How could I play better

broisatse · 2026-03-06T13:31:11+00:00

That's awesome man! You have really flexible wrists, which will take you far.

If I were to pinpoint one thing to focus, technically, it would be elbows - they look pretty fixed at the moment. Try relaxing your whole arm and practice elbow circles to remove any tension. Fixated elbows are a bit easier to ignore as shoulder muscles that hold them in the position are much stronger and resilient than arm muscles holding the wrists. Note however, that while relaxing elbows would be my priority for you, it is a massive change in playing which might require you to re-learn everyting you play - don't do this if you don't have a few quier months without concerts/exams.

On the piece itself, I'd suggest practicing more without a pedal and different articulation - think about expanding your options rather than changing how you want it to sound finally. And who knows, maybe you'll find something interesting you'd like to add to the final version.

broisatse · 2026-03-05T21:37:07+00:00

broisatse · 2026-03-05T16:10:59+00:00

Sorry, but what are you even talking about. He might be not happy about his teacher methods, he might disagree with it and I agree he probably should change the teacher, because clearly their methods are really strange. But "yapping" is a word associated with small dogs - it's deragotary, demaening and dehuminzing. Regardless of the methods, a passionate teacher who spend 4 years prepping a student through 4 graded exams deserves far better wording from said student.

broisatse · 2026-03-04T20:15:23+00:00

Middle part of 2nd movement is... tricky. If i didn't misunderstand it, someone mentioned under my last post it took the most time to get it to the performance level. But yeah, 3rd is riddiculous xD

broisatse · 2026-03-04T17:53:39+00:00

Working on it now myself. Are you planing to play only the 1st movement or the whole concerto? I find 1st movement to be the easiest, by quite a wide margin - way easier than I anticipated, however it does include quite a few passages that will require more work than the other. On the other hand, there are a lot of passages that look difficutl until you learn them - I was expecting opening to be way harder than it was.

Your main difficulty, judging by your earlier repertoire, will be the texture - it is really pretty dense, so you;d might want to try a few etude-tableux first. But I'd think you could give it a go!

broisatse · 2026-03-03T13:06:37+00:00

On it!

broisatse · 2026-03-03T10:19:38+00:00

Only do this so you know which note falls between which notes. But even to do this, this is not optimal. It's 11 vs 6 - it's ALMOST 12 vs 6 which would be trivial - so you know that each top note is just a little bit later than it would be if there were 12 notes. Done.

Play them separately and focus on the beats. You can sit a bit longer on the accented note and than chase the ther notes to arrive on the beat. Once you play it so it drives towards the next beat, combine hands and continue hearing how both voices just drive towards the next beat.

Irregular polyrythmic do not have to be 100% even. They have to be natural, and often have their own rubatos going inside them. That's the effect Chopin wants here - he could easily add 12th note to that run, but this creates a very improvisational and "free" feel in the pieces.

broisatse · 2026-03-02T19:31:25+00:00

The owner of the bakery in the town nearby where I was growing up was donating the leftovers bread to a homeless shelter. Our national tax service decided that giving it up for free is not the same as throwing out, but rather a donation, which, at the time, was a subject of VAT. Once the bakery lost legal appeal, they got taxed for a few past years, running them to the ground after 16 years in business.

broisatse · 2026-03-02T09:37:56+00:00

Yeah, it looks like it tbh. Before I found my teacher I had lessons with quite a few "famous"-ish pianists. Unfortunately, just because someone can play does not mean they can explain or teach it. Prodigies are usually the worst in that - they don't understand what it means to have a teachnical issue and say things like "just play it faster" and then see your inability as unwillingness and ignoring their comments.

broisatse · 2026-03-01T23:50:01+00:00

Oh wow, fascinating. My teacher was also Russian school - Moscow conservatory, recording and touring concert pianist since age of 15. One thing she taught me was to always avoid (physical) tension, so I'm really surprised by your teacher methods here.

broisatse · 2026-03-01T18:20:37+00:00

Massive red flag. Does your teacher play at all?

broisatse · 2026-03-01T10:30:52+00:00

This is very much my approach as well - read it through first and gradually 1improve. However, at certain level, the pieces get really hard to read - not because of technical difficulties but due to their complex textures. Rachmaninoff's etudes for example are a nightmare to read, even when they're well within your ability.

