What do you play when you're feeling sad....

[wishful thinker]

....or angry?

I wasn't very happy when I got home from work last night, and a couple Chopin's Mazurkas seemed just right with their haunting Polish melodies and harmonies. 

It cheered my up no end 

[pianistimo]

i don't feel the large swings of emotion anymore that i used to.  when you have a lot of work to do you don't have time to check your feelings.  it's only occasionally that i have  a vague sense that there is a barbeque next door and i'm missing out. 

i feel sad when people die.  of course, that is happening in many parts of the world.  i feel sad when oil tankers spill millions of gallons of oil in the ocean.  i feel sad when children go missing or are hungry.  basically we should all be past sad into depressed.

but, there's God.  i think when you have hope - you still need music to confirm that hope kinda.  to sing or play or do something that is positive.  it's like you're making a statement - i'm not going to be done in by bad news.  i'll make some good news.  or good music.  then, others around can be happy, too.  that's why music is good for therapy.  it can change mental and physical outlooks.

[ahinton]

I'm just waiting for Thal to reply "skittles", or "pool", or something...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

or his home movies.

did you see on tv (wait, you're in the UK) the man who tried to fry five kittens in a large skillet?  i'm not comparing this to thal - but, i mean 'what was he thinking?'  i guess that's what the man in question cooks when he's not feeling well.

[dnephi]

I get frutrated or angry, not really sad.  But I play Chopin  10#12 when sad..

[infectedmushroom]

Scriabin Etude in F Sharp Minor Op. 8 No. 2


I think this is a very dramatic piece and I really like to play it when I'm unhappy.

[gymnopedist]

When i'm angry, i usually just play the few bars that i can play of 25/10. Perfect for releasing a lot of anger.

[pianowolfi]

When I'm really sad (and I mean really) I can't play anymore.

[thalbergmad]

I'm just waiting for Thal to reply "skittles", or "pool", or something...

Best,

Alistair

I play my Banjo when i am sad, cause that cheers me up.

Piano is somehow depressing.

Thal

[lisztianick]

Chopin's C# minor Nocturne.

That is one of the most gloomy pieces i ever heard.

[quasimodo]

I "improvise".

[quantum]

I used to find a piece in my repertoire that would sort of match my mood Eg 25/10 for angry.  But now adays I would rather improvise than butcher a good piece of music.  Improv allows me more freedom anyways to express my felt emotion in more detail. 


Here's me playing in a state of rage:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,14535.0.html

[little_pianist]

..... I can't play any song.... I just listen to Chopin CD, then go to sleep... 

[quasimodo]

..... I can't play any song....

If I were you, I would avoid using that term on this forum  ...

[ganymed]

today when I was really really depressed i played the first movement of the moonlight sonata

[gruffalo]

Chopin nocturnes.

[ihatepop]

When i'm sad, I play soothing music, like Chopin Nocturne No2. When I'm angry, I take my anger out on the piano (thank goodness it does not have any bruises, or I'll blame myself, haha.) I play Fantasy Impromptu or Revoultunary Study.

[cfortunato]

Improvise.  When I still lived with my parents, my brother would say that he could tell when something was bothering me, because of what I played.

[pianist0425]

When you are frustrated and angry..try moonlight 3rd mvt.!haha
And Chopin etudes op.10#1,#12 are good also when you're sad or gloomy..hehe

[ce nedra]

I play Mozart.

[lung7793]

Anything I can play all the way through and good, then I don't feel so sad, I have something to look forward to.

[letters]

something very slow, simple, and quiet, by mozart or a beethoven slow movement from a sonata.... it puts everything into place and calms me down

[nanabush]

I improvise, cuz no piece can reflect my sadness 

[lau]

when i am angry, nothing beats busting out horowitz stars and stripes in fffff. To bad i can only play the first page

[JP]

Certainly not something that will make me sadder..

[bachmaninov]

Rach 2 - second mvt

[franz_]

I "improvise".

The same here. Or a couple of Chopin Nocturnes.

[rachman87]

Well I always feel depressed but seldom angry.

I find that playing either movements 2 or 3 of Rach 2 or Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini cheers me up no end.

John

[cockbain1]

I think its interesting how some of us play something to cheer us up while others play something that matches their sad or angry mood. Personally if i'm sad I want to play something sad. Human emotion is an incredible thing, and is to me, the root of music. Playing a peice that matches your mood allows you to put true emotion into the music, whether you conciously set yourself into that mood before or while you play, or whether you're already in it. I'm not by any means saying I would dwell on a particular emotion, but I love feeling different emotions. I love that I can sit down and reflect my mood with a peice probably written under similar circumstances, or create my own if none exist. Maybe this is all because i'm a teenager but hey, that's what I think .

[verywellmister]

I don't go the piano when I'm sad.

[nicco]

Im never sad.

[ihatepop]

Im never sad.

