Learn Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor QUICKLY! Piano Tutorial
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ค. 2023
- Practice tips to learn this piece with ease. This piano tutorial also includes performance techniques that will help you play expressively and clean. Rachmaninoff Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Op. 3 No. 2 | Piano lesson by Heather Thompson Smits, NCTM of BRILLANTE Piano Duo.
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This is the only Rachmaninoff piece I've ever been able to learn. It's one of his earliest pieces, and was so frequently requested at his performances that he got tired of it, often commenting that he had written much better works, which is true. It's actually a pretty simple piece, for Rachmaninoff, that is. It sounds harder than it is. In all my years of taking lessons, the MOST important thing I was taught was this: Practice slowly enough that you don't make mistakes! I cannot overemphasize how important this is. You're developing muscle memory when you practice, and if you're making mistakes, you're memorizing mistakes. Practice this way, and you'll be amazed how quickly the speed comes. Another important thing, which this instructor mentions, is keeping your shoulders, arms, and hands relaxed. Muscle tension messes everything up. Now, if only there was a magic way to make Rachmaninoff's G minor prelude easy to play...
His Polichinelle from the same opus as this is pretty accessible as well. You don’t have to have hands the size of a giant to play them. I would encourage anyone to listen to the opus that this prelude is on, also the elegy is pretty straightforward too. As for the g minor I have that planned for my next diploma so if I find any way of making the learning of it easier I shall let you know 😂😂
Yes this piece really isn’t very difficult but it does scare people away because of the 4 note chords in both hands and the 4 staffs. Practicing slow is the number one thing that I talk about with my students. It’s tough to get them to do it!
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons My instructors had a hard time getting me to practice slowly, too. It's just too much fun to try to play at tempo, but it is detrimental.
this piece is most difficult that sol minor...
The G minor is brilliant as well! It’s a good way to work on this by practicing sep hands the parts and avoid the jumps. Same as for the C# minor
Very good tutorial, you've covered a lot of parts with short tips, and well, the rest is just practice 🙂
Thanks!
Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! Much appreciated 💖
So awesome! Thank you for all of these tips and specific areas by bar and measure to work on. Best tutorial yet!!!
Wow thank you so much for the incredible comment! 💖
Thank you so much, Great teacher!!!
You’re welcome! Thank YOU for the nice comment 💖
I like your style- very gentle and constantly looking forward.
Thank you so much for the nice comment!
Brilliant! Just what I was looking for. I am presently learning this piece and your tutorial ha helped me immensely. i am very grateful. Thanks, 🎹🎹Tom
This is so good to hear! Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us 🥰
I think reading this would be the hardest part for me. Hopefully the more you read music the easier it gets. Thanks for inspiring me to raise my own bar!
I’m so glad this inspired you! Yes being able to sight read well is helpful and the best way to improve sight reading is learning a lot of music. My intention for this video was to point out some patterns in the music and suggest practice techniques to make this piece feel less intimidating. Most people realize that it’s not as difficult as they thought…once they get started.
Brilliant tutorial! You covered all the main bits very well. Indeed all those aspects are the way to learn this wonderful work! Congratulations on your excellence!
So nice of you! Thanks so much for taking the time 💖
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons thanks. You’re welcome, the tutorial is brilliant!
I played it many, many years ago. I forgot EVERY piece I used to play.
Now, at the venerable age of 82, I'm trying to start all over again.
Your tutoriai will be an awesome way to do it.
THANK YOU !!!!❤❤❤
It’s so inspiring to hear that you’re still playing! Thank you for the nice comment! 💖
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again.
At my venerable age of 70, I acquired a Mason & Hamlin BB and have dragged out my old "three B's" from 45 years ago. I never before studied this prelude, but have been working on it lately. The tips are useful.
Thank you!!
You’re so welcome! Thank you for the comment 🥰
I am way below this level but I feel like I gained something to help me practice better where I'm at (roughly Bach Magdalena notebook or below level). Thanks for the video!
It definitely takes some practice and time to work up to pieces like this. But if it’s a piece you’d like to learn, hopefully that will give you motivation to keep practicing! Thank you for the nice comment!
Bachenrach!
This amateur (me) says: Your Bach is more about precise fingering and clarity. This Rach is more about dynamics, voicing, pedaling and expression.
You can do it! 🙂
Thanks! I've just started learning this piece and this has been really helpful. Another tip from my teacher for the Agitato section is to practice the double stemmed notes v loud and the others v quiet (much more so than you would do in performance). Also finding you really need to be clear in your mind about which hand goes on top for each chord bars 3 to 12 - v easy to trip yourself up.
Yes that’s a great tip to practice playing the first note of each triplet louder than the other notes and hold the quarter note through the triplet. Thank you!
You could mark the mixed hand section with U and O or O and U. Practice just the outer octaves as she showed.
Muito obrigada por esses ensinamentos. Valeu muito.
