Beethoven: The Grand Sonata "Pathétique" Tutorial First Movement Part 1

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As the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung Heidelberger described, “Shijun Wang is a fascinating, serious and sensitive musician” As a solo pianist and orchestral soloist, Shijun Wang has performed in California, New York, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Utah, Connecticut, New Jersey, Indiana, Idaho, as well as Germany, Spain, France, Norway, China, Mexico, and Japan. Under one of the most prestigious artists management, 100 arte, he plays concerts in most of major cities in China each summer, and he also gave master classes, lectures and recitals in more than half of the major Chinese conservatories includes Shenyang Conservatory, Xi’an Conservatory, Harbin Conservatory, Sichuan Conservatory and Jilin College of Arts. He was appointed as the youngest ever visiting professor of Xi’an Conservatory where he would give concerts and master classes for two months each summer. He serves as piano faculty in the East/West International Piano Festival in South Korea and piano faculty at The Puigcerda Music Festival in Spain each summer.
Dr. Wang currently teaches as a assistant Professor of Piano at Weber State University. He received the Bachelor of Musuc and Masters of Music degrees at The Juilliard School studied with Oxana Yablonskaya and Joseph Kalichstein and Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at Eastman school of music studied with Nelita True. His mentors have included Thomas Schumacher, Dan-Wen Wei, Alfred Brendel, Emanuel Ax, and Richard Goode.
In this series of piano tutorials videos, Dr. Shijun Wang will perform and share useful insights on his solutions to many of the technical and musical challenges by the classical period masters, Beethoven, Mozart and Hayden.

[@paulgrewal]

Please don't listen to the peanut gallery about talking too much etc. Don't give us what you think the audience wants. Give us YOU. Your teaching style is wonderful.

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thanks Paul. Of course, i will teach the way I teach. :)

[@nojowo212]

Thank you for teaching this! So helpful.

[@opticalmixing23]

Thank ya for your input on this one

[@maxp.5480]

Love this channel! Keep up the good work!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

I will! Thanx.

[@user-zc6xy1yy4e]

Thank you so much Doctor Shijun Wang, im just pick up this sonata last few hours, then you upload this tutorial!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

my pleasure

[@waldemarstapel546]

I've almost finished the piece for a competition in spring. However I really enjoyed your video and gained some new thoughts, which I can use to improve my playing. Thank you!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

That's great! Thank you. Best luck on your future competitions.

[@raymondchan9802]

Thank you Shijun Wang for this video. I was playing the Pathetique 31 years ago and along the years did not review this piece until recently trying to pick it up again, recall and refreshing it. But i was struggling also due to age. Then i saw your video and was overjoyed. Thank you for your wonderful guidance. I vow to play this properly again. You are amazing!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

thanks for your reply. I appreciate it! Best luck learning this piece:)

[@SGlwg]

Very nice one! Wish it could be longer !

[@Fill1998]

Dr. Wang, I am so happy to discover your channel. Your explanation is comprehensible and your videos are really hidden gem on KZbin. I have watched mostly Paul Barton and Jane but I will include you to my personal list as well. So inspirational. Now I am working on Chopin's op.10 no.4 (I am self-taught) but then I plan to work on some Beethoven so I'll watch this video next time again.Filip

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thanx Filip! I appreciate your positive feedback! Enjoying learning these amazing pieces!

[@Fill1998]

@@ShijunWangPianoChannel Thank you for your quick response. Also may I ask your personal advice? So far I have played op. 10 no. 9 and 12, Fantaisie impromptu, couple of chopins nocturnes (5) and preludes. When I will possibly finish op. 10 no. 4, do you think I will have enough technique overally to tackle his famous Ballade nr. 1 or is it better to wait and play more studies?What concerns me is a technique since that ballade is incredibly long piece which is also extremly difficult. Thank you so much

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

First ballade is great! Go for it!

[@alineboyd983]

Excellent!!!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thank you Aline.

[@crashrr2993]

This is great, I can play the Grave, but wobbling as I proceed further.

[@sherifsalah1180]

Thanks a lot for your explain.... I like all your videos💓💓💓💓

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thank you Sherif

[@minr6851]

Very very informative! I wonder why I hate the sound of my playing of this piece… thank you so much for all the tips.

[@sharthakbhattarrai6051]

Thank you very much sir. You teach extremely well

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thanks, appreciate your support.

[@sharthakbhattarrai6051]

@@ShijunWangPianoChannel Welcome sir.

[@samsilva3625]

Wow wow wow.

