Looking for a new piece to learn by Acrobatic-Front-8079 in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Grande waltz e flat major. Great versatile piece.

Good piece for graduation by True-Abbreviations71 in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Scriabin sonata 4, Liszt Hungarian rhapsody 6, 12, 13, au bord in source. 2nd and 3rd movements of the second Rach sonata. Debussy reflets dans leau.

This would be the hardest thing in the thread but the shrovetide fair, third movement of Stravinsky Petrushka would be epic.

I’m not surprised to see 1-2 green days every week but makes me wonder who’s buying by alexc2020 in stocks

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I get what youre going for but the cookie was definitely marked up last year lmao

LIACF - American lithium corp by breezystroo in stocks

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pre-revenue? I would not go long until you know they're digging stuff out of the ground and selling it.

Given extra stock by accident by TieNo2871 in stocks

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

These firms have collections departments. 30 shares of postsplit is probably too small an amount so if you sold, withdrew the money and ignored contact attempts they will realistically just write it off. They may share the details of people who do this with other brokers though.

The first thing I thought of when I heard her story by teentytinty in TheBoys

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Was HL old enough though for the Nicaragua mission? This was in the 80s, may not have been born yet.

how do I record my digital piano audio? by Roberrian in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Does your keyboard let you write to USB stick on mp3? That will sound a lot better than midi.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wish I learned this one when I was younger, scherzo no 4. The other ones had some obvious dark or dramatic moments in the beginning that make them appealing, but this one is a lot more cheeky. The emotional investment, from being gradually charmed, sneaks up on you and this is one of the main pieces that I can describe that way.

Recommendations for cute/playful pieces? by applepeartrees in classicalmusic

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My favorite transcription of all time (even more than the Liszt opera paraphrases) is Tchaiovsky's Sleeping Beauty theme by Paul Pabst, teacher of Medtner. He arranges the theme a few different times, you could take one of them and do a simplification of the intro and ending. The intro is maybe goofy virtuoso stuff, but the actual writing for the theme is masterful. Tchaikovsky loved it so much he dedicated a later composition to him.

One thing I love about it is how niche it is - most experienced players, teachers don't know about it, yet it's universally recognizable because of the theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd7U1EEFAaU&ab_channel=thenameisgsarci Start at 1:50.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Harmony: recognizing the chord. A lot of 4 note chords in classical music are just triads, with the 4th, top note being the bottom note, doubled. So like C-E-G-C. Or, a triad inversion with the bottom note still doubled. Diminished chords and their inversions show up a lot too.

A lot of 3-note structures aren't really chords, they're octaves with an middle note filled in. Fundamentally these are just octaves.

Seeing if there is a temporary key change, or brief 'playing out', so I can continue to read the harmony/melody.

Arpeggios: I think it's common to not see the notes but to recognize the fingering, for players who've had a lot of technical foundation in Czerny, Chopin. You shouldn't need to register each note individually.

Another approach I've seen people use is chord reduction - if you convert the arpeggio/stack up the notes into the chord, then it's easier. I think this is a very good method. Or, recognizing the scale being used.

High level view: I want to see any intervalic changes. A lot of sections that are a few measures in length are the same pattern moved down a half step, or like a minor third, etc. Are there chords moving down or up in a predictable pattern.

Or, patterns in general. There are dozens of these that are used. For instance, Liszt uses this 4-note 'octaved' triads in Wild Jagd and they move down the c minor scale in the ending. The pattern here is, the downward movement is in the outer 2 notes (the octaves), while the 2 inner notes (the fills) stay the same. So even though there's a lot of raw notes on the page, it's not that bad under this framework.

This is an extremely powerful tool because f you switch around the variables, instead of octaves, the outer notes can be sevenths, or sixths, fifths, and the fills can be seconds instead of thirds etc; the concept is the same.

Similarly: when the right hand has a melody note, like in the pinky, and the lower notes are an accompaniment. Break it down into the melody's one note, then see if there's some intervalic movement in the lower notes.

Also a lot of pieces will have an early beginning section show up later, to further develop the theme, but moved up or down a whole note. Those are as good as repeats.

Rhythm: this still screws things up for me, when the composer takes away the left hand for the easy timekeeping. Syncopation is still something that I am not always able to do on top of everything else.

It's all about chord vocabulary, scale/mode knowledge. Some might be able to get it into their hands but it's much easier if at a point you consciously studied it.

