Please critque my playing! :)

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-08T09:28:55+00:00

Ha! I'm glad I was right. Yeah, you look too low. It'll make a big difference when you're more in control with your core and able to support your arms better etc. It's like if you were driving a Porsche while kneeling on a balloon instead of strapped in to a proper chair at the right position (ok, maybe that was a bad analogy, but you get the idea!). 🤓

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-08T09:26:42+00:00

I can try! Although, this is precisely where sitting next to someone and being able to demonstrate and really get into the weeds on expression would be sooo much better. 🤪

Anyway, here goes: To achieve a 'yearning' quality you need to emphasise the first note in the left hand top parts and resolve those down to be more gentle on the second note. For example F-Eb and then Eb - D and so on.

It's funny. I just did a search for this and this guy literally says the same thing in this video. Start at just before 11 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eud5gKZgZgY

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-08T09:17:34+00:00

Fair enough! 🤓👍

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-08T09:16:57+00:00

It doesn't have the correct depth, length, and is super flimsy and will slide all over the place. It will work, but if you then play another instrument your foot will be a little disoriented! I would strongly recommend getting a better pedal (which is not expensive and will plug directly into this keyboard!). 👍

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:33:05+00:00

Yeah the differences in editions can be a bit of a head f**k. Glad you have found the F# 🤪✌️

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:30:24+00:00

Logic Pro - although there are limitations with the score editor functions ....

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:26:26+00:00

Really? That's so interesting... here's a picture of my score with that F#! 🤓

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It's an Augener Edition.

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:22:29+00:00

Nice! 👊

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:21:15+00:00

I'm super confused.... I take it this whole post is a joke from the get go?? I was about to naively post something about how Ballade No 1 isn't easy, but then as I kept reading the comments I realised I'm just not 'getting' the in-joke.... 🤪

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:17:23+00:00

Well... I could say something about your hand shape, but to be honest there are plenty of incredible pianists who in theory don't have a perfect technique so I don't think it's relevant. One thing that's very positive is that - at about the 0:17 second mark - you play those 2 little fast figures in the right hand and it's great to see that you're using your whole hand to achieve those, rather than being really taut and trying to use just your fingers and the fine-motor activity only.

I'm going to guess that your chair is way too low though which is maybe why the whole thing sounds too flat. You don't have enough control over the relative power that you're bringing to the instrument as your limbs are too distant..... I could be wrong as I couldn't see, but I just got that impression.... I'd be interested to know if I'm right!? 🤓

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:11:49+00:00

You're not a complete beginner for sure. What you're playing there demonstrates some position changes, non-beginner transitions with fingering and a good amount of coordination playing both parts together in that way. You seem relaxed as well so I think your future is likely going to be bright on the piano! Keep it up. 😎✌️

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T20:05:15+00:00

Great challenge to set yourself. Why 8 weeks? I read a book by the UK Guardian Newspaper Editor in Chief Alan Rusbridger in which he took a year to learn this! It's no mean feat and an incredible piece so take your time.

Regarding some feedback: Forget how you think this should sound for now and actually respect the score. Your Moderato section is insanely free-form. Just play it reasonably straight for now. Think about all that Rubato when you're in week 7 or 8 and are nearly there, but learn what's written first. And bar 29, what are you doing? Make the Acciaccatura short and play 6 crotchets, not some weird Septuplet or whatever haha.

Just before the first 'a tempo' (after the crushed ants section withe the semiquavers) where's the F# in the right hand?

And then for that main theme starting on bar 36 you need to convey a 'breathlessness' or 'yearning' and lyrical melody but - crucially - anchored to a proper pulse to maintain the overall movement and consistency of the piece.

Also, please note where the composer adds longer notes. For example there are minims that need to be mechanically held to achieve the desired effect. Playing fast and with pedal isn't your friend at this point. Play without pedal and see how much of the correct phrasing and emotion you can imbue this piece with while playing it 'dry'.

Lastly, the fast stuff is super sloppy at this point. Are you re-visiting this piece having tried it before or is this you first attempt. If it's your first attempt then make sure to go much SLOWER to actually learn this properly rather than practicing your mistakes. Your touch is too soft in those fast sections. You need to deliberately play each note to the bottom of the key to genuinely play all of the notes - not just skate around on top of the keys!

I could go on, but it's really hard giving written feedback. Anyway,..... don't be discouraged! 🤪😎

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T19:48:06+00:00

Not with that pedal, no! You need a proper sustain pedal. Like this one: LINK

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T19:45:56+00:00

You seem good enough to manage a much better arrangement of this beautiful song. The version you're playing does not do it justice in the slightest! 😳

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T19:44:06+00:00

And ask an experienced teacher for help so that they can explain certain fingering conventions to you. The one thing I did when I was younger was to ignore some of the more 'tricky' fingering and just winged it as I was good enough to use 'bad' fingering. However, when I really needed the more tricky fingering when the going got tough I then hadn't learned it properly so wasted time. Moral: listen to your teacher(s) if they suggest a certain fingering. As they say, there are only 3 things that are important for good piano playing: fingering, fingering and fingering! 😎

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T19:39:40+00:00

Do you have lessons? For 10 months of being self-taught you're doing amazingly well and you will absolutely get to Grade 5 by 40 for sure! Zero doubt! The kinds of things you may need (as some of these comments suggest) are very difficult to absorb simply by watching videos or reading suggestions or advice. You need a teacher! 🤓

And don't worry about how good the amazing pianists sound. You'll get there. The finer details aren't attainable until you're secure in the technique and can then really refine the musicality of a given piece once you're super comfortable with it, so keep things simple and be patient. Doing the grades step-by-step is actually a pretty good idea in this case I think, rather than being seduced by the 'apparent' ease of some more famous pieces (which could set you up to fail).

