm taking any advice I can get.  I'm keen to get the learning out of the way as quickly as possible so that I can really focus on musicality.  Les Adieux in particular might be a challenge in that regard, because I'm still quite young.