Once again, the best tutorial I've ever seen on this piece! This technique of relaxation and use of rotation to help the fingers is ground breaking (for me). I can't think you enough and of course this applies to the rest of the etudes and the entire piano repertoire too! Genius.
This is an incredible tutorial. You go into depth with every little detail needed to play each note. I never thought I'd be able to play any Chopin etude, ever, but after watching your clear explanation I now see that it's at least possible and I will at least give it a try. Chopin has always terrified me! I love the lighting over the piano. It's really pretty and it lights up the keys nicely.
So many helpful playing instructions in such a dense tutorial. Thank you! The tips are very helpful for any piece, for any level of students, especially good to not "learn" wrong playing with tension in the first place. I am so inspired here to watch myself again and again to become aware of tensions -- many of us just do not even recognize them while playing. Me too. And I see over time (following your videos from the beginning and applying) how gravity starts taking over, and movements become so much smoother, lighter, and the sound improves. All attention can finally be directed to the musical expression -- which is my goal -- forgetting any technical issues. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very nice video with some fun inserts... )
First of, I am grateful I found your channel. Your videos are very instructive, entertaining and fun to watch. Making your remarks funny takes things to a different level. Secondly, you definitely crack this etude. Anyone studying it must watch your video over and over again to save several hours of work. Finally, what I love about studying Chopin Etudes is this weird combination between developing deep musical understanding and simplicity. The main difficulty to play them is to figure out how to make hard passages easy to play and voila! You develop a skill and the means to achieve a way to construct a better musical idea. Definitely guidance is needed in order to solve all these puzzles and you grandly provide that in these videos of yours. Thank you very much for your efforts. They are very appreciated. P.S. I find interesting as a topic of discussion evaluating playing what’s written vs making it simpler. In the case of these Etudes I find more valuable solving the difficulty in the easiest possible way as written rather than simplifying your life.
Amazing video, in the first few minutes you had already said so much about piano playing. All video long, I was nodding and exclaiming to myself, "yeah exactly !". Another comment said "such a dense tutorial", and there is definitly A LOT here ; I hope many students will watch and take the time to understand the key concepts you are explaining. Just as an example, the idea of "release by relaxing, not by lifting" is fundamental yet I was never told and had to figure it out myself. I also liked the fun inserts.
Interestingly. ….What I find is that when I get that “effortless” feeling by using rotation, wrist movements or whatever then I remember that section “effortlessly” as well! As if because the body accepts and likes the movement the brain absorbs the information also…
There's a lot of rules and dogma which I can't really understand in (classical) piano playing and most of the the time, the answer I got is "this is tradition" and "this is the way it must be done", no matter how difficult and illogical the way to play a passage is. Like in the beginning of bar 8 of the op 25 n1 of Chopin, there's no reason why I should cross the fingers of both hands, but I couldn't convince my teacher this crossing is useless. Great video as always.
Agree there is a lot of a formal thinking, it’s not just about classical music, it’s about humans in general. In the spot you mentioned the only reason is that you might mix up the voicing - your thumbs have a hidden polyphony there. When we re-distribute things between hands it often sounds differently. However it’s not a problem if you’re aware of it and make sure that it sounds polyphonically right.
@@DenZhdanovPianist That's what my teacher said :) but I pointed out that both notes are played with the thumb so the end result is the same even if you can object that the hands are in extension and the thumbs should have less weight this way : but the distance between the fingers crossed and not isn't that big. Anyway, thank you for your videos, they're always very helpful.
@@myklkay I just completed Op. 25 n1 , the finger crossing you mention at bar 8 does not present a technical difficulty at all, you need to develop your tactile feel working with hands separate first then together. Finger crossings occurs again at the climax of the piece toward the end without it being anything more than a memorization, not a difficulty. It actually helped me there for memorizing the piece to have that finger crossing mixed with non crossing before and after. The more you are able to phrase hands independently the easier you can solve this etude . The less you can hear the two hands voices the more it will resist you. Also all descending left hand arpeggios (= all ascending right hand arpeggios) must lead to the next beat note as a one movement goal in the whole study while the first three notes after each beat are off beat. That way of articulating includes all the difficult bars with jumps. That is a major hint i discovered by myself after that i was able to progress this study to tempo and pedal it correctly. This is considered one of the easier etudes.
