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just a small question.
on Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, about halfway through, the main "theme" of the song repeats, but with eighth-note triplets on the... ascending octaves. on the final one there is an instance where you play the octaves C C# D F, E-flat.

during that part, I constantly find my left hand having gone too quickly and doing nothing while it waits for the right hand to finish that bit.

how can I correct this? I've tried playing it slowly and it works, but as I speed up, I constantly play the left hand simultaneously with the right.

Counting and clapping out the rhythm.
Can you sing the melody?
Another thing is to pick out only the down beat notes and play them to speed, then fill them in with the notes in between.

oh! (: thank you so much!
It's incredible how such a simple method works
all this time I actually didn't realize that the C# does go in simultaneously with the left hand.

Hey that is just what my teacher says 90% of the time during lessons - so he'll be glad to hear it works for others too.

I'm working on this etude too, though I'm not as far along as you.

>< I don't know. I've been on it for quite some time. :X this is actually the hardest piece I've played. ever

gee... I can't get it up to speed like all those YouTube-ers though =/

It pays not to compare yourself to others - particularly when there are so many 12 year old genius pianists on Youtube.

If you play it well at 1/2 speed it will still sound absolutely amazing with the right phrasing.

Most people play it slower than the marked tempo, even though some of them could probably play it faster.

Yeah. Whenever I see 12-year-olds playing at Carnegie Hall it seriously makes me wonder if I would be that good had I practiced eight hours a day :]

Actually I'm going to take your advice and try playing it slowly and surely.
Do you have tips for the Butterfly Etude by the way?

and to beginningpianist:
Yeah. A lot of songs, I find the marked tempos pretty outrageous. I'm in full agreement with your statement.

sonshine - my best advice to you if you are not working with a teacher is to go find a really good one. I have mine come by every 2 weeks and that works for me since it isn't too expensive and I have a full time job that takes a lot of my time.

However if you can't hire a teacher, I suggest mixing up your playing with shorter technical pieces. The Bach Inventions are extremely useful for developing the finger discipline you will need in these etudes. Really! They may look like simple little ditties but they can tie your fingers in knots and help condition them for just this type of playing.

Actually, it's a little interesting because my mom is a piano major, but she has been "cursed" with abnormally small hands and unfortunately cannot help me with some of the pieces that I tackle. She has played a whole lot more pieces than I have though.

On a different note, I really wish I had a part time job, but alas. Only sixteen and unable to drive. The Bach Inventions.
I always get nitpicky on which technical exercises to play, because I get sick of Hanon and Czerny extremely quickly. I'll go look into those though.

By the way. PianoSociety.com has a great many pieces you can print out for free! (:
but since there's already a thread for sheet music sites, I'm sure you already knew that.

Bach Inventions, although they improve technique dramatically, aren't "technical exercises"
They're pieces of music and are beautiful and quite fun to play, you'll like them a lot.

Yes, I did not mean to sound like the Inventions are warmed over Hanon compositions. They are beautiful and a joy to play as well as great exercises for hand/finger conditioning. #8 is very famous and fun to play - you should try it first, as well as #1.

You sound like a motivated young man (lady), please keep it up but when you can get some help from a good teacher - it will speed up your learning incredibly.

Sonshine: If you feel like it you can wander over to the Adult Beginners Forum where there is a study group working through this etude. Don't let the "adult" or "beginner" in the title throw you off. Many of us are neither.
Revolutionary Etude Study Group

Cortot suggests playing the thumb only on the right hand to ensure it isn't too tense when doing the octaves, if that's giving you any trouble.

Jazzy, you're still a kid?? Me too. I still don't know what to do when I grow up.

hahaha yeah. I don't know what I'll do when I grow up either. And actually now that you bring it up the Adult Beginners title was actually the first thing that kept me from going there. That or its description.

I'm going to print out some of those Inventions tonight... and to eric_626:

I actually gave that up right now to just focus on Revolutionary a bit more. I think talking to verania5 made me actually question if I was playing it as well as I could get it up to.