The craft of piano playing

[dbaker]

I was shown this site in reference to Scriabin's Op. 28 Fantasy and a discussion of Dacic's spectacular recording.

I have a video that was made impromptu, without warming up, of a piece that I'm performing in a recital in a bit over two months. I'd like some evaluation and assessment of my technique: IE, where do I stand, and how would you recommend I improve it/what should I work on? I am 18 years old and am an amateur pianist.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YA825uaFGQ0

Thanks,

Daniel

[alan fraser]

I am going to keep my mouth shut for awhile: I would like to hear some other people's thoughts before I give my own - although it is very tempting!

Thanks for this post; it's a great idea! We are going to create a new category for Student Video Evaluation to distinguish between this type of video and the clips of the greats that we've been watching so far.

So, people, let's hear some feedback for Daniel!

AFF
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Craft of Piano technique - the synthesis of mind, body and spirit in sound...
www.alanfraser.net
www.craftofpiano.com
www.pianotechnique.net

[alan fraser]

Nobody posted anything so I guess it's up to me!

Your playing shows that you are sensitive to the magnificence of this music and really excited about it. This is great! Your infectious enthusiasm is a big positive in the equation. And you do have a real natural facility which is a great gift. However, there are aspects of musical craftsmanship which you need to develop in order to make this magnificence manifest more completely in sound. There is something good in your playing - a certain amount of sonic differentiation shall we say. But it needs to be developed. Try listening to that work in its original organ version. There is an aesthetic for the organ music of Bach that needs to be translated to the piano more completely.

The musical impression needs to be one of serious drama, not just digital virtuosity. And your tempo is very unsteady, this takes away from the sense of focus.

Your physical technique mirrors the lack of focus and intensity in your sound, the reason Bach's magnificence doesn't hit us like a ton of bricks. Your fingers move well, but your hand position in the left hand octaves shows the old standard problem: your finger action is not being supported by a hand that maintains its arch. Thus the power muscles of the fingers aren't working: you are doing all that fast fingerwork on your deep and superficial flexors (they work your medial and distal phalanges) alone. As soon as we see the characteristic wrist higher than the metacarpal-phalangeal joint, we know that the crucial work of the lumbricals and interossei has been decoupled (they work the proximal phalange), drastically reducing your capacity for effective tone control and large sound.

This of course affects the character of those L.H. octaves - where they should be maestoso you play them scherzando - it sounds funny!

But for instance, at 2:18, for one moment your left hand metacarpal-phalangeal arch comes up into its effective position - so this shows that your hand can do it. You just have to utilize that capacity more if you want real artistic control of your sound.

It is interesting to see this link between the functionality of the hand's arch and musical content. For instance, in the opening of the fugue, your R.H. metacarpal-phalangeal arch is really beautifully, naturally pronounced, AND the fugue subject has character, expression, focus. And when your hand function loses that integrity, so does your sound and musical content. One mirrors the other. When the arch is full, your sound is full and controlled. When the arch empties out, so does your sound and musical expression. It's like air leaking out of a tire.

I hope you find this useful, let me know!

AFF
_________________
Craft of Piano technique - the synthesis of mind, body and spirit in sound...
www.alanfraser.net
www.craftofpiano.com
www.pianotechnique.net

[alan fraser]

Hey, anybody home??
_________________
Craft of Piano technique - the synthesis of mind, body and spirit in sound...
www.alanfraser.net
www.craftofpiano.com
www.pianotechnique.net

[sunslight]

Although old, I'd like to take a shot at this too.

the playing is very nice, with some very nice moments, such as around 6:38.

You have much going for you. However, as Alan said, when you loose the left hand arch, to where the wrist is well above the arm and fingers, it looses the sound. Your good sound fades in and out, but it's still great for your age and an amateur.

I wonder if you really know what Bach's music is doing, saying. Have you taken time to go through it--theoretically, marking the fugue statements, melody, counter-melody, what's doing what where?

If you have, great. If not, I think it will help if you find what's what and decided before hand, how you want to play it in each section and very importantly, why.