Excellent! Thank you! It reminds me the wisdom of teacher Vladimir Nielsen. When the sound counts first this comes naturally . Unfortunately The spirit of our times push us to forget this love of “music/body” centering as Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen could say.
Thank you for the advices. Full of very helpful things. I will probably watch your beido a few times😅. A lot of things you say are common sens. I have a general question about all the Chopin studies. When we look at Chopin's tempo recommandation, we realise thar he recommamds crazy speeds for all of them!😅 The only pianist I know to nearly reach that speed is Cziffra. I know Richter's video but I sometimes wonder if the video hasnt been a bit altered with the speed. Do you really think that Chopin was playing them that fast? I know about the lighter mechanic of the piano at the time. I have played a couple of nocturne on a Pleyel form that era and it is true that the mechanic is a bit easier but still not easy to the point of playing Chopin's study that fast. I sometimes think that it was a way for the publisher at the time to build a legend around Chopin. Because they didn't have recording at the time, the only way to hear Chopin was to live near Paris and being friend with the aristocratic people that was surrounding Chopin. So the sheet music was the only way to get the closest to his playing. So they exagerated the tempo of the studies. What do you think?
As far as researchers usually agree, Chopin was a brilliant musician, but he wasn’t a very strong man. He played rather softly in the contrary to Liszt, who could easily destroy two pianos in one concert. Chopin has also seriously complained about his weak ring finger, and he gave very few public performances in his mature years. He also didn’t like apparently bravura and showing off, being very fond of singing qualities of the piano and scooped a lot of inspiration from operas. Everything points on that he probably was a good player and mesmerizing musician to listen to, but most probably he wouldn’t play his etudes with the level of velocity and brilliance they are played nowadays. Also in my experience, Pleyels and Erards are of course much lighter, but the mechanics is not that reactive. It’s impossible to play certain spots like the coda of the 2nd ballade for instance up to usual modern tempo. When I played Chopin on Pleyel, my response to the instrument was that I wanted to play everything much slower than people usually do, instead paying more attention to phrasing nuances and rubato.
One of my teachers required me to practice this etude raising fingers all the way up.. It is nonsense! For starters, I would say this video can be 100 times more helpful than real lessons with a non-practical high fingers approach! Wondering how you know it is non-practical? Just ask your teacher to perform it for you and watch the mess :)
My teacher advised me to play the pattern on the right hand at the 2nd measure with those fingers : 1325 1325 1325 1215 . Do you think it's right actually?
Hey I have to remind you, those fingering does not work on every hands! For example my hand super small(Can only reach edge of 9th), I have tried it many weeks, 3425 1325 1215 1215 suits best for me
If you have bigger habd, I recommend 3rd group 1325, this kind of rotation is really tension free if you can easily reach the notes between 2nd and 5th finger.
Absolutement! The instruction to lift the fingers higher has arguably caused more physical and (not always acknowledged).psychological damage than any other aspect of piano pedagogy. I think for some people ,perhaps those who started early or have flexible hands (?) it has not caused damage and because they have become good pianists they think it is a good idea without realising how unnatural it actually is. WatchingThe monty python sketch. The Ministry of funny walks…. Is a much better way of occupying one’s time. If you see what I mean😕🙁
Hi, thanks for this awesome tutorial, so interesting!! I am curious about something and I hope you could answer this question. So there are many beautiful renditions of this piece, amongst them Richters really fast version, and for instance Vladimir Horowitz, who’s version is slower. People seem to be under the impression that other pianists are unable to play this piece in this really fast tempo, while I would assume that the tempo is a matter of artistic choice… so I am sure that Horowitz could have played this piece as fast as Richter, he just chose not to. So from your standpoint as a professional pianist, do you think most professionals like yourself would be struggling to get it to this fast tempo as Richter plays it or not? Sorry for this very elongated question, I hope I made myself clear :)
Honestly, that video seems a bit sped up to me. But if not, it is really the fastest version without loss of quality and finger articulation that I know. But it depends on many factors, not just pianist’s abilities. For example some pieces I can play on my heavy action grand piano only on 80% speed in comparison to some lighter and finely regulated concert grands. Modern pianos are usually heavier than that old shattered buddy that Richter had on this video. You might notice also that Richter himself was never able to approach such tempo later. Maybe he was just high that day, who knows. Horowitz had a custom piano with extremely light action, but in his later years he wasn’t a true virtuoso, if to consider virtuosity as an ultimate finger dexterity. I suspect he could have hand issues somewhere in his earlier ages, which limited him later. But he was an amazing marketing genius, and most of people still believe that his sloppy Moszkowski’s Etude with only the half of well articulated notes is an exemplary version. In general, as further you develop as a professional musician, as more bored you become by need-for-speed athletic crap. I remember how it was fun to play all the virtuoso pieces, competing with the fastest available renditions when I was 16-20. Now it seems so boring. I would rather listen to the last Badura-Skoda’s recital than to brilliant entertaining virtuosi like Yuja.
