How to play Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988 analysis and tips by Danielle Osman

Guest blogger Danielle Osman, once  member of the  Boston Repertory Orchestra and Harvard Musical Association Orchestra of Boston discusses Bach's Goldberg Variations, the technical and musical challenges involved and how she overcame them. 

Danielle, please tell us about the origin of the Goldberg Variations.
The “Goldberg” Variations were first published in 1742 as a keyboard practice consisting of an Aria and 30 variations by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).  Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was Bach’s student who lived with the Count Kaiserling, who was the Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony.  The Count was constantly ill suffering from insomnia and often called upon Goldberg to come and play for him “his” variations.  Thus they came to be known as the Goldberg Variations.  They start out with an Aria which is a Sarabande, and then go on to 30 variations with a similar bass line which go from being lively and crisp, to slow and sometimes very soft, sleepy pieces.  Bach originally wrote them simply for the enjoyment of clavier players.

 What attracted you to the Goldberg Variations? 
Definitely the Aria.  It’s a beautiful, sweet, dance of sorts.  Its been referred to as a sarabande in the Anna Magdalena notebook (1725). The ornaments are exquisite.  It’s filled with trills and turns which give it its body. It’s a loving piece and typical of Bach.   It’s filled with real emotion and delicacy. Had I never heard this piece in the past, I would have instantly known that it was a Bach piece.  In the middle of the Aria on the 25th bar, it gets very sad and touching.  You could almost feel Bach’s heart.  He was a greatly religious man and you can tell that this is a man who worships and loves his God.  It gets almost religious at this point.  Bach has that unique ability to make any work of his a form of worship, and being a spiritual person myself I was instantly drawn to this body of work and I decide to delve into the variations to see where he was going with it.

 What do you think Bach's message is in this piece, what is he trying to convey? 
Well, Bach initially wanted it to simply be a piano or harpsichord player’s enjoyment of music.  He didn’t compose it as an exercise or study like the Well Tempered Clavier Books I & II.  He just wanted it to be simple, fun, variations most of them being in G major but with quite ambitious trills here and there to give it that colorful effect and excitement.  Half of the variations are lively and exciting and the other half are slow and sometimes dark.

 Who are your favorite interpreters of Bach's Goldberg Variations and why? Who are of particular inspirations to you? 
The obvious answer would be Glenn Gould because of his famous 1955 recording which catapulted him into an international superstar.  Glenn Gould, to me, did the Goldberg Variations justice.  His execution of the music was just what Bach had intended out of it.  The fast lively variations, especially the 1st variation, were seamless.  He never misses a beat and all the trills are very crisp.  Those recordings were my inspiration and guide to play the Goldberg variations the way they are meant to be played.  He was simply a genius.  The ability to execute and articulate beautifully those ornaments at fast speed is almost unheard of, and no pianist that I know of has been able to do so at such a high tempo.  Therefore Glenn Gould by all accounts did the best interpretation of Bach’s work. I liked the 1955 recording that Glenn Gould did at the tender age of 23, as opposed to the 1981 recording when he was almost 50 and close to his ultimate death.



I feel that with a faster tempo and with the playing style of Glenn Gould at that age, he got it right.  Many pianists have played it over the years a lot slower and so did Glenn Gould when he was 50, and I feel that there is so much lacking.  The beauty and dramatics of the pieces disappear once you slow down the tempo as much as they did.  The power of the Goldberg variations are only felt when they are played fast, unless stated otherwise, and the ornaments are played and annunciated as Bach intended them to be.

What technical and musical challenges does the theme and variations present and how do you overcome them? 


Challenges of the Goldberg Variations
 There is some hand-crossing involved and the ornaments are not kind.  It’s a great exercise for the fingers and you would need to start out very slowly.  Some publishers issue out the works along with ornament executions and that’s a great help.  Therefore, the main challenge in this work are the ornamentation.  There are so many of them and executing them is where the fun is and where the challenges lay.  There are so many trills which I love to play.  Any music with trills is always fun but it is also very easy to get those trills wrong.  So, careful execution is key.  Take your time.  Tear the music apart.  Mark up your manuscripts, and get the fingering correct such that the movement is flawless and every note can be heard.  Annunciation, articulation, and accents here and there is what makes this body of work exquisite.


Tip: Articulation
First off, articulating every note is of utmost importance.  Some publishers of the Goldberg variations do have the original script along with the execution of the ornaments above it.  That would allow the pianist to play the notes slowly and get every note on time with the base line.  Typically, playing out the whole melody in sections until you are comfortable with that theme or variation helps the process.

Tip: Use minimal pedal
One needs to remember that this work is all baroque, so highly minimize the pedal.  Do more legatos and staccatos, as opposed to using the pedal.  I would recommend eliminating the pedal completely and that would help in the playing technique.  Let the notes speak.  It is important to allow the notes to sound off individually.

