Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat Major Op. 9 - Frederic Chopin

Подробнее о видео

Ahhh...this Nocturne

It’s perhaps Chopin’s most famous Nocturne, and perhaps for good reason as well. Listening to it conjures up peaceful imagery of tranquil, moonlight skies, and yet it’s not quite so relaxed as to lack the whispers of a tempestuous wind that threatens to blow with questions and tension.

I guess it was for those reasons that I first picked up the piece in April and finally started working on it in May. Maybe it was the delicateness of placing the first G after the Bb, maybe it was the lilting melody that sometimes ascends in skips, maybe it was the waltz-like feeling carried through the left hand, but I came to enjoy playing the piece a lot.

Of course, I wouldn’t say that I played it incredibly well, but it was beautiful enough that, at the time when I was starting to get back into playing, it was at least intriguing and fun to play.

But despite not grinding the piece as I did for other pieces that held my interest more at the time, I found myself coming back to this time and time again whenever I found myself in a situation when I needed to calm my nerves. Before hard conversations, before hearing hard news, this piece really was there for me those first few months of the summer.

And then I got the news that I had tinnitus. I’ve talked about this before in previous videos involving the pieces I learned over the summer so I won’t go into detail here, but it became painful to even consider playing the piano.

Before I got the news though, I had agreed to play this Nocturne at the memorial service for a pastor’s wife. When I was a kid, the couple had frequently come out to my recitals and competitions to support my brother and I. But when I got tinnitus and lost all my drive to play, I ended up having to cancel.

I guess that’s when everything really hit for me. Telling my mom that I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t even touch the piano...I lost my mind.

A few weeks later, I listened to Animenz’s Tabi no Tochuu (), and, well, you know all about that I suppose (watch the video if you don’t haha). But the next day, what I played first on the piano was this Nocturne.

Sitting down at the piano again, feeling the keys, and hearing the first two notes literally brought tears to my eyes.

And so this piece became a story of acceptance and moving on. It became my tranquility at the end of a hectic season before the start of a new one. And that’s why it comes last after all the other pieces and songs that I’ve played: Mozart’s Sonata in C (), Crossing Field (), Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (), Chopin’s Revolutionary () and Ocean () Etudes, Tabi no Tochuu, and Chopin’s Ballade in G minor (). These pieces and songs told the story that I felt last summer, and they all culminated in the peace of this last one.

I recorded this mid September 2020, and I think from even a musical perspective you can kinda tell that I sound especially rusty given that I haven’t played much Chopin before this year. But I hope that despite that it’s still heartfelt and meaningful, and that you can hear at least some of the story that I’m trying to tell through this beautiful Nocturne.

And I suppose it’s only fitting that before the start of this next summer in 2021, that I end spring with the fading memories of last summer.

I’m looking forward to another year of work on my playing and now sharing that with all of you! Thank you all for your support this past year - it has truly meant a lot and I’m honored that I get to speak through my music and have people listen to what I have to say.

Until next time!

- Watt

Interested in lessons? Contact me at: wattkeysofficial@gmail.com

My Keyboard (Yamaha p-125) (affiliate link):


My recording setup:


My keyboard setup:


Support me!


Get more content!


Follow me on Instagram!


Produced and mixed by me:


Catch my livestreams on Saturdays!

Outro-less version: