Although everyone's hands and abilities vary, I find that if you break a section down into tiny pieces, nearly any students with good technique and good ears can do anything they put their minds too
Thank you so much ! I'm french and not very brillant in English so I tried to understand as informations as possible but I think I have understood the most important things. I play piano alone, without teacher, so that's not very easy ... Thanks thanks thanks !
Extremely helpful, gave me a new perspective. Definitely lit up this section of the piece, so it's not a technical burden as much as a musical masterpiece. Thank you.
Nice video! I have been struggling to play the coda at speed, but I never became comfortable how it sounded. Now I understand that I should focus on sensitivity first. I really like your interpretation. Learning this piece as an amateur has been an incredible experience for me. Thanks for posting your lesson. Excellent advice!
Speed in itself is not the goal entirely. You are right about hearing those lines harmonically and melodically where the emphasis is placed there and the musical shape of the line is what matters.
Just found this. It’s so helpful. I’m working on this piece now, but I’ve been procrastinating on the coda because it’s so intimidating. I actually considered just faking an ending to avoid it. (I just play for fun). Your video breaks it down with great suggestions so that I feel more confident tackling it.
Josh you know that i got sometimes missing notes or poor performance when i am talking to someone(a friend, a familiar or anyone). It is because you are explain this so passionately and thats why you focus more in wath you are teaching( By your personal way). Happens to great people like you and me. You did great in focusing that special tempos that are very usefull for anyone who is getting in this piece. I am from Perú and if you were here, at Lima( the main city), i will pay wether the price you ask. It is very hard to find someone like you fellow. God blesses you.
The ascending g-minor scale in thirds has always been difficult, I have a mental block against playing it rapidly. The preceding one in octaves poses no such difficulty.
I don't know if this will help, but what I did was I focused specifically on my left hand when playing it slowly and quickly, and something just sort of clicked. I don't know if this will work for you, though.
omfg u play so hot...I love the way you emphasize each note with so much force! When I play forte it never comes out that clear I'm still trying to strengthen my fourth/pinky fingers
Thanks for all the valuable advice, particularly your thoughts on accentuation. Great artistic comments especially the warning about hyper-speed. So many young performers think it's about velocity. My earliest recollections are the Romantic masters who did not feel the need for bullet-train velocity. Today, Zimmerman, Wang, Trifonov - even Van Cliburn - specialize in letting the music breathe, bringing out those inner melodies of Chopin or Rachmaninoff, letting the piece "sing".
I should have found these videos years ago. These kinds of tips really inspire you to take a more detailed look at each piece. I like the fact that you also introduce Chopin's thoughts here. I naturally had to instantly buy your propractise video : ). Still difficult to get the left hand under control in high speed!
Josh: I always considered Horowitz' 78 rendition to be the hallmark performance of the first Ballade. I used to play the disc at 45 RPM just to hear that very spot in slow motion (and at a much-lower pitch!) Recently I've discovered the posting of a piano roll of Busoni playing this Ballade. In the opening bars, I thought that an amateur had run the roll at a break-neck speed, but my perception was wrong. Busoni's phrasing wouldn't pass Julliard today, but it works. He has changed my opinion on the middle section major melody. It's an example of keeping an open mind on interpretation. (Listen to Nyiregyhazy on the St. Francis Bird Sermon and Walking on the Waves, or Chopin Black-Key Etude for even more examples of the golden age of pianism.) If possible, I'd lie to see a better keyboard shot of your finger/hand positions on this Ballade in the future. Thank you for the insightful post!
Thanks Josh! I have viewed your other videos as well and they're all great. I've just started this piece very recently and this video has really helped me control the coda better.
hi Josh, first of all thank you so much for your tutorials, they all helped me a great deal in identifying the needed focus for my practice. On this coda however, due to an old joint injury, my fingers now are just not flexible enough to reach a 6th with 2 and 5 comfortably (it even hurts!). I sort of got away with the first fast passages by using my thumb, but the coda is too much to do that trick. Do you have any suggestions?
Yeaaaaah. I have started to work on it. I just finished the hungarian rhapsody no2 (Franz Liszt), But I could not dominate Friska (second movement). Open to advices.