Wow! Thank you for your detailed answer, I love it! :) I personally don‘t think that the video is sped up, because I was told by a professional film maker that it is the lower frame rate and other factors which make a lot of videos from this time seem sped up. In regards to Horowitz rendition, I don‘t know this one, but generally I think people hear music through individual lenses. So professional pianists, as they know the hard work they put into articulation and clearness, they will often times see music through the articulation lense more than amateur pianists or non-musicians do… hence the publics love for the other aspects of Horowitz musicality which I suppose can be heard in this rendition. I yet have one other question, if I may... :D So I started learning this etude just today, and I like your method really well to try and gain consciousness over tension in my hands… I feel like this works really well! I am just slightly afraid of playing too loosely and loosing precision… any tips on how to combine a relaxed hand and control in the fingers?
Your mind focus is always on the finger tips, so doesn’t matter how well you coordinate motions or develop the freedom of the arm, how loose will be a sensation in the rest of your hand/arm, your finger tips remain always focused while you hit the key.
@@DenZhdanovPianist Sinceraly it is not a lesson! That piece is extremely difficult and a lesson needs instruction how to move the hands! To reach that fool speed! It is not sufficient and fingers not pulled out and rotation of wrist! Anyway is a part of the explication. I am not able to do that fast movement! But I know one needs more instructions. You are a good pianist and sincerely in Italy we have no professional teachers! And very little good pianist not avalaible to the mass!
@@richardrerossi7484cómo que no tienen pianistas profesionales, uno de ellos es el Maestro Daniel Rivera, que incluso ha dado conciertos con Martha Argerich, es argentino al igual que ella.El es un gran maestro.Saludos desde Argentina.
@@DenZhdanovPianist 😌 He died. I am french . I play piano 5 hours by day , it’s so easy with russian’s piano technics. It ´s same as yours. You explain it very well. Good day !
so educational and nice, but as I said in my previous comments, there is too much chatter instead of playing. I'm getting tired of this. I have stopped watching your teaching. Because it gets boring in the loins.
This is one of the best tutorials for this piece I’ve seen. I love the emphasis on healthy and effect technique.
Once again, the best tutorial I've ever seen on this piece! This technique of relaxation and use of rotation to help the fingers is ground breaking (for me). I can't think you enough and of course this applies to the rest of the etudes and the entire piano repertoire too! Genius.
Op 10 no 1 cannot be played without it.
I totally agree with you!
Many ideas of this etude are from Bach prelude f#m WTK 1 (BWV859).
This is an incredible tutorial. You go into depth with every little detail needed to play each note. I never thought I'd be able to play any Chopin etude, ever, but after watching your clear explanation I now see that it's at least possible and I will at least give it a try. Chopin has always terrified me! I love the lighting over the piano. It's really pretty and it lights up the keys nicely.
Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to make your videos. They are appreciated.
Thanks for a feedback!🙏
So many helpful playing instructions in such a dense tutorial. Thank you! The tips are very helpful for any piece, for any level of students, especially good to not "learn" wrong playing with tension in the first place. I am so inspired here to watch myself again and again to become aware of tensions -- many of us just do not even recognize them while playing. Me too. And I see over time (following your videos from the beginning and applying) how gravity starts taking over, and movements become so much smoother, lighter, and the sound improves. All attention can finally be directed to the musical expression -- which is my goal -- forgetting any technical issues. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very nice video with some fun inserts... )
Thanks for your feedback, Roland!
