Progression Of My Technique

Hi. I'm a piano student at a music conservatory and have a rather puzzling question. At least I think it's puzzling. When I first auditioned to school, one of my audition pieces was a Chopin scherzo. It was around this time that I started fiddling around with Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 8 and found it rather challenging so I decided to stop trying to play it. Now, a few years into my schooling I am learning this Chopin etude and find that it is very doable and not nearly as daunting as it first seemed which I deem as a sign of very good progress. The puzzling thing is that I was perusing through some older pieces recently and read through some of this scherzo I auditioned with and found some which I couldn't play as well as I had used to play it. So I guess I'm just confused and frustrated since I feel I have progressed greatly and would have expected the scherzo therefore to be even better when going back to it. Does anyone have any thoughts about this or similar experiences? I would greatly appreciate it.

The phenomenon is neuromuscular in nature. A simple example: a basketball player is good at twirling the ball on his finger, but doesn't have the strength to shoot consistently good 3-pointers. He works out, develops strength, his 3-pointers improve but along the way his fine motor coordination shifts. He goes back to try twirling the ball and something is now off. A change in any one component of the system will generally evoke other, unexpected changes in other components of the system. Does this make sense to you? Can you relate it to your own experience? Without more specific information I can't really zero in on your particular problem any more than that... All best, AFF PS welcome to the forum!

Thanks a lot for the reply! Yes this makes sense to me. I like the analogy a lot. My situation is that I didn't have an intensive or very good training when I was younger but managed to prepare an audition program which ended up getting me into some conservatories. Anyway, the first few years of my schooling my experience has consistently been that I work on repertoire, perform it, and after a period of time eventually find that when I go pack to these pieces I find new difficulties. It also seems that in order to play these pieces well again I'd need to change fingerings. However, since last year I've been studying with a different teacher and he has forced me to learn to play in a very conscious way. This has made me very aware of the movements I use to play and every pedaling and fingering I use. I have found that I can go back to the pieces that I played for juries last year and they are relatively the same and I suppose I attribute this to his teaching. Right now I am working on Suggestion Diabolique, Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 8, Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 22 No. 1 and so far everything is going well. But this issue has concerned me and I've been very afraid that this phenomenon has meant that I'm getting worse. At the same time I realize that I've gotten better in many ways (playing pieces which I didn't have the technique for years ago etc.). So I just wanted to make sure that what I was experiencing seemed normal. Thanks again. And sorry for the length

I like your description of your teacher getting you to play in a more conscious way... and yes, the path of improvement is never straight and narrow, there are always digressions and seeming setbacks that actually aren't... Don't worry about the length, we like to flesh things out here! All best, AFF