Very interesting ideas concerning the artistic point view but it would be so helpful to me if you could give some tips about how to actually practice this coda, from a technical point of view in order to be able to start thinking after that about the artistical interpretation. But anyway thx a lot :)
Love the video! Though I feel I am not yet at the level required to play this piece it is my main goal on the piano. Do you have any recommendations for any pieces to play in preparation for this? Also Krystian Zimermans version is also my favourite it feels so expressive and creates a vivid imagery.
Hi hope you're well, i'm trying to get this coda but i have to say it's more difficult than it looks those octaves in the second phrase my god totally a challenge to any pianist but with the right tempo you're be able to get whole piece
Any tips on the bit just after this? I can't work out how to phrase the long run in the right hand with the single left hand note (f#) in the middle. The pattern in the notes seems to contradict the structure of the bars. Also, there are 29 notes across the first 2 bars before the left hand f#... Not sure how to approach that. Also, sorry to be silly, but hoooow can you talk about Zimmerman when pianists like Rubinstein, Pollini and many more greats have recorded this piece??? Thanks for the video!
well presto con fuco basic means fast with energy. You would take quite a while to learn it even after 1 year this is a masters level piece. you could I suppose play it incredibly slow but it wouldn't capture the energy of the piece.
NeeXxoR the dificulty of playing classical musics is playing with perfection, you can't just change things in the score. jazz exists to give you more liberty. The important thing is that you like this song and want to play it, because with this in mind is not really if you can play slow or not, but when you will play beautifully and put a video on youtube for everyone see it :)
any suggestion for practicing the coda? i want to play it faster than i'm able to now, but practicing that part over and over makes my hand literally tired and i can't play anymore afterwards. is there anything wrong in the technique? i understand about the don't-go-too-fast-and-ignore-the-artistic-aspects but my tempo is just too slow.
I'm sorry to take issue here but the trick is to play it as marked and still STILL create the musical artistry that is inherent in the music itself. IT can be quite stunning played according to the way the master CHOPIN wrote it. IF you want to alter that , slow it down to assure clarity of the most complex passages - fine go for it - but don't masquerade that as a substitute for masterful execution and interpretation - it won't work and trained ears in the professional sphere will see immediately what you are doing. Again, if its just for yourself and the enjoyment of a personal "best" fine but don't pass that off as some world class performing advice - you will fall flat on your face.
And it is precisely because of these liberties in interpretation that caused you to not pass the 2015 preliminaries! You are a fantastic technician but you need to take your playing to the master level and you are most assuredly not there yet.
ruclips.net/video/iq3vPx3T7hA/видео.html (Die Schluss-Krebse) ruclips.net/video/5tWlRurJhLw/видео.html (Kommentar zu Ihrem Spielen von Krystian Zimerman) ruclips.net/video/Yr_ducBVocY/видео.html (Superconsciousness, NEU)
très bonne video,merci JOSH. avant que tu ne parles de christian Zimmermann,j'ai pensé que tu jouais la coda comme arturo michelangeli....en fait ,la version de ZIMMERMANN est excellente mais je préfère celle que je place tout en haut, celle de Michelangeli benedetti en 1972,deutsche grammofon.......chopin est magique ruclips.net/video/xVOWidr6nTk/видео.html
Although everyone's hands and abilities vary, I find that if you break a section down into tiny pieces, nearly any students with good technique and good ears can do anything they put their minds too
ruclips.net/video/r61INtsHTn0/видео.html
This is so motivating. Thank you.
He kinda looks like chopin with that video quality lol..
Low-key
He also gives me Beethoven vibes
I think it goes to show how much the channel improved since then :)
But yeah, you right tho...
This was 10 years ago
Little Chopin
The tip about easing on the pedal on a 9' Steinway in a large concert hall will come in useful to most of us.
I'll watch your video a hundred times till I get this coda. Thanks so much for this!
The CRISP quality of this video is amazing
Thank you so much ! I'm french and not very brillant in English so I tried to understand as informations as possible but I think I have understood the most important things.
I play piano alone, without teacher, so that's not very easy ...
Thanks thanks thanks !
