:P :-/ :(too mechanical!

[melia]

I have recently taken up piano again after having stopped for 8 years, progress has been good and I am now taking my ACTL piano diploma. However, I feel something has been missed, somewhere from my musical journey. I have excellent sight-reading skills,  which comes naturally to me, but my playing seems expressionless, basically the notes are there but the music is not! To be frank, my playing sounds cold and mechanical. Is it because of my lack of technical proficiency which may develop the latter i.e. expression, drama etc.. in music? This has been bugging me for some time, cause I really do want to play what the composer had intended for his music, but it just doesn't sound the same. It also worries me because I really want to further my music education and become a teacher in the future. I would love to hear from teachers or fellow students how to correct this problem? What tips can you give to someone like me, it can be anything silly, as long as I play better. Thanks!

[shas]

Hey,
I wouldn't nesisarely, always worie about the composers intention. Instead try and interpret it in your own way. Listen to other people playing it and try and feal the expression. It might be good in your situation to almost exagerate the the dynamics.
Also (and I seem to be saying this to every one these days) try inprovising and exploring themes and ideas.
when I was dooing my GCSE's I was given a composition exercise where I was given the first bar of a piece like Bach little prelude and I had to develop it (it helps if it's a piece you don't know).  
Any way, try and enjoy it.
Sharma

[Hmoll]

Hey,
I wouldn't nesisarely, always worie about the composers intention. Instead try and interpret it in your own way. Listen to other people playing it and try and feal the expression. It might be good in your situation to almost exagerate the the dynamics.
Also (and I seem to be saying this to every one these days) try inprovising and exploring themes and ideas.
when I was dooing my GCSE's I was given a composition exercise where I was given the first bar of a piece like Bach little prelude and I had to develop it (it helps if it's a piece you don't know).  
Any way, try and enjoy it.
Sharma

I would say the composers' intentions are very important, especially for someone who wants to further their education and teach at some point.
Studying and paying close attention to what the composer indicates - phrasing, dynamics, articulation, etc. - will make any piece of music more musical, and within the context of the composers' intententions there is still room to be expressive.

Melia,

There could be a number of reasons why you think your playing is mechanical. It could be that you are not feeling an underlying pulse or rhythm in what you are playing. Believe it or not, counting out loud helps with this, as does taking care that you know what the undelying rhythm is. For example, are you thinking 4/4 when you should be thinking 2/2, or are you thinking 3/4, when you should be thinking one beat per measure?
Also, since you took time off, your technique is probably not the same as it was when you left off. If that is the case, you may be worried about playing the correct notes more than how to play the notes, which creates some tension, and inhibits your expression.

Anyway, those are two possibilities.

[eddie92099]

My advice would be listen to as much music as possible - orchestral music, chamber music, solo piano repertoire etc., while thinking about what kind of things make one performance more musical than another,
Ed

[bernhard]

Try to hear to piece in your mind's ear exactly as you would like it to sound. If the aural image is clear enough the fingers will comply.

If you cannot make a precise an accurate aural image of your piece, listen to a CD of it of your favourite interpretation. Try to keep that interpretation in mind as you play.

There is technique involved as well (bringing out the melody, altering the rhythm in order to group notes and create phrases, accenting different notes - and therefore different fingers, creating tone colours with the pedal). However none of this will help if you do not have a mental representation of how you want your piece to sound.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes, Bernhard.

[shas]

I think the obouve is more what I was implying.
oviouslly the composers intensions are very inportant but I find it's good to listen to what the music has to say and not so much whats writen on the paper. espeacially with romantic pieces.
I have found that i have often interpreted a piece with out paying to much attention to the writen dynamics and found later that my interpretation is quite close to what was actually intended by the composer