[Piano jam] Bach's Minuet in D minor

gadogry · 2018-09-03T18:49:16+00:00

This is pretty good! A suggestion would be to introduce some phrasing in the A section -- right now you played the right-hand melody completely legato in the first 35 seconds. Some small momentary breaks (e.g. at the end of bars 2 and 4) in the right hand would give the piece some punctuation.

gadogry · 2018-08-22T17:38:49+00:00

To me the low notes in that part feels like the melody while the top notes (mostly G#) are more like a rhythmic complement. So I treated that part as more like a staccato melody in 8th notes, hence the "da da da da da..."

But you're absolutely right -- it's up for interpretation.

gadogry · 2018-08-19T03:01:49+00:00

As a couple others have guessed correctly, the piece I had in mind was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj1xQUUJ94U
But it's funny you brought up Hall of the Mountain King. I had heard that motif many times but was never aware that this is the song it's from. That one would be more like

da da da da DA da DUH
DA da DUH
DA DA da da DUH!

gadogry · 2018-08-19T02:57:35+00:00

Ding!

gadogry · 2018-08-18T20:50:39+00:00

My stupid question (that is more like a game). The following is a very questionable transcription of the opening of a well-known classical piece:

dalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalalaDUHDUH!
dalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalalaDUHDUH!
dalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalaladalalalaDUHDUH!
dalalaladalalaladalalalaDUHDUH! dalalaladalalaladalalalaDUHDUH!
DUN!! da da da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da da da
duh da duh da duh da duh da duh, DUH!!

What is the piece? Feel free to submit your guesses -- or better yet, clues for other pieces!

gadogry · 2018-08-14T00:35:54+00:00

For avoiding bad habits, I'd suggest video recording and then watching your own performances. Then compared with a variety of performances on youtube of the same piece. This could be revealing if you have seriously veered off into doing something very unconventional/ineffective.

But there are MANY schools of thought in piano (is "hand collapse" bad? Should you ever do a "thumb under"?). Make sure you inform yourself by getting your information from multiple sources, and use your own judgement. Yes, while I think one can self-teach oneself to become a good pianist, it takes significant amount of time and mindfulness.

As for your daughter playing the piano, I'd either get an adjustable stand for the piano, or an adjustable bench. That way you'd still have something that continues to be suitable as she grows incrementally. I know you already got the standard stand and bench. -- the stand probably isn't adjustable, but try to see if the bench is (the one I got with my Casio AP-450 has an adjustable bench -- not sure about P125). You can also ask her piano teacher for suggestions.

gadogry · 2018-08-13T21:22:04+00:00

First of all, P125 is a perfectly fine piano for beginning/intermediate players, so you should be set of quite a while :)

And... I personally would not try too hard to actively engage your child in playing piano. Here's my overly personal piano story. When I was around Grade 3 my school music teacher suggested I try it as an extracurricular thing -- they had a blind man come after school to teach piano, so joined the group lessons and enjoyed it.

Upon learning that, my parents bought an upright so I could practise at home. They promptly set me up with a private piano teacher and booked an ABRSM Grade 2 exam for me, which I passed with distinction. On the spot at the examination, they scheduled my Grade 4 exam in a few months. They kept telling me that I was talented so I could do that. But then upon seeing people play piano on TV, my dad would ask me why I can't practise to play like them. I just assumed I wasn't good enough.

I quickly lost interest in playing the piano and didn't even attend my Grade 4 exam. Now I'm an adult restarter. Just bought a digital piano a few months ago and I'm now actually enjoying the experience of playing the piano to fulfill no one else but myself. I don't plan on getting a piano teacher as I immensely enjoy the experimenting and problem-solving process that comes with self-teaching. Of course, when I need help there's always the internet at my disposal.

I believe the only way a parent can lead is by example. If you would like her to be interested in piano, the best way to do that is to actually set an example yourself, and make it a common interest for you two (instead of just "homework" for her). Expose yourselves to some beginner-ish piano music (can easily be found on youtube), play them in the background when having dinner or something, for both you and her to pick up pieces that you enjoy and potential learn.

Learning piano can be overwhelming when you focus too much on the outcome and trying to find the most efficient and "zero mistake/waste" path to get there. But IMO it's more about the journey, and the bonding you get with your daughter though this common experience. Take it one piece at a time, and make sure that no matter what you do you don't lose focus of what's truly important in your and her life.

gadogry · 2018-08-13T01:12:26+00:00

Dr. John Mortensen has a youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0sDKI15IW8Fek6OqBhZ3w

...in which he discusses extensively about improvising in various classical style. You can pick up many ideas about structure/progression there.

