Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso tips! Help!!

[chopincrazy23]

Hello,
  I am wondering if anyone here has some tips for learning and practicing considerably hard pieces that are pretty long? My teacher gave me the Rondo Capriccioso by Mendelssohn and I am wondering, should I learn each hand separately all the way through then put them together? Or should I learn the different sections of the piece hands together then put the sections together at the end? I will also gladly take any other advice anyone has for this piece!

[aklvkk]

YAY this piece is amazing (so beautiful) for the beginning Andante I'd practice just bringing out the melody expressively since technically it's not as difficult as the other parts. The Presto part is a little more tricky so you'd need to practice phrase by phrase each hand separately then bring it to gether (SLOWLY); e.g. from the E-D#-E to the 4th measure where it has the 8th rest.

That's all I can say for now because I played this a long time ago, but it's not too difficult once you get the hang of it Are there specific sections where you are having trouble at?


Edit: Oh and the section with the E major arpeggio and descending phrase with C#--you should practice hands separately (again). A lot of is repetition and once you get the pattern it shouldn't be too difficult.
Also, for the last part with octaves, I'd recommend playing with both hands slowly.

[dima_76557]

I will also gladly take any other advice anyone has for this piece!

As with all pieces: concentrate on beautiful touch in SLOW practice, not on breaking the sound barrier. If you want something to strive for, then listen to (and watch, which is VERY useful in this case) what the young Arrau did with Mendelssohn's treasure (I'm sorry, can't help it that the clip doesn't start at the very beginning):