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5 
IV. Internet Sources 
 
The three most useful websites to this study were those of The Fryderyk Chopin Society 
in Warsaw,
14
 The Fryderyk Chopin Institute,
15
 and Chopin’s First Editions Online.
16
 The 
Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw is a scholarly site supervised by the Chopin scholars, Zofia 
Chechlińska,
 
Zbigniew Skowron, and Hanna Wróblewska-Straus. This site provides the 
following types of resources: document scans, catalogues, primary research, and archival 
research. The site also includes articles by various scholars on the topics of Chopin’s biography, 
piano playing, teaching, compositions, and editions. The Fryderyk Chopin Institute website is 
supervised by Dr. Artur Szklener, and it includes valuable resources as a peer-reviewed website, 
supervised by a board consisting of professors and scholars of Chopin. The Chopin’s First 
Editions Online website is supervised by Professor John Rink of St. John’s College, Cambridge 
University. The site provides online scores of Chopin’s first editions and includes historical 
background information.  
Methodology and Organization 
The document is divided into five chapters. Chapter One includes an overview of the 
project, methodology, and literature review. Chapter Two focuses on Chopin’s fundamental 
ideas on pianism and teaching. Chapter Three addresses the issue of editions. The waltzes from 
each of the five selected editions are compared and analyzed, and suggestions on how to choose 
an edition for teaching are provided. Chapter Four contains pedagogical analysis and teaching 
suggestions that address the technical and musical challenges in the five selected waltzes. 
Chopin’s pedagogical methods will be applied to each waltz, along with performance 
                                                 
14
 Zofia Chechlińska, “The Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw,” 
http://www.chopin.pl/edycja_1999_2009/spis_tresci/index_en.html#homepage (accessed February 22, 2015).  
15
 Artur Szklener, “The Fryderyk Chopin Institute,” http://en.chopin.nifc.pl/chopin/ (accessed February 22, 2015).  
16
 John Rink, “CFEO Chopin’s First Editions Online,” http://www.cfeo.org.uk/ (London: King’s College London, 
2005).  

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6 
suggestions and practice exercises. This chapter will begin by addressing pedagogical issues that 
pertain to all of the waltzes in general. Then, specific pedagogical issues will be discussed for 
each individual waltz. Chapter Five will present conclusions and suggest ideas for future 
research.  
 
 

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7 
 
CHAPTER 2 
CHOPIN’S TEACHING AND PIANISM 
Chopin’s Teaching and his own Method 
 
Frédéric Chopin was able to support himself both through his piano teaching and by 
selling his compositions from the time he arrived in Paris in 1831 until his death in 1849. His 
students came from Paris as well as many other countries in Europe.
17
 Chopin taught private 
lessons, typically lasting 45 to 60 minutes. His students ranged from intermediate to advanced 
levels in their pianistic ability.
18
 The age of his students ranged from seven or eight years old to 
adult students.
19
  
 
Chopin was an excellent pianist and pedagogue. As stated by his contemporaries and 
students in documents, Chopin had a virtuoso technique and a beautiful sound.
20
 Chopin 
developed many of his piano skills independently of his teachers, and he taught his students these 
techniques. His teaching involved his own special approach to technique such as fingerings, use 
of the wrist, phrasing, legato, rubato, and use of the pedal. Students stated that Chopin was an 
enthusiastic teacher who was patient and adjusted his expectations to the student’s abilities.
21
 
 
Motivated by his interest in teaching, Chopin began to create his own piano method, 
Projet de Méthode [Sketch for a Method], around 1830. Unfortunately, Chopin never completed 
the manuscript. According to Julian Fontana, a close friend of Chopin, he planned to discuss 
                                                 
17
 Eigeldinger, 9.  
18
 Harold Charles Schonberg, The Great Pianists, 2nd rev. ed. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987), 158-159.  
19
 Edith J. Hipkins, How Chopin Played: From Contemporary Impressions Collected from the Diaries and 
Notebooks of the Late A. J. Hipkins (London: Dent, 1937), 7.  
20
 Eigeldinger, 274-275. 
21
 Ibid., 11. 

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8 
piano technique and music theory in his method.
22
 There is no clear reason why Chopin left his 
method unfinished. However, Chopin seemed uncomfortable writing about music. According to 
Fontana, Chopin rarely talked about the art of music, even in private, and he preferred to express 
his ideas through his piano playing. Moreover, Chopin pointed out that piano methods often have 
little relation to true piano playing.
23
 Chopin discussed that repeated technical exercises such as 
“a new genre of acrobatics” do not help to learn about music.
24
 
 
The Sketch for a Method was written in twelve folios, with single-sided and double-sided 
pages, including music manuscript.
25
 Each page begins with a horizontal line on top followed by 
text or musical examples. The first complete English translation of these materials is included in 
Appendix I of Eigeldinger’s 1986 book, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher.
26
 Chopin based this 
method on his own teaching experience.  
 
The method begins with very basic elements such as posture and hand position, note 
reading, and counting. It moves on to more advanced piano technique such as scales, double 
notes, chords, and the singing melodic line. One of the more interesting aspects of this method 
was Chopin’s approach to teaching scales. He considered the B Major scale to be the ideal 
playing position and advocated for teaching it as the very first scale, rather than the more typical 
C major scale.
27
 Overall, Chopin’s method is not a very practical for beginning students because 
of the many vague explanations and relative lack of pedagogical music scores to study. However, 
the method does give us an idea of Chopin’s philosophy concerning music and teaching.  
                                                 
22
 Ibid., 13.   
23
 Chopin, “Sketch for a Method”; cited in Eigeldinger, 193. 
24
 Ibid. 
25
 Eigeldinger, 90.  
26
 Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by his Pupils, Translated by Naomi Shohet with 
Krysia Osostowicz and Roy Howat, Edited by Roy Howat, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 
190-197.  
27
 Arthur Hedley, Chopin, Rev. ed. by Maurice J. E. Brown (London: Dent, 1974), 127. 

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