Help on moonlight sonata. (Any music period)

[archneko]

I am currently learning/mastering moonlight sonata mov. 3. My parents are saying its just too *noisy* and they rather hear soft music like Humoresque, and Arabesque by Dvorak. I'm pretty sure its not the music, but my playing style. I tend to *overplay* my emotions and end up *banging my head on the keys*. (Figure of speech, well mine anyway). Is there a way to play the mov. 3 beautifully yet *prestoagitato*.

    >>Ps. Does age matter for any song? I'm a middle school student, and my aunt is somewhat provoked that I even attempt songs like the mov.3. You thought "the messenger" was scary, wait till I show you a picture of my grandma with a skirt! (shivers)

[rach n bach]

IMHO, it would be hersy to play that movement without FF at points.  Now there are some sections that require a delecate touch, and this should be carefully preserved... but if you want some soft music, play the 1st and 2nd movements.

Age? No, I think musical maturity matters much more.

[bench warmer]

Start "Softly". Remember, the opening dynamic marking in the 3rd movement is "p".
If you start too loud you mess yourself up since you'll need need to play "ff" just to get to a relative "mf".

Use the pedal sparingly also, that'll help you not make everything sound constantly loud.

Vary your dynamics according to the score and you should be OK.

I had a great father, no mater what I played he'd always say: Go ahead and bang on that piano, it doesn't bother me.

[pianowolfi]

Well as far as I know Beethoven was such a passionate pianist that I could imagine him very well *banging his head on the keys* And you NEED space to experiment and tryout and sometimes make a lot of noise. It's just part of the whole piano playing thing imo. Argh all these complaints of people who have no clue of music!  I had a similar problem once with my granma. She couldn't stand Gershwin and asked me once to stop playing it! I was very much hurt in my feelings! Try to find a way to free yourself from these restrictions.

[danny elfboy]

Does age matter for any song? I'm a middle school student, and my aunt is somewhat provoked that I even attempt songs like the mov.3. You thought "the messenger" was scary, wait till I show you a picture of my grandma with a skirt! (shivers)

Music maturity (and maturity in itself for that matters) isn't determined by age
There are 9 years old pianists that not only play virtuoso pieces but play them with control, elegance, beautiful dynamic and are worth listening indeed

The problem of overplaying emotions is one often leading to injuries and tendonitis
The majority of pianists who get injuried and end up working with retraining teachers are those that sacrificed the tensioless playing in favours of artificially created (through tension) emotional playing

This doesn't mean that an emotional piece can't be very load and resonating but that it's possible to play fff and the technically hardest pieces and emotional strongest pieces without any tension at all.

That's because producing a strong emotional sound is a matter of "gravity"
You don't play the piano by pushing the keys or pulling the keys down but by the falling weight of your hand on the keyboard. Strong and emotional sounds must be produced with the same kind of easeness and relaxation because it's gravity that allows you to make strong and no matter what the muscular contraction lasts less than 1 millisecond anyway. There are pianists that just "act" a lot while playing and they just are using their whole interpretating the music in a way . There are other pianists that move a lot and almost cling the teeth and tense the muscles when they're playing strong, load and emotional pieces. In this case, this kind of attitude just hides a very lack of foundation on how to play the piano or better yet how to take advantage of our physiology to play the piano effortlessly

For ideas on how to achieve this let me direct you to other posts I've written

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,22781.msg259177.html#msg259177

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,22993.msg255843.html#msg255843

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,23045.msg256169.html#msg256169

Begin by making sure you're at the correct distance and height from the piano
You should for patterns of jutting elbows, unnaturally curled fingers, low wrist and raised shoulders. These are often your body way to maintain a balance necessary for playing. When you find the correct height it's must easier to mantain a proper arm-wrist-hand alignment and playing without tension (hence producing load emotional sound with must more control, accuracy and no tension at all)

[rachmanny]

yes, i had a similar problem withmy mom, she asked me if monnlight sonata movement 3 was a finger exersice, and then siad that she didnt like it, EVERYONE ELSE DOES MOM!!

every time i play the agitato in rach s prelude op. 28 and then that speeedy chord descent followed by that whole ff repeat of the main theme,  they always seem to find an excuse to interrupt me and say, wait your father s talking over the phone, or , o please stop enmanuelle. Must i have mercy on them?

[pianowelsh]

You need to bite 'take' the keys that way you get an energetic sound into the passagio not just a blanket ff all the way through - save the ff for the pasages which really need it otherwise you'll wear your self out by the time you get to the end. You should discuss this with your teacher.

[pianowolfi]

yes, i had a similar problem withmy mom, she asked me if monnlight sonata movement 3 was a finger exersice, and then siad that she didnt like it, EVERYONE ELSE DOES MOM!!

every time i play the agitato in rach s prelude op. 28 and then that speeedy chord descent followed by that whole ff repeat of the main theme,  they always seem to find an excuse to interrupt me and say, wait your father s talking over the phone, or , o please stop enmanuelle. Must i have mercy on them?

NOOOO mercy! But what do you mean with Rachmaninoff op.28??? This is the sonata d-minor

[ramseytheii]

Beethoven most certainly did not bang on the keys!  Not until he was deaf at least.  He was recorded as the msot thrilling pianist of his time, able to conjure up any emotion on the piano, especially the firey white rage that characterizes his music.  But banging doesn't convey anything except frustration with the instrument, so he certainly did not do that.

If it sounds too "loud," I would guess that you play the fast notes all at the same volume.  They should have lots of shape, and you should hear all the undulations of the arpeggios.  Fast notes here should be lighter and more melodic, not pounded out all at the same volume.  You have to save strength and volume for the punctuation marks which Beethoven so geniously writes into this score!

Walter Ramsey

[rachmanny]

NOOOO mercy! But what do you mean with Rachmaninoff op.28??? This is the sonata d-minor

sorry, prelude nop.3 no.2, i always confuse this with sriabin op. 28

[jepoy]

Andras Schiff offers some helpful ideas on interpreting the Moonlight Sonata:

https://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/page/0,,1943867,00.html