• Store
  • Sign-up
  • Sign-in
Menu
Practising the Piano
  • Home
  • Resources
    • Multimedia eBook Series
    • Online Academy
    • Video Lessons
    • Annotated Study Editions
    • Repertoire Resources
    • Piano Technique Resources
    • Amateur Piano Groups & Clubs
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Online Events
    • London Piano Courses
    • Practice Clinics
    • Online Performance Workshops
  • Blog
      • Practising
      • Learning Pieces
      • Technique
      • Performing
      • Teaching
      • Archive
  • About Us
    • Help & Support
    • Contact us
HomePractisingPractising Chopin’s “Ocean” Etude

Practising Chopin’s “Ocean” Etude

By Graham Fitch, 2013-09-20 Posted in: Practising

In last week’s post on ties and repeated notes, I referred to Chopin’s Ocean Etude (more properly known as op. 25 no. 12). A reader contacted me asking if I could offer some practice suggestions for this etude, so here are a few thoughts.

The Cortot Edition

Apart from his most useful exercises for practice, one of the things I really like about Alfred Cortot’s study editions is his commentary, often shedding light on the more poetic aspects of the music. It is so important to keep in mind that while each etude by Chopin is a study in a particular aspect of piano technique, it is also a tone poem. This is where Chopin’s genius lies – raising a technical study to the ranks of great art. Cortot has this to say about the poetic meaning of this etude, as he sees it:

It is said…that Chopin composed this Study, as well as Study No. 12 (Op. 10), in his anguish at hearing the news that Warsaw had fallen into the hands of the Russians. If the legend can certainly add nothing to the intrinsic beauty of these two compositions, it lends them however a particularly pathetic significance. Wounded national pride, grief most sacred, generous outburst of revolt explain perfectly the sublime ardour that sweeps through these pages.

Keeping the meaning of the music in mind while we study the technical difficulties is for me paramount. Thanks to Walter Cosand, I am able to give you the link to his wonderful library of scores. Search through and you will find the pdfs to the full English translations.

Cortot realised the importance of diagnosing the technical problem and came up with an array of exercises that focus on it. Doing the mechanical work on the exercises rather than in passages from the music is a great idea. Then, when you go back to music, it all works so much more easily. I do have one caveat though – many of the exercises operate on the principle that from Cortot’s “etc.” you will continue the pattern he sets out. This might be transposition, but often seems to involve a pair of fingers in ever-increasing stretches, and I find myself constantly warning students only to stretch as far as is completely comfortable and to avoid the sometimes unnatural and potentially damaging extremes of stretch he suggests. Other than that, I find if you use these exercises not only do you learn the piece so much quicker and more thoroughly, but you can transfer the thinking behind them to other pieces.

Basic Skeleton

Some of the etudes are built up from quite simple underlying structures, and the beauty is in how Chopin fleshes these out with figuration, the difficulty often being in the accompaniment. Constantly referring back to the basic skeleton keeps this in perspective. In this etude we play the melodic line implied by the first RH note in each bar (plus other melodic fragments from an implied inner voice where appropriate) together with the bass line. As we play this skeleton, we do it perhaps even faster than the performance speed (in order to feel the phrase structure) with artistic tonal balances and phrase shapings. I give an eight-bar example here, but practise in big sections, or even for the entire study. This is something you can practise and refine before embarking on the technical work for Chopin’s original. I would also suggest you memorise this skeleton:

ptp_vol_2(5)_chopin_1

Next, familiarise yourself with the chord shapes by playing block chords:

ptp_vol_2(5)_chopin_2

The Figuration

When you are ready to open up the chords, there is a variety of different skeletons you can use. Here are two examples:

ptp_vol_2(5)_chopin_3

ptp_vol_2(5)_chopin_4

I invite you to generate more on these lines. Some suggestions include playing one bar plus one beat, imagining the next bar before rejoining the music the bar after that. Then, practise a version where you play what you omitted, and omit what you played in the previous one.

Evenly

Now playing all the notes, I would suggest practising using two different touches, martellato and leggiero. Practise both ways in tandem, completely evenly.  Martellato is done somewhat slowly with an active finger and comes out at a forte or fortissimo level – every note is accented. Slightly raise each finger so it can grasp the key very firmly, consciously switching off effort after each note and constantly checking in with your arms and shoulders (which remain loose at all times). Practise this both legato and staccato. Leggiero can be both slow and fast (do it both ways), and will again be played with an active finger. This time, the finger plucks each key using a finger staccato touch, the fingertip coming in towards the palm of the hand (it feels like a scratching motion). Do this pianissimo with no accents whatever, completely evenly. The arms glide serenely behind the fingers, steering them into position.

Tied Notes

Instead of playing the repeated note twice, we change finger at the bottom of the key in the manner of a finger substitution. After doing this a few times experience the repetitions by lifting the key only a fraction, only as much as necessary for the note to sound again. The benefit of this is a real physical legato in the repeated notes making for greater ease, speed and power because you remain in contact with the keyboard.