First of, I am grateful I found your channel. Your videos are very instructive, entertaining and fun to watch. Making your remarks funny takes things to a different level.
Secondly, you definitely crack this etude. Anyone studying it must watch your video over and over again to save several hours of work.
Finally, what I love about studying Chopin Etudes is this weird combination between developing deep musical understanding and simplicity. The main difficulty to play them is to figure out how to make hard passages easy to play and voila! You develop a skill and the means to achieve a way to construct a better musical idea. Definitely guidance is needed in order to solve all these puzzles and you grandly provide that in these videos of yours.
Thank you very much for your efforts. They are very appreciated.
P.S. I find interesting as a topic of discussion evaluating playing what’s written vs making it simpler. In the case of these Etudes I find more valuable solving the difficulty in the easiest possible way as written rather than simplifying your life.
Thanks for a nice feedback! I am glad you like it😊🙏 you’re absolutely right in your points!
This tutorial has far-reaching import beyond op 10 no 1. Biomechanical principles that will help in the study of any piece. Kudos
so this is why my hands can't stand 20 seconds in tempo
Thanks, this tutorial includes helpful and sensible tips. I'll try to combine this informations with my experience and technique.
Amazing video, in the first few minutes you had already said so much about piano playing. All video long, I was nodding and exclaiming to myself, "yeah exactly !". Another comment said "such a dense tutorial", and there is definitly A LOT here ; I hope many students will watch and take the time to understand the key concepts you are explaining. Just as an example, the idea of "release by relaxing, not by lifting" is fundamental yet I was never told and had to figure it out myself. I also liked the fun inserts.
It’s so great to have people on the same wave around! Thank for being here!❤️❤️❤️
Such useful information. I have started learning this etude and this video will help a lot 🎉Thank you!
This is excellent. Thank you!
Advice for the ending jumps?
Great tutorial with very practical advices.
So many useful tips for this etude. Thanks!
Interestingly. ….What I find is that when I get that “effortless” feeling by using rotation, wrist movements or whatever then I remember that section “effortlessly” as well! As if because the body accepts and likes the movement the brain absorbs the information also…
Congrats, you made a life changing discovery!😉
This is great advice !!!
Thank you very much for the detailed tutorial, extremely helpful .
Good Tip and Advice it's easy to follow throughout the piece apply gravity is more comfortable playing big chord! Bravo!
There's a lot of rules and dogma which I can't really understand in (classical) piano playing and most of the the time, the answer I got is "this is tradition" and "this is the way it must be done", no matter how difficult and illogical the way to play a passage is.
Like in the beginning of bar 8 of the op 25 n1 of Chopin, there's no reason why I should cross the fingers of both hands, but I couldn't convince my teacher this crossing is useless.
Great video as always.
Agree there is a lot of a formal thinking, it’s not just about classical music, it’s about humans in general.
In the spot you mentioned the only reason is that you might mix up the voicing - your thumbs have a hidden polyphony there. When we re-distribute things between hands it often sounds differently. However it’s not a problem if you’re aware of it and make sure that it sounds polyphonically right.
@@DenZhdanovPianist That's what my teacher said :) but I pointed out that both notes are played with the thumb so the end result is the same even if you can object that the hands are in extension and the thumbs should have less weight this way : but the distance between the fingers crossed and not isn't that big.
Anyway, thank you for your videos, they're always very helpful.
@@myklkay I just completed Op. 25 n1 , the finger crossing you mention at bar 8 does not present a technical difficulty at all, you need to develop your tactile feel working with hands separate first then together. Finger crossings occurs again at the climax of the piece toward the end without it being anything more than a memorization, not a difficulty. It actually helped me there for memorizing the piece to have that finger crossing mixed with non crossing before and after.
The more you are able to phrase hands independently the easier you can solve this etude . The less you can hear the two hands voices the more it will resist you.
