Chopin Etude Challenge

Disclaimer: Both recording quality and the piano I am using are not great. I have a decent electric keyboard now. Will re-record these at some point.

"Waterfall" | Op. 10 No. 1

So one thing I did not realise about Chopin's Etudes is that learning them chronologically is not a great idea. Waterfall is notorious for its wide arppegios played at a breakneck 176 bpm and is widely considered one of the hardest etudes. Nevertheless, in a textbook display of the sunk cost fallacy, I'm continued to learn this piece.

I tried to be as disciplined as possible in my practice by prioritizing exercises that build good muscle memory and only upping the tempo when I'm ready to do so. 160 bpm seems to be the upper bound for my current skill level so I decided to stop there. By no means a perfect performance, but I challenged myself and am happy with my progress.

Learnings
• Progress isn't linear. There's no shame in staying at the same tempo for several weeks.
• Finger strength should come from the wrists and forearms. This is the only way to emphasize the inner voicings of the right hand.

"Tristesse" | Op. 10 No. 3

One of Chopin's most iconic etudes, and according to him, the most beautiful melody he ever wrote. The A-section of this piece features three different voicings all to be sung with a legato. My piano's key action is very light and so it was a challenge to balance each of these voices with the overall dynamics of the piece. The B-section is more technically difficult and definitely still needs some work. Here's the recording!

Learnings
• When you want to emphasize one note in a chord (often the topnote), the hand should be weighted towards the finger playing that note. That way you don't have to consciously think about the imbalance and can focus on "singing" the melody instead.
• Not really a learning, but this piece helped me improve at half-pedalling and quarter-pedalling