Piano!!

[biryani]

Anyone out there who plays piano as a hobby? If so, please tell me about it!

I like that concerto! I like Saint-saens - just that little bit more wacky and energetic. I briefly looked at Liszt's transcript of his Danse Macabre but it's beyond me ... I have no experience with concertos. Where do you find the orchestra!?

The other thing that is beyond me that I dream about is Schubert's Fantasia in F minor for 4 hands.

Would just also like to add that the RNCM have free entry to matinee/lunch time recitals and concerts. Not necessarily the big names but all really good musicians. Me and dd are regulars.

Me! Started less than 2 years ago self taught to begin with but got proper lessons a year ago. It has become my passion. Practice is what I spend spare time on if I get it.

What sort of music do you play?
Anything. Mixture of film music - namely Craig Armstrong pieces from Romeo and Juliet and Love Actually. Currently practising the grade 5 pieces which are ready now.
Learning Mozart Piano sonata in C to practise trilling. Baroque and classical are certainly not my forte but I want to learn to be an all rounder.

Why?
Because I want to. So satisfying to learn a piece and be able to play it in its entirety. I also enjoy playing scales.

What sort of standard are do you think you''re at?
Tutor tells me that I could easily pass grade 5, I am currently preparing for the exam in spring. This is the same person who a year ago before giving me lessons told me that I should play the pieces that my 4 year old daughter is learning "just as an exercise".

Are you working towards any grades? Yes see above.

How much time do you spend practising? Aim for a minimum of an hour a day. Most days, I can probably accumulate 2 if I sneak practice in between jobs.

Do you play in public? I've done one student concert but I'm wary. I've played quietly at the piano in St Pancras station.

Do you have a musical background?
Violin grade 1 from the 80s. I was truamatised by the exam experience and didn't want to do any more exams.

Do you play with others?
No

Are you in a position to turn music into a living, and if so, how?
Realistically no. There are plenty better qualified myself. I don't think I can even switch from being a maths teacher to a music one as students will easily out achieve me. Still haven't done grade 5 theory yet and that's equivalent to GCSE.

Etc. Thanks for replying,

You can learn to play by ear, I have.

I play at about grade 6 standard, piano is my 3rd and least favourite instrument. I do play in a band and sometimes play piano with them. I was a slave to the dots, but the more i've played with others, the better I've got at playing by ear. It is a massive mental hurdle to get over though.

[bump]

What is everyone playing this week?

Oops, just seen recent messages. How did you get to play by ear, Nacster? I have thought about buying myself the Real Book but I think that's just another way of relying on dots.

Those who are good at sight reading, what sort of advice can you offer for sight reading well? I think mine is only at grade 3 or grade 4 standard at a push. I watched a video on the AB website today where the candidate doing a grade 5 sight reading test only scored a pass but to me it sounded very secure and musical. I misjudged it for distinction! I've worked through the grade 3,4 and 5 specimen tests and I'm struggling with the grade 5 but I need to improve by spring!

wallison Practice, practice, practice! Also playing with other people (in a jam situation) and not being scared to play bum notes.

Also, I have a good grounding in theory, which helps - you can often guess what's coming next.

ABRSM do a jazz from scratch book that teaches improvisation - comes with a CD. EVen if you're not into jazz, it's a great book.

WRT sight reading - practice, practice, practice. I pick up a lot of old books in charity shops etc. And the most important thing, IMO, is a good sense of pulse and rhythm. Getting all the elements in - pulse, rhythm, dynamics, tempo - will get you loads of marks before you even think about the melody! Again with the theory, too, if you can spot what a chord is without having to work out the individual notes (not just tonic/ root chords, but inversions and 7ths etc) that speeds up the process.

Tangent, but I hate the artificial divisions in the exam syllabuses. Theory is so important, even for people who play by ear (not necessarily written theory, but chord progressions, inversions, all that stuff) that it should not be seen as some box-ticking exercise. Similarly, sight-reading - IMO written music is not sacred or special. It's just shorthand. The more you practice, the better you get at doing it. It's not innate, or something you can pick up in 5 minutes at the end of your lesson once a week.

A piano thread!!!

I had lessons from 9-18, just beyond grade 8. Used to be fairly decent and played at school concerts, and was regularly dragged out by parents to entertain when their friends came round.

Favourite pieces are Chopin's Waltz in C# minor and Bartok's Ostinato - I played this once in a piano shop (to "test" their lovely Steinway) and when I finished realised a crowd had gathered!!

Only have a keyboard now unfortunately. Can't really play by ear apart from very simple nursery rhymes for DD.

When we buy a house (whenever that is!!!) I'm going to insist on a music room!

Hello!

wallison I'm playing Grieg's March of the dwarves/trolls. Guaranteed to drive neighbours potty... So much fun though. Am contemplating the Beethoven's moonlight sonata - the third movement. Imagine being able to play that...

I'm no good at playing by ear. But what I'm going to do is to learn to memorise pieces. Does anyone play from memory much?

Sightreading: I used to be good at it, about 20 years ago. Practice, I think. And winging it. The show must go on, even over the dead bodies of wrong notes.

Uptoapoint I can still play a few pieces by memory (one of them is one of my Grade 5 exam piece from 1987 whose title I have long forgotten ).

I find though that my muscle memory is still there even if it takes a bit of digging, which means I can still play some pieces fairly competently after playing through slowly a few times.

As for the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata - if you're prepared to do a lot of hard work, go for it! When I was learning it I used to do it by sections and separate hands, and used to spend hours at it. Worth it though, the opening bars are spectacular and the rest is brilliant.

I have dreams of playing the Rondo of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata but the trills, left hand parts and general speed are too terrifying!!

fflonki I may well go for it. Have you tried the "rage over a lost penny" one? I quite fancy that too, and that looks much more achievable.

Uptoapoint no not tried that but doesn't look too bad, lots of nice repetitions

Also quite like the one in D minor, I remember playing that loads.

Good luck with the 3rd movement of the Moonlight! I remember playing it quite well once (or so I thought), and moments later it came on the telly as the music for a gymnastic routine of some sort. After the routine ended my cousin, who was staying, looked at me thoughtfully and said, "so THAT'S how it's meant to sound"!! Gahhhhh

LOL and at cousin.

I always think I'm doing rather well until I record myself.

Anyone had a look at Pianostreet? Great for debating the finer points of piano playing. Good stuff there about Moonlight movt. 3.