Alkan Le Preux

[cz4p32]

Hi, this is my first post on this board.  Has anyone here attempted to play this awesome etude?  I have started to learn it, slowly.  Any suggestions or ways to get the proper technique for the jumps required, and the extreme crossing of the hands down up to speed?

Justin

[Brian Healey]

Yeah, that etude kicks serious serious rear end.

I don't think there's any secret to it, at least not one that I'm aware of. Just keep doing what you're doing (practicing it slowly) and it will eventually come together. One thing that I found works great with this piece (or any piece) is to isolate the trouble spots, whether they involve jumps or crossing hands or whatever, and do this:

Practice these sections ultra, ultra slow. Play them at a speed where a sixteenth note is 120 on the metronome, maybe slower. I'm talking SLOW. Better yet, play the whole piece at that speed. Just concentrate on playing very fluidly, as if you were submerged underwater. Really try to meditate on your movements. Don't over-exagerate them, but move with confidence and complete relaxation. Do that for a while. Practice the piece that way for maybe a week. Then double the speed, it will still be slow, but it will seem much quicker than you're used to. Think about tightening your movements. Not tightening as in tense, but tightening as in making your movements smaller to match the speed. In places where you were making wide wrist movements, make them smaller, more compact, yet still completely relaxed. After another week or so, double the speed again.

Also, while you're playing super-slow, practice breathing at regular intervals through your nose. Believe me, that will help a ton. Make sure it's through the nose too, because breathing through the mouth excites the heart. From my experience, you can master virtually any piece within a matter of weeks if you practice strictly in this fashion. Unless of course you're trying to learn Sorabji...........then you've just got issues no matter what.

[cz4p32]

Thanks for the suggestions...I've never thought of putting all of those things together in practice.  I will focus on doing that with this piece and see how my progress goes.

[cz4p32]

The slow practice is working well, and I'm not speeding it up yet.  I have the basic arpeggiated chord/extreme hand crossing section memorized, so hopefully I will continue with this progress for the rest of the piece.  I don't know about learning it in a few weeks though, cause it's not like I can work on this for even an hour a day, more like 20 min a day.

[Brian Healey]

Honestly, you don't really need to practice anything, no matter what it is, for an hour a day. It's more important to practice something every day, even if it's for a short time, then it is to practice something for a long time every other day.

[cz4p32]

That's a good line of reasoning.  Our brains probably learn more in between practice than they do while practicing. 

I was hoping someone could help me out with another secion of this piece.  Apparently I can't attach a picture to this post, otherwise I would show the measure.  But if anyone has the pdf file of this piece, on page 12, 2nd line, 1st measure you have the left hand playing ascending octaves, but the first octave is supposed to be rolled along with a chord at the same time the right hand plays a chord.  My question, is how do you manage to play this, while keeping the octaves in time.  It seems impossible.  I have been trying to figure it out by listening to the recording, but it's tough to hear.