Étude Op. 10, No. 1 - 3(mm. 1-26)

I am now moving on from preludes to etudes.  Etudes as a genre started to be seen around the early 19th century.  An etude, a French word meaning study, is a composition usually designed to aid the student of an instrument in the development of his mechanical and technical ability. Such technical skills  are scales, arpeggios, octaves, etc.  Chopin created the concert etude which is designed not only for study purposes, but also for public performance and which combines technical difficulty with high artistic quality. (Harvard Dictionary of Music)

The first set of these etudes were published in 1833, although the first two etudes were written as far back as 1829 (when he was 19 years old!)  Bidou writes that "we may find in the Etudes a compendium of Chopin's musical idiom.  At the same time he concealed his pianistic science behind the magnificence of his art" (118).  Basically saying that the pieces remained as beautiful as any piano work while still remaining as technical practice.

Above is a video of the Op. 10, No. 1.  For now my sight reading will be very slow until I can finish these etudes.  I'm not looking forward to the next couple of weeks.  No. 1 works on arpeggios, No. 2 on chromaticism.  As far as I can tell, No. 3 works on distinguishing melody in the right hand while many other notes are being played.  All have been beautiful so far, but I think I like No. 3 the best so far.  I'm more of a fan of Chopin's slower and more romantically emotional pieces.

Total time spent sight reading: 30 minutes
Total time spent writing: 40 minutes