Ooooo.....I envy you happy-go-lucky types

[bach_ko]

when i feel angry i will play Rachmaninoff's Etude tableaux op 39 no 6 in D minor...
sad? i will choose beethoven's pathetique

[pianistimo]

i feel like a chameleon.  whatever i'm playing, i get into the mood of.  i rarely let my moods influence my playing, really.  but, i allow composers a lot of space to indirectly influence my perception of what they were feeling when they composed the piece in question. 

i don't trust my moods.  they are generally pretty stable but, occasionally cause me to ponder the times when my four year old has 3 accidents in two minutes.  she cries a lot sometimes.  it seems to be her way of getting needed attention.  if she has a lot of accidents then she will get the attnetion i guess.

am tempted to just be really dramatic sometime instead of holding it all in.  you know.  burst into tears.  hold my head in my hands.  and then, play some chopin really slowly.  but, it seems so fake to me.  in fact, i just want to wring chopin's neck.  couldn't he buck up?  the way to get people out of these 'mood' phases is to either give them some work to do or punch them a couple of times.

[zheer]

 Beethoven Hammerclavier sonata the slow MVT ( adagio i think ) almost always makes me  cry, litraly tears fill my eyes. IT has to be the most spiritual and express solo piano music written by the Beethoven.

[pianistimo]

the only thing that would make me cry is if i saw zheer cry.  then i would cry.

[zheer]

the only thing that would make me cry is if i saw zheer cry. 

   Am flatterd , though their are different reason why we cry, it could be happiness, death,pain or other emotions like music. 

[pianistimo]

i have to get emotions direct from the sources.  if i want to express wind in music - i have to go out and feel the wind.  same with sadness.  i have to see someone crying or feel the depth of an experience.  when you go through what you think is the ultimate sadness - things that are lesser don't seem so bad.

it's like my broken leg.  if i were to sprain my wrist - then i would not tell the nurse on a scale of 1-10 it was 10 anymore.  i would say 5. 

also, i feel somewhat like a jounalist/photographer in life.  you know, writing and photographing what IS.  when i play music, i rarely become intimately involved in a way that makes that music MY composition.  it will always be that composer's composition - but my interpretation of it.  so, when i think that - then i become detached in a sort of way and just showing off the piece and not necessarily my emotions that are attached to it - although i'm sure that they come out (if i really like a piece or even don't like it). 

also, there's an element to public performance that is different than private.  we can sit and cry at the piano if we want in private - but you might get booed off the stage if you get overly dramatic about what you're playing in public.  maybe not?

[jamie0168]

When I'm sad, I like to play the Saint Saens Concerto No.2 Mvmt. 1. I think it has just enough sad parts, relieving parts, and angry parts to literally make you too exhausted to be sad afterward.
When I'm mad, I just want to bang the crud out of something or someone, lol. But since that's looked down upon in our society, I feel playing Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 really helps to get some of the anger relieved.

[kaiwin]

Carnival Jest in Vienna Intermezzo

 

[pianohenry]

Chopin's C# minor Nocturne.

That is one of the most gloomy pieces i ever heard.

I would play that when im sad probably But if im ANGRY, the last thing i would play is the slow movement of moonlight sonata or C# minor nocturne, because to play them you have to be in a PATIENT mood, and when im angry im anything but patient  but i agree about 3rd movement of moonlight sonata when angry - (preso agitato?) its a good piece for anger because you can both express and take out your anger through the piano, bashing the keys and whatnot

When I'm sad, a few chopin waltzes, nocturnes 2 and 20, Debussy Arabesque No.2 (its very jolly  ) and some short pieces by bach. like two part inventions no. 13(A minor), no. 1, no. 4 in F and the one in D minor. oh... and the 3 part invention in G minor. thats quite sad.

[dnephi]

Beethoven Hammerclavier sonata the slow MVT ( adagio i think ) almost always makes me  cry, litraly tears fill my eyes. IT has to be the most spiritual and express solo piano music written by the Beethoven.

The Appassionata Sonata, I believe, is more sublime.  The peace of the second movement, in comparison to the despair of the first and the clamor, fury, and tragedy of the last is indescribably affecting.  However, I have never dared to examine the score for the HammerKlavier.  Having heard that it is "far more difficult" than any transcendental Etude would certainly scare me away.  Please enlighten me if I am incorrect.

[phil13]

Chopin: Mazurka in A minor Op.17 No.4

A few years ago, when I would get angry or frustrated I would play Mozart K545 repeatedly, each time faster and faster until I spun out of control.

Phil

[aliena]

I play with the cat

[zheer]

.  However, I have never dared to examine the score for the HammerKlavier.  Having heard that it is "far more difficult" than any transcendental Etude would certainly scare me away.  Please enlighten me if I am incorrect.

  Me too,i dont play the hammerklaveir, the last MVT is very difficult and modern sounding. The thing about Liszt trancedental Etude well i,ve fallen in love with two of them, and i can safely say they are much easier than Beethovens Hammerklavier.

[bras]

 When i am really angry i play the Prokofiev Sonata n 1!!!

[mephisto]

Ornstein: A Dirge of the Trenches from the poems of 1917.

[cerulean]

Variation 21

[franz_]

When i am really angry i play the Prokofiev Sonata n 1!!!

I will learn this sonata in a couple of months. How difficult is it? To what you can compare it?