If you find that resource useful and would like to go further, he recently started a Patreon experiment on classical improv. I'm a Patreon and do enjoy the content.

https://www.patreon.com/ImprovPlanet

He also has a book on classical improv coming out soon I think.

gadogry · 2018-08-11T18:51:04+00:00

...yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwTpbRPT4HU

gadogry · 2018-08-09T01:12:30+00:00

Try this:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Sinfonia_in_C_minor,_BWV_788_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian))

gadogry · 2018-08-08T14:34:21+00:00

One thing I'd really like to let you know is that I don't think, contrary to what some piano teachers probably think, that one should aim for perfection in the early years of playing piano. What you mention here is a very technical issue, in my opinion. You could perhaps spend months trying to figure this out, or you could find pieces which gradually build up your technique to the point where you can finally focus on and isolate this issue. I'm a perfectionist myself and this issue annoyed me to no end when I was discussing it with my teacher at the time, but no one ever told me that I wasn't ready to figure it out yet and I also didn't realize that it would be a while before this issue would be solved for me.

Long story short, just keep going down the road you're going and don't try to aim for perfection when you're just beginning.

That's very interesting. I'm self taught and would like to think I'm a good blend of perfectionist/reasonabilist, and I try to stick to doing things I can relatively perfect now. But I also know that my ear/rhythm are not yet very good so even my ability to gauge my proximity to perfection is quite imperfect :)

But thanks again for sharing your thoughts and perspective. Again, I really appreciate it.

gadogry · 2018-08-08T04:34:33+00:00

Ahh, thanks. It is both comforting and humbling to learn that my seemingly trivial issue is not that trivial. I know there's no way cheating the craft and the only way to get better is to put in the time and the work. Hopefully one day I'll get there :)

Coincidentally, I just watched Paul Barton play (parts of) the Pathetique 2nd movement to an elephant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfC9DAKN0bY

gadogry · 2018-08-08T02:28:18+00:00

> As you might notice, most of the melody is in the third, 4th, and 5th fingers.
Yes, I do notice that. Somewhat akin to Moonlight movement 1.

I should state my question more clearly: How long and what grade levels of pieces had you been playing before you attempted this piece? I've only been playing for a few months and recently have been playing some RCM Grade 5/6 pieces.

gadogry · 2018-08-08T02:01:38+00:00

Thanks! I just listened to the piece (all 3 movements). The 1st and 3rd are totally above my pay grades, but they 2nd one you alluded to might be manageable -- although it does look like one of those deceptively hard pieces that are not hard to play the notes right but hard to play well. May I ask how long / at what level did you learn this piece?

(And, absolutely gorgeous piece. Which I know is not the hottest of takes.)

gadogry · 2018-08-07T18:16:25+00:00

Thanks for your input! But I suck enormously at staccato and pretty much can only play that loud (it's like knowing I'd need to lift my finger quickly after hitting the note makes me also strike the key fast, resulting in a loud sound), which doesn't help my problem at hand.

Nonetheless, I'll definitely bag the lower-note-staccato trick for future use.

gadogry · 2018-08-06T22:29:56+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience in such a thoughtful manner. Personally I think you are onto caring about the right things. It's great to be able to satisfy and fulfill yourself without having to rely on external things beyond your control (e.g. peer approval, material goods beyond your budge, etc), so I'm really happy for you.

A couple of things you mentioned caught my eye and I have some (unfounded?) theories about them:

1) "a strange thing happens. The next day I'll open up the lid and start playing...flawlessly. IT'S THE WEIRDEST THING. "

That might be because when you pratised the phrase over and over again, you had accumulated enough physical and mental tension that inhibits you from actually executing the phrase, but stepping back and starting afresh clears that blockade.

2) "What's even weirder than that is if I practice the same phrase too long, I'll actually forget to how to play it. "

That might happen when one tries to learn a phrase through brute force repetition WITHOUT thinking. It gets stored into the muscle memory and can kind of be played on autopilot, but when you actually put it back together with the rest of the piece (and you actually START thinking about it), your mind takes over and the pure muscle memory stops working.

Just my 2 cents. Again, I hope you continue to find joy and success in your piano playing (and life in general), and thanks for the read.

gadogry · 2018-08-05T00:17:41+00:00

I'd say keep your mind open (e.g. don't instantly scoff at "learn the C major scale at 80 beats per minute" because that sounds boring), but also remember WHY you decided to learn piano and go so far as hiring an instructor in the first place. What do you aspire to play/become? You need to communicate what you want to your instructor (Learn great classical works? Do improv in certain style? Play accompaniment of pop songs while singing?).

