The PianoFever Blog

What is our job as performers? As musicians? As educators?

Often, I think that the musician must play all three roles; as performer, educator and as steps in a re-creative force. And quite often, I think this tripartite division can cause some (rather painful) conflict.

We’ve all heard of the failed-artist/researcher-turned educator or the tyrannical [usually caricatured as Eastern European] piano teacher, parodied here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOQaK7NHY-4
Remember the adage “Those who can’t, teach”? Those guys. The people I’m calling to your minds are unfortunate examples of what can sometimes happen when a person not trained in pedagogy must moonlight as educator.

Before you send hate mail, of course there have been successful, useful artist-turned-teachers, or artists/teachers, but we don’t need to talk about them. Those rare and wonderful people take no part in the reason why when I ask a person who formerly played an instrument as a child why they stopped, 7 out of 10 times they tell me it was because they hated their teacher because s/he was mean. Why would a teacher be mean? Why would a student think a teacher was being mean? (This isn’t just piano teaching we’re talking about now.)

I can’t be sure how much of that “meanness” is actually misdirected bitterness at personal failure. There is just as good a chance that it is the simple result of impatience (justified or not) on the behalf of the teacher and poor communication with the student. I’m willing to guess though, that poor communication is the more insidious crippling agent.

Last night one of my students was on the brink of tears because she couldn’t put her hands together. We were working on a basic piano solo, and she could play the left and right hands separately, but couldn’t reliably play both hands at the same time, no matter how slowly she tried. She expressed concern that she knew how “easy” the song was, but just couldn’t do it. Now I know this student’s background, and she has been [admittedly] successful in practically every aspect of her adult life, but this night, her struggles with fine motor coordination were threatening to get the best of her. I could see it in her eyes–the tell-tale eye rubbing, cracking voice, reddened nose the flushed cheeks–everything about her was expressing frustration in the most personally painful sort of way.

I could have told her that she should practice more. Sure, I could have done that. I could have said “toughen up”, slapped her on the back, brushed her aside, played the passage perfectly and said “do likewise”. To a fellow musician, doing that would have been a bit brusk and might have been viewed as unhelpful or arrogant, but to a student, even to an adult over 50, that would have been cruel. As an educator, it is my job to help the student. If the student’s ego takes a bruising from time to time over the course of learning, that’s the breaks, but it is also my job to rescue the student when s/he needs it. The sherpa doesn’t carry you up the mountain. He guides you, sometimes letting you make your own mistakes and helps you to learn from them. He however, should not let you fall to your [in this case, spiritual or emotional] death. Students are allowed to be frustrated, but nowhere does it say that I have to be oblivious to their frustration.

I think one big reason for difficulty in the transition from being a musician to being a teacher is because while effective teaching is an extroverted activity, success at research and/or artistry demands great powers of introversion. Teachers must direct focus to the student and all ares of the student’s progress–while maintaining the interest of the student–not just the music (or the subject at hand). Teachers don’t necessarily have to be entertainers, but it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure learning takes place. Standing or sitting down and “teaching” a lesson, not caring or attempting to ensure the student understands; That is not education. That is useless.)

I think when we as musicians forget that we are teachers we get into trouble. For example, when we say to a student, “try this,” and then demonstrate it, and the student doesn’t understand it, or isn’t able to reproduce it, we don’t have room for getting frustrated like we might with a fellow musician. Fallacies in technique and wrong notes are [perhaps] unforgivable with other musicians, but are to be expected with the student.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZP199_rXLo (anywhere from 4:15 onward)

(I’m sure some of you are getting tired of me picking on our boy Volodya. Too bad. I do so because he effectively illustrates a lot of things. Besides, he would have enjoyed the attention.)

When I walk into a lesson, I expect to hear wrong notes and mistakes with students. With the more experienced students, I expect to hear inconsistencies, stylistic incongruities, “dropped balls”. That’s fine. That’s what we’re here for. We forgive those things when the professionals do them because they’re humans, and we as humans find human error interesting. When we teach, we have to forgive those things because they mayn’t know any better.

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I just returned from the diploma recital of a fine piano student at Roosevelt University, Mr. Wael Farouk. His recital repertoire included the Busoni arrangement of Bach’s violin chaconne in D minor. He was generating a wonderful sound, but he was sometimes a little muddy. The recital was at Ganz hall, and I’ve played on the piano before. This brings me to my question for all of you: What is the most important thing for the classical musician?

His agent? The solipsists might say his instrument. The cheat might say the sound engineer. Liberace might say his brother George. I say the room. Just think about it; on a good piano, you can play anything you like–a Mozart sonata, or a Scriabin poem like “Vers la Flamme”–but the room determines *how* you can  play it. You sit down in your small, dry room and you’re good with the Mozart, but the Scriabin can’t really build up the fire it needs. So you move to the larger hall down the street with  more resonance. The Scriabin smokes and sparkles, but you can forget about playing the Mozart. All the notes blur together, no matter how hard you try. You wind up playing with only the slightest touches of pedal, and it still comes out as muddy. You try to cut out pedal all together, but it’s too disconnected and you can’t stand it!

