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!
131 replies
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I’m starting the Revolutionary Etude and the B Major Nocturne with my new teacher. And I have a personal project to relearn the F Major Ballade. No possible way those will be ready to play for anyone in a month. I’d love to do the harmonic analysis on the Nocturne, that would be very helpful. Could I offer to play Mazurka #25 in B Major and do the harmonic analysis using the Nocturne?
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My pick will be the Nocturne op. 62 no 2. I played the first one and would like to learn the second as well.
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Hello!!
I like to present a little or one of the movements of the Sonata op.35 no.2 of Chopin.
Why did I chose it? Because I love the inherent poetism that exists in each of the movements and especially the mysticism behind this piece... The well-known "Funeral March"... The first 2 movements that intertwine quite well... the last movement that is chaos... -
Hi all, I would like to pick Chopin, Ballade 1 in G minor. This piece always attract me a lot. The emotion is so intense, melody and harmony are so beautiful. I have a strong internal connection with this piece. I learned this piece a year ago, but couldn't complete it due to technical issue, especially the coda. So many big chords, big jumps, and super fast. I just think it's time to get it done and what a coincidence there's Chopin festival in tonebass.
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No.3 in A-flat major from 'Trois Nouvelles Etudes'. Today is day 12 of learning it from scratch.
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Hi all, tempted to choose both the Scherzo 2 and Ballade 1, pieces that I've worked on a long time ago, and only been brushing up again recently.
Due to work demands, my time spent on the piano has been very sporadic, but still necessary to keep those musical dreams and passions alive. :) So in recently exploring the intriguing AI Pathways in Tonebase, I'm excited to see how this journey will unfold a month or two later!
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Hello everyone, I haven't participated Tonebase events for some time. Lately, I am working on Chopin Sonata Op 58. This beautiful, yet difficult large piece will take a lot of my time (which I don't have). I'll see how it goes in the following month and present maybe 2nd or 3rd movement. I actually have only 2 weeks, since another 2 weeks I won't have access to a piano at all. But, I'll follow the forum and enjoy the music everyone makes. 😄
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Hello everyone! I have just started to learn Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, inspired by Dominic’s Study Group. This 4-weeks of living with the piece would be amazing! Have started to work on the B1-4 LH chords and feel the escapement mechanism on my digital piano.
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I am choosing the “Raindrop”
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I'm choosing the Ballade
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I’ve been learning concerto 1 in e minor so would like to work on the Romance, 2nd movement.
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Waltz in C♯ minor, Op. 64 No. 2
It's a piece that my students would enjoy listening to in class.
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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.