So I have been playing with this étude* on and off for about ten years. I have to play it for a jury of my school's piano faculty a week from tomorrow, and I've been having trouble with some bits of it. In particular, the upward chromatic thingies for each individual variation of the theme have had me confused. I know the fingerings, but I've been viewing them as separate things to learn, and though in some ways they are, they're essentially the same thing in the parts that have been screwing me up (the middles of the runs).

So, I just realized tonight that it's all the same fingering. I know the differences between them, and have no problem playing them, but I didn't realize before that it's all the same conventional chromatic thirds fingering in the middle. The thumb skips from E to F and from B to C (or backwards on the way down), and once you get the hang of the chromatic thirds, that's the only thing you need to pay attention to - that skipping thumb.

I feel like an idiot now for not realizing this before. I had only paid special attention to the skipping thumb in the final descending chromatic thirds before, perhaps because it was descending and therefore more evident to me? I don't know. I'm just happy that 90% of my technique difficulties with this piece have finally gone away.

*In case anyone was wondering: yes, using "special characters" makes me feel special.

This may come off as stupid (just like all my other posts): You should be happy on the progress you have made from day one of piano playing, and the current abilites you possess. There will always be someone who can play it better or there will always be a piece that is slightly out of our abilities.

I've come to accept that I cannot obtain perfection. So why cut myself down over the small stuff?I should accept the imperfections and find joy in them.

So how does this garble pertain to you?

You'll have moments of difficulty in playing this piece. Don't stress out about it. Breath, relax, and have fun. It's all about having fun. If you are not having fun playing a piece, then either you're a professional pianist whose only means of putting the bread on the table is to play everything or this hobby is not for you

Anywho, I know I will get reemed from the serious ones in this forum. But, hey, I shouldn't stress over it

This advice was more theory than technical...I hope you understand.

hmmm, I'm not cutting myself down. Just explaining why I'm a horrible pianist.

You wanna hear horrible? Come to my house. After 5 minutes you will start thinking
you're a genius.

No, no! Come to my house and you will see that i cannot even play the simpliest of pieces without making mistakes!

Oh, and by the way...piano is really not just a hobby at this point. My goal is to teach music theory (and perhaps also music history) but these departments do not offer scholarships for undergraduates at my school, so I have no choice but to major in piano performance so that I can get a scholarship. Though I suspect that the piano faculty allows me to pursue this major because they know I am a good student otherwise, it is essential to my scholarship that I practice, because I cannot afford school without that scholarship. It is also essential that I pick at least moderately difficult repertoire.

I really like the 25/6! It's probably more than 'moderately' difficult for me, though. Oh well, in my dreams....

Good luck with it, Terez.

Monica, you learn music much more quickly than I do. Trust me, it's only moderately difficult at the tempo I use. (Mikuli has it marked at half note = 69 BPM, but I play it at about quarter note = 80 or 90 - it's a very modest tempo, but not so slow that it sounds like I'm practicing on stage.)

I think that the 25/6 sounds/looks a lot harder than it really is. I think the hardest part is learning the fingerings. They seem VERY awkward at first, but after a while they seem very natural (as is often the case with inventive or counterintuitive fingerings.)

This is probably a stupid question, but the fingerings you are using - are they Chopin's? We all know how he invented some fingering techniques that we use today and so did Liszt. I don't know enough about the etudes to know if there is only one way of fingering them as per Chopin's instructions, or if like everything else it depends on the editor of the edition you are using.

I am doing Chopin 25/7. It may be the first chopin etude I can actually play but even that is a challange for me.

So if you think you're terrible, think again. If you heard me, you would never guess I have been studying since 1990!

Now let us do a contest who is the most terrible pianist.
Ah no, this is not fair..... I'll win that hands down

Ha...just like the 25/6 is not as hard as it looks, the 25/7 is not as easy as it looks! The runs on the second page are tricky! Beautiful piece, though.

And Chris, no one who has recorded the entire WTC is allowed to participate in the contest for most terrible pianist.

Not even if these are terrible recordings ?

You're not a terrible pianist, you're a compulsive one.
You know I am used to expressing my opinion openly. When I see how easily you learn new stuff, I think "Chris is lucky, but why doesn't spend half of that time drilling what he's learnt and working on the small details?". It's something I've already told you, I believe, so forgive me, but in a way I feel you miss an important occasion to play better. We learn to do what we constantly do, so if you go on and on learning new pieces, you'll be able to learn new pieces quicker and quicker, not necessarily to play them better. Sorry to sound probably harsh, but I care very much since you make music with integrity, a quality I prize most highly.

All this I know. It's a precarious balancing act. I am very slowly nudging the scale towards the right side but time is dear and old habits die hard. There is just too much I want to do. Ah well, integrity above technique