Does anyone fancy a piano chat thread?

[LemonViolet]

I’m awaiting delivery of a new piano, squeee!!! I haven’t played regularly for 20 years. I got to grade 6 as a teen, failed grade 7, carried on tinkering for a bit but have not really lived anywhere with a piano since age 18 so am well out of practice.

Whilst I hope/plan to put a baby grand in our front room, once it is done up - which may be some time - at the weekend I just realised, what am I waiting for, I want a digital anyways for playing at less sociable hours, so went ahead and ordered myself a nice Kawai digital and it arrives on Friday!!!

There’s a music chat thread on the extracurricular board but that’s more parents discussing their offsprings’ exploits, I have seen on the music board it’s quite pianissimo but there clearly are other grown up women around here playing/learning/relearning piano for our own pleasure, entertainment, therapy etc! So thought I’d post to see if anyone else is interested in hanging out on a piano thread to chat about our piano journeys, successes and failures, pieces we like, what we’re practicing etc?

It could be called the piano bar or the pianist beaker, seeing as this is MN

If there is one I’ve just failed to find, please point me in that direction.

I reckon the reason why Chopin is so tricky is because he was something of a show-off and he composed for his own ability (which apparently was pretty prodigious).

He composed to impress on a solo instrument.

[quote LilaGrace]@LemonViolet they're pretty good at replying- not sure how they're staffed over the weekends but I'm sure you'll get a reply on Monday if not before. [/quote]
Yes you will, it's Jenny mainly that does their office admin.

@LemonViolet if you book Florian Mitrea in September, the 4-6 intermediate, I'll see you there 😀

@LilaGrace that room is Kilndown :). The bathroom is magnificent, the bath is an utter luxury. I dragged one of the bedside tables in there and had a bath-side table for my prosecco lol.

They have a lovely selection of PG Wodehouse too for you to borrow. There is a music library outside so if you fancy something you haven't brought you can be sure to find it.

Is someone on here doing music theory ? If so how are you studying ? I want to move on and challenge myself to finish my grades but I didn't do my G5 theory although I learnt the G6 repertoire in 1994

A bit about dress code :

Day wear is jeans, jumpers etc
Evening most people were wearing elegant casual - casual dresses, separates. The people I was with were mainly young retired professionals - a headteacher, a microbiologist, a yoga instructor amongst others. I'm 45 and was the youngest but 1 who was also 40s. The conversation around dinner was really interesting. The owners joined us for dinner along with the tutor. The food is simply divine.

When you're travelling there, if you have time to kill then Scotney Castle is beautiful. Also highly recommend The Vine at Lamberhurst if you arrive a bit early. I'm fairly local in Hastings but people had travelled a long way.

Oh and another tip - there's nowhere to buy any drinks so if you like a little getting-ready tipple take something. I took some canned G&T and a bottle of wine, they put a bottle opener and glasses in my room.

DONT DONT DONT DONT pack a massive great heavy suitcases, even the second floor bedrooms are like climbing Mount Everest. Pack light !

Having said about booze, they honestly pour it like water all through dinner and the pre dinner concerts so you certainly will have plenty to drink ! You couldn't drink it fast enough haha.

@absolutelynotfabulous yes he certainly was a genius
@DaphneDeloresMoorhead what about a local college or sixth former who wants to earn some extra money? One of the choirs I belonged to before lockdown was led by an a level music student ( now an Oxford uni organ scholar!) gave private lessons. I did a level music and it was my main subject at teacher training college back in the 70’s but if I wanted to take grade 8 I think I’d have to retake the grade 5 theory.
I’m happy to help you with any theory queries you have

Yes, Chopin was a show off and composed to showcase how clever/talented he was my question is why are we all so obsessed with his works?!? There’s not many other composers where I legit would love to spend my life working through learning everything they ever wrote. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a Chopin piece and thought, nah, don’t like it. (Nah, too hard, all the time 😂)