Tip: dynamics
Unfortunately Bach doesn’t really use the words pianissimo, fortissimo, mezzo piano, in this body of work, so the pianist is really left to execute as best as they can.  It’s a very colorful body of work and every individual can interpret it in the best way they can.  Albeit, there are some variations that seem to go against the grain of Baroque music.  Variation No. 25 in particular sounds very much like a Chopin Nocturne, and is therefore played very softly, dolce, and perhaps a pedal could be introduced here.

Tip: Always break them into sections.  Get comfortable with one section at a time, and then add it to another.  This work can seem overwhelming but you need to break them apart and study, and understand, and feel the music.

Tip: Practice hands separately whilst taping the rhythm

Start out with the melody hand and play all the notes very slowly until you have that section done right.  And then do the other hand, and once you are comfortable with the melody throw it together.  But practice over and over one hand at a time until you get a sense for the chord progressions, the melody, and the general theme.  Use the other hand to tap the beat.  Tapping is a great tool and helps with timing.



Additional Article Links

• Classical Notes - Goldberg Variations

About Danielle Osman:  
Danielle has been a classical pianist for 20+ years.  She has performed at a few venues in the US, Australia, and the UK.  She has extensively researched composers and their works.  She is primarily passionate about baroque and romantic era composers.  She briefly was part of the Boston Repertory Orchestra and Harvard Musical Association Orchestra of Boston but realized that her true passion was in studying the works of her favorite composers and working on solo piano pieces which she continues to do today in her spare time.  She is very happy to consult and work with other musicians and is open to ideas about anything music related.  Her dream would be to work on some of Mozart’s Piano Concertos (No.21 first movement – Allegro Maestoso, in particular).  Contact Danielle Osman..

Pianist Sam Liu on Chopin Mazurka in A minor op.17 no.4

A Piano Sage blog exclusive, we interview up and coming Canadian-Taiwanese pianist Sam Liu

Sam Liu, winner of the Il Circolo Piano Transcription  Prize

on what his inspiration and tips to play and practice Chopin's Mazurka in Am, Opus 17 #4. Sam has taken masterclasses with renown Bach expert Andrea Hewitt and Liszt expert Leslie  Howard, and was 1st prize winner of the Il Circolo Piano Trancscription competition.








First let's listen to Sam Liu performing the Chopin Mazurka in A minor opus 17 no.4
 in Canada on a Bechstein Grand



What attracted you to this particular Mazurka?
 I heard this Mazurka for the first time on Horowitz' Deutsche Grammophon's (DG label) recording, what I regard as a truly transcendental performance. The sound Horowitz created, was simply surreal.  I recall fondly many evenings in Canada driving home from piano teaching, listening to this beautiful piece over and over again..

Horowitz performing Chopin's Mazurka Op.17 No.4 in Am in his home, from  "The Last Romantic" 1985


What characteristics of Chopin and the Mazurkas must you keep in mind when playing this piece?
A Mazurka is known for its "Mazurka pulse", or stressing on the second beat of the bar. Of course, this is just a rule-of-thumb, and the amount of rubato on the beat will have to be judged by the music and the taste of the performer.  In fact, the Mazurka pulse is featured throughout many of Chopin's oeuvres, and it is important to bear in mind that when a passage of Mazurka-like quality appears in any Chopin's music, e.g. theme A of the first ballad #1 in G Minor, the feeling of Mazurka pulse will have to be present, as the music suggests.  Understanding the mazurka pulse will help one to find the very essence of Chopinesque rubato.


What technical and musical challenges does this mazurka present and how do you overcome them? 

Challenge - Gracenotes As the Mazurka itself is not difficult to play, the only technical difficulty are the quick grace-notes which appears many times in different parts of the sections.  These grace notes have to be played with tremendous delicacy, with the aim that they should not at all feel difficult or even a struggle to play; or even noticed [they should not stand out too much].  To achieve this effect, one could break them into smaller sections to practice, make sure the tone and rhythm is even, and then join them together.

Mazurkas and Waltzes - Both of which Chopin wrote many, are in the same time signature 3/4 time,  can you tell us more about the differences and the requirements of the challenging (Mazurka) Pulse? In contrary, the musical difficulties are much more demanding than it looks on the page.  Waltzes in general should be play with equal rhythm between each beat of the bar, with an emphasis on the first beat.  It should be played rather flowingly, with a feeling of one beat per bar, as in contrary to the Mazurka where it swings on the second beat.  However, arguments have been made that the slow Chopin Waltzes should be generally treated as a Mazurka, with the famous recording of Cortot plays Waltz op 64 no.2 with the Mazurka pulse.  Nonethelss, the more general ones, such as op 18 and op 34 set, should be played as a normal Waltz character in my opinion.

On top of the finding and balancing the Mazurka pulse, there are several interpretative difficulties involved.  Firstly, the same phrases repeat many times, and section repeat at the end.  With all these repeats, it is crucial to play them a little bit different each time, as if you are on the journey and each time when you reached a same scene you evoke different emotion towards it.

