Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Questions about Chopin's Waltz Op. 64, No. 2 in C# Minor

Actually nothing special, I think I got helpful comments in this post.

This piece has been recorded many, many times. You can go to Amazon Mp3 (for example) and purchase versions from Van Cliburn to Liberace. You should get a good feel as to the range of interpretations this way.

The performance you showed was reasonably articulate (though a little sloppy on the chromatic runs) and sound, but there are much more interesting interpretations. It's also on the slow side.

I'd listen to Rubenstein and Horowitz to get started....

What are you looking for in an overview shot of the hands? How it's fingered?

It's a beautiful piece and a great choice.

Wow, I love how Yuja Wang brings out the melody in the last repeat section of the "8th note passage" (for lack of a better descriptor). I find it particularly striking how she moves the phrase of that melody from the right hand to the left hand. The Horowitz is lovely as well, I too like his use of staccato.

This waltz has long been one of my standard pieces. It's sort of my "Stairway to Heaven" for testing out pianos I come across in my day to day life. The OPs original link to the overhead video, seems adequate for getting hand position and rhythm down. However, the performance is, quite frankly, really boring. The left hand seems particularly un-dynamic, and just plods along. My advice would be to watch the video closely to get the hand position and reconfirm your rhythms, and then, once you've gotten those things down, never watch it again.

Don't worry about it being in C# minor, once you get the notes down, I think you'll find the black notes work as a kind of "crutch", helping you place your hand more precisely.

Yes, but I sometimes have difficulty placing my Pinkie on the black notes at higher speeds. I know this is because I'm really amateur

One thing you should consider when looking at the professional renditions on YouTube though is that those pianists are professionals and have been playing for many years. Some people feel depressed when they look at top performances and think they will never be that good. Take them as an inspiration, an incentive to get better and better. Don't feel like you should reach their level now and that if you don't it is bad. I have read quite a few threads here at PW where people thought they should give up because they hadn't reached the level of some performance on YouTube in spite of all possible efforts. Take them as an inspiration and just do your best.

Thanks for your advice. I hope I become a " Chopin Addict" like you one day

It is a good advice for those who do not enter amateur competitions. For those entering amateur competitions, it can be fatal to have this philosophy in learning a new piece. Performances by professionals posted in Youtube can be an excellent tool to gage whether we have the ability to play close to that quality or not. The judges even in amateur competitions will consider that we cannot play the piece if we play with amateurish qualities. Of course, very unlikely that we can match exactly the same quality as those of professionals. People play with amateurish qualities will not advance to the semifinal.

Amateurish qualities = scales are not played evenly, no dynamic (flat), inconsistent tempi, etc. Interpretations is a subjective matter. Usually real amateur pianists will have more problems than just unusual interpretation.

I don't think that right now (from what he said) he intends to enter a Chopin competition for outstanding amateurs because this is his first waltz. Maybe later, then he can raise his standards.

Chopin is the poet of the piano. I hope you will learn to really love him. He will make you happy!

Yeah, I don't intend to enter a competition! I play just because it's fun. I don't feel depressed when I compare my performance to the top ones, but I try to take them as inspiration and improve myself. Besides, considering dynamic is always my priority, and I think I'm good at that part, compared to my hands abilities

Yeah -- where the heck did that come from?

(Ronald, congrats for being probably the first person who has the amateur competitions as a constant frame of reference even more than I do.)

I do think there's a point to what Ronald said, but in a different way. I don't think most people would get discouraged by a video of Horowitz, but such videos wouldn't be any kind of useful model to follow, not just because of things like tempo but because much of what they do is very complex and sophisticated and of a whole different sort than anything that a beginner or intermediate player should think of doing. I agree with the posts saying that the best is to try just using the score as the "model," but if someone strongly wants to use a video as a model, it would be better to use a 'regular' advanced player doing a pretty standard rendition than a super-high-level pianist.

By the way, I do not agree with the thought that people just play a piece. To me, I am not satisfied if I do not play well. Otherwise, I consider that I cannot play the piece if I do not play the piece well, and I'd rather not to play those pieces.

I paid attention to the teachers whose young students are very successful in competitions. These teacher will not allow their students JUST Play, they MUST play well.

I always wonder how people choose the pieces that they want to learn.
I personally do not pick a piece for competition purposes if I think I won't be able to play well (close to what I see in Youtube), because even pieces that I think I can play well, many times at the polishing stage, those pieces become annoyingly difficult.

Mark, yes, amateur piano competition is always my reference (I must be crazy about this). Honestly, it is very fun goal to achieve, winning or not is not important, but constant improvement is fun.

RS :

This seems somewhat of a no-brainer, to use a popular term. Does any of us choose to learn/play a piece if we think we are not going to play it well, eventually? Our initial hopes and ultimate results may exceed our grasp, when, as you say, we come to the "polishing stages", but surely most of us don't pick to work on pieces unless we hope and expect we will eventually be able to play them well.

I think some of us have enough musical judgment, too, to rely on our own standards, not competition standards - whatever that might mean (and how might competition standards differ from our own high standards?) - to determine how well we play; we play the best we can, and our musical experience, judgment and common sense tell us how good our performance may be.

As for "just play[ing] a piece" as opposed to playing it well, there are even times for that.

Regards,

The reason I wonder how people choose the pieces that they want to learn/practice is that many people with piano degree in amateur competitions chose pieces that are way beyond their ability. These people have decent knowledge of what good playing is.

Imagine the choice of people who do not have piano degree and do not have enough musical background, it can be very scary. I think many people often over estimate their ability, because they do not know what their limitation is.

We have a guy in our piano club who always plays difficult pieces. It was a painful 10-12 min of listening to his playing. If he had chosen something simpler, he could have played nicely. He has pretty good technique, but not for Winter Wind Etude level. One time, I asked him "Why don't you practice something simpler?" He said "First, I do not have the patience to polish a piece for a long time, and I knew that these pieces are too hard for me, but it is kind of fun to learn something difficult"