Supplemental Musical Sampling

[bwl_13]

I had a lesson with my teacher today and she pitched a cool idea for a summer project/challenge to help overhaul my technique (in addition to the repertoire I'm working on). We’ll be working through the opening phrases of every Chopin etude (not including Nouvelle). Just the first 4-10 measures but I found this concept to be intriguing since she mentioned a professor she studied with insisting all his first year students learn the first page to every Chopin nocturne throughout the year. This sort of “sampling” approach is new to me but seems extremely beneficial in learning new music and getting a small taste for what a piece is like.

Has anyone tried something like this? How did it go for you?

[lelle]

Intriguing idea! I have been slogging away at my own Chopin etudes on and off for years, and there is definitely a lot to be learned from them. I could see how that gives you a window into important foundational technique, especially if you are guided by your teacher.

I have been working on them mostly on my own and in hindsight I would not recommend that 

[bwl_13]

Intriguing idea! I have been slogging away at my own Chopin etudes on and off for years, and there is definitely a lot to be learned from them. I could see how that gives you a window into important foundational technique, especially if you are guided by your teacher.

I have been working on them mostly on my own and in hindsight I would not recommend that 

I've been thinking about it, since I'm starting studies a university in the fall there's a lot of technical switches to be done. We're also going through all the scales, octaves, chords and arpeggios, but there's less work to do with those since the movements are fairly simple while the etudes require mixing and matching.

The cool thing about the Chopin etudes especially is how nearly all the etudes throw you head first into the skill(s) that they train. Not necessarily the peak in difficulty but they get down to business very quickly. I've already noticed in reading through a few of them different motions that my teacher has shown me that I can apply.

[brogers70]

I hate and love that idea. I hate it because it drives me nuts not to finish something I've started, but I love it, because it does seem true that for the Chopin Etudes I've learned, an awful lot of the technical problems are right there in the first few lines and that if you've figured out how to play those comfortably you've gotten 80-90% of the way to the technique you need for the whole thing.

[ranjit]

Has anyone tried something like this? How did it go for you?

Well, not quite in those terms, but I think it can be valuable. This is essentially like using the pieces as short exercises for developing technique.

Another thing I have attempted in the past is trying to remember the first 30 seconds of multiple Beethoven sonatas (only the sound memory). I didn't get through the whole set, but I think it certainly helped my understanding of them.