Yeah, I figured. It would also start to sound very muddy at that register. Would you recommend purely finger exercises (hanon, etc), or something that involves more arm movement to compensate for the weak fingers?
Thanks.
Chopin (and other composers for piano no doubt) knew very well that the fingers would never be equal in strength no matter what you try to do to make it so. Finger exercises are good to focus on technical application without having to worry so much about making “music,” but honestly there are enough opportunities to work on the technical aspects within the repertoire itself. For me, didactic exercises like Hanon and others just took away from learning actual pieces. I’m sure others will disagree, but that’s just my opinion. Here are a couple of things to consider about the LH of 10/12…
First, it is easy to fall into the trap of treating the LH as if it is the main event. Much like other works of Chopin, it is still the accompaniment despite how frequent the notes are compared to the RH, and it should be treated as such. It certainly contributes to the character of the music, but it should remain subservient in both dynamics and articulation to the melody above. The register of the piano doesn’t help, because that tends to “boom” much more. Thankfully, Chopin wrote the RH with lots of chords and octaves to counterbalance this problem. Here’s how I treat the LH of this etude after having played it and the rest of the set for about 25 years now…
The main technical hurdle of the LH arpeggios after the introduction is the awkward shape of the figure created by that annoying D that connects the C and E-flat. I have tried all kinds of fingering combinations to try and rid myself of the awkwardness, but there really is no option other than to use 4 on the first D and then 3-2 at the top turnaround. I suspect that your struggle with the evenness and coordination with the RH is primarily due to the fact that you are holding onto the shape of the notes within each segment of the arpeggio and getting “stuck” there. This is going to make the freedom to shift effectively across the two octaves much more difficult.
Your forearm should glide smoothly through the passage and your wrist should remain as loose and motionless as possible. In essence, your arm and wrist should bring each finger to the key and then each finger should “let go” once the key is activated. What this means is that rather than stretching your hand position out to accommodate the shape of the awkward position, your hand position should remain relatively natural and allow the arm movement to take the brunt of the “work” necessary to get the finger into place. If you find your arm and wrist making excess motion to accommodate the shifts and travel, you’re working against your own efficiency. Practice this idea like this:
Slowly start the arpeggio upwards but do not stretch your hand position out fully to encompass the first octave. When one note is played, let it go, move your arm to get the next finger into position, and then activate that finger. Let go, and so on. This is especially important when the shifts occur to get to each D going up. Let go of that thumb and let the arm bring 4 over. If you concentrate on NOT holding notes within the position and getting stuck, you’ll start to feel the gesture as a natural and smooth trajectory upwards that just happens to bring the finger into place. So instead of using strength to get those notes out, you are using extremely efficient coordination of the arm and finger to keep things even.
Here’s the most important point to always remember: The smoothness of your shifts between positions is going to succeed because all of the other notes within a hand position are going to be detached to the same level as that which occurs at the shift itself. If notes within the position are all connected and “stuck” then it’s no wonder that bumps and unevenness occurs at a position shift! Make everything the same articulation slowly, then increase your speed when your conscious application of the technical skill becomes solid. I think you’ll find the result to be quite close to what you are trying to achieve with the piece.
Hope this helps!