Everyone who is just starting to learn to play the piano thinks of Chopin. But even for advanced musicians, Chopin is not a composer whose works are easy to play. Just because a piece is slow doesn’t mean it’s easy.
So which of the great composer’s works can we recommend for study first?
Chopin’s most accessible and well-known piece of music is probably his
Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 in E Minor
However, like all of Chopin’s works, it is not easy. You must learn to play the chords with your left hand, placing your fingers close to the keys to keep the volume of the accompaniment to a minimum. You must also be able to articulate the melody beautifully with your right hand, almost as if you were singing. Also, the fingering should be perfect so that you can connect the notes smoothly. Also, to make this piece sound legato, use very few pedals.
Prelude Op. 28 No. 7 in A Major
This prelude is short, beautiful and accessible to intermediate pianists. It can be a little more difficult than the Prelude in E minor because of its chromaticity. Another trap in this piece is that you will need to bring out the melody in the inner voices, which means that the top note is not always the most important one.
Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 in C minor
This prelude requires a caveat. It is referred to as Chopin’s ‘light’ work, which is not the case at all! The Prelude is full of clever diminished chords, accidents and important voices.
The technique for the left hand is not difficult, you just play in octaves. However, you need to learn how to control the volume of the bass octaves. The right hand is not fast, but you need to sound the melody with your little finger and suppress the volume of the dialed chords.
Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major
This is another Chopin piece that is considered ‘easy’ only because it is not as difficult as his etudes or concertos. I think an intermediate or advanced beginner level student could try to master it. Technically the notes can be learned at an earlier stage of learning, but the subtleties of voicing will not be available if you have only recently started playing the piano.
