# Chopin left hand parts



## Aurelian

I am hardly a pianist, so I am asking this out of plain curiosity...

I have looked at a number of Chopin scores, and frequent, often huge leaps with the left hard are common. Do you find this the hardest aspect of his music? Anything else you want to say about this is appreciated.


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## hreichgott

The first time one encounters this sort of thing, often in one's first waltz or rag by a composer who isn't going out of his way to make things easy for students, it is hard. You have to develop a sense not just of where you are on the keyboard, but where you were one beat ago, and be able to get back there easily.

This might be one of the hardest things about playing ragtime, but it is by no means the hardest thing about playing Chopin.


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## sam93

I personally think leaps and jumps become much easier when one has learned all major/minor scales and arpeggios, and has maybe even worked on some technique books such as Hanon. I definitely found after committing myself to these types of exercises, my "geography" of the keyboard became much better. I also play a lot of Ragtime so I guess that helps, as pretty much all Ragtime music includes this kind of playing. 

In regards to what you say about Chopin, it is definitely a tricky aspect of his music, but from a technical point of view I find his high use of ornamentation the most difficult. Take the long "fioritura" passages from the Nocturne in D flat, they sound wonderful when mastered but truly tricky to play properly.

Of course, the most difficult thing about Chopin is interpreting his music, especially once some of his works are put into context and you realize how complex the man was!


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