Prokofiev Toccata op 11

[Greentea028]

Ok guys, im 17 and i've been playing piano for 11 years. recently i've played winter wind, chopin nocturne op 48 no 1.  butterfly etude. a couple beethoveen sonatas. polonaise in a major. and a prelude and fuge by bach.

I've been hearing that the piece that the tocatta is a really really beastly piece. I would like to tackle it for next year's recital, but i know nothing about it. keep in mind that i have a year to learn and perfect this piece. Can someone give me a synopsis of this piece? i'll read all replies =)

[Alde]

Judging by your repertoire, you might want to try something a little easier.

[DarkWind]

Hmm, if you've played the Butterfly Etude, you might have a chance. It requires more ghastly finger twisting though. A year to learn it though? If you work insanely hard, you shall have it learned!

[jlh]

You mean Op. 11, right?

In order to play this piece successfully, you must have very good wrist technique.  If not, you will most likely injure yourself or at the very least, not be able to play it through without getting fatigued.  If you get fatigued in this piece, it is immediately noticeable.

Your fingering also must be solid -- for this reason, I recommend using the Alfred edition at least as a reference.

17 may be mature enough to tackle something like this, I don't know.  I was 21 when I learned it, but since I had to use it for juries, I had to learn it in 2 months.  If you have more time than that, it certainly is a fun piece for audiences.

[liszmaninopin]

I love this piece!

It is quite difficult.  Which Beethoven sonatas have you played?  I would say that if you could play the more advanced sonatas, you would certainly be able to learn this piece (especially since you have a year).

I would say that the main technical difficulties of this piece are octave technique, thirds, jumps, and rapid chords.  I will briefly summarize how I approached it when learning it.  At first, I played through it, figuring out fingerings that would work.  Most of the piece is fairly simple to finger, but there are some very nasty bits.  If you wish, I can share fingerings for specific parts of the piece you may need help with.  Anyway, once I had the fingerings worked out, I practiced it through multiple times, more repetitions of the difficult sections.  In some passages, I used hands separate practice.  This was one of those pieces that seemed very tough for a while, but then it just kind of clicked, and one could play it at speed.  The piece does require alot of muscular endurance, which is why I first practiced it slowly ( to ingrain the habit of playing tension free, which is very important in beginning stages!).  Also, for me anyway, I found it necessary to practice the octave leaps at the end multiple times-they're really quite tricky to do at a high tempo.

If you have any more specific questions, I'll try to help.

[anda]

you should know best wheter you can play this in a year or not. a little test: if you can play the first 16 bars in tempo, correctly (meaning perfectly even lh/rh) with less than 2h of practice, i say you try.

[anda]

you should know best wheter you can play this in a year or not. a little test: if you can play the first 16 bars in tempo, correctly (meaning perfectly even lh/rh) and perfectly relaxed with less than 2h of practice, i say you try.

[anda]

sorry about the double post (server problems). how can i delete one?

[Greentea028]

thanks for the input everyone, im really good about learning techniques, but this is one of those pieces that take a while to perfect. 

I'll give it a shot and update you guys on the progress, i might give up on it and try something easier. but who knows.