How would you say the different rhythmic emphasis of the mazurka pulse adds to the character?
The Mazurka pulse has generally been known and studied by the learnt musicians ever since it's creation.  Just like when a trained musician during the Baroque period can immediately tell the tempo and character and recognize a French overture from the score alone, a learnt musician in the nineteenth century would automatically apply the Mazurka pulse to a Mazurka without questioning. It's part of the culture and understanding of music.  If the Mazurka pulse wasn't added to the Mazurka, then presumably it wouldn't be a Mazurka at all!  It would be just be a beatiful piece of music in 3/4.

Tip: Sustain and relate phrases
The ability to sustain a phrase is paramount for this mazurka.  If one only plays the phrase as it looks on the page, the whole Mazurka will be chopped into pieces and it will not make sense to anyone.  Playing through each phrase and making each phrase relate to each other is rather tricky and requires experience and understanding.

However, to get started to develop relating phrases to each other, a useful tip is anticipation.  After playing a phrase, a motive, or even a note, one should try to form the sound of the next note (anticipate) in the brain very vividly, from the pitch to the timbre of the sound and the dynamic of the sound.  It is just so often that people would play with "finger" [muscle memory] rather than engaging their musical mind via imagination.  A good exercise to engage the musical mind would be to play  the whole Mazurka on the piano with fingers touch the keyboard without making the sound, and imagine the sound in the brain as if it is been played.

Tip: Muscle Control
 In addition, it is very tempting to just play the Mazurka through, and enjoy the sound and melody rather shallowly.  However, to create an heart-touching sound, it not only demands a good piano, but great concentration of the mind and great muscle control, two elements I deem crucial.  As the Mazurka is so simple, it is in turn so exposed, that if the pianist's concentration falters, this will show immediately in the  playing. So, to develop muscle control, practice holding the group of the notes down i.e. the group of the grace-notes, then play each finger individually, play the notes of the finger that's holding and the adjacent notes, thus to create maximum independence of the fingers

How does this mazurka compare with his other mazurkas?
Chopin was still relative young at the time of composing the mazurka, both in terms of age and his musicality development.  Only a genius could create such beauty and simplicity as such a young age (Chopin composed this Mazurka around 1833, age 23).  Although this Mazurka does not have some of the sophistication he created in his later Mazurkas, such as opus 59 and opus 63, its pure melancholy and lyricism  is completely sublime.  The late mazurkas are much more sophisticated musically and demand a likewise more  artistic demands in interpretation and delivery.

Who are your favourite interpreters of Chopin's mazurkas and why? Who are of particular inspirations to you and why? 
Although I am drifting away from Horowittz's unique performance now, I still regard his interpretation one of the best I have ever heard.  However, Paderewski's rendition of the piece evoke much more sincerity, and I believe it might be closer to what Chopin would have intended.

Paderewski performing the Mazurka in 1912



  I also particularly liked the recording of Richter, which is so heart-touching, if not heart-acheing, and Richter's very own way. Richter performing the Mazurka in 1950:


Sam, any further words of advice you'd like to give?
To conclude, this is a tremendously beautiful piece, yet extremely difficult to execute.  It is enjoyed much by amateurs, because it is technically not too difficult to get around to the notes to get started. But, to polish it to great height can take a life-time for a professional pianist including hours of practice and experimenting with expressive possibilities.  Well, this is what a great piece of music, because of which, has it's demands and challenges, we are very lucky that these pieces have survived for us to play today. I wish you the greatest luck and best wishes for your endeavors.

About Sam Liu: Sam has won various awards such as the first prize of "Il Circolo" Competition at Italian Cultural Centre, Piano Transcription Competition, and had given recitals throughout UK and Canada including Yamaha Artist Service Europe at Chappell, London. Sam has also participated in masterclasses given by pianists Angela Hewitt, Leslie Howard, Joseph Banowetz, and Anton Kuerti. Sam frequently collaborates with his duo partner violinist Mansoon Bow, and they have performed throughout UK and in Osaka, Japan, featuring the complete Schumann Violin Sonatas. Contact Sam Liu.


Further Reading

• Article: A World Of Expression In A Tiny Chopin Mazurka
• Article: Chopin and the unpredictable Mazurka 
• Mazurkas, Op. 17 (Chopin) [Wikipedia]
• Sheet Music [IMSLP]

Simple 5 finger Piano Songs - Easy Tunes for complete beginners

Chopin's Left Hand

It's a dillemna for many piano teachers and perhaps a frustration for beginning piano students. They want to play tunes they know and recognise, but in the interests of reading music, they'll have to plough through exercises in their tutorial book, playing one or two notes at a time. However, there's a lot of five finger piano tunes you can learn or teach quickly. Furthermore, there's merit in getting all five fingers moving to develop finger independence early on. It's also very motivating for a student to start playing familiar tunes.

