#2 How I practice Chopin Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 in C minor (120+ hours)
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
- If you want to learn Chopin's Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 in C minor effectively by yourself, this video is for you. This video demonstrates how I progressed the Nocturne in C minor, resource clips and exercises I used to overcome specific challenges, and how long it would take to get to a certain level.
Background
I am a 30-something restarter. After playing for 8 years and got level 10, I quilted piano for 25+ years. My first coming back piece is Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu ( • #1 How I practice Chop... ). After that, I played a few of Chopin's preludes for fun. I accidentally came across Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 and absolutely love it! I practiced roughly 1 hour a day, 5 days a week. I spent the first 4 months self-learning, and in the last month, I found a teacher to help me further improve as I was stuck.
Structure of the Video
Intro: 0:00:00
Section A practice: 0:01:30
You will see how my dynamics improved over time.
Section A best take: 0:02:14
Section B practice: 0:03:36
You will see how I addressed 3 challenges:
1. How to play quietly?
I practiced without the left pedal to improve the volume control and apply the left pedal later. Be careful about chord voicing.
2. How to play the broken chord to sound like striking the strings of a harp?
I practiced each connection between notes in a broken chord to work out how my hand, wrist and arm are supposed to work together and create the muscle memory.
3. How to play fast octaves?
I used online resources to help me as I don't remember or know how.
Lesson 1: when you finish an octave and get off the keys, the hand need to bounce to the next position. See full clip: Piano Masterclass on Octave Technique, from Steinway Hall London: • Piano Masterclass on O...
Lesson 2: if comfortable, use the fourth finger for the black key in an octave to make the movement smooth. See full clip: Piano Masterclass on Octave Technique, from Steinway Hall London: • Piano Masterclass on O...
Lesson 3: practice elbow bounce, wrist bounce and finger bounce. I use a blend of them at different sections of octaves. See full clip: 10 Tips to MASTER Octaves! NEW Tips and Strategies - Josh Wright Piano TV: • 10 Tips to MASTER Octa...
Section B best take: 0:08:30
Section C practice: 0:10:50
You will see how I overcame another 3 challenges:
1. How to keep background chords quiet?
The key takeaway is to NOT release the keys to their resting position before pushing down to the key beds again. See full clicp: How to Play Repeated Chords Quietly on Piano: • How to Play Repeated C...
2. How to clearly voice the melody notes in a chord
My way of approaching it is to separate the background chords from the melody notes of the right hand, rather than to view them together as bigger chords. Fingers for background chords are doing completely different things from the melody finger. See my demonstration 0:12:42.
I also used the miming exercise to enhance the separation. See full clip: Piano Lesson on Chord Voicing and Melody: • Piano Lesson on Chord ...
3. How to double up the speed in Sectio C?
There is no shortcut, unfortunately. I have to practice slowly and gradually speed up while handling any new issues and tackling them one by one.
Section C best take: 0:14:48
This video reflects my progress of 120+ hours (5 months) practice with all the resources I used. I hope you find this video useful by giving a thumb up or subscribe. Feel free to leave your comments below.
Piano used: Yamaha U3A, Kawai K500
Gongratulation as a pianist I love to see other people progression and being so passionate about playing piano much love
Thank you so much for your encouragement. Now I'm a bit ashamed that sometimes I skipped practice :P Playing what I like does make me very happy.
Just started working on this nocturne today. I'll definitely be coming back to this video as I work through each section. Hopefully, I can get the whole piece down roughly in the same time frame as you did.
Let me know if you need anything :)
this is one of the best videos that i have ever found about learning a new piece
i will apply all of your strategies to my practice
thank you so much!
love from brazil
I'm very glad that you like it and find it useful :)
This is amazing. Terrific work. Patience to the max. The beautiful "tedium" of practice. This is what hard work looks like. Many thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you so much for your kind comments :) I'm a bit slacking lately on the practice as I'm stuck... What you said reminded me to get my head space together and get back on track to the routine. I guess the "inspiration" is mutual!
wonderful playing!