Also all descending left hand arpeggios (= all ascending right hand arpeggios) must lead to the next beat note as a one movement goal in the whole study while the first three notes after each beat are off beat. That way of articulating includes all the difficult bars with jumps.
That is a major hint i discovered by myself after that i was able to progress this study to tempo and pedal it correctly. This is considered one of the easier etudes.
Fantastic video. Thank you for sharing!
Excellent! Thank you! It reminds me the wisdom of teacher Vladimir Nielsen. When the sound counts first this comes naturally . Unfortunately The spirit of our times push us to forget this love of “music/body” centering as Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen could say.
Thank you!
Any advice for the ending jumps?
So good instruction!
Cheers!
I am left handed and this study is like a small revenge. The left hand passages are easier than right hand for me.😄
👍😎
Great tutorial. Thanks
Спасибо большое! Очень полезные советы!
Very helpful, could you please do q viedo on chopin ocean etude ? Am struggling with it .
Thank you for the advices. Full of very helpful things. I will probably watch your beido a few times😅.
A lot of things you say are common sens.
I have a general question about all the Chopin studies.
When we look at Chopin's tempo recommandation, we realise thar he recommamds crazy speeds for all of them!😅
The only pianist I know to nearly reach that speed is Cziffra. I know Richter's video but I sometimes wonder if the video hasnt been a bit altered with the speed.
Do you really think that Chopin was playing them that fast? I know about the lighter mechanic of the piano at the time.
I have played a couple of nocturne on a Pleyel form that era and it is true that the mechanic is a bit easier but still not easy to the point of playing Chopin's study that fast.
I sometimes think that it was a way for the publisher at the time to build a legend around Chopin. Because they didn't have recording at the time, the only way to hear Chopin was to live near Paris and being friend with the aristocratic people that was surrounding Chopin.
So the sheet music was the only way to get the closest to his playing.
So they exagerated the tempo of the studies.
What do you think?
As far as researchers usually agree, Chopin was a brilliant musician, but he wasn’t a very strong man. He played rather softly in the contrary to Liszt, who could easily destroy two pianos in one concert. Chopin has also seriously complained about his weak ring finger, and he gave very few public performances in his mature years. He also didn’t like apparently bravura and showing off, being very fond of singing qualities of the piano and scooped a lot of inspiration from operas. Everything points on that he probably was a good player and mesmerizing musician to listen to, but most probably he wouldn’t play his etudes with the level of velocity and brilliance they are played nowadays.
Also in my experience, Pleyels and Erards are of course much lighter, but the mechanics is not that reactive. It’s impossible to play certain spots like the coda of the 2nd ballade for instance up to usual modern tempo. When I played Chopin on Pleyel, my response to the instrument was that I wanted to play everything much slower than people usually do, instead paying more attention to phrasing nuances and rubato.
10:46
One of my teachers required me to practice this etude raising fingers all the way up.. It is nonsense!
For starters, I would say this video can be 100 times more helpful than real lessons with a non-practical high fingers approach! Wondering how you know it is non-practical? Just ask your teacher to perform it for you and watch the mess :)
Bar 3 right hand is the hardest part ,breaking my right hand wrist🤕
great job，man
My teacher advised me to play the pattern on the right hand at the 2nd measure with those fingers : 1325 1325 1325 1215 . Do you think it's right actually?
There is no right or wrong with fingering, only whether it makes your life easier or not.
Hey I have to remind you, those fingering does not work on every hands! For example my hand super small(Can only reach edge of 9th), I have tried it many weeks, 3425 1325 1215 1215 suits best for me
If you have bigger habd, I recommend 3rd group 1325, this kind of rotation is really tension free if you can easily reach the notes between 2nd and 5th finger.
Wtf this video is amazing!
Absolutement! The instruction to lift the fingers higher has arguably caused more physical and (not always acknowledged).psychological damage than any other aspect of piano pedagogy. I think for some people ,perhaps those who started early or have flexible hands (?) it has not caused damage and because they have become good pianists they think it is a good idea without realising how unnatural it actually is. WatchingThe monty python sketch. The Ministry of funny walks…. Is a much better way of occupying one’s time. If you see what I mean😕🙁
Hi, thanks for this awesome tutorial, so interesting!!
