Chopin Etude in G-flat Major Op. 10 No. 5

Chopin's Chopin Etude in G-flat Major. I know I'm playing it quite slow, but I just figured I should put it on anyways. This was due to my piano teacher at the time telling me to refrain from playing it up to speed and it was at her house.

[@yondertz]

The 3:24 running time for a black key etude intrigued me. I watched it and was surprised that i enjoyed d tempo. Good job!

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you! I would've played it much faster given the chance, but I was in front of my piano teacher during the recording and she would never let me do that haha

[@MrTedflick]

So glad I found this. Great disciplined playing. Sounds great

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate that!

[@PickleToothpaste]

One of few people that know how to play Chopin etudes in a nicer tempo

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you! I really appreciate that! I can assure you that back then, I would've played this much faster if my teacher wasn't watching, but these days I find I can appreciate songs played much slower than usual. It gives you a chance to listen carefully to what the composer was thinking, especially if you take extra care to voice certain notes. I've been thinking of uploading videos again, and also recording songs slowed down/sped up so people have the chance to really appreciate how complex the music is. Not many people on KZbin do things like that, unfortunately. Songs like Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu, and many of his Etudes like you've said, sound extraordinarily beautiful at a more mild tempo. It truly can change the entire meaning of the music.

[@TheWiseIdiot]

Awesome job, Justin! I am currently learning this piece myself and currently am doing it 100% without the aid of a teacher. I also realized when I started re-learning the piece that the best way to start off is slow so you can appropriately train the fingers. Right now, the speed at which I play (most of) this piece is a tad slower than your rendition.

[@TheWiseIdiot]

Also, I would recommend checking out Dr. Shijun Wang’s tutorial of the Black Key Etude on KZbin. In it, he talks about being so relaxed when playing it such that the pinky finger is curved when touching the keys. Having taken piano lessons in the past under a teacher, I can say that that this is definitely an important thing to heed. (I did see on quite a few occasions that your pinky was fully extended, but this video at the time of my writing this was posted 6 years ago so maybe it has changed)

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you so much! That's great to hear that you're tackling this piece on your own. And you're absolutely right, practicing slow prevents bad habits from forming. I know that all too well haha, I'd always be eager to learn a new song, start off too fast, and then have to correct bad habits later on. Correcting them is much harder than just learning the piece properly from the start. I took lessons for around 13 years, and the funny thing is I remember a teacher telling me to play with my fingers generally more flat since you have to play mostly black keys. I was 14 at the time of this recording, so whether that advice was due to my hands not being large enough or solely a technique recommendation is unknown to me. I can definitely assure you I feel much better playing this piece with more finger curvature like you mentioned. I always remembered playing this piece with a straight, rigid pinky. My hands have grown much more since and it feels a lot more comfortable. Later on I found that playing this song a little more 'springy' personally helped me improve on its overall sound. Like you mentioned, when playing it like that I felt relaxed and the song felt more natural to play. I've found that it can help to try pieces differently than you'd normally play them in order to have a breakthrough. I was taught to be glued to the keys in this song, but later on when I tried to be a little more whimsical with it I noticed a big improvement in my playing. I'll have to listen to some of Dr. Shijun Wang's videos, they sound very helpful! Whenever I'm struggling on a song or feel I'm not satisfied with how I'm playing it, I always listen to Horowitz and Rubinstein; they're by far my favorite pianists in the world (besides Chopin and Liszt of course)

[@Sp00n_n_4K]

Thank you so much for this, now I know the right tempo if I wanted to play slow instead of 12 notes in 2 seconds

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad I could help. One thing that I focused on when I first started this song is while playing slow, put extra emphasis on the right hand notes that match up with the left hand chords. It helped me get the rhythm down as long as I played it steadily. It's a good way to establish a base for building up speed later on. All of this helped me at least, I can't guarantee it'll work for everybody but there are usually a few tricks to every song and it's just a matter of finding what works for you.

[@adambaggett4156]

Awesome! Subscribed. I like how you played it a bit slower (and beautifully). I am working on this piece right now and I really like how you didn’t play it crazy fast. I have watched this video several times and I want to master this piece at the tempo you played it at and then make speed a long term goal. I always thought this piece was over my head, but I’ve been working on it this past week. I also practice the g flat major arpeggios everyday.

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear that this may have helped you. I always have had a very bad habit of trying to take on a song at full speed, but my piano teacher at the time suggested that I didn't and that we record it at her house. There aren't enough videos on KZbin of these songs at slower tempi. I took on Chopin's Scherzo No. 1 not too long ago and a slow video could've really helped me figure out dynamics and pacing. I'm planning on becoming active on KZbin again and uploading videos since everything I have is so outdated, so thanks for subscribing and thank you for the kind words! It really means a lot to me to hear that. You'll have the piece down in no time. I guarantee you that if you keep at it, one day something will click and you'll be able to play it much faster with no problem.

[@johnmcquinn180]

This is now my favorite Chopin Etude, Great Job Jstin, I am proud of you. John

[@leonunezzzz]

I put the speed on 2 and it's like the original

[@noodlery7034]

Great job! Have you improved over the years?

[@JustinWiseguy]

Thank you so much! And yes, I have become better since this upload. I'd like to put some updated content on soon, because this was performed in front of my piano teacher. She had me play it this slow. I haven't played this song in a while but I've expanded my repertoire quite a bit. Mostly Chopin and Liszt of course! I really appreciate the positive feedback!

[@nt1448]

@@JustinWiseguy What's the best way to learn how to sight read?

[@JustinWiseguy]

​@@nt1448 That's a tough question, though I can think of a few things that may help you practice it but unfortunately there's no definitive answer for everyone. One thing that has helped me a lot and continues to help me is mentally breaking songs up in small sections, not necessarily phrase by phrase but instead by patterns. Some patterns in songs such as repeating arpeggios or melodies extend beyond one or two measures, so as I'm learning a song I also learn to visually recognize that section so I no longer need to think of where to move my hands; it becomes totally mechanical and muscle memory. I do this more-so for parts that are giving me trouble in a new song. A good thing to do is lightly mark sections off in your music that are either giving you trouble or you want to work on with a pencil, so then you have a visual cue for when this part is coming up. I draw a big line or bar from the top to bottom of the segment so it's very clear where the start and finish of the section I want to work on is. Once you start getting used to seeing these patterns in music, you'll gradually become better at sight reading. Another thing that can possibly help and isn't really taught is trying to play with your eyes closed from time to time. I feel like it's a good exercise to do every once in a while because it helps practice the feel of the keyboard. By that I mean knowing where keys are in relation to other keys, learning the feel for octaves, jumps, scales, arpeggios, etc. I strongly feel that this is always a beneficial thing to practice, because it just means you can keep your eyes on the sheet music longer. One more thing that helps me is tackling a new song that's very hard for me. I know it sounds cliché and every article relating on how to get better at music says it, but practice helps so much. Not so much as in just MORE practice, but rather getting out of your comfort zone and practicing something that's extremely hard for you. What I've done over the years is started trying to play a song that was clearly out of my skill level at the time, section by section, and master a cool-sounding part. For instance, I consider a major turning point in my skill level is when I finished Chopin's 1st Scherzo. It was a song that I could never play, couldn't get the basic grasp of the rhythm in the first melody at all. Eventually I got a grasp on it, and got to be able to play the song how I wanted to weeks later. The song I worked on after that was La Campanella which was totally out of my skill level before. That eventually led me to work on Liszt's Sonata in B Minor, Paganini Etude No. 6, a few Hungarian Rhapsodies, and now I'm on to his Mazeppa. Forcing myself to work on something that was totally beyond my comprehension led me to be able to actually read the notes to these songs. Now I can go back to easier music that I never used to be able to read/play and now I can just sight read them without making very many mistakes. It's really amazing when you think about it and you won't believe it until it happens, and I assure you it will. Everything I just described can be done by anyone, so never stop trying!

[@nt1448]

@@JustinWiseguy Sometimes you just gotta go for it. Will try these out. Thanks!

[@henryyang3695]

hmm, not sure why you changed playback speed to 0.5, anyway I changed back for ya when listen :P (j/k, well done I been looking for slow version of it)

[@TheWiseIdiot]

Haha, good one