Thumb Over

I use a thumb-over approach in this study – the thumb swings into the key the 5th finger is holding as a result of a forearm rotation (the same feeling the other way round, when changing from 5th to thumb on the way down RH, or on the way up LH). It is very possible for the next finger to catch the key before it has had a chance to come back up to the very top. This keeps us super-connected to the keyboard, avoiding the hiccups that can arise from faulty management of the repeated notes.

Varied Accents

In passages with a constant rhythmic note value it can be very helpful to practise changing the metric groupings. Chopin’s pattern lends itself to a grouping of 123,123,12,123,123,12, etc and it can be useful to practise like this, accenting the 1s. Try going through the following routine, making sure the 1s get a strong accent each time. Since there are 16 semiquavers per bar, accents will only fall in the same place in each bar when accenting in groups of 4:

Accent the first note of each group: 1234, 1234, 1234, 1234, etc.

Accent the second note of each group: 4123, 4123, 4123, 4123, etc.

Now the third: 3412, 3412, 3412, 3412, etc.

And the fourth: 2341, 2341, 2341, 2341, etc.

The fun starts when you accent in all permutations of groups of 3, and more so of 5 (12345, 12345, etc.).

I am assuming you will also subject the etude to the usual variety of different rhythms. Use dotted rhythms (both ways round), “TA – ta,ta,ta TA – ta,ta,ta”, etc. (ad libitum et ad nauseam).

 *** *** *** *** ***

I have a chart of different rhythms in Part 1 of my ebook series, Practising the Piano. Here are details of how to get your copy:

Special offer bundle – Part 1 of Practising The Piano eBook Series (All three volumes)

Buy Part 1 of Practising The Piano (three volumes) for over 30% off the full individual prices.

[prod_btns code=”part1bundle” title=” “]

 

Tags: accentalfred cortotChopin Ocean Etude op. 25 no. 12errorsrepeated notesskeletontied notestouchtrillstrouble spotsWalter Cosand

Related Posts

The Myth of Perfection

The Myth of Perfection

By Graham Fitch, 2018-08-30
Posted in: Performing

Debunking the myth of perfection in piano performance and suggestions for achieving healthy perfectionism when practising a performance.

Read More

Tags: alfred cortotattitudebeethovenEloise Ristaderrorsfurther readinginspirationJascha HeifetzmythsperfectionTimothy Gallweywrong notes
The Myth of Perfection
Playing Piano Music from the Classical Period

Playing Piano Music from the Classical Period

By Informance, 2024-02-22
Posted in: Blog

Graham Fitch discusses how to approach playing piano music from the Classical Period, starting with an exploration of touch and articulation.

Read More

Tags: articulationclassicalinterpretationstyletouch
Playing Piano Music from the Classical Period
Snakes And Ladders

Snakes And Ladders

By Graham Fitch, 2012-08-29
Posted in: Teaching

In life, we repeat certain ways of doing things until they become habits - until we become unconscious of them and do them without thinking (and without the need to think about them). It is said that good habits are hard to form and yet easy to break, while bad…

Read More

Tags: concentrationevaluationhabitteachingtensiontrouble spots
Snakes And Ladders
A Keyboard Conversation with Mihaly Gyorfi

A Keyboard Conversation with Mihaly Gyorfi

By Informance, 2025-01-30
Posted in: Practice tools, Practising

Video conversation between Graham Fitch and a former student, Hungarian born pianist, teacher Mihaly Gyorfi and Graham Fitch discussing a wide range of topics from concert programming and repertoire choice through to personal reflections and experiences.

Read More

Tags: bachbartokbeethovenkeyboard conversationsperforming
A Keyboard Conversation with Mihaly Gyorfi
Take a Rest

Take a Rest

By Graham Fitch, 2019-06-06
Posted in: Practising

When it comes to what ought to go on in a practice session, we would do well to recall the saying attributed to the famous pedagogue, Theodore Leschetizsky: “Think Ten Times and Play Once”. In his excellent (but now out of print) book, Practising the Piano, Leschetizky’s student, Frank Merrick, recounts some…

Read More

Tags: Leschetizkypractice tipspractising
Take a Rest
Launching the 2018-2020 Trinity Syllabus

Launching the 2018-2020 Trinity Syllabus

By Graham Fitch, 2018-10-25
Posted in: Learning Pieces, News, Practising, Trinity College London Syllabus

I am very happy to announce a brand new series featuring the current Trinity College London Piano Syllabus on the Online Academy. Having been commissioned by Trinity to write the teaching notes for the advanced grades, I was delighted to put together this series of articles and video demonstrations for…

Read More

Tags: MozartOnline AcademyTrinity College LondonTrinity College London Piano Syllabus
Launching the 2018-2020 Trinity Syllabus

Previous Post

Tied Up

Next Post

A Beautiful Process for Scales

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Sign-up To Our Mailing List!

Sign-up to our email newsletter for free resources, news updates and special offers!

TOPICS

  • Practising
  • Learning Pieces
  • Technique
  • Performing
  • Teaching

LINKS

  • Online Academy
  • Informance
  • Help & Support
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Practising the Piano All Rights Reserved

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy Policy
  • T&Cs