Asking advice for Op 740 no 24

[thson00]

Hi guys!
I have been practicing this Czerny etude for about 2 years (because I was lazy and delayed a lot). But I nearly reach the end of note reading process now smile at quite medium speed (65bpm/110bpm)

I found out that I'm bad at playing softly while this technique is very important to this piece frown Do you have any suggestion for excercises to improve the ability to play softer with better control ?

I also have rhythmic problem with this piece ( The top notes which plays the main melody deviates with the left hand which follow the beat. If I try to play rhythmic correctly, then I will make mistake of pressing harder on note which is not in the main melody. If I focus more on emphasis the main melody, it's easy to play the rhythm wrongly, because my left hand will play notes same time with right hand melody notes, which is not supposed to be like that. Do you have any suggestion to resolve this rhythmic problem?

Btw, I'm new to this forum, so in case I have done wrongly anything in my post, I'm sincerely sorry.

https://musescore.com/user/34770323/scores/6862151

[pianistavt]

That's definitely a difficult etude, congrats for undertaking it.

I haven't worked on this one but have worked on similar ones from Op 299 (#16 Presto in G and #23 Molto Allegro in a minor).  The key to conquering difficult passage work, like this or in a sonata by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven, is in applying specific practice techniques that include pauses and rhythmic variations.

What are your practice techniques?

Take a look at this post:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=69136.msg721532#msg721532

[thson00]

That's definitely a difficult etude, congrats for undertaking it.

I haven't worked on this one but have worked on similar ones from Op 299 (#16 Presto in G and #23 Molto Allegro in a minor).  The key to conquering difficult passage work, like this or in a sonata by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven, is in applying specific practice techniques that include pauses and rhythmic variations.

What are your practice techniques?

Take a look at this post:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=69136.msg721532#msg721532

Thank you for replying! For now I only know few practice techniques like playing in staccato or clustering but I have not tried any yet  :'(
Thank you very much for the resources! I will research more and try them soon!

[karakulidi]

Hey thson 00!

I’m glad you are doing Czerny, it’s such a great place to start a serious work on your technique. I’m going to let you know how I would approach it in general and then later address you specific questions. This is probably way more than what you were asking, but I feel like the issue could be something “around” your specific concerns. Please let me know if any of that was especially useful:

1) How slowly do you practice? You need to find a tempo when you can register absolutely every note with your brain. I call it “vertical practice”. My starting tempo is something like 30bpm/note. You listen very carefully to the interval  created between the right and left hands (that’s why I call it “vertical). The key is that your mind should be absolutely calm.
2) After you’ve addressed the vertical aspect, let’s move to the horizontal aspect. I hope this is not overly philosophical, yet I have to say it: the crucial aspect is making sure that you connect the notes in your head. This is what gives meaning to the music. Once you push the tempo just a bit, the line should feel as organic and as uninterrupted as possible (to your hands, your mind and your ear). This is crucial because often people who want to improve their technique just focus on “getting the notes right”, they practice in a forceful way that makes no sense for the brain.
3) this Etude requires a lot of movement of the wrist. Make sure that you tilt your wrist just as much as needed whenever it’s needed. Try to “roll in” into the notes rather than hitting them vertically, this will facilitate an organic wrist movement.
4) practice the Etude very freely (as if it is by Chopin) as well as metrically strictly. The first way will help you find an organic, meaningful shape of the micro-phrases, and then your fingers will automatically find what works. The second way will create a necessary structure for you not to feel lost.
5) If you implement the “rolling in” technique (this sounds esoteric but it’s not - my friend studied with Veda Kaplinsky at Juilliard, and he said that’s exactly what she taught. I think it might be a common approach for the Taubman school, but I never researched that in detail), then your sound will get softer because it will eliminate the stiffness that comes with vertical playing.
6) Synchronization of two hands. It’s indeed quite tricky here. I would say my brain would feel totally overwhelmed if I don’t over shape this piece. I would do the following: first, make sure that you really feel the downbeat. Not accented, but put more weight on it! Whenever it’s necessary, take just a bit of time on the first beat and then move on. I think music requires it to feel grounded (because those “polyrhythms” are indeed confusing!). Even though it is an Etude, the goal is to play it easy and comfortably, while still brilliantly. The goal is to sparkle, not to be a machine gun… Make sure that you are “reaching out” for the top note of the phrase.

I am very curious if any of this is useful!

Simon

[pianistavt]

Thank you for replying! For now I only know few practice techniques like playing in staccato or clustering but I have not tried any yet  :'(

What do you mean by clustering?

The link I posted includes a reply which is helpful but rather overly complicated, so I decided to lift it and edit it down to what's applicable for this piece:

If a piano piece has a long string of notes of the same pattern ... you can practice it using a set of varied rhythm patterns with pauses.  For example:
1)  Break the string into consecutive 3 notes  (1,2,3 (hold on the 3), 1,2,3 (hold), etc.
2)  Same as above but hold on the 1:  1 (hold), 2, 3, 1 ... 2,3,1
3)  Same, and hold on the 2
Include the LH
This will help get the alignment between the 2 hands quickly and help you master the RH.
After this is mastered, move on to working with a set of 6 notes in the same way.

Let us know how it goes!