You’re incredible. I just recently discovered this nocturne and it’s full so many emotions, but there is something beautifully nihilistic about it. To me it’s almost like one is accepting their perpetual despair while still acknowledging the hypothetical reality of beauty, happiness, and contentment that will always be just out of reach and therefore creates frustration. Music really is a situational phenomenon. One day a piece could be null and the next day it speaks existential volumes.
There's a paradox!
Nilhistic, and Existential ar the same time!
Well said! I totally agree. I think this complex, conflicting twist between struggle and surrender reflects the reality of a life journey. When I picked up this piece, I was in a dark place. Every day playing it is like therapy for me. I went through my negative emotions again and again, and then it's gone.
@@pianorewind I too was in a dark and destitute mental place when I heard Chopin’s music for the first time and it articulated so many thoughts and feelings about things that words don’t even exist for yet. I am still in that place now, but this nocturne helps me find that there is beauty and truth in despair. You expressed it perfectly. It’s a dance between struggle and surrender, and one will never successfully usurp the other. They are in a continuous paradox and one cannot exist without the other.
I love how you describe this. It's how I've always felt about the piece.
YUP, looks like i'm going to try and learn this one now. Thanks for the inspiration!
I'm so happy that you got inspired. It's a beautiful piece, even after playing and listening to so many times. As it has all sorts of challenges so can be really fulfilling and rewarding. I hope you enjoy your practice!
great video, i'm about tos tart learning this piece and your video is very realistic and gives me hope i can achieve something nice!!
I'm glad. I'm coming back to get motived myself too :)
It's very satisfactory to see your improvements. Despite the very high difficulty level of this impressive nocturne you achieved a nice interpretation. Keep it up!! And congratulations for your passion! A very didactic video on how to approach difficult pieces.
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement! I've been distracted lately (and thus no upload) and seeing your comments motivated me again! Thank YOU :)
I liked the video before even watching because of that A++ description box. But seriously, great video and progress. Words cannot express how helpful those "sources" were for self taught players who can get a sense of techniques that need to be used, things that can't necessarily be shown simply from the sheet music. Once again, great video, I appreciate it!
Thanks for your kind words! I hope you're having fun with your practice :)
Incredible video, thank you algorithm for sending it to me. I'm working through the thrird section currently, so I appreciate all of the resources to help me with me practice!
Thanks for leaving the comment and let me know it's helpful. It makes me really happy :)
This is insanely good. Great video!
Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you like it!
I absolutely adore this piece too, but have always found that last section just so hard to play, I often give up. Thank you for sharing your advice, I hope to come back to it one day.
You're not alone! I think I'll come back to this one after my technique improves and give the 3rd section one more try.
Congratulations! I just started on this piece and this video makes it seem less daunting, thank you for explaining your process! I have short fingers too so i find this very useful :)
Chopin's pieces are not very friendly to people with small hands or short fingers :P I'm glad you find this video helpful. I started this piece without fully knowing how difficult it can be. I just kept telling myself: practice makes perfect...
Awesome! I'm practicing this piece and this helped me a lot since I watched this video, such an incredible piece i wonder why no many people know about it
Based on all the comments, I was actually surprised so many love and want to learn this piece :D
Thank you!
Love this piece. Nice playing! :)
Thank you so much! It definitely still has room to improve.
This is pretty much exactly what I’m going through right now! I’m almost done with learning to play the notes, only thing missing is fluency in the last 12 or so bars, but musically the doppio section is going to take forever to learn…
I have an embarrassing recording on my channel where I just improvise the doppio instead of playing the notes because I couldn’t bring myself to stop at where I’ve learned hahah
I share your passion for this piece, and your journey is really inspiring , great job!!!
Thank you so much and I'm so surprised after reading all the comments that so many people love this piece!
ty mate
I'm happy to hear that :) It can be fulfilling and rewarding experience! You will enjoy it.
Thanks for this video,, I am trying to master the C section but I only started playing in 2020 so it’s a struggle. Your video has really helped me especially with the polynomial section which I have yet to get close to. I am using the ghosting technique you have used and hope to get results that way. I love this section so don’t plan to give up on it but I have set myself a goal of getting it right (albeit slow) within 6 months. This video will really help. Thanks again.