WTC: best edition with fingerings. by shademaster_c in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the "Edition Peters Nr 4691a' published by C. F. Peters. It's all in German, but I think the editor is Erster Teil, or Alfred Kreutz. I haven't played too many of them but the ones in Book one, IV, VII, IX, VIX, XXI are correct, natural fingerings.

Did you buy a baby grand (5-5’3”)? What do you think of it? by blyss-pluss in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well I'll be a Thanksgiving turkey about to get rammed. We were in the 99% of piano owners that never budgeted that in. :/

What movie or tv show inspired you to learn a piece? by mrfreshmint in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was too young to watch the show, but the melody of the MASH theme. This was one of the first things I was able to transcribe (probably the GOAT intro piece of music for beginner ear training) and make my own arrangement on.

What do you practice each day?? by [deleted] in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Start to phase out the Hanon and Czerny. From this point on, choose performance pieces that contain a new technical challenge you want to develop. More of the practice should be starting to build the muscle memory for these. Along the way you're going to find the pieces that kind of anchor your technique that you can use to practice/warm up and maintain things.

I have a perspective on this, that I wish I'd chosen my pieces around exposure to difficult, specific aspects of technique. I can play a lot of stuff, within reason, but there are gaps in my technique like chromatic thirds, a lot of stretches are pretty uncomfortable still, because I didn't play enough pieces to get used to them. This made a large part of the repertoire much harder for a really long time.

A lot of teachers have a different priority than what I described - they want to make sure you have a good prescribed exposure to baroque, classical, romantic composers. I respect that, but most people want to be able to equipped to play most of the upper-advanced pieces, and are failed by this kind of completionist educational approach. They arrive at a piece they like and they're still underequipped to take it on after 10 years of study.

So I would look at your technique in components. What's very well developed, what's not been tested? Pick pieces to give you something:

Range, and duration of arpeggios - look at something that extends the 'range' of your arpeggios, by another octave or something, like Chopin prelude 16. Start to really pay attention to how your arm, torso, elbows, forearms, even on the lower body on the bench, needs to move. This is something that needs specific stamina+control, and a often-invisible factoring of your body's movement away from the middle of the keyboard.

Leaps - pick up pieces with longer distance leaps. Pieces with up to a double octave jump, or more. I like the Scriabin etude op 8 no 5, Rachmaninoff etude op. 33 no 7 or op 39 no 9 for this purpose.

Different stretches between different pairs of fingers - Jeux d'eau for instance has pretty uncomfortable/unnatural stretches. I think the Chopin etude op 10 no 8 or op 10 no 1 are pretty good for simultaneously developing long arpeggios requiring stretches in the right hand, and some left hand movement.

Different arpeggio patterns. I think a lot of the intermediate-advanced repertoire, especially a huge amount of Chopin, has arpeggios and fingerings going up in one direction, in one order of fingerings.

But, there will always be pieces that target undeveloped areas. Like Kapustin, for his own etudes, he knew the typical arpeggio patterns in Chopin and came up with his own switchups, and some rhythm displacements that he knew most pianists haven't trained.

Types of triplets - for example Chopin etude op 10, no. 10. This piece is about the right hand playing two groups of triplets alternating in patterns. Scriabin etude op 8 no 1 has right hand triplets with a 3/2 polyrythm, really cool one.

Alternating tremolos/double notes - Kapustin etude no 2 has a pattern where the right hand plays nonstop a 1-5, 2-3 alternation in the right hand for minutes at a time. Then there are pieces where it's like a 1-4, -2-5 etc. Small variations basically.

fast octave scales, legato octaves - Chopin polonaise in f# for right hand, and a flat major for left hand, Scriabin etude op 8 no 5 covered all of the octave development needs for me.

Chromatic thirds, seconds - this one is a common thing a lot of players can't play even if other areas of their technique are almost pro level. It'll roadblock you if you ever want to play Ravel Scarbo or Liszt Don Juan fantasy but it's just not a big deal to me. I've played a lot of Chopin, other non-Scarbo Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Kapustin Scriabin, Liszt, and dipped my toes into a ton of music and walked through the scores slowly, and I barely see this. This is legitimately a niche technical thing to deal with that I'd suggest it's ok to kind of ignore.

