My dear piano cats,

Welcome to this course, which is dedicated to the Four Etudes by Henri Bertini from op. 29: No.1, 7, 8, and 11.

These etudes are among my favourite for students from late beginners to early advanced levels. I would love to cover more pieces from this set, because many of them are really good, but then the course would be endless. I also prefer to diverse a repertoire, and don't see a particular necessity to play many more etudes by the same composer. After a few etudes from this set you are welcome to check out etudes by Burgmüller, there is another course on them on this website.

I recommend you to download and use this free public domain score, because it contains great fingering suggestions, however you are welcome to compare it with other editions that might have other interesting suggestions.

I have published these lections following a numeric order of this set. However, if you would wish to move from the easiest to the most challenging etude of this course, I would suggest you to consider the following order, which in my opinion would be closer to such goal:

1. Etude no. 11 in F sharp minor,
2. Etude No. 7 in C Minor,
3. Etude No.8 in C Major, and finally
4. Etude No.1 in C major.

The Etude no.11 is clearly the easiest from the set. It is composed using a relatively easy chord progression despite three black keys of F sharp minor, and the right hand here plays comfortable figurations with no hand position changes. The Etude No.7 in C Minor is more challenging and will help you to develop loud but moderately fast scales in the right hand. It has a clear structure, and by following my explanation it should be relatively easy to master. The Etude No. 8 is already in a faster tempo, and contains some puzzling spots, which, although explained in detail in this course, might need some time, and might need a more intensive technical training. And finally the Etude no.1 contains equally challenging scales in both hands, and also it contains quite picturesque leaps and dynamics contrasts.

A few advices in addition to the video lessons:

Please practice these pieces breaking them into short sections first: set up a clear goal like "I want to be able to play these two bars in a moderate tempo without mistakes", and don't go forward until you can do it twice. But as soon as you have played a spot twice without mistakes, don't let your mind to trick you into mechanical repeats. Push yourself out of this new comfort zone, and go for the next two bars.

Everything that you master within one day goes into your short-term memory. Therefore, strictly speaking, it doesn't matter that much either you have repeated a spot 10 times or 100 times today. In order to master a new skill or a piece you need to repeat all the steps a few days in a row, giving your mind an opportunity to "sleep over on it". Please don't get upset if you have achieved some success yesterday, but do make mistakes today - this is normal. Repeat same steps from yesterday - now they will require less time. Completely new skills need many days to build. Therefore it is reasonable to cover more spots, repeating them with a good concentration, but just a few times each, than sitting on just one spot for hours, inevitably losing the concentration and falling into mechanical mindless practicing.

Be sharp - each mistake or technical difficulty has a reason beneath. Try to analyse what is disturbing your playing and resolve a cause. Avoid repeating the spot an endless amount of times in hope that the problem will go away itself.

Whenever you come across a confusing spot - break it into simpler parts that you can comprehend first. These video lessons will give you a hint how to do it.

Practice the piece in different tempi, following the rule:

as slower your tempo, as stronger (louder sound) the fingers are

as faster the tempo, as lighter your touch should be.

I have mentioned a Taubman piano technique method in this course, especially double & single rotations, which is worth to dig in if you didn't hear about it yet. I have also demonstrated this technique in detail within a course "A comprehensive guide to Piano Technique" that you can also find on this website.

Good luck and looking forward to hearing your feedback in comments!