William Nordstern je peux t aider a traduire des trucs que t as pas compris si tu veux
Extremely helpful, gave me a new perspective. Definitely lit up this section of the piece, so it's not a technical burden as much as a musical masterpiece. Thank you.
Anna Graham Thanks for the comment Anna. I'm glad it was helpful. Best of luck in your studies
Nice video! I have been struggling to play the coda at speed, but I never became comfortable how it sounded. Now I understand that I should focus on sensitivity first. I really like your interpretation. Learning this piece as an amateur has been an incredible experience for me. Thanks for posting your lesson. Excellent advice!
Hey Josh, just wanna say that thanks for this video cuz you made the coda sound and look so much easier, kudos!
So ,,young man" and so genius and wise... TYou are fantastic teacher :)
WojtekASG That is so kind of you. Thank you very much
Thanks to you, I am completely relearning the coda/cadenza and slow practicing it all over again!
ARCT exam is in 2 weeks
This was just what I needed
(I was playing it wrong the entire time lol)
Thanks so much!
how did you do on that exam
RCM system is so inconsistent lmao
Thanks so much. If you ever need help with any musical passages, just let me know :)
I agree completely with your insights on the coda part. I rarely see this part performed "the right & beautiful" way.
Thank you so much Jo. I really appreciate the support.
Who is Jo?
Jesus Christ!! Your expression of Ballade No 1 is amazing !! So touching!! I’m totally in love with your melody!!
Thanks for this! Just started with the piece and the coda was worrying me big time! Hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew
I feel quite happy that my thoughts (independently) lie extremely close to yours. But, for me the issue is execution at speed!
This is what I'm looking for! Thank you so much for uploading!
Thank you, Josh, your videos have touched my heart and given me a greater appreciation of Chopin.
Thanks Jerry! Good luck in your studies
This helps me so much!! Thank you so much for doing this Josh.
omdrazzi You're welcome. Have a great week and best of luck in your studies!
Thx for ur shared!!! This suggestion had me a lot!
Josh! Fair play my friend! This is great. You're humble and I appreciate your artistic view point.
Speed in itself is not the goal entirely. You are right about hearing those lines harmonically and melodically where the emphasis is placed there and the musical shape of the line is what matters.
Brilliant! You are a genius!
Rubinstein and Chopin himself would be very proud of your accurate ability and teaching. They are smiling at you. :)
Just found this. It’s so helpful. I’m working on this piece now, but I’ve been procrastinating on the coda because it’s so intimidating. I actually considered just faking an ending to avoid it. (I just play for fun). Your video breaks it down with great suggestions so that I feel more confident tackling it.
Thanks so much. I'm glad it helped.
Such a great video, thank you very much!
Brilliant. I love Krystian Zimerman. :)
Josh you know that i got sometimes missing notes or poor performance when i am talking to someone(a friend, a familiar or anyone). It is because you are explain this so passionately and thats why you focus more in wath you are teaching( By your personal way). Happens to great people like you and me. You did great in focusing that special tempos that are very usefull for anyone who is getting in this piece. I am from Perú and if you were here, at Lima( the main city), i will pay wether the price you ask. It is very hard to find someone like you fellow. God blesses you.
Thank you so much josh, it helps me a lot with practicing this masterpiece!
What a brilliant video! Your playing is incredible and this will be a great help. Thank you so very much!
QuoPacto Thank you for your kindness and support!
I don’t know why but I feel like I’m watching a tutoriel vidéo from the 19 th century , the look, the video quality , the old timeclock , ...
But the audio is better than some of the audio recordings of things in 2021 haha
I started the piece yesterday and i am still at the first two pages, but i will keep your videos in mind for these parts!
Thank you for these tips!
are you done with the piece? if you yes then pls post a vid of you playin:))
I also think Zimerman is the ultimate Chopin interpreter. Thanks for the video from 2021
The ascending g-minor scale in thirds has always been difficult, I have a mental block against playing it rapidly. The preceding one in octaves poses no such difficulty.
I don't know if this will help, but what I did was I focused specifically on my left hand when playing it slowly and quickly, and something just sort of clicked. I don't know if this will work for you, though.