Bach's music is full of light, air, even dance. And it is very structured -- how it did the structure and still kept the wonderful melodies and counterpoint going is a wonder.

Each section of subject should be very clear and clean. Try playing it without any pedal and making the legato, only with the hand. Make certain that even though legato, there is just a slight break between each note, so that nothing is lost or slurred together. That is not the Baroque style and especially Bach's. It needs to be very articulated--not staccato, but just a little light coming through, between notes. And I'd like to hear more of where the subject comes in, goes out, the counter-melody when it appears. These things are subtle, but make a great difference.

A listener will think, oh, I just heard that, now it's back, now it's gone and replaced by something else, and hear comes the fuge again. There's no loosing of the motives.

Your hands have nice shape. But when the arch is gone from the hand and goes to the wrist instead, it sounds different; and it doesn't look right either.

Bach is not easy--whether in his simple or complex pieces--it takes knowing before hand what you want, a guess at what he wanted, then trying to do it.

You might try it on one manual of the organ. You'll notice immediately how a legato is different from the piano. No pedal on the organ but it can still be legato, except the notes have that little bit of light between them.

As you bring in the subject, counter, etc., be careful that you play not only the tones, but the silence too. Sometimes, the space between the notes is what determines how clear the harmony is as well as lets the listener recognize each change.

It was a very good job. I wish I had a memory like yours. Now just work a bit more on the technique and Baroque style.

You might want to listen to Glenn Gould and his Goldberg variations. He did two recordings: one when he was young and the other, much later. Each is strikingly different.

The one that he did when young is very fast, showy, but it lacks heart and an understanding of what's going on. In the later version, the tempo is slower, by about 1/2. He still plays quickly, the ornaments are there, so he's not playing slower because he can't play it fast, but because he's playing so everything is clear and you can recognize the entrance of each subject. Then when the counter-point is going in 4 voices, each is clear. You can follow each line if wanted.

In the years between the two recordings, he learned what makes Bach, Bach. And how to articulate, so the through-composed Baroque music can be played such that each voice and what it is doing is never lost.

Keep up the good work. It really sound nice. But needs the Baroque heart in it, even though it's being played on the piano. Use the piano to give the music what it can get from that instrument. and analyze, analyze, analyze; mark up the score, circle important entrances, exits, draw arrows as one voice goes through another. Then when you know what's happening, with hearing it with your eyes, you can make it happen on the piano.

[slane00]

Daniel:

I guess "amateur" is in the eye of the beholder. I'm envious of your skill, and wish you luck in your studies.

I can't comment much on technique. But in addition to the other poster's recommendation of Gould, I strongly recommend listening to Murray Perahia's Baroque recordings if you haven't. He has a marvelous disc containing a number of the Great Suites of Handel, as well as a lot of Scarlatti. And his Goldberg can easily stand beside Gould's.

And now, the ignorant question: what is the music we heard here? I gather it's a transcription from organ but I don't recognize it.

-- SGL

[alan fraser]

It is the Liszt transcription of Bach's great organ prelude and fugue in A minor - but don't ask me for the BWV number!

This thread strikes me as a good example of how different people can use strikingly different language to say the same thing. Many shy away from talking in terms of the physical as I do, because it is so "technical" and not "musical." I agree with what Bob writes totally, it is right on. Although it may not appear so, I say basically the same thing in my post - my use of physical terms may appear more removed from the musical issues he so rightly posits - but if you follow my physical advice you stand a good chance of GETTING the musical result Bob wants.

Feldenkrais liked to couch things in physical terms that seemed to have less to do with meaningful content, because these terms were LESS OPEN TO MISINTERPRETATION. Or put it this way: the healthy shape of one's arch is easier to quantify and verify than the healthy shape of a phrase... But the former will increase the chances of the latter happening!

AFF
_________________
Craft of Piano technique - the synthesis of mind, body and spirit in sound...
www.alanfraser.net
www.craftofpiano.com
www.pianotechnique.net

[slane00]

BWV 543, it would appear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_and_Fugue_in_A_minor,_BWV_543

With a PDF of the transcription for those interested.

-- Steve Lane