Need some help with Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 12 in C minor (Ocean)

[darkpisces]

Hi, I spent about a month in totality learning this etude and I can play it now but I've hit the stage where I have everything but I just need to polish it up. Although there will always be room to improve, I just mean playing it on a very decent level.

The choruses of this etude seem to be my more decent points as I can hit speeds of about 140bpm whilst maintaining clean articulation on the arpeggios, whilst the rest of the piece demands that I slow down to about 110bpm with the exception of about 130bpm on some particular parts. And yes I know 140bpm is not the inscribed 160bpm but nobody I've heard was able to play this piece at 160bpm apart from like two great concert pianists that I've heard. Everyone elses interpretations are definitely slower, I'd say about 120bpm to 140bpm if it's a very decent interpretation.

So my main problem seems to be my second finger and pinky finger, first I'll explain my second finger.

Any shape where my second finger is lower than my thumb and pinky (Thumb and pinky on black keys and second finger on white keys) or any shape where my second finger has to stretch to the side, it just doesn't pronounce the notes enough. The more I slow down, obviously the easier it is for my second finger to pronounce just like my other fingers, but with these particular shapes at faster speeds, my second finger seems too weak to play the note where it is clear and heard like the rest of the notes. This is a bad impairment of course because just that alone makes the arpeggios sound empty and obviously it's less beautiful and notes are going unheard.

As for my pinky finger, on some particular parts of the piece or with a particular shape, my pinky is not able to pronounce it's note. So overall this finger just needs strengthening too

Any thoughts on how I can erase these problems?

[kawai_cs]

Hey,
I am working on this one right now as well. Are you familiar with Cortot exercises for this etude? I have done them in an earlier stage of learning and found them very helpful. I think F could help with the second finger. 
Have you practiced in chords? It helps set hands into the correct position to play the arpeggios. In those arpeggios where your 2nd finger is on white keys whereas thumb and 5th on black you can experiment a little with hand position, I mean rotation in particular.
In general, I think one month is not enough time for a Chopin etude to learn very well so no need to be worried about the tempo so much.

[darkpisces]

Hey,
I am working on this one right now as well. Are you familiar with Cortot exercises for this etude? I have done them in an earlier stage of learning and found them very helpful. I think F could help with the second finger.  
Have you practiced in chords? It helps set hands into the correct position to play the arpeggios. In those arpeggios where your 2nd finger is on white keys whereas thumb and 5th on black you can experiment a little with hand position, I mean rotation in particular.
In general, I think one month is not enough time for a Chopin etude to learn very well so no need to be worried about the tempo so much.

I think it's best if you had an example of my playing of this piece. I'll post clip of me playing it so you can listen and then maybe evaluate. This is me playing to 120bpm, then 140bpm, and then finally 160bpm

[darkpisces]

Hopefully that sheds some light

[kawai_cs]

Thanks, I heard that before in your other thread about difficulty of this etude. I does sound a little messy, which is a sign you are trying to go too fast too soon. However, you need to go fast from time to time to be able to get the feel how to play it fast and thus how to practice.
I am not a teacher, thus would not like to tell you what to do, especially in the case that I am playing it myself right now, too. These are just my suggestions of exercises that I found very good and think you would benefit too. I think it is too early to practice for speed when there are things that are not fixed yet.

[darkpisces]

Thanks, I heard that before in your other thread about difficulty of this etude. I does sound a little messy, which is a sign you are trying to go too fast too soon. However, you need to go fast from time to time to be able to get the feel how to play it fast and thus how to practice.
I am not a teacher, thus would not like to tell you what to do, especially in the case that I am playing it myself right now, too. These are just my suggestions of exercises that I found very good and think you would benefit too. I think it is too early to practice for speed when there are things that are not fixed yet.

That would be due to reverb which in real life is fine but a microphone that is distorting that and making it muddy, it is much more clean actually. I could always get cleaner of course but here is an example using a different recording method which shows what I'm really playing it like, not perfect, a little distorted still but still much cleaner. The recording method really makes a difference in my case