@Knittingnanny the ABRSM graded pianoforte studies, there are 2 series so 2 books for each grade.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I don’t know about actually doing an exam, if I did it would be a performance exam, so 4 pieces rather that bother with aural and scales and sight reading. Grade 5 would be the right level for me at the moment I think. I am thinking of working on pieces from the syllabus just to get a feel and keep my options open if I did fancy setting myself the challenge. With the performance grades you still do one piece from lists A, B and C, and also a fourth piece from any list or free choice same standard or above. From looking at the music/few videos on YouTube I quite like the Handel, Bach, Beethoven and Haydn from list A; Tchaikovsky, Heller and Pachulski from list B (and would have to do the Heller I think, I’m a bit obsessed with Heller). List C I find less appealing overall. The Prokofiev probably. The Rollin “Love Theme” you’ve chosen is a nice piece as well though.

May have just set myself a syllabus to work through for the next few months there….!

my question is why are we all so obsessed with his works?!?

Because it's beautiful, expressive, lyrical and technically dazzling

@DaphneDeloresMoorhead I'm doing theory, yes. I started a couple of months ago refreshing myself with the grade 2 and 3 theory books (bought 2 different types per grade from ABRSM) and the answer books and also used the great phone app. Recently finished all the grade 4 work and took the grade 4 theory exam 2 weeks ago. Awaiting the result which I should get on 16 October. Now working towards grade 5 and aiming to finish all the grade 5 work by the last weekend on October when I go to Finchcocks for the grade 5 theory course there. Relearning the theory has been fantastic for my playing, scales, everything. I'd really recommend it. I've taught it all to myself so it hasn't taken up my lessons at all.

@DaphneDeloresMoorhead I thought the photos you sent looked like Kilndown- it's a gorgeous room! Thanks for all the info ok what to wear etc. And interesting to know who the clientele was on your course- not sure what to expect on the theory course so hope to be pleasantly surprised!

@LilaGrace how quickly do you reckon I could do my grade 5 ? Do you need to do all of them ? I know it says you need to know the material of all the grades. I git 9/10 on the little grade 5 quiz on the Abrsm website, not bad as a first attempt lol

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I'm planning to take grade 5 by the end of 2022. I haven't started working on the pieces yet- or even bought the book for that matter but will do so in the next month or so. My teacher said she thinks I'm ready to start and we're just finishing a couple of other things first. I'll get back to you when I've chosen! How are you finding the other parts needed for the exam- sight reading, scales, singing etc?
@DaphneDeloresMoorhead the theory all builds on previous grades so I guess it depends how much of the earlier theory you remember. I had a look through the books and really couldn't remember much of it from grade 2 onwards- some was fine but there were sections that I don't ever remember doing at all- though I definitely did as I found one of my old grade 4 workbooks from 30 years ago, mostly completed! I'd suggest having a look at the books- or maybe taking a mock grade 3 or 4 exam paper and seeing how you score. The papers are marked out of 75 and pretty comprehensive. I want to take grade 5 because you can't take any practical exams at grades 6,7 or 8 without grade 5 theory. So it's a necessity, but it's also been so beneficial that I'm not sorry I had to either,

I downloaded the “ABRSM Music Theory Trainer” app last night for £4-something and has a play whilst DP was watching a film I wasn’t particularly interested in. It’s a fun little app that covers grade 1-5, so far 6 “levels” on each grade with 3-5 exercises on each level which address different topics. I zipped through grades 1 & 2 but am coming a little undone on grade 3 with melodic minors, I’ve always favoured harmonics! Odd thing is I can play them fine, but dealing with the written notation is a different skill. Anyway I’d recommend the app for helping you find your level :-)

I remember back in the day working on grade 6 theory “just for fun” 😂

@LemonViolet I downloaded it too 😂

The ABRSM app is great- a really pleasing design and you can redo specific exercises if you don't feel you've got the hang of something.
@LemonViolet I struggled with the scales at grade 3 too. It made me realise that, while I might be able to play them, I couldn't automatically name all the key signatures and visualise them with relative minors etc. After working through grade 3 I feel loads more confident, it's helpful with understanding how a key change mid-piece works etc too.

@LilaGrace, I haven’t even started on the aural - I bought the ABRSM aural training book and CD a couple of years ago, but never got down to it.