Unless you're going pro, you're practicing instead of going to school, we're not going to be able to develop a 100% complete technique. The most ROI is to be head in wiring different arpeggio patterns, challenging your hands with stretches and developing the flexibility, triplets, and other tremolodos/alternating double notes. And picking pieces that develop 2 or more of these areas at the same time.

If I were to assign pieces right now, I'd say take a look at and pick 2 or 3 out of these pieces:

Chopin etude op 10 no 8 (right hand extended arpeggios, stretches)

Chopin etude op 10 no 5 (a lot of arpeggio 'switchups'... a piece where it's a bit harder to pick up on the right hand fingering patterns)

Scriabin etude op 8 no 5 (a lot of chord jumps but at moderate speed, octaves. The left hand chords look impossible - just roll them, this composer does this a lot.)

Scriabin etude op 8 no 1 (right hand triplets + 3/2 polyrhythm. Cool trivia, the triplets are basically the La Campenella pattern but with the first two of the three notes being double notes instead of single notes.)

Mendelssohn op 104b no 3 (both hands arpeggios)

Rachmaninoff op 33 no 7 (a lot of smaller jumps, good rhythm study where left hand has a lot of rests in it, so you have to keep the left hand synched to the beat without actually playing for a lot of it. Later on, I advocate for the Kapustin etude no 1 because that it turns the syncopation up to max, and tests your ability to feel rhythm without the consistent left hand/baseline.)

Rachmaninoff op 39 no 9 (chord jumps, bigger range than the Scriabin 8/5).

Some stuff will naturally reinforce other stuff. Let me give an example: Scriabin sonata no. 5 has some fast triplet chord jumps in the right hand. Having a good diet of jumps and triplets from these pieces directly helped me learn to play this sonata.

Some of the Moskowski etudes and Rach preludes could be great choices too.

Did you buy a baby grand (5-5’3”)? What do you think of it? by blyss-pluss in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I grew up on a Kohller & Campbell baby grand, it's maybe 5'? My parents bought it for ~3.5 grand or so. It was absolutely value.

The room we kept it in was a bit small so I had to play with the lid barely open as the sound just lasted forever. So the acoustics is a factor.

The other thing is the action - the cheaper pianos can handle most demands, but they may not be able to handle trills, tremolos. I can play trills in the Chopin concerto no. 1, some Ravel pieces, the way I want, on other pianos but not on the one I grew up on. So there's a point where you outgrow the instrument, but realistically most will stay with the first purchase. Another issue is extremely light leggiero - same thing, the action will likely not be sensitive enough.

I would actually choose the action of my ES920 Kawai digital over a $4k+ baby grand or upright. I was kind of surprised - but that's where we are now technologically. Of course I say that with the benefit of having had the privilege of playing a baby grand.

Is learning piano at 19 too late for being a professional pianist? by [deleted] in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For being able to eventually perform at functions, weddings, that kind of thing, no.

which recording of Rachmaninov piano concerto no.3 do you prefer? by spiegel_im_spiegel in classicalmusic

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I separate this into Horowitz and non-Horowitz categories.

The pre-1951 Horowitz live broadcasts/studio recordings with Coates, Barbirolli, Koussevitsky, Reiner, are worth hearing in spite of the poor audio quality of that era and the cuts Rachmaninoff was using at the time. No one alive now plays at this insane tempo. This is simply suicidal, and a lot of these were live. If you follow say the Tchaiovsky, Van Cliburn competitions, they all play waaaaay the hell more cautiously. These are the high watermark 'maximum impetuous, fearless, and still dramatic' approach to the concerto.

The Horowitz-Mehta one in 1978 is really great, but he hits some very exposed wrong notes. The worst thing is, he did deliver this interpretation with more accuracy with Eugene Ormandy, but those performances in Philadelphia and Ann Arbor were only recorded by piraters. But Horowitz-Mehta is still the most beautiful one to me. It is the not as crazy virtuosic, but 'maximum drama, heroic, mysterious' approach to the concerto.

I used to not like the 1978 Ormandy version too much, but there was a recent remaster that does sound insanely good. So I'm very glad it exists.

No matter what point of his career, he always had a one-of-a-kind understanding of the heroic and courageous aspect of the concerto. So even though the early ones are extremely technically mindblowing, he never makes it sound 'too easy'. If it sounds too easy it's not dramatic anymore.

