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Original poster

Instrument players - come and chat!

999 replies

NeverEverAnythingEver · 06/04/2017 23:21

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.

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CoteDAzur · 11/04/2017 22:56

What do you mean "orthodox"?

Faithful to the sheet music? Yes, I think so.

CoteDAzur · 11/04/2017 23:04
is the same Gavotte et Six Doubles on the harpsichord, played exactly as in the sheet music. I think it is nearly identical to NK's interpretation on the piano.
Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 11/04/2017 23:05

She had more notes than the version I downloaded. Grin Will investigate further tomorrow. But I like her performance.

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CoteDAzur · 11/04/2017 23:06

Ah. I'll take a photo for you from my Rameau book. Wait a second.

Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 11/04/2017 23:09

It's only the last part I noticed - she got a bit carried away and had bridging passages between notes. It sounded very good.

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CoteDAzur · 11/04/2017 23:09

First two pages (Gavotte and its first Double - as far as I got so far Smile)

Instrument players - come and chat!
Instrument players - come and chat!
CoteDAzur · 11/04/2017 23:11

Last Double. I think she plays it as is.

Instrument players - come and chat!
Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 11/04/2017 23:12

Will look/listen more carefully tomorrow. Eyes have gone blurry... Grin

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Broccolirevolution · 11/04/2017 23:17

Côté d`azure are you're initials RD?

CoteDAzur · 11/04/2017 23:21

No, not even close, Broccoli Smile

CoteDAzur · 12/04/2017 10:02

On another note, does anyone know of sight reading apps?

I am much better than I was a year ago, but still would like to get better.

I can now sit in front of a sheet music for the first time and very slowly play it with both hands if it is an extremely easy piece that I already know by ear. I would like to do better.

MrSlant · 12/04/2017 10:46

Cote that so cool, I would love to play the harpsichord. The relentless ornaments must take it out of you, I am now going to google the ornament wars Grin. DS2 wants to play the organ but we live so far from anywhere I've no idea where to start with that.

I was listening to radio 3 in the car and they were talking about a composer who said every piano player MUST play a bit of Bach every day because it was the only way to be proper musician. Oddly for a maths brain I'm much better at the lyrical pieces, the Handel in my exam nearly killed me, although once I got the hang of it it was great fun. I am best at pieces with all the hard work in the left hand though as it's the one I write with, fully expecting my exam to come back with 'left hand dominated' in one of pieces.

My sight reading is improving, this is a magic trick honestly, by doing more sight reading! For a lapsed flute player I am picking up the bass clef though, I had to not put my finger on the music to count down from middle C in the exam because that would have been embarrassing.

CoteDAzur · 12/04/2017 11:04

I would be happy just playing Bach every day and nothing else, tbh, but my teacher feels she has to 'broaden my horizons' and has introduced me to Handel and Rameau, with pretty good results. I enjoy playing Handel although he is not quite as inspired and brilliant at polyphony as Rameau and Bach imho.

Rameau was an incredible revelation for me. I had never thought that there would be a composer to rival Bach in my affections, but Rameau did that and more. Bach is still Bach and will never be equalled but Rameau's musicality and unbelievably heartbreaking melodies are just... exquisite.

My teacher's efforts to introduce me to Sweelinck (sp?) was not as successful, sadly.

MrSlant · 12/04/2017 11:53

Are there grade 3 ish level Rameau pieces? I love a heartbreaking melody. I think being self taught, whilst saving a fortune, means I miss out on having someone try to push me in different directions than me taking the route that looks easiest to me!

CoteDAzur · 12/04/2017 12:00

I would be happy to recommend some pieces but I'm not familiar with the Grade system. He easy or hard do you want them to be?

Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 12/04/2017 12:38

Cote I have looked. Grin So those little squiggles on the side of the notes are also ornaments? I don't know them ... But for the last double, for example, in the repeat of the second half, NK added an E in the third bar, and added a quick scale in the 8th bar to go up an octave. (This is not a criticism of her playing - it's by far the most mesmerising performance of Rameau I've heard!) Also I guess the repeating things softer business would not work on a harpsichord, but that's life, I guess.

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Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 12/04/2017 12:39

And I think the accusation of "velocity" can also be leveled at Rameau for the last two doubles!

What are "doubles" anyway?

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Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 12/04/2017 12:40

MrSlant

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Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 12/04/2017 12:40

Sight-reading - My son's teacher says to play duets.

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Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 12/04/2017 12:43

I have widen my horizons to play Scriabin. Hmm Grin But only this one:

I don't even like this sort of music, but I quite like this one because you can really go for it at the end. Smile

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Original poster
NeverEverAnythingEver · 12/04/2017 12:43

Here endeth my lunch break. See you later!

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MrSlant · 12/04/2017 12:58

Thank you Never, have a good afternoon at work.

CoteDAzur · 12/04/2017 12:58

"So those little squiggles on the side of the notes are also ornaments? I don't know them ..."

Yes, they are. Squiggles as well as the parantheses are ornaments. I'll send you a photo of that page in Rameau's book where he explains the when I get home.

"I guess the repeating things softer business would not work on a harpsichord, but that's life, I guess."

That's when you go up to the 2nd keyboard!

Tokelau · 12/04/2017 13:06

I learned the piano as a child and got as far as Grade 8. I never really thought that I was particularly good, but I enjoyed it a lot. I have ended up being a piano teacher! A friend asked if I would teach her child a few years ago (I do have a teaching qualification) and even though I explained that I had never taught anyone, she still wanted to go ahead. I now have twelve pupils, all of whom have come to me through word of mouth, and have been teaching for a few years. I never imagined I would do something like this, I worked in industry for a few years, and then took time off to stay home with the children.

I took up the flute a few years ago, and am on Grade 6 now.

My children, well, teenagers, both play the piano, one plays the violin, and the other the flute and the harp. I've bought DH drums and a ukulele, and he enjoys pottering around with them.

CoteDAzur · 12/04/2017 15:35

Here goes the aforementioned Bach partita, played by yours truly. Feel free to laugh at my middle-aged sausage fingers Grin Camera angle is crap but I I hope you get a feel for the lovely and quaint instrument that is the harpsichord. This one has a deep and very pleasant tone.

Prelude from BWV 997, Bach's partita in C minor for Lute or Harpsichord