Help for Chopin Etude op.10 no.4

[edithwales]

Hello and thank you in advance for your helpful answers! I am going to play chopin etude op.10 no.4 for an competition and it’s been a while since i started learning it, about five years ago. Now i am able to play it with much precision and at the right tempo. But i have a problem with one exact bar in the middle. When i practice that bar at home, i can perfectly play it without missing it at the right tempo. But when i play it in front of people, for example my teacher, my hand always get stuck (it feels like i don’t know the notes anymore of that exact one bar) and i always miss the notes of that bar and go on. I know that it’s something psychological rather than technical and i tried many ways to correct it. If someone know how to correct it and make it work, would you please share some tips? Thank you!

[anacrusis]

Hello and welcome!

What bar is it?

One thing that may make this of a technical origin is that in my experience, if I am a little bit tense doing something when I practise, I'll often be fine, but that tension can get worse and hinder me if somebody is listening.

When the source of the tension that is causes me to mess up is psychological, I have sometimes been helped by literally telling myself that "this is easy, I know how to do this" right when the difficult part that I mess up begins. Being worried about messing something up often takes you out of the flow of your playing and tenses your body due to the fear and anticipation, which makes it harder to move your fingers and ironically causes you to mess up.

[comma]

Try to find another fingering. If the technical execution is correct (as you describe it), this can solve a lot of problems.

[aaron_banks]

For this etude I think it's crucial to work with rhythmization. Long-short, short-long as a basic rule. Slow to faster. To achieve flow I also think it is good to accentuate the second notes in the four-groupings in order to get a flow forward in the phrases.

[chrismaninoff]

If you can play it fine at home, I'd say it's more a psychological barrier than a physical one.  The most effective way I've heard of to overcome this is through mindfulness.  It's been studied in pro sports a fair bit, but if you practice maintaining focus on the somatic sensations of playing at home, that should be translatable to performing.  Then, when you perform, the headspace isn't much different from practicing.  I can find you the study if you like. 

Another practical tip, record yourself at home.  Puts a little pressure on, especially if you tell yourself you're gonna publish the recording online if it's good.