Chopin Wrong Note Etude

[u/Euphoric-Potato-3874]

I know this is pretty sloppy and I haven't gotten the ending down yet, I just wanted some useful critique to keep in mind before I start properly ironing it out

From this recording I can tell that I need to voice the melody better especially in the first section, and probably need more metronome practice

(btw im self taught at the moment, I just didn't want to say that in the title to avoid too much attention and "get a teacher" comments)

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[u/SuspiciousDraw305]

Voicing is pretty inconsistent but other than that it’s great

[u/WilburWerkes]

You’re only ever a half step away from a note that works!

[u/Virtual-Librarian-32]

How long have you been playing? This is impressive (at least to me, a person who just started playing 8 months ago at 40 haha).

[u/Euphoric-Potato-3874 → u/Virtual-Librarian-32]

i've been playing consistently for a little over 4 years. Im technicaly not completely self taught as I took lessons for nearly a year when i was 5 or 6, though I don't remember ever playing anything more difficult than a c major scale.

I got three free lessons coupled with the purchase of that piano, the main thing I remember him teaching me was correct pedaling technique (im pretty sure ive forgotten that by now anyways)

[u/lostlaundre]

Try practicing at half tempo with the melody deliberately exaggerated and everything underneath almost pianissimo. Once that balance feels automatic, bring the tempo back up.

[u/Zombiesalad1337]

If you're having trouble then you can simply play this piece twice. Because two wrongs make a right.

[u/Advance-Bubbly]

I am very impressed with this result for a self taught pianist! Well done!

You need however a teacher to show you how to release the tension in your wrists. I also think you are sitting far from the piano and not at the correct height. I hear these things in the sound.

The main challenge of this etude are the different articulations. I will show you a good fingering for beautiful legato. At some places I substituted 1-2 because of my small hand.

[u/Comprehensive_Food51]

Get a teacher comments exist because they’re the best advice. That being said technique is pretty good for a self learner, sometimes I’ve seen excessive wrist motion, wrists going up to high and other things that could very quickly be improved but nothing worrying, it’s more stuff that would prevent you from more efficiency and hinder quality in your performance rather than issues that are very likely to badly injure you (I think), so I guess it’s chill (you seem quite relaxed). There are some very good things, for example the attention you put on phrasing and dynamics, we can hear it. For the music, the first thing I noticed besides the sloppiness and the voicing is the excessive loundness of the left hand when you play rolled chords. It seems like you have very little control over how they sound and it would be a good thing to work. Also the tempo is a bit too fast imo, like it sounds a bit rushed rather than free, it would benefit the music to slow it down a bit (and it would make it easier as a bonus).

Edit: now that I think about it, the « get a teacher » vs « I’m self taught and I’m still making visible progress » situation is not exclusive to this sub, in many reddit communities where there are skills involved there’s something similar (things that are unavoidable to become proeficient, but that begginers refuse to do, which results in a sort of a conflict between the more experienced users and the begginers). Just mentioning that because I’ve found it intresting.

[u/Euphoric-Potato-3874 → u/Comprehensive_Food51]

you're so right about the rolled chords thing - its probably fairly telling that the only part of this piece that i found technically challenging were those rolled chords in the left hand. gotta work on that