Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Chopin Waltz in A flat major Op 42

Hello, im new to the pianoworld forums but i am a 18 year old who has been playing the piano since the age of 5 and has been studying under Doris Thomopulos for 13 years. I have a question about Chopin's Waltz in A flat Major. I have listened to many concert pianoists playing this, and i want to know how they connect the main melody without letting the melody go? I also have a youtube performance of this Waltz, search in fuman230, and you will find the video.

thank you

"Chopin is a genius when it comes to piano"

Not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean that on the recordings the melody sounds legato even though it's not played with finger legato all the time or...?

yes sort of. what i mean is that the concert pianoists play the melody very connected, but when i practice and play, the melody sounds disconnected and the tone is broken off. But i think it's because my fingers arent that big and elastic, but they are some what a normal size for a pianoist

First, welcome to the Pianist Corner!

I'm not sure what you mean when you write "i am a 18 year pianoist who has been studying under Doris Thomopulos for 18 years."

Nor do I understand, if you have been studying piano for 18 years, that this should even be a question. Playing a legato melody with the "outside" fingers of the right hand should long ago have been a technique easily mastered. Your video doesn't give the impression of someone who has studied piano for 18 years.

Regards,

Oh, OK.
I think the answer is mainly what we're talking about in the thread on Phrasing. (Click the word and it will take you to the thread.)

Think of how you'd "sing" the melody. When you sing, there's a natural FLOW of the notes -- you do it automatically. On the piano, it's not automatic, but you can make it happen if you try. What it involves specifically is that some of the notes are softer than others. I would guess that you're playing all the melody notes just about equally loud.

And in this piece, it's particularly hard because of all else that is going on -- the lower notes in the R.H., the fact that you're playing most of the melody notes with the 5th finger, and the L.H. doing a different beat.

Yes there is a typo, i meant to say for 13 years, my apologies if i made you confused and thank you for the Welcoming greeting.

Perhaps you could try playing only the melody notes of the right hand(either using the fingering that would occur if you were playing the complete right hand and/or a more connected fingering) together with the left hand waltz accompaniment. After you can do that the way you like you could add the rest of the right hand triplet notes.

Do you mean using free arm or legato pedaling or something else?

I agree with Mark_C here. You have to work on your phrasing.
Also, I suppose you did practice it slower while you were learning it? Phrasing comes out better when you are learning a piece if you practice at a slower tempo.

Welcome to PianoWorld form another Chopin lover!

Not quite sure what you mean, pianoman9084. I couldn't find your video-please provide the link.

Just try and play it like this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0vFjjoflyQ

Wow this is the best version yet here is the link JustAnotherPianist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6rozcpOnLM

affirmative, i been using my meternome while practicing the Waltz, increasing the speed little by little. hmm, i never heard of phrasing before.

yeah it's pretty messed up how well he plays this piece.

You've done good work on this piece so far, but honestly it seems like it's a bit too difficult a piece for you right now.

No offense intended... but this piece is supposed to sound easy and spectacular-the way Bozhanov plays it, or relatively close, at least.

Unless you just started working on the piece a few days before you made that video, I can't honestly see you getting there with it in the near future.

This waltz is REALLY hard-that's why everyone plays it in the Chopin Competition.
I think you could develop more efficiently if you were to work on something a bit easier.

If you are determined to stick it out with this piece no matter what I say, I would advise you to practice it VERY slowly, without using the pedal for now, and really listen to the quality of sound in the melody. You made a lot of mistakes in the left hand as well-mistakes which sounded as though you may have learned the wrong notes or, if you DO know the right notes, you're simply being too careless in where your hand lands after the jumps.

You need to practice the left hand alone. Focus on jumping EXTREMELY quickly and in a straight line to where you're going. Allow your hand to land on the correct position for the right chord, and do not play. Just practice that jump. Very fast, in a straight line, DIRECTLY to the position of the chord, then you can play.

Practice the jumps like that, and in a short time you will be playing mostly the right notes in tempo.

JustAnotherPianist thank you for the beneficial tips, i will practice the Waltz as you said, thank you, and my teacher selected it for my audition for college. The four pieces i am playing is Debussy's 2nd arebesque and that is a challenging piece with the 16th trills, Beethoven's Sonata in G Maj, Bach Inventio 13 and the challenging Chopin Waltz

Sorry, but I think you should find a better teacher if he/she never mentioned phrasing to you in 13 years...

But it is never too late to learn and you are still very young anyway!

I dont know, if i should change teachers, ive known her since the age of 5, and she has been in the Whos in America series, with her son Michael Thomopulos, im sure most of you heard about him? I think she has taught me about phrasing, and i wasn't paying attention, probably.

I have no clue who you are talking about nor do I have any clue what the Whos in America series is.
How much do you practice every day, and what colleges are you planning to audition for? When are the auditions?

The OP is probably referring to the "Who's Who in America" series: annual (?) publications, often by discipline, ("Who's Who in Education, etc.) including biographies, awards and distinctions of various personalities, some who have paid to have their biographies listed in these reference works.

Regards,

I too am surprised that in your entire music education your teacher hasn't mentioned phrasing! When I was learning, once I passed absolute beginner stage I don't think I had a lesson where phrasing was mentioned at least 4 of 5 times per lesson!

Have you ever read the performance notes at the beginning or end of your scores? Without a doubt there is mention of phrasing there.

In any case - how long before your college audition? Do you know the other pieces you've listed - or do you need to learn those from scratch?

Is this pianoman9084?

pianoman?

If so, there are several questions spinning around in my head; a few things are not really adding up very well.

Regards,