Estou tão feliz em saber que você sente que isso é valioso
wow....very helpful! :) Just now i succeeded to do it perfectly...
So great to hear! Thanks for sharing! 💖
I never really took enough piano lessons to learn music theory and reading music properly but I've muscled my way through something is difficult as Chopin's opus 10 number one so maybe this will not be impossible for me I need to add a Rachmaninoff to my repertoire
Thanks for sharing! It’s definitely worth a try. If you are passionate about a piece, you’ll surprise yourself with what you can accomplish. 💫
Good accomplishment!
Learning some theory and harmony basics can help your understanding of any score and aid memorization.
Making block chords out of the separate notes will help you understand and remember the chord progressions.
I restarted piano lessons after 42 years at the age of 67. This is the piece I wanted to master. I ended up with a repetitive motion injury after overreaching. (Pun intended.) I grieved when I had to stop.
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear this. Rachmaninoff had huge hands and some of his 4 note chords in this piece can be difficult and even impossible for people with small-average hands. I should make a video about how to adjust some of the chords because this is a common problem.
Thank you for the valuable tips. I suppose that the hands-overlap is variable and best worked out by each student. A commentary on the Brahms B-flat concerto said, "It helps to have fingers like carrots." The same applies here.
You’re very welcome! So you’re wondering which hand should be over the other hand in an overlapping chord? Usually you’ll be able to figure out which hand goes on top if you try it out both ways; whichever feels most comfortable to you.
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons
I marked the big chords with O and U or U and O.
This is my first Rach study, a worthy candidate for my recently acquired 7' M&H. 8-)
Oh nice! Congrats on your new piano!!!
The only criticism I have of this piece is that it's WAAAY too short! It stirs the soul, it promises absolute fireworks and then is over too quickly, climaxing too soon and then winding down. Still, absolutely fascinating seeing what goes into playing this. Thanks!
I’ve never thought about it like that! Interesting perspective! Thank you 💫
I learnt this when I was in my 20s, Sadly wouldn't be able to play it now because I have psoriatic arthritis and my hands are too painful, but it's great fun to play and feels like a real achievement when you've learnt it. You do need big hands tho. I can only just reach some of the chords and mine are on the large side for a female.
I’m so sorry about the arthritis! It is a great piece. A few of my small hand students learned it. We adjusted some of the chords and made it work.
Check out a recording called Rockin on and off by B bumble & the stingers dating from about 1960. This wasn’t really a music group but was actually a studio project done by a number of studio musicians who are now known as the wrecking crew. The drummer is the legendary Earl Palmer. All this work was based on various classics. They hit gold probably unexpectedly with a piece called Bumble Boogie. U tube fed me your video because I was looking up Rockin on and off recently. This is one of the greatest pieces of music ever. Maybe when I retire I’ll have the time to sit down and try to learn it.
Oh that’s very interesting! Maybe TH-cam advertised my video to you because you watch other piano tutorials and piano videos?
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons yes i have watched a lot of other piano & music stuff. But I also looked up some Rachmaninoff work lately. I never knew until recently what a fantastic pianist he was or that he actually lived quite recently. His compositions are so influential. In my original comment i meant that his concerto in c# minor is one of the greatest pieces ever. your tutorial & playing is also amazing.
@@terrylaw18 Yes I love this piece and Rachmaninoff was absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for your nice comments!
Not my style but I respect what you do 👍
Thank you! Rachmaninoff isn’t for everyone ;)
👍
It helps to have GIANTRESS HANDS and FINGERS like she does.... with a 2 foot reach!
Having big hands is definitely helpful when playing Rachmaninoff! I do have some students with average size hands who played this. We needed to adjust a few of the chords. I should have included that process in this tutorial. Maybe a future video!
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons Thx for the info.. helps us Short Hand folks!
This biggest interval in this piece is an octave
@@beshepman7963 and that is NOT easy for those of us with small hands.. playing an "thumb/pinky" octave isn't bad.. but adding in a 3rd/5th, etc... not easy!
@@beshepman7963 Yes you’re right, but there are many four note chords that people with small hands can’t reach. It’s the stretch between the octave that feels uncomfortable.
Aren’t you supposed to hold the top line of each of the triplet instead of play it legat for every note?
Thank you
Yes you are supposed to hold the first note of each triplet because they are quarter notes. I should have mentioned that for sure.
BRILLANTE Sexiliante piano tutorials😏 :))
Why thank you! 😍
Please move laterally from one chord to the next, not up and down with the wrist
This is just a "no" for me. I do not play pian to impress other people. Even more so, I think it is way more tough to say "I cannot play that" than playing it was tips and tricks and leave the finesses out. It is a straight "no go".
This tutorial is for people who want to play this piece and have stayed away out of fear of how difficult it appears. It’s a short video about a few tips that I teach my students when they are just starting to learn this. It’s not an in depth tutorial. Thanks for your comment!
Scarey
It’s still feels scary?!!!