[@juliannaodubajo6211]

Ahhh yay I’m doing this piece right now

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Hope this helps

[@juliannaodubajo6211]

Shijun Wang it did 😭thank you so much and can’t wait for all your other videos

[@yahyamhirsi]

This is so great!! Thank you so much. I started with the 3rd movement when I studied this sonata, I was so afraid of the 1st movement, and I still always struggle with the tremolos. Your instructions are the best !!! Are you planning to cover the entire sonata in the next videos?

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Yes! The entire sonata in the next 3-4 videos

[@chuanyanzhang6457]

Dr. Wang, I like your channel! Thank you for sharing with us professional piano playing technique and classic music interpretation. Your videos are also well planned. I will keep watching! One thought of mine is maybe you could try to get a mic on your collar? Right now the sound of the piano is clear, but your voice volume is a little low. I turned my volume to 60 to be able to easily hear your speaking. The usual volume level is around 35. Could be just my acoustics.

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thank you for the suggestion. I haven’t find a way to make the speaking voice loud while the piano sound not too much! Any idea?

[@louisgallo8778]

Learning a lot from your lessons, thank you. Is there anyway you can use a separate mic for your voice. The piano volume is fine but your voice could be louder.

[@noanjordee2892]

hey mister Wang Thank you very much for this video Im about to shoot my shot at the music university and this piece is part of my repertoire sadly Im very behind with my progress because I just recently started classical music (3 years ago) but I will fight as hard as I can to get a place at uni

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Best luck!

[@vipinbhat6971]

Hi Prof. Wang, I have been watching all of your videos on the Chopin Etudes and the Brahms Paganini variations and have been really impressed with your style of teaching and effort you put into the videos. I have a minor idea for a video, if you would be kind enough to make a video on how to learn repertoire faster and become a quick learner I would be really grateful. Please keep making these videos!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Yes I will! Remind me also, if I forget:)

[@vipinbhat6971]

Thank you so much!

[@benjamincrowe3556]

Hi Dr. Shijun Wang, Happy New Year!! I am a 15 year old aspiring pianist studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia. I was wondering if you could possibly upload a tutorial of Joseph Haydn's Piano Sonata HOB. XVI 20 in C minor, as I am currently studying this sonata. I love this channel and thank you for all the help already!! Regards, Ben

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thank you Ben. I am planning to teach the big E- flat sonata soon. Maybe you can relate since it’s the same composer?

[@growingpianists]

A wonderful gem indeed! Happy I discovered this channel! I studied with a teacher who was a student of N. True:)) I acquired piano related injury when I was in my Junior year in my undergraduate piano degree. I did not know about Taubman back then or the fact that injury was so common. Ultimately my injury discouraged me from finishing my graduate studies. What is your take on piano injury and Taubman?

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

I am heavily influenced by the Taubman thinking. However I do think many teachers who claim that they have the Taubman approaches, often ignore the importance of finger tips...

[@growingpianists]

@@ShijunWangPianoChannel what about the fingertips?

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

@@growingpianists The firm support of the fingertips..

[@IvoryStrings]

When I studied this sonata years ago, I remember having mostly problems phrasing the second theme mordents in a beautiful way : it needs to be light and quick, yet expressive. Should you have triplets and a pause on the top note (almost impossible at a fast tempo), or just play through like you do ? The hand position was also not confortable, as the mordents alternate black and white notes. Those were my thoughts when I studied this. Thank you for this video !

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Never a pause, but maybe a slight stretch in the timing. and yes, the alternation between black and white keys aren't comfortable... When that happens, apply your flexible wrist.

[@davidpardo7878]

Hi maestro, can you do Op.2 n.1 by beethoven? Suited piece for students also very big like the patetique

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

I will eventually.

[@chocoly_waffly8756]

Love the tutorial but would be so much better if you spent less time talking in the beginning and just getting to the tutorial faster

[@Daniel_Ilyich]

You can just skip it. I enjoy it.

[@rothschildianum]

Agree too much talking at the beginning, not well thought this video. I do not think you can just improvise for this big work. You need to plan thoroughly.

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Thank you for the suggestions! I with I could improvise like this. Again, as I mentioned in the video, this is much harder to teach without a student. Anyways, I will see what I can improve for the next video.

[@rothschildianum]

@@ShijunWangPianoChannel I know the ideas that you were teaching are very good, but not easy to convey the subject matters, for there are so many things to teach in a short time. Even one movement, I think you need to break into several videos. You may want to redo this for just the intro of the pathetique then the fast part, then the jumping part.

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

@@rothschildianum I totally agree, let me talk more in detail for the development and the recap sections.

[@rothschildianum]

A little bit too much talking!

[@sunibunny5]

Expecially about Corina Vacine at the beginning ....blablabla