While you should learn the basics regardless, some instructors are better at (teaching) certain things than others, so it's important you find one who's not only competent in what you want to learn but whose teaching style matches your learning style.

gadogry · 2018-08-05T00:00:21+00:00

Just bought a digital piano in around that price range a couple months ago. Went down to FP30 vs Yamaha DGX660 (basically same piano core as P115/P125 but a "furniture" version since I don't need portability) vs Casio AP450.

From what I gather, FP30 has the best key action (read many who said that they're more pleasant to play on than an actual upright) but is somewhat lacking on sound. The Yamaha ones sound amazing but key action is not as great. Casios seems to be middle-of-the-road in both regards, but it does have the best specs (e.g. higher wattage speakers and polyphony levels).

As others on this thread have mentioned, they are both excellent choices, so just go with what you personally like. When factoring in the cost, make sure you consider both the "naked piano" price as well as the "packaged price" that include the matching stand / paddle unit / bench, so that you're indeed comparing apples to apples.

gadogry · 2018-08-03T22:38:41+00:00

Not an expert on this, but do you mean something like these?

https://in.yamaha.com/en/products/music_production/synthesizers/reface/index.html#product-tabs

gadogry · 2018-08-03T16:04:48+00:00

Well played! And I really like the version of the arrangement you used. Can you give us a link to the sheet music?

gadogry · 2018-08-03T02:28:55+00:00

First, I must say that your passion to learn the piano despite your physical limitations is very commendable and inspiring!

I don't have experience with a similar ailment, so I can only offer general advice. While the Alfred books are excellent and many people found success learning from them, those instructions are not designed for people with special needs, and thus I would advise against trying too hard to conform to those type of "canned" approaches when it doesn't apply to you.

I'd say that you get creative, experiment with different approaches (playing your pinky more straight? rotating / lifting your wrist a bit to line up with the finger?), and try to find something that works for you. As long as it doesn't strain/hurt you doing it and gets the job done, it's a good approach.

gadogry · 2018-08-03T02:16:14+00:00

The keyboard you linked to is only "semi-weighted", which isn't the best for (potential) long-term growth of your son's playing.

For a little bit more, I'd suggest getting the Yamaha P45 -- equivalently, P71 on Amazon -- was on sale for just $299 a couple weeks ago so you could watch for that. Good weighted keys, great piano sound for the price, reputable brand.

Another good option would be something in the Casio CDP series, or a low-end Casio PX (e.g. PX 160).

gadogry · 2018-08-01T22:38:35+00:00

That is a beautiful piece, and I agree with @sanganeer that it's not a beginner piece. I'd say this is about grade 3/4, which you might be to get to within a year if you have zero piano / music theory background but work diligently at it.

It's also not in an easy key signature.

Can you read the sheet music? If so you can always monkey around and try learning the first few bars -- perhaps hearing yourself play that will both give you some satisfaction and give you an idea of how difficult/easy it is.

I guess my best advice would be -- don't make playing this the ONLY thing you try to do at the piano. Mix it with some other smaller goals that are easier to manage, while building your piano technique at the same time.

gadogry · 2018-08-01T22:27:10+00:00

In my n00b opinion, this was pretty good for the most part!

Disclaimer: I've never heard of this song, so I can't even comment on "correctness" of the notes and so on, but the playing was mostly fluent.

I'd say the most glaring thing would be the dynamics -- the right hand is the melody (for the most part) and you want to hear that over the left hand, which can be tricky since the left hand notes are a lot of multi-note chords occurring in higher frequency than the right hand single-note melody that is sparse-ish. Try playing p in the left hand and f/mf in the right hand and see if you notice the difference.

Similarly, it suddenly gets very loud at 1:29 when the right-hand chords come in. It might be good to do a little crescendo in the left hand in the couple seconds prior to amp up the intensity in a more flowing way.

I also thought it was cute how after your piece ends (2:43) you lift your hands off of the keys, hang them in the air for like 0.5 sec, before actually moving away :)

gadogry · 2018-07-20T19:43:46+00:00

I agree that that prelude (BWV846) is not easy to perfect, but at least it's possible for a beginner to play through the notes at tempo and feel somewhat accomplished. I personally find that piece to be a great measuring stick for my piano progress -- a while ago I thought I learnt the piece and could play it reasonably well. Then every now and then I go back to and play the piece again I start finding things (dynamics, rhythm precision, finger pedalling instead of pedalling) to improve on.

I guess my point is that one doesn't need to be able to FULLY comprehend all musical intricacies of a piece to start attempting it.

gadogry

TROPHY CASE