Week 1 Goal “Pick Your Piece!”
🎹 Week 1: Pick Your Piece!
(Starting September 15th!)
This week is all about choosing your Chopin repertoire. Whether you’re stepping into Chopin’s world for the very first time or you’ve played his music before, the goal is to select a piece that inspires you—and challenges you just enough.
We’ve curated a list to help guide your choice:
🎹 Beginner-Friendly Selections (Level 1–3)
Perfect for players new to Chopin. These works focus on melody, expression, and clarity of touch.
Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4
Waltz in A minor, B. 150 (Posthumous)
Prelude in B minor, Op. 28 No. 6
🎼 Intermediate Selections (Level 4–6)
For players ready to explore deeper expression, voicing, and rubato.
Nocturne in C♯ minor, Op. Posth.
Mazurka in A minor, Op. 67 No. 4
Waltz in C♯ minor, Op. 64 No. 2
Prelude in D-flat major, Op. 28 No. 15 “Raindrop”
🎶 Advanced Selections (Level 7–8+)
For seasoned players seeking to embrace Chopin’s full virtuosity and emotional range.
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31
Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 “Heroic”
Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
✅ Your Week 1 Task:
Pick your piece
Comment below with what you’ve chosen (and why, if you’d like!)
If you’re unsure, ask for recommendations—we’re here to help!
This week is all about inspiration and intention—no pressure to start practicing yet. Next week, we’ll dive into analysis and interpretation with Eloise Kim.
Let the journey into Chopin’s world begin!
139 replies
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Fantaisie, op.49, f minor. In my mind, this is an underrated and underplayed masterpiece. I'VE certainly underplayed it, so now's the time to make amends. It contains a lot of magic.
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I am driven to Chopin's Em, Op. 28, No.4. When I hear this piece, I think of a man who had emphysema. His lungs whistled as they struggled to breathe and his heart was beating irregularly. As I listened, rather horrified because I could do nothing, nothing was synchronized, nothing was regular. It seemed his heart and lungs wanted to get along with each other, but the lungs could not keep up, throwing the heart into a frenzy, hoping the lungs would kick in. Death neared. For me, the treble line sounds like his respiration, and the bass clef represents his heart. Given Chopin’s medical problems, I wonder if this piece doesn’t represent what he was medically experiencing. I always think of this man when I play this piece. He had full awareness of what his heart and lungs were doing, with a wish to live and a wish to die, as the panic set in.
I think the piece needs to be played to produce as much dissonance as possible.
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If we're permitted to pick a piece that's not on the initial list, I'd like to do Op. 10 No. 4. I can play through it, but it needs a lot more speed and accuracy. I want to use it to help practice maintaining a good hand position, particularly for my left hand.
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I'm going to revisit Op. 10 no. 3 in E major -- haven't played it in about 20 years but I learned it while young, so there's some deep muscle memory there. This month should be about the right amount of time to get it back up to speed.
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I'm going with Prelude in d minor Op. 28, no. 24. I haven't been at the piano for quite a long time and it had me at the parallel 3rds. 🙂
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Since we are working on this in the study group, I'll give Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 a try. My first Chopin...hoping to advance to many more.
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Hello! I'm going to pick the Mazurka in A minor, Op. 67 No. 4.
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Rodney Anderson
Would like to try Etude C# minor, op 23, No.7
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My challenge piece will be Raindrop, but I'm also going to look at a couple of shorter & simpler ones ie no 4 in Em & no 6 in Bm. I think a month of just focusing on Chopin will be lovely!
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My choice is already mentioned. I am practicing Nocturne opus 62/1 in B major and Etude 25/7 in c sharp minor- I chose both for the beauty of their singing lines and their polyphonic approach (nocturne more in the right hand, etude 25/7 in the left hand)
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I’ll use this as an opportunity to beef up the Chopin Ballade No. 3 and/or Etude 10/1. I’ve learned the notes of both but want to play them far better than I do now, so this is a great opportunity to pick them back up again and dig into both more deeply!
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Hi everybody, I am working on rubato and improving pedalling on Chopin Mazurka in A minor op 17 n 4
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I will be playing Chopin Valse Op 64 #2 c# minor. My teacher selected it for me and it's been fun and a beautiful piece to learn. It was one of my mom's favorites too. I am hoping to get a deeper understanding of the piece, as expressed by Ben Laude: the "dark" A theme in c#minor vs the "light" C theme in Db major and a reoccurring B ritornello theme.