Challenging Part #4: Measures 20-21

For measures 20-21, the interesting thing here is that the melody is being driven by the left hand, as opposed to the right hand. The right hand's playing is a simple octave tremolo (which means a repeated 2-note figure), kind of like a cascading sound.

Therefore, the left hand notes are what we need to emphasize. The first thing to notice is that there are tenuto markings on the notes in beats 1 & 3 in both measures. These signify the main melody. The G note played by the 5th finger therefore, is a secondary note and not as important as the tenuto notes.

When practicing these measures, counting is essential, but also making sure to voice the right hand softer than the left hand. Because higher frequencies are naturally more sensitive to the human ear than lower frequencies, you must reduce the right hand's volume by even more than you might reduce the left hand's volume. Therefore, the right hand's part should be played in the piano dynamic, even if the main dynamic of the measure is F for forte. The forte here refers to the left hand, not the right.

Challenging Part #5: Measure 30

In measure 30 we have the first instance of a double-note sequence. Double-note sequences are some of the hardest to perform in piano music, and this short measure is an introduction into the world of double notes.

Careful attention should be paid to learning the notes in exactly the fingerings that are instructed. You can be lazy and learn them in the same fingering for each note, but being lazy will ultimately hurt your development as a pianist.

By playing the notes with the fingerings as written, it forces us to practice using all the fingers of the right hand.

Because the notes are marked staccato, you must lift off the finger from the key as soon as it is pressed, and because it's a double note, you must endeavor to strike both notes simultaneously with the respective fingers at the exact same time (which means no "rolling" of the notes). By playing this piece part as clean as possible, you ingrain in your mind the aspect that these notes should always be played together, not separately.

Challenging Part #6: Measures 35-38

The final measures which are difficult in this piece, are measures 35-38. Similar to measures 12-14, this is another extensive run in the right hand, but this run is a bit more difficult than measures 12-14.

One thing to pay attention to is measure 36, which is a descending A Dorian minor scale. This should be played as legato as possible, and played as evenly as possible.

In measure 37, it's tempting to play this repeated figure with the same fingers (such as 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2) but that gives you less control. Instead, following the fingering on the sheet music (1-4-2-3-1-4-2-3) assigns each note to its own finger, therefore improving your overall finger intelligence.

Conclusion:

After learning all the notes and the articulations, you can now focus on the dynamics. Pay special attention to the p for piano markings - it's much harder to play softly than it is to play loudly, and true finger intelligence is developed by being able to play softly, quickly.

When you play softly, you are forced to use the least amount of muscle movement to produce a sound. This makes it harder to cheat by using your arm or wrist to help out - only your fingertip should be utilized for soft notes, and this isolation will help improve your overall finger dexterity and independence.