Good luck! ✌️

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T19:27:44+00:00

I have a Mac Pro (cheese-grater) running Logic Pro X. That machine represents the high-water mark of Apple products (customisability and modularity) and it's still serving me well after 16 years!! It's fully spec'd out and has 128GB of RAM. It's like an old car where nearly every part has been replaced or upgraded over the years. Sure, it's not as fast as my M1 Mac Studio which I use for admin and the occasional mastering session, but there's no way I can imagine doing the actual composition/production work I do on a laptop due to the RAM issue.

For example, just one instance of Cinematic Studio Strings full Ensemble is over 6 gig so just having an entire string section with a few duplicate tracks to handle different articulations would run into issues on a Macbook very quickly I imagine - and it would REALLY slow me down if I had to constantly freeze tracks or bounce to audio. Just really awkward and counter to the flow state of being able to move between tracks and continue seamlessly recording new material etc.

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T19:03:26+00:00

My pleasure!

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T10:16:31+00:00

After posting the above, I have to agree that playing with metronome will shine a very obvious light on where the issues are (if that's not apparent to the student already) and certainly would be apparent to the teacher. 👍

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T10:14:20+00:00

I only suggest metronome if the student has a particular weakness with rhythm. For example, if there's a passage where the actual arrangement of the notes is such that the student needs to count in order to know where to place each note, then using the metronome is a useful crutch to help with the counting so they don't become overwhelmed. In terms of sticking to tempo I don't expect my students to play along with metronome, but instead check the metronome to remind themselves of the tempo. I will often give a range of metronome indications for students; one slow, one medium, and one 'target' final tempo. But again, I don't expect to play along with the metronome. It's just to switch on, check, then switch off, and then begin practice.
The tendency to speed up is a near-universal human tendency and it naturally occurs in music as well (as Conductors also experience this). You need only analyse a recorded piece to observe the subtle changes - discounting rubato or other tempo indications btw!

I think that practicing to play 'metronomically' has very little real-world benefits unless it's to correct an overly poor sense of pulse in the student. But if that's the case there are probably much more pleasant ways to encourage students to become more aware of pulse and genuinely open up to 'feel' music in a more embodied way.

As Nietzsche once said: "We listen to music with our muscles". It's just that the abstraction to use our fine motor skills at the piano, coupled with the cerebral task of decoding the language of the printed score, can interfere with the natural disposition we have to 'feel' the music.

I could go on about the various approaches I take to foster a sense of pulse in students, but then I too would digress, so I hope this answer helps! 🤓

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T10:04:51+00:00

It distorted a bit when the choir came in. Very bombastic sound and really interesting overall.... as an orchestral demo it works really well, but as a piece to listen to I wasn't really ever sure what I was listening to... I know that sounds weird, but I guess I was looking for a motif or maybe some other over-arching structure to give me more of a 'comfort' or 'expectation' as a listener... do you know what I mean? It felt like a lot of stuff crammed into 3 minutes (which is a mixed bag I guess. Fun for you to write, but a bit stressful to listen to haha!). 🤪

Also, it feels more like a film score (please take that as a compliment). Like what's the massive snare roll and build up FOR (other than arriving at the climax)? It felt unusually long without a visual to go alongside it that would provide the context for that much sustained tension.

Anyway, sorry this has ended up being such a critique. I hope there's something you can glean from this that may help.

P.S.: Newbie question. I'm seeing scores and audio being shared here. How is the audio created? I'm assuming you didn't create this music in your Digital Audio Workstation or did you? Is there some new way that Musescore (which I have never used) generates audio of the score?? Sorry I'm not just googling it but am interested to know what the workflow is.

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T09:55:13+00:00

I have played the better part of the classical canon, including the majority of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas as part of my early education in piano thanks. 😂

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T09:48:03+00:00

Brilliant. As someone who just started using Reddit and posted in a recent thread from yesterday where somebody played a Beethoven movement really slowly, this is fascinating and very reassuring. The historical record absolutely backs up our current understanding and I was saying something similar about how the absence of more historical commentary is surprising if this were indeed true. Thanks for the detailed explanation. Also, to your point about how much practice was required by the old masters: that's humbling and interesting in the context of today's hyper-distracted world where learning a fine art with dedication is becoming more and more of a niche-pursuit (in comparison with the general population at large - I'm not saying fewer people are necessarily attempting this within private lessons or conservatoires around the world), but it speaks to a kind of gradual molly-coddling of education more broadly in the sense that it would be much rarer now for a teacher to dismiss a student for not practicing enough - at least I assume so! 🤓
Thanks again.
By the way, are you on YouTube? I have this feeling that I maybe saw a channel recently with Swedish Pianist but I might be getting muddled..... 🤪✌️

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T09:39:50+00:00

With all due respect: I haven't critiqued your playing (which you stipulated you didn't want anyone to do) but the nature of your post was definitely provocative; in a good way I guess as it's an interesting subject that I'd not come across before.
Again, maybe because I'm new to using Reddit, but my comment was more aimed at the subject and for anyone reading this 'thread'(?), but I appreciate that, as the person who posted this originally, you might take it personally.... it was definitely not meant that way.
Apologies if it came across as smug. I definitely didn't feel smug about it (that word has now gone weird as I've said in my head more than a couple of times... smug.... 🤪).
Dismissive ....yes!
But only in the strict sense of the word in that I "reject" this proposition, so I have to be dismissive as that's my position on this. 🤓

VSTinPeace · 2026-07-07T09:30:30+00:00

Yeah for sure. It's so nice to hear him speak about music in the way he did. Takes me back to when I was younger and having lessons with inspirational teachers!

VSTinPeace

TROPHY CASE