Chords for Chopin Waltz in A minor, B.150 Opus Posth. Tutorial - ProPractice by Josh Wright

_ _ _ _ _ Welcome to ProPractice, your guide to refine, enliven, and illuminate the piano repertoire.
I'm Josh Wright, and today's episode covers the Chopin Waltz in A minor,
and it goes like this.
It's the opus posthumous one, sometimes written as B150. _ _ _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [G] _ _
[C] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
[G] _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ [E] _ _ [Am] Okay, _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ and today we're going to be going over all sorts of things, like pedaling.
Pedaling is kind of tricky in here.
We're going to be going over fingering,
we will be going over voicing, interpretation, rubato,
how we can create nice contrast [N] throughout the piece,
and a lot of other things to help you become as efficient as possible in your [E] practice sessions.
So let's go ahead and get started.
Let's start with the fingering.
So, 1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, [C] 1, [Dm] 2, 1, [G] 5, 4, 3,
and [E] then on this trill, I like to do 1, 3, 1, 2, 3.
Or 1, 3, [Em] 1, 2, 1 is also fine.
[A] Okay, 1, 2, 3, 1, [E] 2, 3, [G] 4, 1, 2, 1, 5, 4, [C] 1, 2, _ [E] 1, 2, [C] 3, 4, 1, [E] 2, 3, [B] 4,
1, [D] 2, 1, 5, 4, 3, and then [Db] 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, or 1 is fine, it doesn't matter.
And then 3 might be a better choice, [C] because you can then connect into this next one [E] here.
So 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, [Em] 1, 2, [Gb] 1, 2, 3, 1, 3, [G] 4, _ [Em] 3, 4, 3, [E] 2, 1, 3, 2,
3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, [Am] 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1.
Now here, [E] 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.
Okay, so it's pretty basic, but don't do this, don't do_
_ _ It's 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1.
You gotta go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1 in the same space as the 1, 2, 3. _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] So 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, [A] 5, 5, 2.
Okay, left hand, here we go.
[Am] _
_ _ [Dm] _ [G] I like to use closed fingerings, I don't like to [Am] keep them open all that much, like 1, 2, 3.
I think I'm probably doing like 5, 3, 1 at this basic level [D] stuff. _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _ _ _
[C] It feels comfortable enough.
You're more than welcome to use an open fingering [Am] like 5, 4, 2, 1, [Dm] 5, 4, 2, 1.
Some people find that a lot more comfortable.
I don't think [Ab] it's a big game changer for something like this.
Now something like_
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [Em] that's moving a lot more, that's the Waltz Op.
34 No.
1 by Chopin.
I definitely use open fingering because I don't want to be going 5, 5 all over the place.
But something [Am] here that's [Dm] slower, _ [G] even _ [C] though it's all agretto, maybe right there I do a 4, 2, 1.
It's really up to you, so choose your fingering according to what's most comfortable.
_ [Fm] Let's pick up in bar 9. _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Am] _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[C] _ _ [E] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [E] _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [Am] _
_ [E] _ Oh, sorry.
_ [Am] _ _
_ Okay, now [E] that looks fine and all, but then when you go to put it together,
it adds a whole new layer of complexity because you're having to skip in the left hand
while you're focusing on the right hand fingering.
So I recommend doing this in tiny little portions.
So I would do something like [Am] this.
_ _ _ Just until that feels good.
_ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Until that feels good, and then add those [Am] two together.
_ _ _ [Dm] _ [G] Okay. _ _
[C] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [C] _ _
[G] _ _ [C] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
And make sure that trill comes before the beat.
In classical and Baroque music, generally we come on the beat like that.
The first note of the trill comes on the beat.
In Romantic music in 20th century, it's more common for it to come before the beat.
_ _ Like [Am] that.
Okay, so that gives you an idea of how to start putting those together.
Now let's go on to pedaling.
Generally in _ _ waltzes, I like to pedal just once per bar because I_
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ Because then you don't tear out your bass.
But I think here, there's enough [B] seconds, _ [Am] like those are all seconds,
that it can get a little muddy.
So it might actually be a good idea here to go_
[A] _ _ _ _ [Am]
Change, change.
_ [D] Change, [Dm] change. _
[G] [G] Change, change.
[C] _ Change, change, change.
Pedaling twice per measure.
If you wanted to change three times in [G] bar three, _ _
[C] _ to keep it extra clean, that's fine.
There's no need to change three times per bar [Em] when it's just keeping the same harmony.
What I mean by that is, [Am] change, change, change.
You don't need to change here and here because they're the exact same harmony.
Or like right here.
[Dm] _ Change, change.
There's no reason to change a third time there.
So just [Am] change twice. _ _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ It kind [E] of gives it an element of breathlessness [Gb] too, which I really like.
So I like changing on that second beat here.
You might come across people who are strongly opposed to that.
So if your teacher's like, no, pedal once per measure, that's totally fine.
It's keeping a nice bass line going.
[Am] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
[G] It's just, there's so many [Am] seconds here.
_ To me that just sounds a little too muddy.
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _
[G] So_
_ _ [C] _ _ [Am] _ _ _
[Dm] I [Eb] want to quickly review an exercise for getting the left hand comfortable.
So [A] whenever I have big jumps to chords,
sometimes it can be difficult to find the whole chord.
So I will do bottom note to one note of the chord.
So I'll go like five to five.
And then I'll go [C] five to three, [A] and then five to one.
And then I'll go five [Am] to three, and then five to one and three,
five to five and one, and then five to five, three, one.
So I've gone through every possible jump.
And you can do this eyes closed [C] as well.
_ [A] _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ When you go to every possible jump,
it will help you so much with your accuracy. _ _
[E] Because it's actually quite easy to do the full chord
after you've done each individual note and every combo of notes that you can think of.
So apply that tip as well.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _