Chopin, Waterfall Etude

[nina.beatriz]

Hi All,

I started to learn Op. 10 No. 1 this week (one of my all time favourite Chopin pieces) and am determined to keep going and not give up!

I am doing a combination of slow and fast practice, focusing on individual runs and trying to play as precisely as possible, whilst still slowly increasing the tempo from one day to the next.

If you have any tips, I'd be very happy to hear them Also, how long would you say it takes on average to master this etude?

For reference, I've also learnt Op. 10 No 3 and Op. 25 No. 7 to a decent level (but it's a constant work in progress still after 8 months).

[jamienc]

Good so far! Try not to move your wrist so much. At high speed that will only cause problems with accuracy. Allow the arm to bring the finger to the key as opposed to circling your wrist in the shape of the arpeggio. Rolling the wrist like that at slow tempo is the very opposite technique you’ll need to be accurate at fast tempo. Just a cool tip!

[lelle]

It can take a long time to master this Etude, it's one of the hardest in the set, second only to perhaps two or three other etudes. It's fine to work on it if you want to, but expect to drop it and pick it up again a couple of times for a couple of years before you master it.

[lostinidlewonder]

I really respect this teachers advice, she is excellent:

Students I've taught this to almost always take a while to improve this etude (several months of dedicated work to a year of consistent effort), it's something that at speed can easily become inaccurate even though you feel comfortable and controlled. My personal feeling is that the 170/180 bpm that people aim for is a little too fast for my taste and I really don't mind it around the 150 mark, it allows more detail to be captured and expressed imho.

[nina.beatriz]

Thanks everyone for all the tips and recommendations ☺️

[perfect_pitch]

There are many times where the RH notes are different on the way up compared to the way down, yet you're not changing your pedal.

Different chord/harmony - new pedal.

[nina.beatriz]

Yes 🙈 pedalling is important!