Sunday 17 May 2015

CHOPIN PROJECT - UPDATE

As you may have noticed, this blog has been very quiet recently...

Well, I just wanted to make it known that I have not abandoned the project at all and I have been steadily working at the etudes ever since my last post.

The only reason I have not been posting on this blog is because it takes me a very long time to write a post about a specific etude (I usually have to give up an entire day for this) and I simply do not have the time to write blog entries alongside my piano practice.

Currently I am in what I call the 'overview' phrase. This is when I spend about 7-10 days on each etude, with about 1-1.5 hours a day of focused practice, before moving on to the next etude. This is certainly not sufficient time (for me at least) to play the piece at the final speed fluently, it only serves as a way of getting the etude under my fingers. But I think it is important not to spend too long practising one specific piano piece, it is important to take a long break to gain a fresh perspective in approaching the piece in terms of practising and musical interpretation. Besides one tends to get bored if they play the same thing over and over again for a long time, to the point where piano playing becomes a sort of chore.

That is why I am not lingering on one etude too long, and move on to the next one relatively quickly, even if I feel I'm nowhere near the 'finish line' for that specific etude. (Let me again emphasise that when I say or imply a 'finish line' I do not mean one in the ultimate sense, only that I can play the piece well enough to pass in an amateur recital or online recording/video).

I'm just about to finish looking at Op.25 No.3 (Horseman) and will then move on to No.4. When I get to the end of Op.25 I plan to write a larger blog post where I summarise my experiences with each etude and the learning experience as a whole. I plan this to be sometime around July...but of course I can't be sure about that!

So far all I can say is it has been great fun looking at these etudes. I feel like my technique has definitely improved and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and comments later on in the year!

8 comments:

  1. pisz tego bloga dalej, naprawdę nieźle Ci to szło :)

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  2. Yes, I'm very curious how this has been going! Also, I'm curious to know if you think this project has been "worth it." Does it feel like a burden?

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  3. Basically, what happened was that I finished the overview phase - I got each etude "under my fingers" so to speak, so that I could play them slowly and fluently without mistakes. But after that point, I got distracted by other pieces and composers, and never returned to the etudes!

    I don't know if there's much more to add at this point, apart from the fact that it definitely was a worthwhile experience, as even practising each etude slowly allowed me to discover new things about my piano playing abilities. For example, I realised that I found it noticeably easier to grasp subsequent each etude as I went through the set (at least in purely technical terms).

    But for now I have stopped focusing on the Chopin etudes and am exploring other pieces. Maybe in the future I shall return to the etudes and actually polish them up to performance level.

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    Replies
    1. yo can you video record it and post it to youtube?

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    2. oh wait i came from your youtube video to this blog lol nvm

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  4. What program or programs did you use to get the page turns to coordinate with the music in your YouTube postings? I have a lot of piano scores I have written and would love to put them up on YouTube with page turns, but have no idea how to do it. I write in Finale 2014b and can save and musx, mp3 or export as XML files. I would really appreciate knowing how you did this. Thanks so much for your help.

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