I hope you're getting close or reached your goal? I have a piece I practiced so long and eventually lost interest.... I hope you did better than me.
You did a very good job on this.
It’s much better than I can play it.
I can’t even touch the Doppio section.
Thumbs up from me!
Thanks a lot! I spent a lot of time to fix individual issues. The Doppio section is hard. My best advice is start slow. There will be a speed that you can handle without any mistakes. It's really about the muscle memory. Once your hands are used to the movement, you increase the speed a little bit and repeat the process. Your muscle memory needs a bit update to get used to the new speed. It can be tedious and not much fun, but worked for me.
This deserves infinitely more likes
Thanks a lot!
Impressive!
Thank you. Still have plenty room to improve.
Wow, My best friend, I liked the video very much, thanks you for sharing, stay safe, stay blessed
Thank you! You too!
My best friend, Enjoyed watching this video my friend Really awesome views Thank you Stay connected
Thanks you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it :)
I would really recommend listening to Rubenstiens interpretation of this song! It is probably my favorite piano piece ever.
Rubinstein's definitely the best interpreation
I'll definitely look it up. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@pianorewind My favorites are Rubinstein's and Kassia's also
Entirely agree, I love it more than the flashier versions
I usually like Rubenstein's interpretations as much as the next guy but after listening to Ashkenazy's interpretation of this piece I cannot stand Rubenstein's.
I don't think any interpretation of this piece comes close to Ashkenazy's, and I've listened to quite a few.
Thank you for putting this together. I just did a read-thru of this piece and came searching for tips on section C. (I like the tips for A and B sections as well 😉). Videos like these are great for restarters (or 10x restarter like me - kids/work, right?) to coach us thru the tricky bits.
I'm glad this video is helpful :) It makes me really happy!
So inspiring- part B is so difficult!
I do find the broken cords difficult at first. I think the key is the muscle memory :P get your hands used to those movement :)
Good job! 👏 👏
Thanks a lot :)
@@pianorewind You are welcome, it has been a pleasure 😍🎶
I tried very hard at this piece until I pooped in my pants during the first section. UA-cam probably blocked my gallant effort.
I think a lot of people find it hard too so we're all in the same boat!
Wow good job! Just one thing though, there are a lot of technical challenges in the flashy sections so it's easy to overlook the ones that are in sections that seem simple like the chorale (Section B). You have to coherently voice the melody in the top line, the top notes should sound more than the lower notes. You do this by shifting weight to the fifth finger. This is easier if you don't have to stretch your hand, but becomes difficult in passages like you play from 4:05 where you need to stretch your hand. Without training, the tendency is that your thumb ends up accenting the bottom line in the unbroken chords, and then in the broken chords you accidentally accent the upper notes. One exercise is to repeatedly play a C major chord with your right hand but shift the accent between the different notes in the chord, so that the loudest note you hear goes CEGECEGECEGEC...
Very well said! I just realised after read this. Thanks for spotting the problem and your suggestion. When I go back to this piece (which I think definitely will), I'll pay attention to this.
yeah, i like to think about my knuckles facing the side of the melody when working on this
How did you find your teacher?
I like to work on a piece slowly too, but really practice fluency. I never feel rushed, it's such a joy!
I think playing piano is one thing you cannot rush... at least for ordinary people like me :)
I actually found my teacher online. He's a concert pianist with a lot of good reviews. He made me focus a lot on the musicality. I guess if I'm not playing beautifully, I just play a bunch of notes, which is pointless.
Considering the standard ABRSM grading system, where would you place yourself when you started to learn this piece? I think you play it beautifully.
Thanks for your kind words. Honestly, I think I can play ABRSM grade 8 without too much trouble. However, my sight reading is pretty bad. I think what I learnt from school and work taught me how to quickly identify and solve a problem, which helps a lot.
I like using pedal in the octaves section. I know its not in the sheet music - but consider that pianos and accoustics are always different. You can repedal a lot but no pedal sounds odd to me
Point taken. My practice room/living room is all tiled no carpet or rug due to dogs so with the pedal, it will sound like a mess...also could be my pedalling technique isn't good enough to be subtle.
