Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1

[aaronpetit]

Hi all,
here is a recording of the Chopin e minor concerto Op. 11 I made last month. I hope you all enjoy it.
I would love to hear your feedback.

Movement 1

Movement 2

Movement 3

Thanks for watching!

Aaron Petit
503-330-7594
https://www.aaronpetitpiano.com
pianoapprentice@hotmail.com

[ianzilla]

you learned this whole concerto in 3 months?! thats amazing and inspiring! How did you do this feat??  I'd like your advice on how to learn pieces in the fastest way!

[aaronpetit]

you learned this whole concerto in 3 months?! thats amazing and inspiring! How did you do this feat??  I'd like your advice on how to learn pieces in the fastest way!

Thanks so much. The actual performance was 5 months after I started it but It took only 3 to memorize and get comfortable.

I learn music in a very unique way that helps get things really quickly. It would take at least 6-8 one on one lessons to explain my methods but I will give you a few pointers here. If you are interested in doing any study with me over Skype, just send me an email and we can talk about that.

Here are a few learning tips...

No. 1 Don't repeat a practice session on a section you have already learned until you have the whole piece worked out. Say for example there are 3 sections in a piece... If you learn the first section one day, then the second day you review the first before going to the second, you have wasted your time for learning the new section. Then on day three you review the first 2 sections which leaves little time at all to tackle the 3rd section. Now you have lots of exposure to the first section but not much on the last. That is why we often hear student performances that start well and get worse as time goes by. In summary don't keep playing from beginning to end until yo have it all, only work on new material and then review when the whole piece is memorized.

No. 2 Don't play through mistakes. Learn to isolate a moment of difficulty by stopping immediately when you notice it. Take your hands of the keyboard and ask your self "What Went Wrong?" or "The 3-W Question" Figuring out what caused the mistake is the most important thing to fixing it. Once you know the root problem, do what ever you can to eliminate it. My teacher always says don't leave the bench until you have solved a problem or worked something it. It is better to clean up 2 or 3 spots than to play from beginning to end several times.

No. 3 Use Mark Westcott's "Compare and Contrast" Practice method. This is basically the idea of practicing and similar or repeated material back to back to learn it faster. This could be a whole section or just a few bars.

For example, in SONATA form we have 3 large sections broken down into 5
(Expo A1-B1), (Development), (Recap A2-B2)
Learn the A1 and the A2 together, Then the B1 and B2 together, Then study the development for how it transforms those 2 themes.

Another good form to explain this is rondo. Lets say we have a basic RONDO form ABACADABA.
We see that there are 6 A sections so learn all of them back to back, then learn the 2 b sections together, and finally, learn c and d, seperately. Once you have them, putting them in the right order isn't difficult. It actually clears things up, mentally, for me.

While practicing back to back, look for what is the same and what is different. Look for things like Key changes, different chord inversions, octave changes, different dynamic markings, added measures, differences of accompaniment,  etc.

Again, if you would like to have some lessons or anything, please send me an email at pianoapprentice@hotmail.com. If not, I hope these tips can prove to be useful to you.
 -Aaron


 

[kawai_cs]

Why do you post it in every forum subdivision?!

It is admirable that you have only played piano for 5 years and started playing relatively late and yet you learned to perform this concerto in such a short period of time. Bravo. Good luck to you in your career.
Thank you for your tips. I have heard them in one of Josh Wright's video tutorials as well.

[ianzilla]

Thanks so much. The actual performance was 5 months after I started it but It took only 3 to memorize and get comfortable.

I learn music in a very unique way that helps get things really quickly. It would take at least 6-8 one on one lessons to explain my methods but I will give you a few pointers here. If you are interested in doing any study with me over Skype, just send me an email and we can talk about that.

Here are a few learning tips...

No. 1 Don't repeat a practice session on a section you have already learned until you have the whole piece worked out. Say for example there are 3 sections in a piece... If you learn the first section one day, then the second day you review the first before going to the second, you have wasted your time for learning the new section. Then on day three you review the first 2 sections which leaves little time at all to tackle the 3rd section. Now you have lots of exposure to the first section but not much on the last. That is why we often hear student performances that start well and get worse as time goes by. In summary don't keep playing from beginning to end until yo have it all, only work on new material and then review when the whole piece is memorized.

