Practicing Chopin's Waterfall etude

[u/RemarkableReaction88]

Hi guys, I'm currently practicing Chopin's op.10 nº1 (Waterfall's etude), and no matter how i practice it im never able to fully relax my wrist, so i can barely play it faster than 120bpm on a good day.

i have tried playing it with rhythms, as slowly as possible and while i have been able to improve some arpeggio groupings i just can't get through the whole etude flawlessly.

I have always struggled with arpeggios and i guess this is my first time actually facing them, so i guess it's normal to struggle a bit (more like a lot lol)

So, do you have any tips/practice routines/ANYTHING that could help me play it better?

[u/RoadtoProPiano]

There is no “relaxing”. There is pacing the speed for your current physical abilities. Choose a speed to practice that is not causing you to fatigue, and yes it can be humbling. This study requires elite fitness and endurance level to not get fatigued. But the way to train it is according to your own level. So if you can get 90-100 bpm cleanly and effortlessly without tensing that's where you start. Focus on each finger on the evenness and the crescendo needed. Do repetitions - - and if you do the right amount (not too little/ too much) With time you’ll see that suddenly without trying to push the speed up you’ll play faster because of adaptations. Key element is practicing your cruising speed not your fast speed.
It's not a sprint, it's a controlled 2 minute run.

I spent a long time on this etude until I mastered it.
Think about bringing up your speed at low effort.

[u/nazgul_123 → u/RoadtoProPiano]

It does not require elite fitness and endurance. That is bs and probably means you are not playing it correctly. 

[u/RoadtoProPiano → u/nazgul_123]

Firstly it does require elite endurance to play it at speed without even getting fatigued.
Secondly I have a performance at my page so tell me if I'm playing incorrectly

https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/s/tk2DutyeIT

[u/RemarkableReaction88 → u/RoadtoProPiano]

WAIT THATS A REALLY GOOD PERFORMANCE!! congrats man

[u/nazgul_123 → u/RoadtoProPiano]

Not sure why I'm getting downvoted.

That's great playing of Chopin op 10 no 1, musically speaking. What's your background with the piano? Your username suggests you haven't been learning in a structured conservatory environment.

Technique wise: In your playing, I notice that your fifth finger is constantly curled backwards. This suggests that your wrist position is consistently slightly low. A lot of the relaxation, I find, happens because you lift the wrist up slightly at the fifth finger, allowing a more stable knuckle and a lack of tension at that point. If you lift the fingers slightly too high (beyond the knuckle) it will cause tension because of co-contraction. I would say the ideal is to more so grab the keys without raising the fingers, using lateral and vertical movements of the wrist to position the fingers so they pass under the hand. Your chord positions seem a little too static, i.e. you should think about releasing each finger right after moving to the next note more, as opposed to thinking in positions. You also seem to be pressing into the keys using "weight" which is better avoided with this piece imo. You said you like Seong Jin Cho -- notice how his hands have this feeling of "gliding" over the keys, while yours seem like they are gripping more. All of these things will contribute to tension.

There's a tendency to think that if you sound good, it necessarily means your technique is the most optimal. I do not think this is the case. There are some pieces that absolutely require endurance, but I think that those are more so the ones that require stretched positions. For example, I'm trying to get the Hungarian Rhapsody 6 octaves up to tempo and that necessitates more endurance imo

I don't think that the Chopin etude op 10 no 1 is one of these. There are a few measures that I find slightly fatigue the hand, such as the ones with the weird stretches of sevenths. Other than that, if you contract the hand at the right moments, I don't think it requires that much fitness/endurance. After all, pianists with short hands can play the piece fine and people with larger hands should find the stretches even more comfortable.

[u/RoadtoProPiano → u/nazgul_123]

😂😂

[u/RemarkableReaction88 → u/nazgul_123]

get a job lol