Please give me some feedback on this(I know, mostly deep criticism lol). Outline any weakness and strengths I have here and any advise on how I can practice this. As far as speed is concerned, I am not really looking to make this a whole ton faster. Definitely faster but not like twice as fast. I think some of the quality in the music can be lost when this is played too fast. Well just my opinion...AND, if your comments are something along the lines of, "Gabe I think that sucks and you should quit piano completely", although altogether painful, I would still appreciate them. It will simply motivate me to practice more Gabe
Hi Gabe,I like many things that you have written above. I like that you CAN play it faster, but feel that the musical quality is better at a slightly slower tempo. You are correct. Obviously it can go a bit quicker eventually, but you are absolutely correct to not worry about this at your current stage. Don't look to make it a ton faster. Look to play it instead with even better clarity, rhythm, and legato at the tempo you have chosen. Pay attention to how you FEEL while playing it. "Relaxed" isn't the correct word for it. Perhaps "well-coordinated" would be best words for describing how it should feel. I'll give you some more specific advice later, with the score in front of me. You may have learned a few incorrect notes by mistake in a few places. Well done! Personally, I like to play this Etude a little bit slower than most people myself, as I feel it can sound more dramatic that way. I would really like to hear you play this on a real acoustic piano!
Is it just me or did that cut out about 2/3rds of the way through?You seem to be struggling. A lot. It actually sounds better than I think it really is. And that would explain why your arms get tired when you go faster.My advice, FWIW, is to slow it right down for a bit. A lot slower (50% or thereabouts). And play it all a lot softer. Just concentrate on the movements of your arms and fingers. Mostly your fingers. And make sure each and every movement feels relaxed and easy. If it doesn't, move your arm or body until it does. Don't attempt to speed up until you can do it at that pace without any feeling of strain or effort. Then increase speed (and volume again) slowly, making sure you retain that comfort.I'm not suggesting you play the Godowsky study on this (yet ), but if you download it from IMSLP you'll find at the start of it there are a number of shortish exercises. You might find those a useful adjunct study.
As a piano teacher told me years ago........whenever you hit a wrong note, you are playing too fast. Slow down until you play it correctly and then speed up to the point you don't hit any wrong notes.
Assuming the DP was accurately able to reproduce the tone you intended, it sounds like you are using your fingers to play each and every note of the left hand. Doing so is turning this piece into a finger study when it was not intended to be one, and makes it incredibly difficult to play at the correct tempo and make music. You should be making large sweeping motions to play all the notes, not individual motions for each one.
If you listen to the recording, you can very clearly hear that it is not insufficient movement of the fingers, but excess without sufficient use of other motions. This is what I was referring to. There's no doubt that the finger action alone is what is preventing the speed issue.
And reducing finger movements would automatically send the arm flowing along seamlessly? I hardly think so. Less finger movement equals more need for arm presses. That makes for jerky arm movement. Instead of making false polarisation, how about considering that finger movements are the basis upon which it becomes possible to add smooth and fluid lateral arm movements and suggesting arm motions are an addition (rather than replacement)? I cannot overstate how destructive it was to me in the years where I was taken in by explanations of arm replacing fingers, rather than of arm movements creating freedom for fingers to move. The more I was told to do it with the arm, the more I was encouraged to press and the worse the problems became. Arm cannot replace fingers. It can complement them. It's actually when you liberate fingers from arm pressure that a piece like this can flow, but the way you present your description would encourage less finger movement and more arm shoves. The most important arm movements are sideways ones that allow fingers to move keys freely- not ones that pile pressure on the fingers. Even when speaking of fluid arm movements, it only confuses unless it's clear to the student that the arm can only be fluid when fingers are moving the keys, rather than arm shoves.
I never said anything about reducing finger movement = arm moves more. As for everything else you state, just because you use more arm movement doesn't mean you need to press into the keybed more.All I said is to use sweeping arm movements since that is huge part of the missing equation as you can clearly hear each note is depressed individually, not as groups. This is an easy study if you use the right movements or it can be a hard one if played the wrong way.
Gabe, Don't be too concerned with what armchair critics have to say about your technique. It's very unlikely that faulty_damper can play this Etude even half as well as you can. Your technique is looking just fine! Overall, the tempo is a little too slow, but it's certainly getting there! I would like to hear more clarity of sound, more "electricity" in the tone itself, and less of the bigger, heavier, muddy sound I'm currently hearing. Perhaps consider pedaling a bit more judiciously. I thought you were a little over-reliant on the pedal much of the time, and this caused the sound to be too murky for my taste.
Are you seriously repeating that to suggest that you were right all along? The video conclusively shows otherwise. You really must be joking.
I think you're watching a different video from the one he posted.
Since you're making this about me, I'll return the favor. I've listened to some of your Chopin etude performances and I can tell just from the recordings that you have technical limitations. I'd offer advice on how to solve them, but somehow, I'd rather just let you struggle. Good luck!
Thanks! I agree that i was using the pedal way too much there and it was mudding things up. I will try to let up a bit on the pedal and try to make this sound clearer overall
I haven't heard any of your recordings of the Chopin etudes yet. Don't tell me that awsome_o's technique sucks without proving your own superiority
Good technique is effortless and requires no practice once learned.
Now here's the rub that you will encounter that you'll probably regret later: you'll not be able to play this piece, or any other piece, unless you constantly practice it. The moment you stop practicing, the skill, endurance, stamina, etc. you built up begins to degrade because it's unsustainable. That's not good technique; that's bad technique.
Even Awesom_o has to practice his Chopin studies to maintain them, am I right, Awesom_o?
Not at all, in fact. I'm too busy playing ten of the Waltzes, the E minor Concerto, the 4 Ballades, the 2nd Sonata, the 3rd Sonata, the 4 Impromptus, the 3 Mazurkas from op. 69, 6 of the late Nocturnes, and the Cello Sonata (on the cello). Preparing for a certain upcoming Chopin competition, and must set a good example for all of my pupils! Once you've mastered the 24 Etudes, they stick in your hands like glue! Not that you'd know, as you seem too shy to post any of your playing whatsoever, despite the 'fact' you are the only pianist in the world without 'faulty' technique!
Topic: Some advice needed for Chopin's Revolutionary Etude 