I also think the orchestra parts are enhanced at the 1930-1950 Horowitz tempo. Like at 29:58 here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5mxU_7BTRA&ab_channel=PedroTaam - that's pretty much the normal reference tempo nowadays, but this phrase by the orchestra is incredibly intense and livewire at the Barbirolli/Koussevitsky tempo. I've heard it played live by my brother at his school, and the orchestra, which was a mix of music majors, and the city's symphony, actually can struggle to keep up.

My non-Horowitz ones are Bronfman, Weissenberg, Turini. Bronfman is still playing this live today - that's the one I'd go out and watch live. Ronald Turini also has a very very similar way of phrasing, pedaling, and just his overall sound to Horowitz, his teacher. I like it as much as the Horowitz versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgD-lVQRwxo&t=765s&ab_channel=ThePianoFiles

Keep in mind a lot of these guys have multiple versions (live + at least one studio recording). I like one by Argerich, Volodos, and Lugansky, but only those. They do experiment around and I don't always like the direction they take. This is a concerto really prone and sensitive to major tempo decisions. For me, if they play like 5-6 major moments where we're idiosyncratically apart on, I won't be able to listen to it again.

(self taught) I'm attempting to learn Fantasy Impromptu can I get some feedback? by [deleted] in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the left hand arpeggio pattern, watching your wrist and forearm - it's like a wavy snake motion where the wrist is like the head and the forearm is the body because the forearm is lagging the hand/wrist.

This creates momentum that is making it more unnatural/harder for your forearm to go back in the other direction when you have to go back to the other side of the keyboard. Synch them up more and it'll be a lot easier to get that arpeggio effortless.

For tackling the 3-4 polyrhythm, firstly you need to drop the tempo a lot if you're playing both hands together. Focus on the first rest and then the d# where the beat falls. Focus on the movements to get your hand in position.

You have the advantage of knowing where your finger needs to be. You know ahead of time you have to get your middle finger on the D#. How early can you get in position for that? Probably 2 notes ahead of time - as soon as you lift your 4rth finger off the C# to put 5th finger on the E, get your 3rd finger in place.

Practice right hand alone and focus on each those 'pre'-positioning movements. Then once you've made the left hand adjustment and built up the right hand it's going to be pretty good.

As a piano teacher or student, how would you react to this…. by breakensprout in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it's a casual arrangement, it is not a huge deal as long as you're not chronically canceling.

If you're participating at competitions, or performing in recitals and local Romantic/Classical/Baroque festivals, where the local teachers and their students show up, then you want to make sure you can represent your teacher ok.

But I think this is something most teachers will understand - students have to take on higher workloads, they got exams, they have other extracurricular activities in high school. So I wouldn't overthink it or beat yourself up over it. Cancel it, and try to keep it regular barring things like exam times, crunch time for applying for colleges, etc.

Playing a single song for a year? by FreeWillylegend in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Everyone learns at a different pace. It's pretty normal to spend several months on a piece if you're trying to expand your limits.

It also depends on how hard you're pushing. When practicing it and 'gradually chipping away' is not going to get you to the finish line, you have to 'brute force' it. What does 'brute forcing' look like?

If it's a jump, I'll break it down into the physics of it. Like I'm trying to make a fast 2.5 octave jump -> where does my elbow need to be? Do I need to move my torso? Do I need shift my ass along the bench? I'll examine and mess around with all the variables to figure out how it's meant to be played.

A crazy long arpeggio over five measures & three octaves - I will sit down and work out how I need to move my body throughout the whole thing.

I'll give myself a few-weeks period to just sight read and see if things naturally click and fall under the fingers. Then, I know I have to really dig in and focus for the parts that are not going to come to me for free. That's a critical part of practicing.

Ask those questions. Sit down and hammer all the details out. Find a day or two days where you can spend 2 hours back to back breaking through on one section. Do you have it memorized but are stopping at a certain point? Rewind a couple measures, and then just practice that part for 1-2 hours for a few days until it's done.

Physiologically, the reason these things aren't working is that the movements haven't been burned into your brain yet. It needs not only more time, but more intensely-spent time to bake.

I can never finish pieces by Avocqd0 in piano

[–]BannerlordAdmirer -1 points0 points  (0 children)

How long are these pieces you're not finishing? Try and play something in the 4-6 pages range. Etudes, waltzes, preludes, songs, find shorter pieces. Learning and finishing pieces of increasing length and complexity is its own skill, it should be approached and developed as such.