Starting on C - Five Finger Position Pieces

Ode to Joy (theme) - from Beethoven's 9th Symphony
E E F G  GFED CCDE EDD
3 3 4 5   5 4 3 2  1 1 2 3  3 2 2

EEFG    GFED   CCDE  DCC
3 3 4 5  5 4 3 2  1 1 2 3   2 1 1

Oranges and Lemons

 535 31 234 2 5 31


Jingle Bells
333 333 35123 444 4433 3332 325
333 333 35123 444 44 33 55 421


Frere Jacques (theme)
123 1 123 1 345 345

Pieces that can be played on the black keys
Starting position 1,2,3 fingers on three black notes  (F# G# and A#) and the 5th finger on  the higher (C#).

Merrily We Row Along AND Mary Had a Little Lamb3212 333 222 355
321 233 322 321

Likewise these pieces can be played on the same five finger pattern starting on C as well.


Hot Cross Buns (submitted by Golda Levitan)
Played on 3 black keys
Left Hand; 1 2 3 RIGHT HAND 3 2 1

HOT CROSS BUNS Bb Ab Gb
HOT CROSS BUNS Bb Ab Gb
ONE A PENNY Gb Gb Gb Gb
TWO A PENNY Ab Ab Ab Ab Ab
HOT CROSS BUNS Bb Ab G b

Young children like to sing and play it at the same time. Play one hand at a time - then play them together. Enjoy. When you've mastered this, why not take it a step further and learn Simple 10 finger Piano Songs - Easy Tunes for complete beginners. 

If you found this useful, feel free to support my efforts and Buy Me A Coffee! 

Further Reading

• When will my child be ready for the grade 1 exam? [Mypianoteacher blog]

Advanced Piano Sight Reading Tips: for exams, playing, or learning a new piece

Alan Dorn performing Liszt's virtuosic Mazeppa

Following the previous post 8 Essential Piano Sight Reading Tips: for exams or learning a new piece, I am pleased to disseminate some tips from pianist Alan Dorn, LRSM, (Licentiate Royal Schools of Music in piano performance). Alan's skills at learning new pieces enabled him to rapidly prepare for the FRSM - the highest diploma level of piano performance. Here are his tips: 

• If possible, have a quick ‘skim read’ of the whole piece before you start playing.  This helps you grade the dynamics, understand climactic points, set the right tempo etc.  Otherwise you can start off playing crotchets at 160 and then suddenly see some semiquavers!
• If you are struggling to play all the notes, make sure of the melody and the bass.
• Try and look as far ahead as possible.  Sight reading is basically looking ahead and memorising a short chunk, then playing this while memorising the next chunk.
• Playing a difficult bit through on the surface of the keys (ie without sounding the notes) before you start can be helpful. 
• Practice hearing the music in your mind before you play – then compare with the actual sound and see how you did.
•  Trade-off between tempo and playability – it’s probably better to give a good performance at half-speed than half a performance up to tempo (?)
• Articulation – don’t forget to play legato/staccato etc as indicated.
• Phrasing – try to read phrase-by-phrase rather than note-by-note so you can play musically.
• Voicing – don’t forget to bring out the melody.
• Tone quality – even though you’re sight-reading, try to play with a full tone.
• Poise – don’t make it obvious that you’re unsure about the notes – play as if you’re very confident.
•  Rhythm – don’t play like a metronome – use rhythmic accents to bring the music across.
• Practice reading chords so you can read them as quickly as single notes.

How to play Rachmaninov's Prelude in G Minor: tutorials, tips, masterclasses Opus 23 No.5

Overview 
 The Opus 23 preludes were dedicated to Rachmaninov's first cousin,  Alexander Siloti, and musicologist James Frazier notes that they owe much of their style to the second piano concerto (especially in the luscious B section).  Ashkenazy on the preludes: they contain  “an unmistakable Russian intensity, strong lyrical melodies, and changes of character that range from sublime sweetness to passionate virtuosity.”
Thailand based British expatriate pianist Paul Barton adds, that you get all these attributes in one go with the G minor prelude. In Paul's Youtube tutorial he describes the G minor prelude as a Paradox like so much of Rachminov's music - it's about staying in control while letting go at the same time; the immense technical challenge of playing the notes vs. at time soaring, passionate music, seeming desperate to escape from them. Written in 1901,  this prelude is second in  popularity to the C Sharp minor (opus 3) Prelude but Paul is convinced that popularity of the G minor is increasing.  Paul has clearly read Angela Glover's work and quotes from legendary pianist Josef Hoffman - anyone who could write this (prelude) must be noble.  Paul describes the form of this prelude like a Classical Rondo with A-B-Transition-A form and  the character of the 'B' section as ephereal, poignant with a Spanish flavour and feels like an improvisation [Thiollier].