No. 2 Don't play through mistakes. Learn to isolate a moment of difficulty by stopping immediately when you notice it. Take your hands of the keyboard and ask your self "What Went Wrong?" or "The 3-W Question" Figuring out what caused the mistake is the most important thing to fixing it. Once you know the root problem, do what ever you can to eliminate it. My teacher always says don't leave the bench until you have solved a problem or worked something it. It is better to clean up 2 or 3 spots than to play from beginning to end several times.

No. 3 Use Mark Westcott's "Compare and Contrast" Practice method. This is basically the idea of practicing and similar or repeated material back to back to learn it faster. This could be a whole section or just a few bars.

For example, in SONATA form we have 3 large sections broken down into 5
(Expo A1-B1), (Development), (Recap A2-B2)
Learn the A1 and the A2 together, Then the B1 and B2 together, Then study the development for how it transforms those 2 themes.

Another good form to explain this is rondo. Lets say we have a basic RONDO form ABACADABA.
We see that there are 6 A sections so learn all of them back to back, then learn the 2 b sections together, and finally, learn c and d, seperately. Once you have them, putting them in the right order isn't difficult. It actually clears things up, mentally, for me.

While practicing back to back, look for what is the same and what is different. Look for things like Key changes, different chord inversions, octave changes, different dynamic markings, added measures, differences of accompaniment,  etc.

Again, if you would like to have some lessons or anything, please send me an email at pianoapprentice@hotmail.com. If not, I hope these tips can prove to be useful to you.
 -Aaron


 

Wow thanks for taking so much time to type all of this out! I think your first tip is the most helpful to me.  When I memorize pieces, I often review what I memorized before and have less time to memorize new material.  I am often frustrated at memorizing pieces slowly because I feel like if I focused better, I could learn way faster.  I average about 3 pieces a semester, but I think I will improve thanks to your tips .  Its also nice to see someone around my age really passionate about the piano like me.  Learning a concerto in 3 months like you is a huge feat and I can see how much I have to catch up to.   I'll consider your lessons in the future!

Thanks Aaron

[ianzilla]

Also do you recommend learning pieces that are above your technique level?  I'm working on Chopins 10 4 after learning 25 12 and 10 3, and I can play it at a slower tempo maybe finish in about 2:35.  So basically, should one learn few, more difficult pieces, or pieces that are about my comfortable technique level?

[aaronpetit]

Why do you post it in every forum subdivision?!

It is admirable that you have only played piano for 5 years and started playing relatively late and yet you learned to perform this concerto in such a short period of time. Bravo. Good luck to you in your career.
Thank you for your tips. I have heard them in one of Josh Wright's video tutorials as well.

Thanks, very much for your comments and encouragement!
Josh Wright is awesome. I didn't get it from him, my own teacher told my those things.
However, I did see that he talked about my first point in a video once.
I posted it in 3 subdivisions because a lot of people only read 1 or 2 usually.

Thanks for watching.

[aaronpetit]

Also do you recommend learning pieces that are above your technique level?  I'm working on Chopins 10 4 after learning 25 12 and 10 3, and I can play it at a slower tempo maybe finish in about 2:35.  So basically, should one learn few, more difficult pieces, or pieces that are about my comfortable technique level?

I am glad you found my ideas helpful.
That is a VERY hard question to answer. Let me just tell you a little bit about my own experienc with that. The simple answer is, you should have always going, a mix of too easy, just right, and too hard. Here is my story.

5 months in to playing piano, I learned Mozart's Rondo Alla Turka from A Major Sonata. Needless to say, I didn't have the technique for it, but I still got it to tempo and performed it a few times.
A few months later, I tackled the Heroic Polonaise and got about half of it before realizing it would be way too hard for that time. In the next 2-3 years came Schumann's Tocatta, Liszt's Tarentella, Mazeppa etude 4, Prokofiev Sonata 7, Balakeriev Islamey. Those 5 pieces all fell into the "Giving Up" Category but that was only for that time. Now that I have a few more years of experience, I don't find any of those pieces that hard. So I don't regret attempting them.

There were also some pieces that were seemingly too hard for me when I started them but my persistence got me through them. Like the red riding hood etude of Rachmaninoff, the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 and most recently the Chopin e minor.
So I would say go ahead and play something that's "Too hard" as long as you are wilining to drop it and admit it is above you if it goes poorly. You never want to play to the point of injury so always be careful. I watched everything I did in the Chopin and it turned my into a much better pianist than before. If you watching my other concertos or videos from a year or 2 ago, you will see the difference.

