Now Play It In Tempo: Chopin Fantaisie-Impromptu Op 66, Part II

In order to play fast, you cannot isolate the problem to something purely physical. Please watch the video at the piano when I can have your undivided
attention.
0:10 Introduction
2:04 Direction gives you speed (phrasing, grouping of notes).
4:21 Flexibility and movement gives you speed (of arm and wrist).
7:38 Control gives you speed (of your fingers)
13:37 Summary
14:25 Outro
#pianotechnique #pianolessons #advancedpiano

[@kennethyou1954]

It’s Wonderful of you to do this with clarity, you are great! 🎉

[@JeewonLeepiano]

Thank you🥰

[@simpletim]

I really like your teaching style. Thank you.

[@JoeLinux2000]

As per the George Kovechesky book, you have to move the material from your conscious or active thinking neural system into your subconscious neural system. For example you don't need to think about breathing. It's subconscious. Slow practice forms stronger connections between your cerebral neurons because there is more time for the connections to grow. The goal is to make your playing a natural part of your own subconscious self. Therefore, I try to maintain the lyrical melodic flow of the music even at a slow tempo. Also as you point out maintaining relaxation is critical. I'm hearing quite a bit of power in your fingers. I think the idea of lifting your hand at the end of the phrase is actually preparatory for the next phrase. Continuing downward is wasted motion. Again I would stress even at a very slow pace to make the phrasing and connection between notes as musical as possible through relaxation, not tension. More recently after hearing a solo performance by the wonderful stride pianist, Judy Carmichael, I try to keep the practice as rhythmically precises as possible without destroying the lyricism. My general feeling is that speed develops over time. It's not something that is accomplished in a short period of time. Plus you have to play within your own capabilities or it will become very sloppy. Not everyone is a György Cziffra kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYeylHlje99lqrs This is probably poor practice technique, but the guy is great.

[@wayneparsons1243]

Amazing

[@bluepearl4806]

So important valuable information and you explained so well. I tryied it has already worked thank you very much!!🙏💕🌺🌺🌺

[@JeewonLeepiano]

I am glad!

[@alexsimper4153]

great videos, thanks!

[@paolobigon9566]

Anche questo video lo trovo molto molto interessante grande pianista e livelli altissimi dei consigli che condivide TOP

[@tubemelee]

Amazing quality teaching, thank you! Very specific and detailed points. Intense.

[@stevenbeer6005]

Really good advice, Especially the short long notes or long short, This helps alot in Bachs Toccata 914! Cheers!

[@pianoweighttouchbrianking809]

Thank you so much for this explanation Jeewon. I will work on it as you explained. I love your image of feeling a sandbag in each finger pad and I will work with this image very slowly also with two taps of the left hand for each single melody note and with zero tension in the whole arm including the forearm. I really appreciate your detailed explanation and I look forward to your next video. All the best, Brian

[@ChimaEnwere]

The timing of this video is perfect! I recently finished my MM in piano performance, and now I am trying to play my "dream pieces" that I didn't get to work on during my undergraduate and graduate studies. These videos provide a great overview and very helpful foresight on how to approach the pieces. Many thanks!

[@JeewonLeepiano]

Awesome! Yea we all have those pieces we couldn’t get to because of juries and “standard pieces” for recital. We all need to indulge in our dream pieces sometimes!

[@hiddenmoonoh4142]

‘Unlocking speed’ makes me thinks of ‘unlocking words’ in me as a non-native speaker. The art of music and the linguistics, they both are trying to achieve a level of fluidity, I believe. Both requires the unlimited patience and practice, one for a musical fluency, the other for an oral fluency. This video teaches a lot to me, a non-musician. Thanks Jeewon!

[@JeewonLeepiano]

Language and music are not the same but they have much in common. Like you, I also learn about language as I learn more about music and vice versa. 😊

[@PianoMan10]

Great. Thanks!

[@PianoMan10]

I think speed is one of the more difficult things to master if you didn’t figure this out when you were young.

[@JoeLinux2000]

@@PianoMan10 It definitely takes longer the older you get unless you are already a very accomplished player when young. I say this at 81. What I notice for myself is that the neurological connections in my brain no longer stick. It's akin to learning foreign languages. The older you get the more difficult is is to retain. and of course speaking accent free is almost impossible. Even Yuja Wang has stated this. She said about herself that the pieces she learned early on are the ones that she's able to retain in her memory, and she's still a relatively young person. with a fantastic mind. She always had the ability to learn very difficult music rather quickly which astonished her teachers.

[@zeroossi5967]

can you pls Create a video on how to become good at reading music, focusing on the skills and techniques necessary for understanding musical notation, rather than sight-reading?!

[@DougMaverickTube]

This series got me to take this song back out and really clean up what I was blurring through before… I’d also like to know if you’re accepting marriage proposals.