@@TheJedoI like the way I was about to reply 6 years later and you must have also not noticed you were 4 years too late 😂
@@danieljames4546 I probably didn't end up helping in the end...
I started working on this piece 4 days ago. I will come back when I finish it :P
Have you finished?? :)!!
omfg u play so hot...I love the way you emphasize each note with so much force! When I play forte it never comes out that clear I'm still trying to strengthen my fourth/pinky fingers
Thanks for all the valuable advice, particularly your thoughts on accentuation. Great artistic comments especially the warning about hyper-speed. So many young performers think it's about velocity. My earliest recollections are the Romantic masters who did not feel the need for bullet-train velocity. Today, Zimmerman, Wang, Trifonov - even Van Cliburn - specialize in letting the music breathe, bringing out those inner melodies of Chopin or Rachmaninoff, letting the piece "sing".
OTTIMA MANO JOSH!! E ANCHE OTTIMA ESPRESSIVITA’!!
You've come a long way with the setup and video quality, Josh!
@lonewolf604 what specific questions do you have about the piece?
Fantastic Josh
I will take your thoughtful ideas into consideration, all of which will enrich my learning process.
Luke Dewey Thanks Luke! Best of luck in your studies!
I should have found these videos years ago. These kinds of tips really inspire you to take a more detailed look at each piece. I like the fact that you also introduce Chopin's thoughts here. I naturally had to instantly buy your propractise video : ). Still difficult to get the left hand under control in high speed!
daafha Thanks for the support! If you have any specific questions feel free to email me. Have a great week
Fantastic, thank you very much :)
Thank you ! :)
Josh: I always considered Horowitz' 78 rendition to be the hallmark performance of the first Ballade. I used to play the disc at 45 RPM just to hear that very spot in slow motion (and at a much-lower pitch!) Recently I've discovered the posting of a piano roll of Busoni playing this Ballade. In the opening bars, I thought that an amateur had run the roll at a break-neck speed, but my perception was wrong. Busoni's phrasing wouldn't pass Julliard today, but it works. He has changed my opinion on the middle section major melody. It's an example of keeping an open mind on interpretation. (Listen to Nyiregyhazy on the St. Francis Bird Sermon and Walking on the Waves, or Chopin Black-Key Etude for even more examples of the golden age of pianism.) If possible, I'd lie to see a better keyboard shot of your finger/hand positions on this Ballade in the future. Thank you for the insightful post!
Thanks Josh! I have viewed your other videos as well and they're all great. I've just started this piece very recently and this video has really helped me control the coda better.
you are a great teacher
4:30
thnx
ruclips.net/video/r61INtsHTn0/видео.html
2:57
hi Josh, first of all thank you so much for your tutorials, they all helped me a great deal in identifying the needed focus for my practice.
On this coda however, due to an old joint injury, my fingers now are just not flexible enough to reach a 6th with 2 and 5 comfortably (it even hurts!). I sort of got away with the first fast passages by using my thumb, but the coda is too much to do that trick. Do you have any suggestions?
Nearly 11 years ago. Time flies
Sorry, I got the answer while watching the video (I should have waited), a 5'11 Steinway B model, correct?
Yeaaaaah. I have started to work on it. I just finished the hungarian rhapsody no2 (Franz Liszt), But I could not dominate Friska (second movement). Open to advices.
Very interesting ideas concerning the artistic point view but it would be so helpful to me if you could give some tips about how to actually practice this coda, from a technical point of view in order to be able to start thinking after that about the artistical interpretation.
But anyway thx a lot :)
Thanks for the video. Do you think you can do a Fantasie Impromptu tips video?
6:34
I play this 2 measure passage with just my right hand. Am I committing a faux pas?
No, it just makes you significantly slower
@joshwrightpiano Being speedy, but still maintaining dynamics, clarity, and just in general "togetherness"
Love the video! Though I feel I am not yet at the level required to play this piece it is my main goal on the piano. Do you have any recommendations for any pieces to play in preparation for this?
Also Krystian Zimermans version is also my favourite it feels so expressive and creates a vivid imagery.
