hey guys, im 13 and been playing for 4 years now.... i go to the state competitions once a year and won last year, and my teacher said she wants me to elarn the 3rd movement for competition... thats 1 of my 3 pieces... question- is this learnable and memorizable in a few months?

I would not dreamed of learning the third movement when I was 13, its a difficult piece, I dont care what anyone says, its damn hard, you need a very strong right hand to pull off certain parts and it gets quite virtostic at the end as well. I still cant play the part after the opening broken chords perfectly, you need lots of strength to pull it off smoothly, I dont know how to do it, its very annoying.

I would think to play it at 13 you would have to be almost a child prodigy, wow I am jealous.

well, i was 12 when i played the 3rd movement, and now im trying to learn all of chopins etudes

well i am a very physically mature 13 year old... i have alot of strength with the piano but my teacher has given my like 1 million pieces making me work on getting quiet after playing the huge parts which happens very often in the 3rd movement... i already play the 1st and 2nd movement all the time for people, and i no those arent near as hard as the 3rd, but they do have some great dynamics... ive not played the 3rd movement enough to really know if im going to be able to get i perfect, but ill let u know.

Yeah, that bit is tricky. It`s still not super-difficult though.

I played the third movement of this sonata when I was about 15 or 16. When I first learned it, I foolishly believed that the secret of playing the unending onslaught of 16th notes was strength of your right hand. 12 years later (I`m almost 28), after having gone through the whole conservatory thing (learning from two fantastic teachers) and now a piano teacher myself, I will tell you all that the secret of playing this third movement is NOT the strength of your right hand.

First, you must find the correct hand motion for the repetitive upward arpeggios at the beginning of the movement. You must find a comfortable arc-like motion that is small enought to accomodate all four notes of each beat. This arc will be different for each person, with the size of the arc relative to the size of your right hand.

Second, you must NOT tense up in your upper arm or wrist while playing this arc or any of the Alberti bass figures. Tensing up on a beastly movement like this one is a natural instinct, but it`s an instinct you must absolutely resist. You`ll wear yourself out by the end of the exposition if you don`t.

Third, in playing the multiple Alberti-bass figures, proper wrist rotation and nimbleness of the fingers is essential. Tensing up your wrist will kill the fluidity of this motion.

The ascending scales in the transitionary parts were always hard for me. The best way to play it is to maintain a fluid wrist. Slow practicing this numerous times, especially the last four notes, always yielded good results. Being aware of the amount of activity on right thumb`s also a good idea. Getting a good Urtext edition and looking at the fingerings it offers will do you a world of good. You`ll be surprised at the number of fingerings that would work or not work for you.

As for the staccato eight notes in both hands, use the natural weight of your hands to provide the force for a forte dynamic level. You`d be surprised at how much little force you actually need to apply to play these figures properly. Also, keep track of which notes carry the most melodic interest here, as you`ll need to voice the chord properly in order for these passages to make the most sense.

My final word of advice would be to avoid large arm or wrist gestures that use too much energy. With a piece like this, wrist and arm gestures than waste energy make it that much more difficult to maintain concentration for the entire 7+ minutes of the movement.

Playing this at 12!! you must be arcadi volodos or something, can one play this difficult piece without errors and at full speed at 12? incredible.

If you are attempting all Chopin etudes, beware of the first one-easily the hardest of both sets, now this is down to strength in the right hand, and great vision to land on all the correct notes. I am 25 now and still after years of playing dont have the sheer physical strength to play the etude in C major.

In the 3rd movement of the moonlight sonata, I think the hardest part is that ridiculous bit where you have to play an octave in your right hand and trill with the top notes, impossible almost, does anyone agree? This part surely requires a lot of strength in your right hand.

I`m with you on that one. The first trill isn`t so bad (that ends in a B natural octave), but the second one that ends in a G sharp octave is murder. Ditto for the second set of trills later on. Very difficult to do properly.

hey i need some help here! i think i got the speed but since ive never been in piano lessons i really dont know which fingers to use. Can anybody tell me which fingers should i use at least in the first compass of the third movement? only the right hand heheheh

ty

actually, i learned the whole moonlight sonata at 12

hahaha, if you`re interested in the fastest recording of this movement - try glenn gould`s - in 4`53!!

its wikid

ive heard of kids getting vanbascos karaoke player and downloadloading the MIDI file so they can watch every key thats being pushed, my little brother does it!!!!

Actually the difficulty of 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata is highly exaggerated. It`s not a particularly hard piece to play. The same thing is true for many other so-called virtuoso pieces such as Rach 3, Islamey, Gaspard del la nuit.....etc. People are just making them a lot harder than they are actually. If you actually play them , you`ll know that`s not quite the case. It`s just that it takes some time to learn those pieces. Anyway, back to the subject....the key is to play it slowly. Start off very slowly, and keep doing this while maintaing the speed until you feel completely comfortable with playing the parts at that speed. Apply the same method, but increase the speed gradually as you go along. Hope this helps.

Quote Mark: Playing this at 12!! you must be arcadi volodos or something, can one play this difficult piece without errors and at full speed at 12? incredible.

If you are attempting all Chopin etudes, beware of the first one-easily the hardest of both sets, now this is down to strength in the right hand, and great vision to land on all the correct notes. I am 25 now and still after years of playing dont have the sheer physical strength to play the etude in C major.

End Quote.

Yes, now i`m 13. I have just finished the Revolutionary Etude (Op. 10, No.12). Right now the Winterwind Etude (Op.25 No.11) is a little challenging.

If you can`t play winterwind, good luck with No.1...