How to improve your Chopin Ballade No. 3 Op. 47 (A tutorial on practice efficiently) Part 3

Please send a 30-60 seconds clip of your performance or practice session to me at [e-mail] if you are interested in my comments.
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 the major cities in China each summer, and he also gave masterclasses, lectures, and recitals in more than half of the major Chinese conservatories include 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 masterclasses 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 an Assistant Professor of Piano at Weber State University. He received the Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music degrees at The Juilliard School studied with Oxana Yablonskaya and Joseph Kalichstein and a 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.

[@StephenGottPianist]

Thankyou Dr. Wang, very informative. I'm working on this at the moment and wouldn't have thought about some of the phrasing. Best Stephen

[@RolandHuettmann]

Thank you 🎼, dear honorable professor, and see you next week as well...)))🎶🎹🎵🤸‍♂️

[@cindychandra4841]

Very useful insights. Thanks for sharing Professor.

[@rothschildianum]

Dr. Wang, do you lift weight? Your biceps are getting bigger and bigger in every video!!!

[@ShijunWangPianoChannel]

Haha! I don’t lift weight, but I do frequently lift my daughter in her car seat! She is turning one and getting heavier! I guess it showed!

[@rosechen5978]

@@ShijunWangPianoChannel ha ha ha ha ha. True! True!

[@lyolevrich]

Bravo!🙏

[@SZ-wb1qb]

Idea for new video: Chopin nocturne op.48 no.1

[@devlinbearra8897]

Ballade no.1 is considerably easier than no.3.

[@junheecho9800]

I can incredibly easily argue that that's wrong. ballade 1 is much harder than 3rd. not just technically but also to interpret it properly is much harder to do with the 1st than the 3rd. I'm playing the 3rd right now and I can tell you that 1st looks much harder than what I'm playing now.

[@devlinbearra8897]

@@junheecho9800 Harmonically, the 3rd is faster, more unstable, complex, and denser than the 1st. There is an entire section in the 1st that has only two voices, there are no such sections in the 3rd, hence it provides no repose for the pianist. The key of the 3rd is less pianistic than that of the 1st, making tension and stiffness a problem. The rhythm of the 3rd is more complex than that of the 1st; add to that its trills and the many leaps and stretches, many more than what the 1st has. The 3rd's phrases are longer... I have learned both. You should rather try learning the 1st. You will be a lot less frustrated if your goal is to play it well, or if you want to look impressive, or if you want to enjoy what you play. Plus, telling me your personal opinion is not the same as making an argument. And since your teacher has not told you any of this, they anyway won't be able to help you properly interpret either the one or the other, so that doesn't really matter, does it? There is more joy to be gotten from the 1st. And there is more substance in this reply than there is in that whole video, so you can thank me for that. That the 3rd is less difficult than the 1st, is a myth held by fools!

[@junheecho9800]

@@devlinbearra8897 what difference does it make to difficulty how harmonically complex it is if you aren't composing it? If you're experienced enough in piano there's no such thing as a pianistic key. There's no such thing as a pianistic key anyways. It is widely considered across the board that 1st is technically harder than the 3rd. The coda, major section and just overall the 1st is much harder than the 3rd. I would learn the 1st if it wasn't for the diploma restrictions. You see, the 3rd ballade is the only ballade that is ATCL (1st year bachelor equivalent) and the rest are LTCL (2nd year equivalent). So its recognized by one of the biggest music colleges (trinity) that 3rd is easier than the rest. So then, wouldn't that make your statement that 3rd is harder than 1st the opinion here? You're the one who wanted to bring up the difference between a opinion and an argument. My teacher is a graduate from a college, has actually gotten a degree in classical piano performance and even he (along with most other pianists) agrees that 3rd is easier than 1st. The 'substance' in your reply is a gaslight against less experienced pianists like myself and I don't feel the need to thank you for it whatsoever. 3rd is easier than the 1st is more or less just common knowledge at this point. Grab any concert pianist they will tell you the same. An example? Josh wright. Prize winner at the chopin competition, lecturer in the university of Utah, runs a successful KZbin and website to help students. He's played all 4 and even he will tell you 3rd is easier than 1st. Does that make him a fool?

[@devlinbearra8897]

@@junheecho9800 I have given a number of reasons why the 3rd is more difficult than the 1st, although it looks like my reply has been removed, that should be food for thought when you talk about gaslighting. Those reasons can be researched and in doing so your musical intelligence will grow. Ask your teacher for reasons why the 1st is more difficult. Does trinity provide reasons why they think the 3rd is easier? Count the number of reasons I provided and ask for the same number of reasons to the contrary. "what difference does it make to difficulty how harmonically complex it is if you aren't composing it?" That is another question for your teacher (that's what they're getting paid for), but that you have to ask him/her already shows they don't know the answer because they would have told you if they did, as such information belongs to a proper/valuable education. And think of the words - common knowledge. It certainly is common. Is anything, though, that can be called common, good? The dogs on the street will tell you that the 3rd is easier than the 1st.

[@junheecho9800]

@@devlinbearra8897 alright so basically, you wanna tell me the musical equivalent of: "go google it". well sure. I'll ask my teacher, google it, ask trinity, whatever. but they'll all tell me the same thing. 1st is harder than 3rd. and plus what are you getting so cut for? dogs on the street? well I can bet my life those dogs on the street are more knowledgeable than you. those dogs on the streets you are talking about are some of the greatest pianists in the world! you could ask Krystian Zimmerman, Josh Wright, Valentina Lisitsa, Evgeny Kissin or just about whoever you want. all the greatest pianists in the world will tell you the same. 3rd is easier than 1st. but of course not! they disagree with your opinion so of course they have to be just some worthless dogs on the street right? of course, everything you say goes and anyone that dares to defy your heavenly, almighty and impeccable judgement isn't even worth considering as respectable right? dude get over yourself. there's a reason its a popular opinion. the 1st is just technically more difficult than 3rd. but fine, I can try tell you specifically why. though, I might have to be executed after this for daring to defy the almighty ruling of Devlin Bearra. the 1st is longer than the 3rd by a minute depending on how fast you play either piece, they both have chill and hard moments but the hard moments occur more often in the 1st, the 1st has faster passages with way more notes than the faster ones in 3rd, both have a transition into a major key but the 1st's one requires larger hands, quicker fingers, harder jumps, etc. the coda of the 1st is undeniably harder than 3rd. this one should be self explanatory but just in case. both of them have a double octave jumping thingy pattern (don't know what its called) but the 1st's one requires better voicing and control, it moves around a lot more making it harder, not only that, but the coda of 1st is a completely new theme in that ballade so you have to how to play it musically from square one with no other sections in the ballade as reference, the coda begins to die down a bit in both but it dies down a lot quicker in the 3rd while the 1st is still going ham. after it dies down is where 3rd is indeed harder than 1st since 1st is just scales after that while 3rd is still going but that's the 1 and only section. those are some of my main points. even if theoretically you were right (which you aren't) doesn't give you the right to look down on others just because they don't share your opinion.