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
Topic: Asking advice for Op 740 no 24