Hi hope you're well, i'm trying to get this coda but i have to say it's more difficult than it looks those octaves in the second phrase my god totally a challenge to any pianist but with the right tempo you're be able to get whole piece
Amazing video
Any tips on the bit just after this? I can't work out how to phrase the long run in the right hand with the single left hand note (f#) in the middle. The pattern in the notes seems to contradict the structure of the bars. Also, there are 29 notes across the first 2 bars before the left hand f#... Not sure how to approach that.
Also, sorry to be silly, but hoooow can you talk about Zimmerman when pianists like Rubinstein, Pollini and many more greats have recorded this piece???
Thanks for the video!
can i play "Presto Con Fuoco" very very slow if i have only 1 years of piano ?
well presto con fuco basic means fast with energy. You would take quite a while to learn it even after 1 year this is a masters level piece. you could I suppose play it incredibly slow but it wouldn't capture the energy of the piece.
Jordan O Donoghue thanks i started Piano December 2015 (1 Years) i can play 2:19 of the ballade No 1
NeeXxoR the dificulty of playing classical musics is playing with perfection, you can't just change things in the score. jazz exists to give you more liberty. The important thing is that you like this song and want to play it, because with this in mind is not really if you can play slow or not, but when you will play beautifully and put a video on youtube for everyone see it :)
Planet Yam soundcloud.com/tc-muhammet-ali-bebek/ballade-no-1-op-23-muhammet many errors but im satisfed
+very good, keep playing and sending your new tests my friend!
the microphone at 1:32 just chilling
any suggestion for practicing the coda? i want to play it faster than i'm able to now, but practicing that part over and over makes my hand literally tired and i can't play anymore afterwards. is there anything wrong in the technique? i understand about the don't-go-too-fast-and-ignore-the-artistic-aspects but my tempo is just too slow.
Rly nice music details
But 4:35 is wrong. Dat is second repeat parts plot
Just a question: what piano are you playing?
That's some great 144p x)
1:35 ghost mic lol
i 100% agree without the pedal it becomes crystal clear
And I hope my english is not too bad 'cause I'm french actually :)
I'm sorry to take issue here but the trick is to play it as marked and still STILL create the musical artistry that is inherent in the music itself. IT can be quite stunning played according to the way the master CHOPIN wrote it. IF you want to alter that , slow it down to assure clarity of the most complex passages - fine go for it - but don't masquerade that as a substitute for masterful execution and interpretation - it won't work and trained ears in the professional sphere will see immediately what you are doing. Again, if its just for yourself and the enjoyment of a personal "best" fine but don't pass that off as some world class performing advice - you will fall flat on your face.
mauette2000 how would you go about attaining the top speed? I can play it musically but not at top speed
1:28 mike wat
Rubinstein’s is best hands down.
ghost caught on camera at 1:25
THE MIC IS SINKING!!!
Weird, the microphone keeps moving, but not the clock on the wall?!
Chopin must have disagreed with you at @1:32.. He came back to point the mic away.
And it is precisely because of these liberties in interpretation that caused you to not pass the 2015 preliminaries! You are a fantastic technician but you need to take your playing to the master level and you are most assuredly not there yet.
mauette2000 it is exactly these liberties that made able to take part in the preliminaries of Chopin 2015
Are you backseat pianoing this guy
I think Chopin was disagreeing with you as he took away the mic @ 1:31 - 1:37 :)
ruclips.net/video/iq3vPx3T7hA/видео.html (Die Schluss-Krebse) ruclips.net/video/5tWlRurJhLw/видео.html (Kommentar zu Ihrem Spielen von Krystian Zimerman) ruclips.net/video/Yr_ducBVocY/видео.html (Superconsciousness, NEU)
très bonne video,merci JOSH. avant que tu ne parles de christian Zimmermann,j'ai pensé que tu jouais la coda comme arturo michelangeli....en fait ,la version de ZIMMERMANN est excellente mais je préfère celle que je place tout en haut, celle de Michelangeli benedetti en 1972,deutsche grammofon.......chopin est magique ruclips.net/video/xVOWidr6nTk/видео.html
He looks like zyzz
piano version
gold, thx for the help
6:24
4:30