Paul Barton's tutorial and tips of how to practice and play the G Minor Prelude


Excerpt of Paul Barton's tips:

• First learn the notes. Try to resist playing at full speed to keep the musical ideas and enthusiasm fresh.
• Avoid any tension in your arms, shoulders and wrists
• Section A - Play Chords and Change Position [3:00] Play the first chord in any group which is repeated. Play it once so avoid repeating them first of all (rather than 3 times as indicated), in order to make the shape of the chords and to be able to change position, 
• It's a great piece to work and focus on,  you can work on chords in one section then appegios in another.
• Middle section or 'B Section' which creates a 'trio effect' - overemphasize in your practice the countermelody (so you can bring this out later) [10:30]
• There are no pedal markings indicated in the score (so you'll need to balance the clarity of the melody in relation to the staccato chords)
• In the B section, if you can't reach all the notes as Rachmaninov had extremely large hands, drop a note but retain those notes in the chord that retains the best colour.

Rachmaninov plays the G Minor prelude himself - notice how he gives equal emphasis to the thick chords in Section B (as opposed to bringing out the fifth finger top melody line)




Paul Barton's favourite performance of the G Minor Prelude is by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Further resources

• An Annotated Catalogue of the Major Piano Works of Sergei Rachmaninoff [Chapter 8 Preludes], Angela Glover, Florida State University 
• John Bell Young masterclass Part 1 of 2 (Youtube) filmed at the Univerisity of Florida, Tampa.
• Sheet Music (IMSLP)
• "Ten Preludes, Opus 23", Rachmaninov -  Earl Wilde CD Notes by James E Frazier, P 15, 2008 

How to play Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu C# Minor: analysis, tips, masterclasses Opus 66

Chopin's Fantasie (or Fantasy) Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor Opus 66 is one of the most popular pieces for grade 8 and above musicians to play. In order to play this piece effectively I have found the most suitable
masterclasses and tutorials from youtube and summarised them.

Firstly, Paul Barton gives the background, inspiration and form of  the Fantasie Impromptu, and inspiration from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Moschelles.


Paul Barton Tutorial summary

Introduction, analysis, origin and influence of the Fantasie Impromptu C#m  [0:00 to 6:12]

• The term Impromptu was first used by a musical publisher in 1817, so a Romantic period invention, and can be defined as freestyle. 
• Fantasie Impromptu is in ternary form - or A-B-A.
• Chopin didn't publish it in his lifetime
• The fantasie impromptu has a lot of similarity, therefore likely to be inspired from Moscheles' Impromptu in Eb [2:30] (similar in character and tempo, and form) and third movement of the Moonlight Sonata [3:00] (similar in key - C#m and form) with one of the same runs.

Paul Barton's Practical tips (excerpt) [6:12 to End]

• The right hand plays semiquavers against triplets in the left hand, if you have trouble fitting the notes together, Paul suggests accenting the notes that fall on the beats and the other notes will fall in place.
• Play all the notes legato, clearly and even as you can, which takes lots of slow practice and try not to overpedal.

Katsaris Masterclass
In 1992, French Pianist Katsaris, first Prize winner of the  International Cziffra Competition 1974,  gives a masterclass on the Fantasie Impromptu for Japan's NHK TV (part 1 of 4)


Katsaris Masterclass Summary Part 1: 

• Impromptu is defined as unexpected or improvised, the piece is an elaborated improvisation [and should be played as such.]
• The fast right hand melody is in two groupings of semiquavers (cut common time) so you could practice analytically and slowly the right hand melody dotted crotched (dotted 1/4 note) to build up speed.
• Mood of the piece: The piece should be played more feverish, trembling, like leaves and trees in the forest quivering and trembling. 4 notes in the right hand against 3 notes in the left hand.  Think of a whispering wind blowing. 
• Broken chords with accents: Play into the In this section, play the piano deeply (more weight) where the accented melody is especially when the thumbs play on the accent marks. Play them as chords to find the right balance with the thumb on the accent marks. Take time between the long phrases (this is demonstrated in part 2) by waiting a little bit at the end of each phrase. You can think of a bell sound effect for the accents. 

Katsaris Masterclass Part 2: 




Katsaris Masterclass Part 2 Summary: 

• Turn your hand into the direction of the accented notes, in effect adding more weight to the accented note. Practice the accented note repeating it four times. 
• Different colours in these phrases and this section - think that you are on a horse which runs in the wood, and your beautiful long hair is against the wind. So in effect a feeling of total freedom. [2:50] and at the end of this bridge, play pp pianisimo, to create a nice transition effect (perhaps a calming of the storm)

Katsaris Masterclass Part 3: 




Katsaris Masterclass Part 3 Summary: 

• When Chopin played the same piece two or more times, or a repeating section, he liked to play it in different ways. So you can try with pedal and without pedal, which creates a different colour.
• Or play a little bit slower
• Some of the colouristic emotions you encounter in this section are: lamentations - which becomes revulsion which becomes anger (end of the section), [hmm sounds a bit like the Yoda mantra!] add weight in the keyboard.
  Section B - Major Key [5:30] - Largo and Moderato Cantabile Section
• The new colour effect is a sunny spell as it's in a major key. It's a new sound world.
• Communicate the emotion but same time reserved, but it must always sing, each finger sings, think of the Bel Canto. Sing, even if it's not forte, sing.
• Listen to the sound, control the sound, use the ear to control the sound (right hand melody).
• Be aware of the tenor countermelody, [8:00] and also remember to make these sing.
• Think of a little secret, something you haven't told anyone, communicate this here.
• Bring out the following colours: Hope [9:30], delicacy and elegance.