Wow.I’m learning this now and it’s about 5 month amd I think I’m very similar to your stage… I think from now on is the exciting time. Real music making stage.. how are you going with this piece now? You should upload the more “matured”version. Thank you for the great video… I feel very connected…
Thanks for the great suggestion! TBH, after several months of practicing, I was a bit burnt out by this piece so I've not touched it for a while. I may get back to it when the fire comes back :)
I'm sure you've improved since this video but I'll leave you with this advice. When playing the octaves, try not to move your hands in and out of the keyboard too much. You want to minimize movement as much as possible. Playing thumb barely on black and then barely below black on white as you move chromatically.
Thanks for the advice :) I agree fully. That would make the arm more relaxed and better control the dynamic.
I admire your determination, methodical approach and resourcefulness. However, I have some reservations and suggestions. Don’t try to mimic another pianist, because they are playing from their understanding and communicating their deepest feelings. Put the piece away for at least several months or so. When you return to it, you will have fresh ears and mind. Next, approach the “technique” from an expressive and musical-meaning foundation. The natural flow and unfolding of music will guide you. And then you can search your own soul for your own personal interpretation. When it belongs to you, it’s magic.
Thanks a lot for your advice John :) I know where you come from. I think I'm not that advanced than you thought. That's why I don't really have much idea how to express. Mostly, I'm trying to deliver how other pianists make me feel. I may not be able to do exactly how they did and I'll have to add something from me. I think I'll park some of the pieces like this one that I really like for a while and come back again when my techniques no longer hinder me and give it another go. I may be one step closer to where I want to it sounds like.
👍🏽☺️☺️
I also guess the 4/3 polyrhythm was not really practised because it sounded off to me. But overall really well done!
Oh I actually practised that a lot. That bit is just really hard for me to have the clarity needed.
This video is really well made. The only thing I didn't like was how you let go of the melody note in the broken chords B section so early, you didnt voice the whole 1/4th note. Other than that, really well done its sucha difficult piece that grows with you trhough years of practise
Thanks for your advice :)
@@pianorewind i havent been playing that long, and this is the FIRST thing my teacher pointed out during lessons 😂. Is wierd how even though you hold the pedal, the sound fades faster if you let go of the key
What a nice job. You need to pedal the octaves here, BTW.
hmm, how can I keep the octaves part less resonated if I pedal?
At 2:55 you play G - C with the left hand, but the score shows B natural - C. However, in the edition that I have, it's G instead of B natural. I suppose it's a mistake in the edition you show in the video.
You're Sharp! Yes, I played the version I heard that I like while my urtext is slightly different.
The pattern of the left hand in c section is similar to Schubert's Standchen/Serenade but it's fast 😮
This makes me curious. Do you know the exact name or No. of the Schubert piece you mentioned?
@@pianorewind it's a lieder, and it's D957
@@pianorewindbut they're not the same time signature.
So did you learn section C in just mone Month?
no. about 2 months
holy shit 5 months
I guess it's too long for you? :)
Definitely. If I can't learn a piece in 1 month with 30 mins daily spent on it I consider it out if my league and carry on with my life
@@monsieur171 i think its pretty Common, I once needed 10 months for Chopin Scherzo. In gerenal, you are never finished with a piece at all. You can always improve
Please, please don't suggest that anyone puts a coin on their hand and tries to stop it from falling off! This leads to awful tension in the hand. Check out Cedarville Music's 10 things to never do when practising! (I think it's 10, but maybe more!)
I guess it depends on how to achieve the objective (coin not falling off). The intention of this practice is to minimise the up and down movement which probably doesn't increase the tension (at least to me). But, agree, minimising the tension should be high priority.
I am also a restarter in playing piano.....after 30 years 🎉😂
At least this time, it's voluntary after careful consideration :)
Because of school I didn't have enough time to play as I wanted to. All day long it was not suitable for a school girl.....so I quit. All or nothing....😢
@@afrodite1832 It was similar to me and I also didn't like playing the piano back then. It was more my parents' expectation. So when the school work got worse, I was relieved as I stopped playing.