Virtuoso Piano Paraphrase: Schulz-Elver (Strauss) on The Blue Danube Waltz

Johann Strauss II composed the eternal Blue Danube Waltz in 1866. Half a century later, Polish Composer Adolph Schulz-Ever (1852-1905), paraphrased the music which became his best loved work,  in arabesque style. An arabesque is a composition in the "Arab" style, much like Schumann and Debussy's arabesque compositions. Schulz-Evler studied at the Polish Conservatoire under Carl Tausig and the paraphrase was published in 1900 and 1906.  The sheet music can be found here on the IMSLP website.

Adolph Schulz-Evler

I must have first heard Schulz-Evler Arabesques on J. Strauss The Blue Danube Waltz (An der schönen blauen Donau) on the Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century CD collection performed by Earl Wilde.

Here, legendary pianist Earl Wilde performs the Schulz Evler paraphrase - or Arabesques on J. Strauss The Blue Danube Waltz (audio only).


Here's legendary pianist Marc Andre Hamelin (who can play just about any virtuosic composer!) performing the same Schulz Elver paraphrase - or Arabesques on J. Strauss The Blue Danube Waltz

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!

Piano comeback: more popular than ever, 40 million Chinese swear by it!

A country of pianists!
In a recent article popular Chinese pianist Lang Lang has been credited for inspiring 40 million Chinese to study the piano and in 2009 featured as one of Time Magazine's Top 100 influential people..
To put that number in context, the population of the UK is approximately 62 million, and Poland is just over 38 million. And with such a talent pool of pianists to choose from, it's no wonder the next issue of International Piano Magazine features "the Chinese are coming" profiling the superstar pianists of today Yundi Li, Yuja Wang.




Piano - the king of all instruments
Furthermore, among musical instruments,  the piano is the most popular instrument (Ex UK) according to
the ABRSM, (the Associated Board Royal Schools of Music, the international UK based exam body that sets the exam standards for Grades 1-8 in most musical instruments from the harp, violin, voice, and piano) In 2009, ABRSM received 150,268 entries for piano exams, 92,773 for music theory and this compares with the next popular instrument, the violin with 19,449 exam entries. Harpsichord was the least popular instrument with a mere 2 entries!

101 Pianists rehearsing  (source: langlang foundation)

Why is Piano the most popular? 
Pianos and their popular digital piano/keyboard counterparts can suit all budgets. It's probably chosen over the second most popular instrument - the violin because you can easily make a sound with the piano with the fingers from day 1. With the violin, the technique is immensely difficult in the initial year to produce a pleasant sound. Pianos can represent and simulate all orchestral sound ranges, textures, and effects: percussive timpanis to legato cellos, and violin pizzicato (through staccato). The repertoire is so wide ranging from jazz, blues, ragtime, pop, classical and  composers Michael Nyman, Gershwin, to Beethoven.

Start clocking  your 10,000 hours now
In Chinese communities, it is recognised that being good at the piano requires discipline, dedication, hard work and perseverance.  In other words, Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 rule applies - this theory says in order to be an expert and the top of the game in any discipline whether drama, golf, or piano you need to put in about 10,000 hours. This hard work and dedication, the parents believe will translate into other areas of their life, like their academic and later work life. Chinese culture believes this hard work leads to success in later life. In today's society, it's so easy for children to get into a couch potato routine watching TV,  playing computer games all day. And with every endeavor, it's not just quantity but quality of practice.

So if you really want to be the best at the piano or anything in life, start practicing now, make it a routine, make it your life!

Piano's Funniest Moments 4: Beethoven Fur Elise Beatbox

I've been following the Daily Beethoven blog and discovered his link to the Beethoven Fur Elise Beatbox by Japanese beatboxer Hiraku Kaihatsu, and I must say it's amazing. I grew up in San Francisco in the mid 1980s when the Fat Boys, LL Cool J,  Slick Rick, Egyptian Lover rappers were at their prime, so I do appreciate the artform.

The Fur Elise is perhaps one of the most popular piano pieces, some may say overplayed (mobile phone ringtones, etc), but I think this video will make you appreciate it more even if you've become sick of it!