Katsaris Masterclass Part 4: 



Katsaris Masterclass Part 4 Summary: 
Section B - Major Key [5:30] - Largo and Moderato Cantabile Section (continued)

• Colouristic effects: Abandon yourself [1:15]  
• In the pp pianisimo sections think of a 'telling your secret' motif as mentioned earlier.
• Each note must sing with phrasing, think of the bel canto, or even a violin to make the piano sing and sound more than a mere percussion instrument [5:05 - comparison with Chopin Ballade #1 in G minor]

Finale - A Section [5:40]

• When restarting the finale A section, start PP pianisimo not very fast and without much pedal. So in effect you are carrying over the mood and pianisimo effect from section B.
• Think of the leaves trembling but in the night, not loud, very light. 
• Bars 116, 117 and 118 Accent on the little finger, the upper part (right hand)
• [7:42] Tortured and Suffering [bars 119-122]
• Bars 130-137 Melancholic remembrance - phrase melody,  pianisimo and singing which dies and becomes almost nothing.

Further Resources

• Alternative versions: Final version that the most performed version of the Fantasie Impromptu in C#m is the first draft, here Artur Rubinstein plays the final version which has differences

• Video tutorials from the Arioso7 blog
• Sheet Music  (IMSLP)
• Fundamentals of Piano Practice (Chuan C Chang) Fantasie Impromptu  Practice tips (page 61-63) 

Tame those nerves! 9 Ways to Prepare for a Piano performance or exam

Virtuoso Horowitz, also suffered from nerves (pic: lastfm)

How can we prepare ourselves so that we won't be too nervous on the performance day? Performance is not only a mental game, it's a way of life. Therefore to succeed you need to be prepared mentally as well as physically (technically). Remember even the great pianists Glenn Gould and Horowitz got nervous too, and even shied away for years from performing four times according to the New York Times.

1. Play for friends and family. Use every opportunity you can to play your pieces, see how you cope under pressure. You'll highlight any technical difficulties in your piece. If you can, record it and listen or watch back. Where did I hesitate? Were there any memory slips? What could make it sound better.
2. Record yourself on Video or Youtube you'd want to get your recording perfect, so this is also another excellent preparation technique. You can also observe your performance - your body language and posture (observe also how tense are your shoulders, arms and hands?) You can also ask piano enthusiasts from the youtube audience, your previous and current teachers,  to evaluate your performance.
3. On the day: Play through the pieces at least once, this will boost your confidence and reinforce the muscle memory.  
4. Relax - have a bath the night before, listen to some soothing music and calm the mind, ensure you don't schedule any other stressful event or task during the day or days preceding  the performance.
5. Practice, practice, practice intensively, but don't burn out. Knowing that you've done the 'donkey work' in advance will boost your confidence. You shouldn't then be too worried about making technical errors, because all the hard work has been done.
6. Get a good night's sleep. A good night's sleep the night before isn't enough, make sure you have consistent good sleep 3 days before.
7. Try out the piano and venue! If you are able to, get access to the venue beforehand, either before the performance starts to rehearse through your pieces. If it's a music festival and the competitors and ajudicators haven't arrived, why not try out the piano - as long as this is permitted just to see the touch response of the piano. This will enable you time to get used to the piano and feel more comfortable in the performing environment. 
8. Visualise success, great athletes do it, so should you. First of all, recall try a successful previous performance that went well, remember how you felt and what made it such a great performance. Apply those memories and imagine you will be giving your next best performance. In your visualisation, implant positive thoughts,  that you're in total control, relaxed and focused.  
9. When you perform, or are just about to - focus on the musical feeling and mood you wish to convey, just before you perform. Eliminate any doubts, focus on the positive, what you can do well and how you'll communicate with your audience.

Master Piano Technique: Pearly Sound - a lesson from Utah

Utah's Josh Wright has some great piano tutorials for advanced pianists on Youtube. For such a young pianist he is very aware of technique and getting a great sound. In this Youtube tutorial, Josh discusses Pearly sound. Josh's inspiration's for this Pearly Sound is the playing of pianist Murray Perahia.  I think this term is fairly common in North America, I don't hear this term used in the UK that often, only by my previous Canadian teacher postgraduate from the Royal Academy of Music.

