need help for a competition

[2xtreme619]

Hey, im new to this forum and im from australia!

i am entering a small competition that my teacher at school told me about, you go there and give an audition performance and come back and play again later, theres a timelimit of like 4 or 5 minutes for the performances!

I would like to perform a piece by chopin, i chose Polonaise A flat op. 53 great song, but its 9 minutes long or so, i wanted to play the piece, so i thought if i only play the first 2 minutes or so which is the beginning and the main tune and i got a place where i can end it! it sounds complete, and its like 2 minutes.

or i could decide to play a full chopin piece and not just the beginning of a piece, i decided i could play revolutionary etude by chopin, the full piece is 3 minutes long and a fast piece!

i was wondering, should i perform the start of polonaise a flat op 53 (it doesnt sound incomplete, just shortened)

or a full piece (revolutionary etude)


thanks for reading this and helping

or if you have any  short 3 or 4 minute pieces by chopin or something that is also good that you think would win the competition! IM Open for suggestions

[nanabush]

Try his prelude in b flat minor, which is insanely difficult, or some of his other etudes, like the Black key would go well...

Is the prelude as hard as his etudes?

[viking]

I wouldnt play the shortened polonaise.  Play a shorter chopin piece or something.  Revolutionary is way better than first 2 pages of heroic polonaise.  I also agree with Nanabush, black key would be good.
SAM

[steinwayguy]

Can you not just prepare the entire Polonaise and have them stop you?

[2xtreme619]

thats probably not a good idea, who knows what will happen, they tell you theres a time limit before you enter for a reason, so you dont go over, so you choose a song thats in the timelimit !

thanks guys for the suggestions, those 2 songs prelude and black key are really fast.

i think ill go with revolutionary etude, cool song and its 3 minutes, perfect!

should i practice this song hands together straight of or hands separate first, whats a good practising method

[rhapsody in orange]

Well for the first bit you might wanna do HT if it's not too difficult for you. But if you're not too comfortable with that you might wanna wait till each hand is comfortable on its own before moving on to HT. After you're done with the intro, I think it is possible to do HT since the LH is more or less repetitive. Have fun!

[Kassaa]

9 minutes?

Cziffra does it in 5.30, and only the octave part is fast.

[2xtreme619]

i was estimating, the song is about 7 minutes i think, i have a video of the whole thing and some recordings

[bearzinthehood]

should i practice this song hands together straight of or hands separate first, whats a good practising method

I'm working on this right now, HS and no pedal seems to be doing me the most good.

[Awakening]

Hey, im new to this forum and im from australia!

i am entering a small competition that my teacher at school told me about, you go there and give an audition performance and come back and play again later, theres a timelimit of like 4 or 5 minutes for the performances!

I would like to perform a piece by chopin, i chose Polonaise A flat op. 53 great song, but its 9 minutes long or so, i wanted to play the piece, so i thought if i only play the first 2 minutes or so which is the beginning and the main tune and i got a place where i can end it! it sounds complete, and its like 2 minutes.

or i could decide to play a full chopin piece and not just the beginning of a piece, i decided i could play revolutionary etude by chopin, the full piece is 3 minutes long and a fast piece!

i was wondering, should i perform the start of polonaise a flat op 53 (it doesnt sound incomplete, just shortened)

or a full piece (revolutionary etude)


thanks for reading this and helping

or if you have any  short 3 or 4 minute pieces by chopin or something that is also good that you think would win the competition! IM Open for suggestions

Whatever you do, don't play a fragment of a piece for a competition.  You will not win.  The revolutionary etude, on the other hand, would make a very good piece for competition.  I recently played in a competition a few months back, and the first place winner played etude 10/12.  She did a very fine job, which is the main reason why she won, but she also chose a piece that is difficult, and showcases musicality and technique.  I warn you, though, it's hard to get that thing up to a competition level. 

I was in another competition recently, and the guy who took home first played Chopin Prelude no.24 in D minor.  That's an awesome piece, and very challenging, as well.  The kid played it somewhat slower than I have heard some recordings, but it was a great performance, because he had a lot of confidence and stage presence.  That piece is probably similar in difficulty to the revolutionary Etude, and similar in length.  The B flat minor prelude, mentioned by another poster, is more difficult than the revolutionary, but not exceedingly so.  That'd be a very cool piece to play, but it might be a stretch (not sure about your ability). 

In regards to practicing the revolutionary etude, my approach would be hands separate at first.  The piece is too difficult, with too much going on in both hands to try to put hands together in the very beginning.  The left hand is obviously where the challenge lies, as this is a left-hand etude and requires great dexterity.  After hearing recordings of the piece, your ear is probably very in tune with the melody.  Naturally, you will want to learn the melody first, because it's how you think of the song, and it's pleasing to your ear.  Go ahead and get a feel for the main right-hand theme.  Once your right hand knows where it's going, you can concentrate on the left hand.

The challenge with the left hand in this piece is that it never stops.  You will be playing in a ton of different keys with the lefthand, playing scales, arpeggios, and all sorts of other strange little things that you weren't expecting, especially because most recordings cover up the complexities of the left hand with pedal.  The right hand melody is syncopated with the left hand, meaning that is is thrown in seemingly in a haphazard fashion, with emphasis off the beat.  That's the challenge with combining the right and left hand, especially during the 3-against-4 sections.

