Maybe I'll give the czerny 299 a try tomorrow, don't know how far they'll take me though because there's been a lot of negative comments regarding czerny exercises in this forum nowadays.
op. 25 no.5 is one of those "approachable" Chopin etudes. I think you can do well if you still remember the proper movements. Though I don' think it's uber hard like the Ballades or w/e, but it still requires knowledge of subtle movements. If a teacher really is impossible, just try and look for experienced people (in real life) to give you pointers and stuff. After 9 years of silence, it's very possible for you to learn bad habits instead of just getting back into the game easily.Anyways, good luck.
I tried 1 of bach's fugues, due to my slow reading, I couldn't understand anything that I was playing. I'll continue to work on my current piece(s).
You mentioned working on the Little Preludes. I would probably complete your study of those (learning at least several), then move on to the Inventions, then the Sinfonias, then finally the Fugues. That's what I had to do - Bach does not come naturally to me! When I teach I use those as stepping stones.
Here is my experience for practicing and most of it is similar to bernhard's advice. I often practice very hard parts and segments hands separate and under tempo in order to learn the notes and finger positions (fingerings). Then after learning the notes and positions, I try to play it around half tempo or sometimes 2/3 tempo in order not to lose the rhythm or pulse. In regards to the speed wall, yes it could happen if you play too slowly that you lose the shape of the phrase or melody so I would play slow enough to maintain control but still be able to be accurate. Then I repeat that many times and then up the tempo just a little bit until I feel comfortable, and of course after a while, closer to the marked tempo. If I make mistakes at a faster tempo, then I revert to the previous tempo or slower, and then repeat until I am solid enough to move on. I also practice other segments as well so that I won't become stuck on just one part of the piece and then after fixing the trouble segments, I link up all the segments.
I believe that fingerings given on a specific score allow for full speed playing most of the time.Can someone enlighten me please?
The fingering on any one score tend to be done by low paid lackeys of the publisher (unless the score says otherwise) - they don't expend much thought.
First of all you should decide with fingering when first approaching a chunk (segment). That has to be done just in few repeats to not ever rise the question again. That is one reason why the chunk should be small – to get to the tempo fast (hands separate) and be sure that the fingering does work. The score fingering is a good general idea and you better not to change it, especially if you are a beginner, but one is allowed to change it if he knows better. Upon making the decision keep only to the fingering selected and never sway. Whether to learn HS or HT depends on if you meet technical issues. HS is for technical difficulties, HT is for memorization (hand memory). These are two different tasks. Never do HT if you have not solved technical problems.
I am now doing F minor(am I mistaken) scales for beethoven's pathetique sonata, and I am trying to use the "orthodox" fingering that bernhard suggested in one of his posts(the left hand goes 321, 321, 4321, 43).
I am now doing F minor(am I mistaken) scales for beethoven's pathetique sonata, and I am trying to use the "orthodox" fingering that bernhard suggested in one of his posts(the left hand goes 321, 321, 4321, 43).here is the link.https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=2429.msg21061#msg21061But if I follow that rule, the 3rd finger falls into a black key, and the 4th finger will fall on a white key.It is stated in the above link that "The 3rd and 4th fingers of both hands should always play a black key (except of course in C major).""You will easily figure out the fingering for all scales if you always follow this principle (there is only one possible fingering if you prioritize the 4th finger on a black key and then the 3rd.) If you can’t figure it out ask again."Can someone clarify me on this? Or should I follow the fingering bernhard suggested anyway?
Thank you lotal for clearing up this one, and special thanks to your post on clustering bernhard's post, I'm using it as a reader's digest(very informative, I wish an admin would sticky it).Now I have read somewhere in bernhard's advices that you should practice a scale relative to your piece.I am now doing F minor(am I mistaken) scales for beethoven's pathetique sonata, and I am trying to use the "orthodox" fingering that bernhard suggested in one of his posts(the left hand goes 321, 321, 4321, 43).here is the link.https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=2429.msg21061#msg21061But if I follow that rule, the 3rd finger falls into a black key, and the 4th finger will fall on a white key.It is stated in the above link that "The 3rd and 4th fingers of both hands should always play a black key (except of course in C major).""You will easily figure out the fingering for all scales if you always follow this principle (there is only one possible fingering if you prioritize the 4th finger on a black key and then the 3rd.) If you can’t figure it out ask again."Can someone clarify me on this? Or should I follow the fingering bernhard suggested anyway?