Difference between playing something wrong and...

[aya_heller]

  I started playing piano two years ago and last year I was playing Chopin's Prelude in B Minor Op. 28.  I had just started grade 8 (RCM) so basically none of the pieces were really popular ones that I would hear my dad play on his CD's so I'd never heard the song.  My teacher thought it sounded very interesting (the way I played it.).  He said that if I had ever heard a recording I'd play it differently.  I can't remember exactly what he said... something about Chopin being a pole and something about it sounding march like when I played it... (umm yeah, I have a bad memory... that was a long time ago though u.u)

  Anyway, later on I heard recordings of that piece and they were obviously all pretty different.  To get to the point, some of them even could have sounded "wrong" because they weren't played how it's written (like the tempo and everything was different.)  A couple of times, in attempt to make the pieces a little unique or "my own" I had tried doing some different things but my teacher always corrected me and made me play it the "right" way.  Meanwhile, he wanted me to add shape to the pieces, so obviously I would not be playing them exactly as written.

  So what's the difference between playing something "wrong" and just adding shape, or interpreting a piece in a certain way?  I'm sorry if I sound pretty ignorant u.u I'm still such a newbie...

[moose_opus_28]

Hahaha....well, welcome to the world of classical music.  The "right" way is highly subjective.  These days, a student is normally made to play things "right."  Often a judge or another teacher will have a totally different view of "right."  Of course, if you're an artist doing something different (and you do it well), you will likely earn praise for your refreshing ideas.  Of course, sometimes the wrong way really doesn't sound good.  Like Ivo Pogorelich making Beethoven into Debussy. 

It's kind of hard for me to give specific advice, but keep trying things out.  If you get an idea, try it out.  First decide for yourself if it works, then ask your teacher.  In general, follow his or her directions in the end.  Recording yourself and listening can also help.  Sometimes taking too much time or something can really sound bad, but you don't realize it when you're caught up in the moment.

[bernhard]

You need good judgement.

How do you get good judgement?

Trough experience.

And how d you get experience?

Bad judgement!

Seriously, you need scholarship, taste (= good judgement), and feeling.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[alzado]

I have done some very bad things.

I must say, rarely with classical music, but more often with popular music, such as themes from movies, etc.  Cases in point . . .

Once and a while I hit a chord that I just don't like.  Sometimes it sounds like a clinker to my ear.  so I just take a pencil and write a chord that sounds better.  Sometimes my piano teacher even approves of the change --  with the original chord she may frown and say, "you played it right, but it sounds wrong."

Since I just play for my own enjoyment, I will sometimes take a few liberties with classical pieces as well.  for instance, if a series of notes are marked stacatto, I may just not play them that way.

And I often play difficult material more slowly than marked, simply because that's the only way I can play it, although it does speed up somewhat with practice.

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  [Or she . . .]

[jeremyjchilds]

Since it is up to taste, you can chance things with a few limitations...(these limitations are really only important if you play for other musicians)

Textual innacuracies are not cool!
This means no changing creshendos to decreshendos etc.

Stylistically accpetable performance practice is cool!
This is definitely the "welcome to classical music" section
Do we double-dot music in the french overture style?? (just one example) THis is where you need to really ask your teacher and do a lot of reading. I can take a lot of  "classical" songs, add swing, and without any more chanes, play them in a jazz set. THey are textually accurate, but obviously a poor performance in a classical recital
That means they are wrong, because, many musucians believe that if we are going to play old music, we might as well try our best to play them as they would have been played...

I tell my studets that they are free to play music "wrong" but I warn them that they could be severely criticized by other musicians (Even though I may respect them for it) It's just the way it is.

I always differentiate this when a student plays it wrong because it is easier or they are taking a shortcut. If you are changing the music to avoid a technical problem then that is definitely not cool

[aya_heller]

Thanks for the replies everybody =)

[leahcim]

  So what's the difference between playing something "wrong" and just adding shape, or interpreting a piece in a certain way?  I'm sorry if I sound pretty ignorant u.u I'm still such a newbie...

I'd say it's partly if you're choosing to do it as opposed to doing it because that's what it sounds like when you play it. If you want to play the same piece in a different way - perhaps closer to the canonical one - can you or do you hit some technical barrier or difficulty when you try.

As for developing good taste or judgement over time or as a feature of technical or musical development, the counter-example to that is "Jazz" isn't it? [Ok, ok, I'm j/k - I don't like it YMMV - nevertheless I recognise that most of 'em are loooooooooooooots better than I am irrespective of the way they choose to interpret music]

[buddy]

Re:  Alzado- Just wondering, if we can play things above our level, but more slowly,  what do we need to do to improve, to get to the level where we can enjoy playing the music we love and play it well?  I can't figure it out.  I can play most things, but not in tempo.  What is required.  Exercises?  Just more practice?  A better teacher?  Lower levels?  Help. 

[raffyplayspiano]

this is a great question! 

sometimes my teacher tells me, "no, play it like this" and i hear it completely different, but as berhnard said..he has more experience, and more understanding of the music..and i guess that is why we need teachers. 
i mean theoritcally we can all read the music, sure teachers can help us with approaching difficult passages, but what I have found my teacher really helps me in-is the interpretation of the music. 

raffy