Tempo fluctuation in Chopin etude op 25 no 2

[rovis77]

Hi, I have an issue with this etude. I play the first part of the etude at 95 bpm and then when the main theme starts again my speed moves to 96 bpm. Is this normal?. This happens of course when Im not practicing with the metronome, but I checked a recording of me and checked it with a metronome and my speed fluctuates between 1 bpm and 2 bpm between the first and the second part. How can I correct this?, is this an important variation?

[awesom_o]

Post your recording in the audition room if you would like help on the complex topic of tempo rubato!

[philolog]

It seems to me that the difference between 95 and 96 is so small as to be safely ignored-----after all, you're not a machine (and why would you want to be?). As I believe awsome is suggesting in a roundabout way (by referring to tempo rubato), it's the minor fluctuations within a piece that give it a "human" or musical quality, something that should be cultivated rather than repressed. Of course, in my opinion artistic license can be carried to extremes. In any case, I think it worth remembering that the metronome is not a very musical instrument, although it definitely has its uses.

[nyiregyhazi]

It seems to me that the difference between 95 and 96 is so small as to be safely ignored-----after all, you're not a machine (and why would you want to be?). As I believe awsome is suggesting in a roundabout way (by referring to tempo rubato), it's the minor fluctuations within a piece that give it a "human" or musical quality, something that should be cultivated rather than repressed. Of course, in my opinion artistic license can be carried to extremes. In any case, I think it worth remembering that the metronome is not a very musical instrument, although it definitely has its uses.

I'm rather hoping this is a troll having a laugh, rather than a reflection of quite how misguided a culture of literalism has made the world. 1 bpm is simply nothing, human or otherwise. A difference of 5 or 10 might give a human quality. A difference of one is a simple non event - and the reason I presume this is a joke is that I have not the slightest idea as to how anyone would measure such an irrelevant and minute difference in the first place. It would be a feat of musical misjudgement to even be capable of getting it down the next nearest bpm every time. Surely the culture of stone dead literalism has not become so pervasive that concern about whether a theme varies by a single bpm could be a sincere enquiry? I really prefer to think not.

[rovis77]

So is it normal what is happening to me?, when i start the second time the main theme on the Chopin etude op 25 no 2 it varies by 1 bpm or 2. My ear finds impossible to distinguish the difference between 95 and 96. Does this happen to you also?

[nyiregyhazi]

So is it normal what is happening to me?, when i start the second time the main theme on the Chopin etude op 25 no 2 it varies by 1 bpm or 2. My ear finds impossible to distinguish the difference between 95 and 96. Does this happen to you also?

If you're not taking the piss here, you need to reevaulate everything there is about how you view music. I have no idea how even a metronome can distinguish between 95 and 96 against a recording- given that you'd have to be playing as rigidly as computer to even deduce that one tempo is 95 and 96. Even an iota of freedom would make it impossible to differentiate so precisely.

If you're not joking then go and read the art of piano playing by Heinrich Neuhaus and Konrad Wolff's book on Schnabel's teaching. Although I'm quite sure you are. Everything you're saying is both silly and unbelievable.

[rovis77]

I checked a recording of me against the metronome and thats why I know why I sometimes play at 95 and then at 96 bpm

[nyiregyhazi]

I checked a recording of me against the metronome and thats why I know why I sometimes play at 95 and then at 96 bpm

So you play metronomically enough for a bpm of 95 and 96 to be distinguishable. You're having a laugh...

[j_menz]

Is this normal?.

Yep.

How can I correct this?,

Don't bother.

is this an important variation?

No.

[iansinclair]

and while you are at it, if you are paying that much attention to the metronome you can't possibly be playing musically.

Take the metronome and throw it out the window.  Or use it as a target.  Or something like that.

[pianoman8]

95 and 95 bpm is an extremely small difference and it does not be corrected as there is nothing wrong with playing a piece a little differently in different sections. If every note of a recording is in perefect time, rhythmically and metronomically it would be boring!

[perfect_playing]

It's such a small difference I have no idea how you even picked it up, when listening to your recording with a metronome! I certainly wouldn't be able to! In fact, most metronomes (at least the one I have) increases in differences of 3 or 4 beats per minute so I don't know how you picked up such a minute difference. Don't be so obsessed with metronomic practice.

Having said that though, you should practice this piece at different speeds to ensure the technique is good and you are in control. You can use a metronome to determine these speeds but there is no need to use the metronome while playing unless you have serious tempo problems (e.g. unnecessary rushing). Practise at speeds like 70 bpm, 80 bpm, 90 bpm, 100 bpm, 110 bpm. (I know some of these aren't performance speeds but it's still good to do to change things up once in a while).

What you need to think about with this etude is making sure you are relaxed, in control, and focus on the musical things: shaping the melodic line with all its interesting contours and harmonic nuances!
Keeping that in mind will make for a musically engaging performance, rather than obsessing over the smallest fluctuation in speed that no one will notice anyway.