That Exasperating Transcendence!

The last few times I've played through the Chopin Nocturne, I've felt a bit of uncertainty creep in with the Transcendence. Instead of stopping and focusing on the source of uncertainty, I've just been playing through it in the hopes that it will go away.

Of course, it doesn't go away.

So last night I decided it was time. I needed to deal with the Transcendence. I mean, it's the most beautiful, and the most difficult, part of the entire nocturne. Why does Chopin do this to me? "Yeah, you can play this beautiful, transcendent passage, but you're going to have to put in the time. A lot of time."

I made a series of videos that I'm just going to share in a few separate posts on this blog. They involve several different approaches to practicing/learning this section (which I thought I had already learned!!). The videos in this post are from last night, and the videos in the next two posts are from this morning. Last night's focus was on practicing in rhythms.

The rhythms did help, though I was still playing a B-flat when I should have been playing a D-flat in the left hand, and I still didn't have a sense of mastery over the second part of the Transcendence. But I did make progress.

Video 1: Introducing the Transcendence and Rhythms

Video 2: Progress: 10 Minutes Later

Video 3: Rhythms Make Me Tired ... But They Help

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Picking Up the Pieces

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