Tuesday-February 24, 2003

Haven't played much since last Friday. I'm onto the second half of the Rachmaninoff prelude. I've played it through a couple times already. I suppose the focus this week is to learn the last two pages. I've memorized two pages of the Mazeppa and am trying to memorize the third. It's coming along nicely. The Chopin "Butterfly" etude is about memorized. I'm still experimenting with different fingering for two particular chords I find troublesome. This piece is harder than it looks. To play it fast and play the chords cleanly without getting "stiff" in the arms and shoulders, I'm still working on that. I also played through the first etude, kinda moderato instead of the tempo indicated (allegro). The first etude is gonna be tough to memorize, since these big arpeggios are all very similar...should I what kind of chord is in each phrase? So that if there's say, 35 different chord-phrases in the piece, I can remember the order. How should I approach this piece? I can see why these are "etudes".