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.

That's beautiful Cote. How absolutely amazing. I'm going to sound really stupid now but do they still make harpsichords or is that a really old instrument that has been looked after really well? The sound is much nicer than the one up thread. How hard has it been to learn? You've obviously learned loads in the couple of years of doing it.

I had a good look at ornaments today. So much stuff I knew once and had forgotten. Very excited that one of my current pieces has acciaccatura because not only do they give me great pleasure to play it is also a word I once loved very much and had forgotten.

Cote That's lovely.

So tell me about the two keyboards. They do sound different. Is it just softer? Is there instruction telling when to use which?

MrSlant If you are looking for something different around Grade 3 level - have you tried Kabalevsky?

The Op27 Thirty pieces for Children are such masterpieces. I love them. Each one a complete miniature masterpiece.

And was a grade 3 piece at some point.

I'm doing Clowns! It is SO much fun.

I love the syllabuses for introducing me to new composers. That's how I found Neugasimov and now DS2 is playing music from his books and having a brilliant time without focusing on grades which is the way it should be really (not me, I like a certificate, I am Lisa in the Simpsons when school was cancelled running round going 'grade me, grade me' ). I'll get the Kabalevsky next then, he can have some fun with that too.

I'm going to need a deeper piano stool storage space soon!

Hi all!

I'm a grade 8 flautist. But haven't played properly in quite a while.

I'd like to get back into it. But was diagnosed with MS a few years ago and it's affected my sight some and also my hands and arms get more tired more easily now.

Perhaps I'll pick it back up and just start off slow. See how I get on...

Anyhoo - just wanted to stop in and say "hi"

That is really lovely Cote.

Still enjoying everyone's posts but work is frying my brain this week so no musical progress here.

There are some amazing composers out there, this is my favourite recorder piece but I have never been able to get my hands on the music. I even have a music examiner friend who examines all over the world and spends a month in china most years, she looks every year for me.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=fvpDYGzdRmo

Barchester my husband works out in China several times a year.

I've forwarded him the link and he's going to ask his Chinese colleagues to have a look for it :)

Wow, thank you Fizzing. My friend retired at Christmas, I had given up hope. I don't suppose it will sound the same without the orchestra behind me.

I play the music very quietly in my office from my phone and scramble to turn it off before I answer the phone or if someone knocks at the door .

He's sent a message to his closest contact. But there's another if she can't help

It's the middle of the night over there right now, but hopefully he will hear something tomorrow

I couldn't understand why it was impossible to get hold of Fizzing, my friend was travelling for the University of West London examining music pupils and she drew a complete blank on every trip.

Hello! Viola player here. Played loads through school and university (playing viola is a big plus for getting asked to do lots) but didn't really get on with the orchestra I went to when I started at work so stopped and it ended up being about 8 years before I played properly again. Joined a different orchestra and I love it (it's really quite good too, lots of music teachers etc). So great to have something for myself with all the busyness of work and kids.

Wish I could play the piano. Have dabbled in and off but never had lessons and wouldn't have the time at the moment unfortunately.

MrSlant - "do they still make harpsichords or is that a really old instrument that has been looked after really well?"

Yes, harpsichords are still being made but they are very expensive and also very fragile - both good reasons why I won't be getting one anytime soon and also because DH would kill me if he came home one day and found a huge harpsichord in the middle of the living room

"The sound is much nicer than the one up thread."

Yes, I think so, too. There is huge variation between harpsichords, far more than the difference between pianos. Not just the sound but their keyboards also can be very different - some have tiny keys, like a toy piano. Others have nearly modern piano standards. This really gets on my nerves as I rely a lot of "finger memory" and it throws me to have to play on weird keyboards.

"How hard has it been to learn?"

If you already play the piano, it's easy to play badly Coming from the piano, one tends to hammer down on harpsichord's keys, which doesn't work as they are quite light. And you also have to learn a bit of phrasing and ornaments, which are not as important in the piano.

I practice a lot at the piano at home, then practice on the harpsichord in the Conservatory when I can. It does transfer (sort of) but I have to play for about an hour on the harpsichord before my lesson, to get the most out of it.

Thank you all for your kind compliments on my harpsichord playing

Cote There's one harpsichord at the museum that can be folded up and taken with you on your travels. That's the one you need.

MrSlant I love Clowns. It reminds me of the fast mask-change of Sichuan opera en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bian_lian. With a swipe of your hand you are a different character.

NeverEver - "So tell me about the two keyboards. They do sound different. Is it just softer?"

The upper one (2nd) can be set to "just softer", or to sound exactly like a lute, or somewhere in between. There is a switch that allows this. For this piece, I set it pretty close to lute because it is in principle composed for the lute and I think the play between the two keyboards sounds great. Most of the time, it is not set as close to the lute.

In this video, I coupled the two keyboards (which is fun ) so the sound is deeper and louder. That is why you can see the 2nd keyboard move when I play on the 1st. Two keyboards can also be separated, which I do for L'Entretien des Muses, for example, as it is a softer and more delicate melody.

"Is there instruction telling when to use which"

Not that I have seen. It "works" imho when the melody repeats or after a Cadence, for example.

"There's one harpsichord at the museum that can be folded up and taken with you on your travels."

Do you mean a clavichord? It sounds like nothing at all.

This one.

Ooh how weird! I'm too lazy to fold that thing away after every use and then have to assemble it and tune it (as you inevitably would have to) every time I want to play it

I really really want to go to that museum now!

Ornaments from Rameau's book, as promised

OMG.

But it's good to have a manual.

I remember the detail of ornaments, oddly one thing I do remember from my theory exams all those years ago.

Fizzing, my composer is Prof. Tang Jianping, Chair of Composition, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. I can't believe he hasn't published his work.

MrSlant - re "Are there grade 3 ish level Rameau pieces? I love a heartbreaking melody."

I thought of one. Here is (excuse the freaky green hands ). If you simplify the trills, it is a fairly easy piece and yet melodically quite beautiful imho.

Another one is from Pièces de Clavecin. Start listening from 1:40.