Chopin Revolutionary Study

Hi,

Does anyone have any hints / tips on how to make a good performance of this piece? I am an amateur and I learnt the piece just over a year ago and am now revising it again. I can make a half decent job of it, but I want it to sound 'professional'. One of the main problems, is that my left hand starts aching around the third page and by the time I reach the closing passages, it aches so much that it has a clearly negative impact on the performance. I also have problems with the triplets in bars 50 - 62. It's such an amazing piece of music, and I really want to do it justice. Thanks,

You're not practicing it slowly enough. You should be able to play it through at a slow tempo, say half speed, musically, and without tension in your arms or hands. If you can't do that, you shouldn't try to play it at full tempo.

As Martin said, relax your arms...

But you have to find places to do that. it's different for everyone. I played this piece last year, and I found that in the left hand, going *up* was impossible to release, but going **down** was much better... if you get my drift.

Good luck! I agree, it's a fantastic piece!

Rubberband Girl