Instrument players - come and chat!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

I thought we could have a thread to chat about playing! I play the piano (not as badly as I fear but not as well as I hope) and have recently tried my hand at chamber music. Would love to hear what other people are doing.

CoteDAzur Here's a picture of the instruments they used in Rameau's Dardanus.

When I was young I also dabbled in the guitar. I was going to play Albeniz's Asturias. And Recuerdos de la Alhambra. But I wasn't going to play all the dull things in between. Guess how far I got?

Ermm... My fat middle-aged fingers don't do anything but Legato when I hold down the pinky finger [blushed] but that might not be true for everyone, I guess [grin[

When I was young I also dabbled in the guitar. I was going to play Albeniz's Asturias. And Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

I mostly played Led Zeppelin and Joe Satriani!

Ha, me too. As soon as teenage years started, I turned my back on the piano and picked up the guitar: Stairway To Heaven, a bit of Deep Purple, a lot of Pink Floyd!

Hushabye I just passed my grade 2 piano, not all accomplished players on here, it's about the love of learning and music (and gazing in awe at Cote and Never discussing appoggiaturas - prefer an acciaccatura myself )

Me too MrSlant. I always felt that if you were going to have a note that long you might as well write the bloody thing out. An acciaccatura, on the other hand, is a proper ornament.

And finally my grade 8 theory from the dinosaur age has proved useful in conversation . Although I just like how the word sounds really .

It has a certain sound to it. Like how it's played. An onomatopoeia.

As for the guitar, I just pure envy my children who seem to be able to pick one up and play something recognisable! They must have a kink in the brain for stringed things.
The last time I played guitar was when I was about 11 in a school guitar club! They get the ability from their father, not me!

Welcome Hush!
MrSlant - I am deeply impressed by grade 8 theory. I did grade 5 aeons ago and find that I've forgotten almost everything. My teacher occasionally plays the 'what's that chord?' game - I stare miserably at my fingers on the fretboard before guessing mostly wrong. When I started to learn guitar I did wonder about taking grade exams again and rang Associated Board to see if they could track down my grade 5 theory pass, which they can for a small fee. Then discovered that you don't need it for Trinity exams.

Well, I had my harpsichord lesson today, where I played the Gavotte & first three Doubles to my teacher who was impressed I don't think she realized that I practiced 2-3 hours per day over the long weekend. She was like "Oh wow, this piece comes easier to you than you thought, doesn't it?"

As a result, she now expects me to do the last 2 Doubles, too You know, because it comes so easy. Ha. Right. We'll see about that!

Well done cote!

I'm out tonight with DS1 to see his old teacher play.

Nice concert last night. BIG sounds - Pictures at the exhibition.

I am definitely a fan of the modern piano.

Ooh nothing better than a good concert! Pictures At An Exhibition is quite OK although too modern for my liking. Funny how you well, I get used to a certain kind of music and then the brain expects that kind of harmony from all music.

The concert sounds great, Never
Can now just about play the first bit of Waltz in A with both hands but very, very slowly. Like waltzing through treacle!

I'm missing big sounds from my current practice pieces. I want big sounds ...

Is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement not bigly enough for you, Never?

Or are you not working on it anymore?

I have the say that Gavotte's 2nd Double is the loudest piece I've ever played. I'm struggling with the 4th Double, by the way. Weird. It looks so easy on paper.

I'm taking a break from making a big noise with that one and just concentrate on getting the wrist movements right, so no big noise.

I need something loud but easy ..

I listened to the Gavotte Cote, lovely. Very ornate, like the Purcell minuet I'm playing on steroids .
On which, I can't get the trills. I am tensing up which I know is counterproductive. Gah. The Entree is down, pleased with it. Gounod's Ave Maria also going well.
Gave up on the Schumann for now. Thanks Never, I will try spreading it and using the pedal. I like Shirley Kirsten's version on YouTube and her style generally even if she does have two first names.
Welcome Hush, I'm not at a high grade, and am not bothered trying not to be as is probably healthiest, see the Simpsons meme I posted
I have booked a piano for an hour a week at the community centre

The macho hand size thing is annoying me bloody men
Ah well. I don't like bangy and big chords. Give me some fiddly, pretty Mozart, Bach etc. Small fingers work well there. I always wondered why there aren't mini pianos for kids and smaller women, like you can get string instruments.

I like "fiddly & pretty", too Bach is great at those and so is Rameau. Handel a little less so, I find.

Good news that you will be playing the piano at the community center! I like going to the Conservatory to play the harpsichord - I know that time is for playing the instrument, not to be taken away by anything else that might be going on that day.

Re trills: It took me a long time to accept that they are each different and need to be played exactly as depicted. Sadly, a random shaking of the wrist to produce garbled notes doesn't cut it, either (as my teacher has said to me often enough in the first 6 months). There are many explanations of the ornaments/trills on the internet. I would recommend getting one and just slowly playing out its notes whenever you come across one in sheet music.

I agree that you need to play the trills and stuff slowly to start with. For the short one, when you play them fast I find that the thing to do is to relax and then play it like a burst, a movement like a flick, impulse at the beginning and relax, IYKWIM. For long ones, well, if you know, tell me!

I wouldn't say Bach is easy to play for small hands though ... (Actually Bach's probably hard to play for any hands ...)

Ultimate prettiness goes to Mozart, I think. But there are some rather dark Mozart pieces too.

I wasn't saying that Bach is easy to play in general, regardless of hand size. I was saying Bach's music is "fiddly & pretty" (in other words, complex, modulating, contrapuntal, intellectually stimulating) as opposed to loud and bangy.

Some of Bach's music is quite easy, like the first pages of the "Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach". DS (8) is playing the Menuet from those pages atm and really enjoying it. And some of his Fugues, for example, are diabolical to play whatever size hands you've got.