Monday, September 19, 2011

First Post

Greetings,

I am creating this blog as an attempt to put out some very specific advice on how to learn and play particular pieces on the piano. I will start with only one piece, Chopin's 4th Ballade in F Minor, which I have already written up, and then move on to other pieces that I play, like Debussy's Clair de Lune, Arabesque #1, Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum, and The Snow is Dancing, Chopin's Etude op 25 no 11 "The Winter Wind", some waltzes, some Rachmaninoff, etc. If you find any of this helpful please comment. And if you have any advice you can give on other pieces, or further advice on a piece I have written up I'd love to hear it.

I often start a piece and end up going to google and searching for something like "Advice on learning Chopin Ballade 4" or something like that and have found that usually nothing comes up. I hope with this blog to start the process of getting things to come up when one searches for things like that. If you would like to help please let me know.
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5 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 11, 2013 at 2:56 AM

    This helped a lot, shame that this is the only advice though :( Anyways thanks for this, it was a great analysis and the technical tips are helping quite a bit. I hate the rise/fall 2, my fingers are hurting just thinking about practicing it again LOL but your advice did help.

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    Replies
    1. BrianAugust 11, 2013 at 7:40 AM

      Hi Alex, you're very welcome! I'm really excited that this advice is able to help someone out. Thanks for your comment!!

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  2. UnknownOctober 15, 2013 at 9:08 PM

    Ha! I am starting off with this ballade and just found your post. Your comments are insightful but it will be better if you can provide a scan of your practising piece with fingerlings and notations.

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  3. R.LinSeptember 1, 2014 at 8:04 PM

    Hi Brian, thanks so much for posting this!! I really appreciate it. I love this piece... what other pieces are you challenging yourself with these days? I'm also trying Kapustin Pastorale Etude but I am stuck in a perpetual sightreading loop, which seems to be the case with many songs I am trying to learn. I need them to seep into my fingers instead of remain in sightread mode... Chopin Ballade 4 is working out better because of how melodious it is, so it's easier to break it down an practice while still able to enjoy the music. :)

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  4. Jeffrey WatsonSeptember 28, 2021 at 4:25 AM

    Thank you for the update, very nice site.. Fakaza

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