Scales need work, but in a more organised, specifically targeted way than the haphazard method I’ve used before.

My sight reading is miles better than it was a few years ago, but how it’d fare under exam conditions I wouldn’t like to say. However I have stacks of previously unplayed music, so plenty of practice material. As the piano tuner said when I’d only recently taken the piano up again and my SR was almost non existent, ‘Just get a lot of music and play it - don’t worry about wrong notes - just keep going with unfamiliar pieces.’

I found the Read and Play series (2nd hand on Amazon) very helpful at first. IIRC they’re out of print now, but the books went from absolute beginner to G8 standard. Helpful notes for each piece in the first sections of the books.

I’m using the Czerny stuff that came with my new piano as sight reading and exercise. They don’t interest me as nice pieces to learn so making use of them in another way.
Mozart K333 came on classic fm yesterday and my husband recognised it from hearing me practising it so that was good to hear!
Still pressing on with rondo alla turca!
I seem to have a definite Mozart theme going on, I find it so much easier that Chopin and Beethoven. I’ve found myself drawn to another piece I must have played before, a grade 6 Brahms waltz.
Must start work on the minor scales starting on all of the black notes next. I’m only doing harmonic minors at the moment and have no recollection of doing melodic or natural. I’ve got a 1981 grade 6 exam book from eBay and they are definitely required then so I must have learned them at some point.

I think sightreading is about the only think I’ve kept going over the years, most stuff at school I was needed to play was just a quick look through 5 minutes before and bumble my way through as best I could!

@absolutelynotfabulous

No 21 is my favourite concerto of Mozart's.

Pointless factoid: my father gave me the middle name of "Elvira" after the bloody middle movement.

I've never forgiven him but the piece always reminds me of him. RIP my fantastic music-loving dad.

Elvira always reminds me of Blythe Spirit, if you aren't familiar with the play (Noel coward) she's definitely very elegant and racy so maybe a better association ?

I’ve booked Finchcocks for the Florian Mitrea Intermediate Weekend in June 2022!!!!! @LilaGrace did you say you are on that one? Thank you so much, sister pianistas, for encouraging me with all this piano love!!!

Last few days I bought myself some (more!) anthology books that contain grade 5 syllabus pieces, to explore some new stuff. The Beethoven Bagatelle in G minor is a very nice piece, and the Pachulski Prelude in C minor is lovely too. If I had to choose a grade 5 program I’d be hard pressed between the Pachulski and the Heller on list B…..maybe do both as you need a fourth piece for a performance exam, or substitute for another Heller!

Other than that I have been working on trying to get my Active Repertoire pieces “away from notation” - playing without music. Just by not looking at it so much. Does anyone have any tips on that process? I am so wedded to the music, I can sight read pretty well, I’ve never really learned anything so well before that I could play it without the music, but it’s a good challenge I think.

I've got new music coming today at the recommendation of my new piano teacher - Clementi Sonatinas, Grieg lyric pieces and Bach Little Preludes (specially for my Finchcocks Baroque weekend). Can't wait.
Been learning Nocturne 72/1 which is coming on quite nicely, I'm nearly confidently at the end of p1 of 3. It repeats a lot too so once p2 is back under my belt I'm pretty much done :). Apparently it was set for G8 a few years ago which makes me feel very pleased 😃
Printed off 20 C sharp minor last night and have been poking about on that - that will be my next Chopin Challenge.

And in other news I've discovered R3 abd classic FM....

@LemonViolet despite playing for over 55 years at varying levels and regularity I’ve never been able to play anything from memory apart from scales and arpeggios! It’s obviously not my learning style.

I’ve never learned to touch type either. I’ve probably played happy birthday thousands of times but still need need a written melody line , although I could then harmonise it ad lib
My eldest son never uses written music, he hears something and can re relate it on the piano or guitar. But he never took exams.
I’m working on Mozart sonata K333 and it’s getting there. Going to add a Beethoven sonata in to my practise schedule next as I got a book of them in a charity shop recently.
I love my piano!