You even find yourself asking hapless passersby how it sounds. “Sounds good” they say. “Maybe could use a bit more pedal” they say. If they only knew!

As an audiophile, I think one of the finest sounding concerts  I’ve ever been to was Richard Goode’s last performance at Northwestern University. He played Brahms Op. 76, the J.S. Bach Partita in G and a group of Debussy preludes in Pick-Staiger hall. The sound was outstanding. I sat in the second to last row in the balcony, and I could still feel the vibrations in the seats from the piano playing. It was as if you were actually sitting 10 feet from the piano.

I can’t be sure that the audience heard what we’re hearing, but if they did, this is a fine example of top-notch playing in a good room. Listen to the clarity!

This is the [obligatory] train wreck. It’s Mitsuko Uchida for crying out loud, but either the room or the recording (probably both) are far too wet. Knowing her stature and having played that piece, I can tell you that thanks to the room (perhaps the piano, perhaps the recording, but mostly the room) her articulation is effectively gone. And no, don’t send me hate mail telling me Mitsuko Uchida wanted it that way.

When I first started playing music years ago, I thought that performance was simply an issue of presenting the music; you find the music you want to play, learn it, say what you have to say and be done with it. Make sure the audience has a good time of course, but that’s taken care of by the music. I thought it pretty cut and dry.

Well, a few years into my study, one of my instructors illuminated an idea that I had formerly been neglecting–one of gesture. Up until then, I had seen a lot of performers flexing their hands a lot during performing, and I very much avoided that practice. Only when I found out about the power of freeing motions in performance and the beneficial effect they can have on one’s playing did I realize what those performers were doing. Often in music, we come to passages where the composer is indicating a gesture. I think the best way I can put this idea is that a musical gesture is a moment when the melody or figuration takes on a very perceivable shape or direction.

Take for example the two-note slurs of the second variation in the first movement of Mozart K331. The melodic line is very perceptibly “lifting”. One hears in this music that the composer wants the music (and the perception by the listener) to perk up. My teacher taught me that in moments like these, the music is much more than the slur or what have you and the effect to be achieved is much more than the simple connecting of the notes, thus the music necessitates a certain appropriate motion. For the audience and for the performance, it is advisable to give a physical gesture of “lifting up” with the hand. If you’re familiar with this variation, one can easily achieve the desired sound with a silent hand. However, the point is that for the AUDIENCE, it often becomes important to indicate what the music is doing with one’s body, especially in a large hall where nuance is often lost.

The two-note slur is just a simple example I chose for convenience, but it is applicable practically everywhere a musical idea becomes broad. When the listener can tie a sound with something visual, it makes the musical impact stronger. However, as with anything in music, the issue of balance must be kept in mind. As musicians, we are here to present the music, not use the music as a platform for showcasing our idiosyncrasies. The more experienced pianists and concertgoers know exactly where I am going next.

I have selected five YouTube videos for your perusal and enjoyment apropos this discussion of gestures. The first three contain excellent examples of the use of physical gestures that benefit from as well as underscore the musical ones. The last two are a bit less austere…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLbpQl1cCl8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0nrg7Lqfak

This performance is full of useful gestures. 2:43 is a perfect example of a gesture that serves the music as well as the performer.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKwN_7LnXHw

This is an example of fine music where the emoting of the performer gets in the way of the musical gestures.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOpA18uqziQ

This final clip is a good performance, but 0:08-0:20 is a disaster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Co6zOpN4E

Pierre Miller

Sheet Music accessibility has always been an important topic. There are websites that say they offer free sheet music but when you actually go there, you realize it’s a scam in some sort of way. One of them tops them all, it will remain nameless but what this website makes you do is take a survey that is so long that there is no light at the other end of the tunnel. After you have “passed” this stage, you are approached with ads that force you to sign up to other websites to move to the next wave of ads or surveys. Other sites make you pay for it when all they did was scan it and upload it.

I would like to introduce you all to a new feature we have installed here at PianoFever. You have the ability to upload any video, and then attach your sheet music to the music description. That’s right, you can upload a video of yourself playing a piece by Liszt then go to your ‘edit video information’ page and there is an option there that says “Attach Sheet Music”. The file format allowed is PDF which should be obvious since that’s how most of you view sheet music. There are no size limitations for the PDF.

This should be a great tool for composers as well. Now when they want a pianist to play their music, they can upload an example of it, link the video to the pianist and then the pianist can listen while reading the sheet music that displays next to it. Upload as much as you want for free here at PianoFever.com. More information is displayed on our Sheets page. The final product displays here!

