I’m competing in an Eisteddfod in five weeks with Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude, a 2 minute song with semiquavers at crotchet=160bpm. To non-musicians this literally translates as ‘TOO FREAKING FAST’. I started sight reading the piece exactly 2.5 months ago.
Still today, I don’t know exactly what…
piece doesn’t require that much strength. let your body weight and arm weight do the work. on the bass notes that gotta be accented, just drop the arm on them. lots of slow practice for accuracy, coordination. practice with different rhythms, and keep the arms relaxed when playing. that’s the secret to the speed.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your advice :D I’ll make sure to remember this when I practise from now on :)
I’m competing in an Eisteddfod in five weeks with Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude, a 2 minute song with semiquavers at crotchet=160bpm. To non-musicians this literally translates as ‘TOO FREAKING FAST’. I started sight reading the piece exactly 2.5 months ago.
Still today, I don’t know exactly what I was thinking back then, but I was absolutely enamoured with all of Chopin’s piano works, and had just stole a Christmas concert with Chopin’s Nocturne Op 9 No 2 (I think Telstra uses this as hold music… Which sucks because it’s way too good for that) and Merry Go Round of Life (Theme to Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle), which made me think I was partially capable of the Revolutionary Etude.
I have worked out that if the hours I spent learning this song were all put together, I would’ve sat at the piano for around 1.4 weeks straight learning this piece. So without further ado here lie the reasons why I was wrong, and why I still bother with this piece of raw emotion.
I was wrong because:
- I lack the required technical skill, though I’ve been playing piano 9 years
- I’m not physically strong enough to belt out this piece, the only dynamic variation is between F, FF, FFF
- It’s extremely fast, I consider myself to have good co-ordination, but it’s not good enough for this piece
- This is concert pianist material! It holds a place in many great concert pianists’ repertoires. I’m not one of them =\
- I am used to challenging myself, you do not grow without having a goal that is a little out-of-reach. This one was too far out-of-reach, it was unrealistic.
- I cannot achieve the left/right hand balance
Why I still bother practising it for 3 hours a day, everyday:
- I genuinely like how this piece sounds, I like the emotions Chopin is trying to convey with the minor scale, this song is a great release of emotions and stress.
- It’s amazing. I’ve never played any song this professional before, and people in the family like it.
- I would let so many people down if I chickened out.
Now I’m going to get off Tumblr and practise for my third hour for today XD I shouldn’t procrastinate this much, but I need a break from the song every so often.
Ciao~ I'm Gabriella and piano is my forte!