I am curious about something and I hope you could answer this question. So there are many beautiful renditions of this piece, amongst them Richters really fast version, and for instance Vladimir Horowitz, who’s version is slower. People seem to be under the impression that other pianists are unable to play this piece in this really fast tempo, while I would assume that the tempo is a matter of artistic choice… so I am sure that Horowitz could have played this piece as fast as Richter, he just chose not to. So from your standpoint as a professional pianist, do you think most professionals like yourself would be struggling to get it to this fast tempo as Richter plays it or not?
Sorry for this very elongated question, I hope I made myself clear :)
Honestly, that video seems a bit sped up to me. But if not, it is really the fastest version without loss of quality and finger articulation that I know.
But it depends on many factors, not just pianist’s abilities. For example some pieces I can play on my heavy action grand piano only on 80% speed in comparison to some lighter and finely regulated concert grands. Modern pianos are usually heavier than that old shattered buddy that Richter had on this video. You might notice also that Richter himself was never able to approach such tempo later. Maybe he was just high that day, who knows.
Horowitz had a custom piano with extremely light action, but in his later years he wasn’t a true virtuoso, if to consider virtuosity as an ultimate finger dexterity. I suspect he could have hand issues somewhere in his earlier ages, which limited him later. But he was an amazing marketing genius, and most of people still believe that his sloppy Moszkowski’s Etude with only the half of well articulated notes is an exemplary version.
In general, as further you develop as a professional musician, as more bored you become by need-for-speed athletic crap. I remember how it was fun to play all the virtuoso pieces, competing with the fastest available renditions when I was 16-20. Now it seems so boring. I would rather listen to the last Badura-Skoda’s recital than to brilliant entertaining virtuosi like Yuja.
Wow! Thank you for your detailed answer, I love it! :)
I personally don‘t think that the video is sped up, because I was told by a professional film maker that it is the lower frame rate and other factors which make a lot of videos from this time seem sped up.
In regards to Horowitz rendition, I don‘t know this one, but generally I think people hear music through individual lenses. So professional pianists, as they know the hard work they put into articulation and clearness, they will often times see music through the articulation lense more than amateur pianists or non-musicians do… hence the publics love for the other aspects of Horowitz musicality which I suppose can be heard in this rendition.
I yet have one other question, if I may... :D So I started learning this etude just today, and I like your method really well to try and gain consciousness over tension in my hands… I feel like this works really well! I am just slightly afraid of playing too loosely and loosing precision… any tips on how to combine a relaxed hand and control in the fingers?
Your mind focus is always on the finger tips, so doesn’t matter how well you coordinate motions or develop the freedom of the arm, how loose will be a sensation in the rest of your hand/arm, your finger tips remain always focused while you hit the key.
Again thanks a lot, great tip!
Considering it is not a lesson you have explainwd more than any school . A private techer needs for technique
Oh I thought it’s a video lesson😅😅😅
@@DenZhdanovPianist Sinceraly it is not a lesson! That piece is extremely difficult and a lesson needs instruction how to move the hands! To reach that fool speed! It is not sufficient and fingers not pulled out and rotation of wrist! Anyway is a part of the explication. I am not able to do that fast movement! But I know one needs more instructions. You are a good pianist and sincerely in Italy we have no professional teachers! And very little good pianist not avalaible to the mass!
@@richardrerossi7484cómo que no tienen pianistas profesionales, uno de ellos es el Maestro Daniel Rivera, que incluso ha dado conciertos con Martha Argerich, es argentino al igual que ella.El es un gran maestro.Saludos desde Argentina.
🌻
Hello
It is russian ‘s School piano.
It’s my School. Best School !!!
[ Chopin, quietly rustling his bones, turns over in his grave ]
@@DenZhdanovPianist
😌
He died. I am french . I play piano 5 hours by day , it’s so easy with russian’s piano technics. It ´s same as yours.
You explain it very well.
Good day !
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
you´re so cute :)
Thanks! 🤓
so educational and nice, but as I said in my previous comments, there is too much chatter instead of playing. I'm getting tired of this. I have stopped watching your teaching. Because it gets boring in the loins.
Lol