For my new year’s resolution I told myself that I would start practicing my scales a little bit more routinely and I have been doing alright so far. I started by buying a new metronome because I lost my previous 3!!!! The metronome that I decided to get was the exact same one I last had, the Korg MA-30. I discussed by ambitions with a few friends about not only wanting to practice my scales more routinely, but also having a goal of eventually getting them all up to 180 BPM…After asking a few friends about how fast they could play them, I found the ones who did practice them averaged around 120-140, cleanly. Still nothing close to 180. They think I am crazy and don’t see a point in wanting to be able to plays scales that quickly.I AM NOT CRAZY!I like this new metronome because of one feature: TEMPO TAP! Out of curiosity, how fast can the Masters play them?Since there are no ideal recordings of the Masters playing scales, I chose pieces that they performed that are ’scale heavy.’ The two pieces that immediately come to mind are the popular 16th Prelude and 4th Etude of Chopin. Though these pieces are not pure-scales and are a measure of overall hand dexterity, I believe they will suffice. Fast does not necessarily mean better, but it does add some excitement.

RESULTS:
16th Prelude
Bunin - 182
Rubinstein - 202
Pogorelich - 198
Argerich - 208
Kissin - 205
Tempio - 210
Dong-min Lim - 205
Wild - 190

24th Etude
Richter - 215 (starts at 222)
Kempf - 192
Lisitsa - 184
Dong-min Lim - 182
Gavrilov - 191
Cortot - 168
Argerich - 185
Horowitz - 175
Arrau - 154
Browning - 185
Cziffra - 195

Hmm…. maybe I should up my goal to 200, lol
Good Day!

sTiEnWaYz

So I came across this video today, I thought it was extremely interesting. View this link if you ever want to know how a piano is built. This is a Mason & Hamlin piano.

Click Here to See How Mason & Hamlin Pianos are Built

To all piano-enthusiasts,

I would first like to welcome everybody in the world to this wonderful website of piano-ness. Secondly, I would also like to encourage anybody who is interested in piano and music to make an account and start being active in our community RIGHT NOW! The more the merrier!

Being a fellow piano-enthusiast and musicomanic, I remember all to well the days of endlessly searching the internet for an online community with similar interests and easy access to a plethora of piano-resources, which all could share and discuss. Before there was IMSLP, there was Pianofiles.com, and even before that SheetMusicArchive.net, which seems to be the longest running free-sheet music website I have seen on the net. All these sites are good and have some usability, but are limited in the fact they only offered one type of resource, sheet-music. IMSLP has been sadly shut-down prematurely [R.I.P]. Pianofiles.com has tens of thousands of users who are trading an even larger amount of sheet-music, but all the files are stored locally, users must be contacted via e-mail, the site is extremely slow, and more than half the people do not share! SheetMusicArchive.net is excellent in the fact it has longevity, but the selection of sheet-music is rather unchanging, users are only allowed access to two files a day, and if you upload a file to share with the world it will most likely never be posted for availability.

Sheet-music will be just one element of PianoFever.com.

At PianoFever.com we hope to encourage the online music scene by making available a larger, more diverse library of resource to a wider community. We aim to do this by encouraging all genres of piano-music to be uploaded and discussed, holding competitions in various categories, allowing users to have their video/mp3s downloaded straight off their pages, and being the medium in which you can post audition performances for various venues.

All this will not be possible without your participation! This is why I encourage all who are reading to check out all the aspects of the PianoFever.com website, make an account and start uploading, and to comment with suggestions or problems which you encounter.

Have a pianotastic day!

stienwayz

The concept of PianoFever was created with the purpose of providing pianists and piano enthusiasts with the most useful and comprehensive resource for piano on the internet. In high school I can remember how difficult it was to go through the different school websites and other music links to find exactly what I need. I was a kid that was in the process of auditioning for different conservatories and realized that any information regarding the piano was spread out across the internet. There was not one source I could rely on that provided me with most of the information I needed to learn more about everything piano.

My experience with computers and computer science provided me with the ability to realize that I could do something about this to help out the next generation pianists. It doesn’t appear that much had been done to provide these resources for free and to a vast audience. In this Web 2.0 generation, we need information right away and updates as soon as possible. People even have widgets to remind them of the latest changes in currency. Why should pianists have to hear about piano competitions at the last minute or go to the competition website and find out that the website has not been updated in a year? PianoFever aims to be that source you can rely on.

There are many websites out there that allow you to upload video and other websites that allow you to upload mp3’s. PianoFever will allow you to upload an unlimited amount of both that you can embed on your MySpace profiles as well. Many pianists upload their videos to YouTube as well and that could serve as a resource for pianists as well, but I feel that YouTube wasn’t made specifically for the piano enthusiast. I envisioned a focused piano community where people only upload videos that have to do with piano. It is not to separate but to bring pianists together because out of all instruments, piano is by far the most solo instrument. Not all pianists feel like uploading a video of themselves (although it should be encouraged), they may feel more comfortable uploading their latest audio mp3. PianoFever is not the ultimate resource for piano quite yet, but in time I believe it will be.