It will take some time for you to realize exactly where the left hand comes in, and it's important that you calculate all the rhythms out and read the music accurately, because your ear probably won't be able to tell exactly where the right and left hand fit together.  The opening descension that is repeated several times throughout the piece, a final time in the key of C, is probably the easiest left hand part to get under your fingers.  It's repetitive, and can be played more easily than the other left hand patterns.

It's very important that you not try to make this piece go too fast too early on in your study of it.  I made this mistake a while ago, and had to essentially start over from scratch, with a week of very slow practice and articulation in order to undo a lot of the bad habits I had fallen into.  Don't ever even think about practicing this with pedal until it is well under your fingers, possibly even to the point where it is absolutely polished.  The pedal will distract you and cover up your mistakes.  You must hear the left hand to know whether you are getting a clean, even and appropriate sound.

Memorization of the piece is not too difficult, but it is up to you to interpret the score, see the patterns that are formed, and memorize these patterns.  In some places, particularly the development section (m. 29-36) the score looks like a mess, and for me, at least, it was quite difficult to figure out exactly what was going on.  I found it was easier to look at my fingers than the score, and realize the patterns that were taking place. 

The hands together portions of the piece are difficult, and must be practiced slowly.  The problem lies in that the right hand fingering is vastly different to the left, and therefore, there may be an unnevennes of articulation and tempo when comparing the two hands.  In the hands together portions, the hands may become out of sync with one another, and therefore, the challenge lies in keeping them as a single unit.  It should sound like an octave being played incredibly fast, legato, rather than two separate groups of notes.

Keep these things in mind, and also remember that I'm still struggling with the piece myself.  I can't play it perfectly, but I've studied it for about six months now, and I think I have figured out many of its little quirks and nuances.  I say the most difficult thing is keeping the left hand going at a consistent pace throughout the entire thing.  The left hand shapes change dramatically, but the pace must remaint constant.

[2xtreme619]

well for another competition i chose hungarian rhapsody, my teacher said there is a timelimit and its to long but my teacher said i can play the first bit, and leave the 2nd bit of the peace out! do you think if i play the "1st mov" i will have a chance of still winning ?

and do you think flight of the bumblebee is also a great piece to play in a competition!

[Awakening]

well for another competition i chose hungarian rhapsody, my teacher said there is a timelimit and its to long but my teacher said i can play the first bit, and leave the 2nd bit of the peace out! do you think if i play the "1st mov" i will have a chance of still winning ?

and do you think flight of the bumblebee is also a great piece to play in a competition!

I assume you're referring to Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.  That thing is ridiculously difficult, in case you didn't know.  And, as you said, it's also far too long.  Like I said, do not play a fragment of a piece, you will almost certainly not win.  The Rhapsody does not have "movements," it is simply one large piece of music, composed in quite a capricious manner.  Save this piece for another day.  I know it's tempting to want to play all your favorite pieces from Shine, but there is other music out there.  As for Flight of the Bumble-bee, I personally don't care for it much.  I find it lacking in much emotion or musical quality.  It works ok as a right hand chromatic study, and people seem to be impressed by it, but I think there are much more worthwhile pieces of music out there.  I begun the Rachmaninoff transcription about a year ago, and eventually stopped because I just wasn't very inspired by it.  I also found it quite painstaking.

Why not stick with your idea of the revolutionary, or something else by Chopin?  Chopin is a great composer, often considered the greatest for piano.  He composed a huge number of works, and I imagine that many of them would appeal to you.  Pick up a cd of Chopin works or download them to get an idea of pieces to play.  I personally love his Nocturnes and Etudes, nevermind the Ballades (too ambitious).  Brahms has some manageable, mature pieces that I have seen performed in competitions as well (Rhapsodies, Ballades, Intermezzi...).  Consider the most famous romantic composers, and remember that they have a huge repertoire of music that extends far beyond what you may have heard in movies, etc.  You might actually feel good playing something that is less well-known, though I understand the temptation and desire to play something fancy that you saw the guy from The Pianist play for a Nazi officer. 

Another side note:  Competition pieces do not have to be flashy.  Better to pick something that will demonstrate control and maturity than something you will really fly off the handle with.  All the flashiness of the piece really does is intimidates your competitors when they look at the program.  At a competition I went to, I saw that a sixteen year old kid was playing La Campanella.  I looked at it and thought "Well, there's first place."  However, that was assuming he played it up to speed, and in-full.  He ended up playing it at about half speed, and was therefore forced to edit out a large chunk of it due to time limitations.  I beat him in the competition, even though I played a less demanding piece (Prelude in C# minor by Rachmaninoff).  That student apparently chose something that was a bit beyond his reach, and when he played it in a competition, the judges saw this. 

[nanabush]

Can you play several pieces, like two or three of the preludes?  Such as C major, G major B major perhaps, I love those pieces, sound very very nice but are kind of awkward at first...If you can play several short pieces, consider a few of the preludes.