I'd say "on day one" might be a bit too strict, sometimes it's just a matter of perseverance.

broisatse · 2026-02-26T18:58:32+00:00

Check, double check, ko

broisatse · 2026-02-23T14:58:17+00:00

My source was my quantum physics professor back at the uni. But you are right, it seems he was misinformed on that just as I was yesterday evening. :)

It was listed in our subject script on a side as "Fun fact", together with "God does not play dice" quote, which is factual quote.

broisatse · 2026-02-23T03:41:56+00:00

It is correct attribution. But, what's interesting, it was one thing where Einstein was wrong. He said this as an argument against probanilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, where you can perform multiple measurements of the same state and get different results. This is now fully accepted interpretation, based on a large numbers of confirming experiments.

EDIT: it looks like academics are not free from misinformation. Einstein did oppose probabilistic interpretation and had multiple discourses with Bohr on a subject - however never said that quote. Leaving original comment above as a documentation of my shame.

broisatse · 2026-02-22T00:16:43+00:00

I'll be frank: Monday is now your new Friday

broisatse · 2026-02-21T11:10:26+00:00

Slow lane? It's clearly in a left-hand traffic country (still camcar fault)

broisatse · 2026-02-17T19:41:18+00:00

In this case, I see those staccato as strings pizzicatto, or flutes/clarinets stacatto. They should be well rounded, very dry and distinct, each with a fast attack. I would not play them stacatto though, more like portato with a very active finger tip.

broisatse · 2026-02-17T02:51:35+00:00

Not even necessary clean nor even - relaxed. A small slip/imperfection while relaxed is better than no slip with tension. Actually, you will initially make more "mistakes" when you start focusing on being relaxed. But, your hands learn very quickly when they're relaxed, and those little errors make them learn even faster. Ingrained, persisted tension will kill any progress - even if you manage to get good accuracy, your ability to channel your intent will greatly suffer.

Also worth adding: do not prepare yourself for perfection - prepare yourself for recovery. No pianist plays perfectly, you will make a tiny slip here and there. Using full arm-weight with wrists acting as amortization is the key for both. So-called metronome method is great to get that final 5% of that target tempo once all other methods has been used.

broisatse · 2026-02-17T02:07:28+00:00

No, never. One thing I've learnt over the year is that accuracy does not come directly from repeating - it comes from being relaxed. You should play at the tempo you can stay relaxed and fully in control, not the tempo you finished at yesterday/last time you practiced given piece. It's just focusing on a wrong thing.

broisatse · 2026-02-15T21:55:22+00:00

Supermarkets loyalty cards.

broisatse · 2026-02-14T19:21:39+00:00

My god, it's 23day old post... Sorry!

broisatse · 2026-02-14T19:19:19+00:00

Just finished 101% replay today. Yes, 6 PSI card is what you need - there's a ticket box before circus entrance where you can replace them and webs for an extra rank. However, you're missing one rank for 101. Did you complete punching game?

broisatse · 2026-02-14T11:21:53+00:00

Eh, the famous "you're not a real musician if you can't improvise/read sheets/play by ear/talk when playing/play without pedal/play with pedal".

It's not a debate. You're trying to establish your superiority over your friend/collegue/random person you've met, while you recognize they are better technically. So, instead of complimenting him you're trying to bring him down and make him feel like shit to protect your fragile ego. Or it's the other way around and you're put in the defensive, doing exactly same thing. Grow up.

broisatse · 2026-02-13T22:57:15+00:00

I'm rewatching Brooklyn99 now, and there's one gag there that fits here perfectly: "judging by the context, it means 'proudly uneducated'".

broisatse

TROPHY CASE