How to Learn to Play Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu
2010-08-11 15:11:57, updated: 2012-01-11 11:59:43 by Sorgfelt
Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu is up there in difficulty for two main reasons:
- Speed
- Every group of four evenly spaced notes of the right hand correspond to three evenly spaced notes of the left hand.
It took me, as an intermediate player, about 2-1/2 years to learn this piece, working on it at about the legendary 10 minutes per day.
I learned that a few minutes per day is better than trying to learn it all in a few long sittings - your muscles and nerves need to sleep on what they are learning.
Here are the steps that I've worked out.
Note that you can follow these steps for the whole presto agitato section at once, or just several bars that make a phrase, repeating the steps for the next phrase.
- Learn the right hand part first, until you can play it evenly at the final speed. This took me a little over six months. Note: a few runs start with a rest. When you learn these, it may be best to play the one corresponding left hand note when starting the run, so that you always have the correct rhythm. Also, as every music teacher will tell you, practice slowly and deliberately, trying to play it at high speed only occasionally. Then, one day, you will realize that you can do it faster and better than you ever thought you could.
- Learn the left hand part.
- Practice both parts separately at the same tempo, before trying to put them together in the next step.
Also, you should practice each hand's part until you can play it while looking down the keyboard in the opposite direction.
Sometimes, I would close my eyes, or look out the window, or eat or drink something with my free hand.
- Pick a group of four right hand notes (a quarter note in time), plus the first note of the next such group, so that you have a total of five right hand notes. Play these with the corresponding group of three left hand notes plus the first note of the next group, so that you have a total of four left hand notes. Play them so that you end with the left hand and right hand both hitting the key for the last note (the first of the next group) at the same time. If you have trouble, use a metronome to keep the beat and play each part once each, then together. Repeat many times. When done, you should have the 3 note / 4 note rhythm working in general.
- Start at the beginning of the piece and practice it in the 3 note / 4 note groups, deliberately pausing between each group to make sure that you start each group with the left hand first note and right hand first note being struck simultaneously. Practice at different speeds. This will coordinate the hands. Avoid the temptation to run it all together until your hands are well coordinated. During the period when you are doing this practice, occasionally play the piece with the left and right hands separately without the pauses between groups, so that you keep the final rhythm in memory.
- Finally, start eliminating the pauses between groups, one pause at a time.
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