 Josh defines Pearly Sound as a light, clear, beautiful, fleeting sound as opposed to a heavy and muddy sound. Josh demonstrates this concept with a Chopin nocturne, and illustrates the difference and technical approach to achieve Pearly Sound. Enjoy, practise and share!

7 Tips to play Stephen Foster's Camptown Races [ABRSM grade 1 piano]

Those of you who have seen The King's Speech, will in no doubt recognise the Stephen Foster's American folk song Camptown Races, which the King sings in order to overcome his speech impediment.

Photo: Camptown Races [Credit: jimmywayne (Flickr)]

My 5 year old daughter is learning the piece, which is on the Associated Board Royal Schools of Music [ABRSM] Grade 1 piano repertoire list.






So I include tips of best practice to help you with this piece:


1) This is a folk song afteral, so Get a feel for the character with this Johnny Cash video:


2) Understand the piece - read it's background and lyrics on Wikipedia.
3) Pentatonic scale - the key is Gb - let's immediately reduce the complexity by knowing that all notes in this piece will fall on black notes.
4) Rhythm - this is the most complex aspect of the song. Break the piece into quavers (4 in a bar)  instead of counting in crotchets.
5) Coordination: Make sure you know each hand separately in the correct rhythm
before joining the two hands together.
6) Staccato - make it Bouncy: have a bouncy sound for the staccato elements - make sure you have light relaxed wrists and curved fingers on the black notes (no flat fingers)
7) Marcato section - in the bass clef. This needs to be a different and strong character, I get my daughter to play it imagining singing "I'm the Big Bad Wolf" to this particular phrase.

Here's Alan Chan (no relation) on Youtube performing the piece. My observations and improvements of his performance below.
I think Alan plays the piece fairly well with a good tempo, to improve - perhaps more lighter touch, more dynamic contrast, and the rhythm needs to be tighter at the end.

Here's an excellent and faultless  performance of the piece by PianoPalace on Youtube: .


Good luck, it's a tricky piece!

12 practical ideas for piano practice

1) Practice slowly, with "emotional content"
Rachmaninoff advocated slow practice, so should you! I used to think practicing slowly was just a mechanical routine, and dreaded the shear tedium of it. Violinist Mansoon Bow advocates slow practice but with the same musical feeling as if you were playing normal speed. Remember also to practice in the correct rhythm, you may need to get out your metronome at a very slow speed.

Tiger Mother supervising piano practice of up to 2 hours a day

2) Aim for tension free practice
In the course of your practice or playing at normal speed, you feel tension, tightness in your forearm or hands, it's time to stop. Practice the passage that you had tension over again but this time slowly and in the most naturally relaxed way you can without compromising tone quality. You'll need to get creative and experiment with your movements until it feels so natural and relaxed. Also remember, it's not just your fingers, hands and arms that may have the tightness, it's also the shoulders, back and posture which might need alteration too. Suppleness in the wrist helps with pivoting and staccato. Listen to the difference in sound when you feel tense and when you are relaxed, it should be a much better sound!

3) Hands Separately - too often we're so eager to play a piece we play hands together at the detriment of our individual hands playing optimally. We also focus too much on our right hand and forget the supporting, yet equally important harmony progressions of the left hand. Again, practicing mechanically won't help, look for the harmonic progresssions and any countermelodies.

4) Voice by voice - also known as the SATB - soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. Sometimes there are surprising yet delightful countermelodies and counterpart melodies to discover!

5) Dancing fingers/hands:
Much as we gesticulate and express emotions and thoughts with our arms and hands; on the piano, feel the mood of the piece in your fingers. If it's a lively piece, make your fingers dance, in other words
your fingers take on the character of the piece.

6) Bring out the direction of the melody - listen to a recording of the piece, and make sure
you understand where the emphasis is, and where the music is going to. Remember to arrive there and not get interrupted by lag or where a problematic technical area slows you down! Crescendos and decrescendos also create a flow, shape, and direction to the music.


7) Analytic Practice
Sometimes a piece may be so challenging you'll really have to break it down and perfect the smallest of atoms and work your way up to as you construct the piece with your hands.

8) Incremental Approach in a new challenging piece with a technical obstacle, don't get frustrated, 10 minutes a day on a problematic area will yield great results by the end of the week, you'll soon find you'll improve in no time!

Practice tips  9-12 form an analytic and incremental approach.

9) Note by Note - for very tricky passages, when there are lots of accidentals, unusual harmonies or quite thick chords, use this method. You'll need this approach if you are consistently playing a succession of wrong notes in a passage. This method helps you recognise each note and will compel you to think about what fingering you will use. Remember to use the most natural and efficient fingering possible.

10) Bar by Bar - set yourself a daily target to learn x many bars every day. It's quite a good way to see how far you are progressing, and before you know it, you're ready to join the bars into a musical phrase.