Always with the hard pieces though, I had easier things like Bach inventions, Chopin preludes, Small finger studies, etc. It's good to have a balance.

Now as far as the 10-4, I performed that one alot last year. It's the kind of etude that you either can or can't play. I have huge hands (span of a 12th) and thick fingers so it was almost impossible for me to do that piece with all the work in between the black keys and cramped positions. Other than those few spots in it though, I found that lots of slow practice going from key bottom to key bottom and applying a little arm weight will basically solve it.

Here is a video tutorial I made for practicing lots of perpetual flying notes. I actually used 10-4 as an example in that video around 5 minutes in. I hope that video helps you.

Let me know if this clarifies anything. I know its kind of a lot of words! Sorry. Best, Aaron

[a99966613]

amazing！ how old you start to learn the piano?

[ianzilla]

I am glad you found my ideas helpful.
That is a VERY hard question to answer. Let me just tell you a little bit about my own experienc with that. The simple answer is, you should have always going, a mix of too easy, just right, and too hard. Here is my story.

5 months in to playing piano, I learned Mozart's Rondo Alla Turka from A Major Sonata. Needless to say, I didn't have the technique for it, but I still got it to tempo and performed it a few times.
A few months later, I tackled the Heroic Polonaise and got about half of it before realizing it would be way too hard for that time. In the next 2-3 years came Schumann's Tocatta, Liszt's Tarentella, Mazeppa etude 4, Prokofiev Sonata 7, Balakeriev Islamey. Those 5 pieces all fell into the "Giving Up" Category but that was only for that time. Now that I have a few more years of experience, I don't find any of those pieces that hard. So I don't regret attempting them.

There were also some pieces that were seemingly too hard for me when I started them but my persistence got me through them. Like the red riding hood etude of Rachmaninoff, the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 and most recently the Chopin e minor.
So I would say go ahead and play something that's "Too hard" as long as you are wilining to drop it and admit it is above you if it goes poorly. You never want to play to the point of injury so always be careful. I watched everything I did in the Chopin and it turned my into a much better pianist than before. If you watching my other concertos or videos from a year or 2 ago, you will see the difference.

Always with the hard pieces though, I had easier things like Bach inventions, Chopin preludes, Small finger studies, etc. It's good to have a balance.

Now as far as the 10-4, I performed that one alot last year. It's the kind of etude that you either can or can't play. I have huge hands (span of a 12th) and thick fingers so it was almost impossible for me to do that piece with all the work in between the black keys and cramped positions. Other than those few spots in it though, I found that lots of slow practice going from key bottom to key bottom and applying a little arm weight will basically solve it.

Here is a video tutorial I made for practicing lots of perpetual flying notes. I actually used 10-4 as an example in that video around 5 minutes in. I hope that video helps you.

Let me know if this clarifies anything. I know its kind of a lot of words! Sorry. Best, Aaron

Okay I guess I better take on more easy pieces then to have a good balance!  wow you remind me of my friend who also learned the Alla Turka like 8 months in and now he's a very advanced music student!  Yeah there are pieces that frustrate me but then I keep practicing a particular passage and I get it, it just takes more time than pieces that are my level I guess. 

Wow your video uses the two etudes that I am studying!  I never thought about doing a passage over 8x in a row.  Thats another great tip that I will practice with my faster pieces!  You have a lot of knowledge about all this stuff for being so young.

[aaronpetit]

amazing！ how old you start to learn the piano?

Thanks and sorry for the late reply. I was 12 when I started.
Best wishes.

[aaronpetit]

Okay I guess I better take on more easy pieces then to have a good balance!  wow you remind me of my friend who also learned the Alla Turka like 8 months in and now he's a very advanced music student!  Yeah there are pieces that frustrate me but then I keep practicing a particular passage and I get it, it just takes more time than pieces that are my level I guess. 

Wow your video uses the two etudes that I am studying!  I never thought about doing a passage over 8x in a row.  Thats another great tip that I will practice with my faster pieces!  You have a lot of knowledge about all this stuff for being so young.

Thanks. I have a couple hundred tricks up my sleeve like that. I have collected them over the last few years by attending dozens upon dozens of masterclasses and having worked with 27 different teachers one on one before. I have plans to do at least 50 YouTube tutorials over the next couple years. My strongest desire is to show people things to build efficientcy and save time. Best of luch to you in your studies. Keep in touch if you want. pianoapprentice@hotmail.com -Aaron