Etude No 1 - Rowley Agitato, Op. 42, No. 18

Fast and fiery, this is a great piece to work on balance with a LH melody.

Main ideas and challenges presented:

• Balance between the hands - melody (in the LH) should always be the focus.
• Chords have to be controlled carefully. This is a great tool for dynamic range, but only if the chords are played with tidy ensemble (e.g. notes of the chord come down precisely at the same time.)  
• Tempo and meter go hand in hand for this piece. If the piece is not felt “in 1,” rather a fast “3” it has the strong possibility to sound pedantic and is more likely to drag. The right metric accents and general intention will drive the student to play in an appropriate tempo.  
• Pedaling is a concern as is always the case when LH has melody in romantic style music.  Remembering too that something that sounds over-pedaled can actually be related to voicing issues (too thick chords, too heavy RH).

Other tips and consideration:

• With the intense A section, it can be tempting to take a lot of time at m. 39, however the ritard is “written into” the music. That is to say, by broadening the rhythmic structure, Rowley notates the ritard, rather than leaving it up to the performer.