Schumann Carnival Characters

11) Characterisations - Phrase by Phrase - musical phrases are like speech, different characters making different statements and interjections, think of the dual characters in Schumann's music - Eusebius and Florestan, the inward and reflective character and the latter outgoing and boisterous. In the music of Beethoven there are masculine and feminine conversations occurring all the time, think of all the unrequited love and frustrations Beethoven experienced, as he fell in love with his female students of a much higher social class.


12) Section by Section - remember also to practice how you'll end one section and start another. Afteral, they are not separate pieces in their own right! In other words, make sure you join the dots!

Hopefully these practice tips will get you started if you feel stuck or require a fresh approach to practicing.
Feel free to comment and add your ideas to this blog!

Entendre la différence! Hear the Difference! Active Listening (Aural Masterclass 1)

Piano pedagogue Sylvia Yee recommends developing active listening. And I agree that
one should always strive to develop a finer ear, which will inevitably benefit your playing. Afteral, if you can't hear the difference in nuances, you will not be able to play the difference! So listen to the same piece performed by different pianists. And here is where active listening comes in.

For this explorative excercise, I've chosen the Beethoven Opus 13 in C Minor Pathetique Sonata - adagio cantabile performed by 3 different master pianists (Glenn Gould, Wilhelm Kempff, and Vladimir Horowitz).
You can either listen to a segment if you really want to focus on a piece (say 30 seconds) or the entire piece.


Glenn Gould

Stage 1 Listening
1) Listen generally without any preconceptions. Make notes of what you think about the music.
2) Listen to the melody line, usually in the soprano line
3) Listen to the bass
4) Compare the dynamics - loudness and softness of the piece. Also listen to crescendos and decrescendos. Does the performer build up to a climax effectively?
5) Character of the piece? What is the essential character of the piece. Is it one of playfulness or humour, or sadness and longing?

Stage II Listening

5) listen to the sensitivity or emotional content of the piece - is there a central theme to the feeling evoked in the piece?

6) What's the tempo like or pacing. Does the pianist employ rubato (ebb and flow) effectively?

7) Phrasing - listen to the musical phrases, just like musical sentences. How do they differ? Are they very legato or very short. Do the phrases connect to each other and transition to other phrases to evoke a cohesive  

story? How are they different, what is the difference?

Wilhelm Kempff

Stage III Listening

8) Colour/Color - using harmony - or different chords create color, how the pianist brings out these textures creates mood or sound colour. 

9) Context, now compare this piece to other similar pieces by the same composer or another composer. For example for Nocturnes, you could not only listen to other Chopin nocturnes, but also listen to John Field and Poulenc's nocturnes

10) Artistic license: What is the pianist doing to bring out his own unique style or playing into the music. Does it sound Glenn Gould, for instance, sound like he's playing Beethoven in the style of Bach?  

Vladimir Horowitz

8 creative ways to practice away from the piano keyboard (or any musical instrument)

I'm a great proponent of living, breathing and inhabiting the music you are playing. If you are getting in a rut in your practice routine, perhaps you're trying too hard. It's time to recreate the music through other perspectives.

SEEK INSPIRATION
1. Listen to a master - find a recording of the great interpreters of your chosen piece/composer (Barenboim for Beethoven, Rubinstein for Chopin, etc.) and hear their recording. You can hear recordings on youtube, download for purchase, or even borrow it from your local library if they have it.
2. Watch a recording or live performance
Youtube is a treasure trove of recordings of the great pianists performing pieces you are probably studying.
3. Summon the composer - Watch a biopic, documentary or drama based on the composer. You'll find it brings to life the music if you understand more about the composer's life, as so much of the music reflects the personality and life events of the composer. Perhaps - has the piece itself been featured in a film -  if so, what emotions does it depict in the film? Find out for instance, from the IMDB database which Chopin pieces featured in popular film.

INTERNALISE THE PIECE AND MAKE IT YOUR OWN
4. Make it your own: Hum/Sing the piece from memory. Robert Schumann says:

• It is not only necessary that you should be able to play your pieces on the instrument, but you should also be able to hum the air without the piano. Strengthen your imagination so, that you may not only retain the melody of a composition, but even the harmony which belongs to it  (Advice to Young Musicians, R.Schumann)

5. Visualise yourself playing the piece with your inner hearing
This is one of the best ways to make a piece more musical. You will probably start creating and formulating musical phrases you may have missed in your practice.
6. Make up words or phrases to accompany the music you are playing. Especially make up words that fit the mood of the piece.

THINK THEREFORE YOU ARE
7. Analyse the score
Look at the dynamics, think about how you are playing the piece, are there any details that you are missing? Are you being faithful to the score. Read all the markings, indications, etc. What are the passages that you have difficulty memorising and break down the section you find most difficult.

STRENGTHEN YOUR FINGERS
8. Finger practice on the piano foreboard or a table. You can strengthen your fingers and make sure you hand is not getting tense (with webbing of the hand)and that your finger joints don't collapse, also focus on a relaxed tapping of the fingers.