[@nickk8416]

I think many of us are thinking that! :)

[@JeewonLeepiano]

Ha! The only proposal I am currently accepting is piano lesson proposals 😀

[@jeffreyandelora1712]

Thank you for this "series" on Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu. I've enjoyed all of your videos, but especially this more in-depth look at one piece. Question: How do you balance the slow-tempo practice (and the dotted-rhythm practice) with practice at more challenging tempos? In other words, at what point is it appropriate to move on from "painfully slow" practice to increased speed. And, would you recommend continuing with the slow practices even as you're able to play the piece at an intermediate tempo? Hope that makes sense. Again, sincere thanks for your thoughtful instruction (and lovely playing!).

[@JeewonLeepiano]

Think of the slow practice and fast practice as two different kinds of practicing methods, not necessarily progressing from one level to another. In the slow practicing you are thinking more about controlling your fingers physically, and in the faster practicing you are thinking more about the musical flow. We need both! The more advanced player you are , the more controlled fingers you already have, and you would be tuning into the musical subtleties and shape you are making with the notes. But even after decades of playing the piano, I find myself benefiting from this painfully slow practicing method. So yes! I think we should practice at different tempi. It is just important to know what exactly you are trying to improve. Thank you for your question!

[@JoeLinux2000]

Jeewon, here's a question I have for you:: How do you deal with mental fatigue? It's pretty easy tp over practice. At a certain point after a certain period of practice your mind breaks down and you begin to grind in mistakes, or at least shoddy playing. My only solution is to move to something different. A different piece or a different passage to give the mind rest from the constant repetition of the same passage. Changing the subject, I believe the most important aspect in this lesson is what you pointed out at the outset. What yor are working on in this specific practice session are three distinct musical phrases which form a larger sentence. There is another KZbin piano professor whose students have presented pieces during lives streams which he then critics and offers suggestions for improvement. I remember one student who played a piece and played all the notes pretty much in time, but not the music. All the notes were there but there was no sense of musical expression Musical expression is what I try to achieve in my practice even at a very slow tempo. I'm always asking myself and experiment with how to make any particular passage or phrase that I'm working on actually musical and compelling? Honestly I don't worry much about speed. I figure that it eventually comes on it's own if everything else is in place from a musical prospective.

[@JeewonLeepiano]

You got my point. I think I could have made one video on just that one point. I might have tried to do too much in one video by going into controlling your fingers and using arm movement. To answer your question about mental fatigue, I do not fight it. I know from experience and from poking around books here and there, that your brain actually learns when you let it relax. You solidify what you learned during your rest time. I have had a few disasters (relatively speaking) in my career because I lacked sleep/rest leading to the event. We all need good sleep to make progress in anything. It’s all about good balance, I think.

[@JoeLinux2000]

@@JeewonLeepiano Yes, I used to always take a nap before playing at Chuck's Cellar in Waikiki. This morning I was following your advice while relearning the Scriabin Left hand Prelude. You are very correct in what you say. Your little short video was absolutely to the point.

[@JoeLinux2000]

This video just popped up o KZbin after your video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/raCzaGSMbLmAgMk She's demonstrating the Kovechesky approach in my opinion. She's creating her own exercises to master the passage. Essentially Kovechesky points out that exercise books which allegedly develop finger strength are in large part a complete waste of time. You have to practice actual music.and develop your own exercises specific to difficult or troublesome passages.

[@JoeLinux2000]

kzbin.infoWaP2-HUFkvo

[@JoeLinux2000]

Jeewon uses the same approach: kzbin.infoWaP2-HUFkvo

[@JoeLinux2000]

Another Korean Speedster: kzbin.infoHP7H88fxViY

[@JeewonLeepiano]

@@JoeLinux2000Thank you for these channel recommendations! I subscribed to them all. I especially love the Korean speedster! I secretly wish I were a jazz pianist. :D

[@JoeLinux2000]

@@JeewonLeepiano Jimindorthy is actually an excellent educator. She has quite a background if you look into it. She played on crusie ships and attends some ragtime festivals in the US. I'm not sure, but I think she may have gone to a jazz music school in the US. She has a very good ear and and can copy the styles of many of the great jazz pianists. There are many excellent KZbin channels dealing with jazz and jazz improv. Daeyoun Kim is one of the better ones, but a lot of Koreans play some really great jazz. www.youtube.com/@rumbol2/videos You could read Daeyoun's arrangements which are all quite nice. Jimin also publishes arrangements and some exercise sheets. . Her's sound best when she plays them herself. She has quite a sense of humor when playing in some of her live streams. I think working on the cruise ships brought out her personality.. Have you met Yuja Wang personally? I have tremendous respect for her. She has been at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, however I've never seen her in person. She's around 37 years old now. I play tennis with an older Chinese woman who looks very much like her.