What quality would you like to have define your playing ?

[m1469]

I realized today that I have always wanted my playing to be somehow 'radical'. 

I have also realized that it's not just in my playing where I want this characteristic to develop, but in everything I do in my life.  I often have very radical-feeling thoughts and emotions on life-subjects; and most of the time I have had no idea how to express those or live those.  When I don't know how to express those or live those, they have often turned against me and have become destructive.

So, my deepest pianistic/musical thoughts (that I can think of right now) are, what seem to me, to be very radical -- and I don't want to sway from tradition just to sway from tradition -- I don't necessarily want to sway from tradition at all (it really has nothing to do with tradition or non-tradition) -- I just want what I do to be very fundamental to life and living in a very undeniable fashion; and I just want it to be me.

I don't know how to do this, I don't think.  Maybe I do sometimes, but, I still need a lot of development in what this all means to me.  Anyway, just reflecting.

What quality speaks to you about your playing ?

[pianowolfi]

The quality I am looking for in my playing could probably be described best like that: If I play for an audience I wish that they leave my concert as different persons than they came as. I would like to change something in their hearts. Earlier in my musical life it was enough if someone said to me that my playing leads him/her to another world. Now this is not enough to me anymore hee hee . Actually I am striving for a sort of transformation that would include myself as well as the audience. Ideally I and the audience would go together through a change. It is also somehow radical I think.
 
 As for destruction: I think the purpose of a train is not to fray the track. But the track will inevitably be destroyed after a while. This is something that needs to be included in our plan. I think we can learn to handle the probably destructive side-effects of our "radical" ideas like we learn to play the piano better and better. Just to give you an example: I think that one of the destructive side-effects of my (innate) approach was the upcoming dystonia, means a sort of destruction of my nervous system. Admittedly I am currently not yet able to get full control over that. But I am working on it. A fire can heat our house. But it can also burn it down. Sometimes we need even to call the firemen
So far for now. 

[opus10no2]

The quality of self..?

Intensity, burning, subjective,  inexorable unpredictability 

[pianistimo]

that people can hear the 'form' of the piece by a 'predictability' of return (tempos and dynamics) - and yet - in development sections to get really wild (but, not too uncharacteristic of what the composer might have done).

to be known for great pianissimos

clean pedalling

a pallette of sounds that comes from an infinite universe (like a few people i've heard)

i do not like fast action pianos - so i would be known for only playing stiff pianos (more dynamic range that way, imo).

quality?  classic, i guess.

[tds]

artistry, taste, temperament.
also, honesty, generousity and big heartedness.
and with sufficient technique to accommodate all my artistic desires.

tds

[opus10no2]

taste,

What does tds mean by this one? 

Personally, I love playing which would be considered in 'bad taste' to others.

[danny elfboy]

What does tds mean by this one? 

Personally, I love playing which would be considered in 'bad taste' to others.

I'm pretty sure it's the opposite. You love playing which would be considered "bad taste" by yourself for showing off to others. After watching your ocean etude and reading your posts I'm more and more convinced that's the case

[counterpoint]

The quality of self..?

Intensity, burning, subjective,  inexorable unpredictability 

That sounds very good



I take them too 

[rc]

You ask good questions m1469, it's worth thinking about.  I like the different values everyone brings to the table too.  To think of the different results each style could bring, the diversity is good.

Two things come to mind for myself:  excellence of expression, maybe obvious but I want to always maintain the highest standards for myself.

Somewhat related, is a certain professionalism.  To never just go through the motions, to always give it my best effort even if I'm having a crappy day.  Never half-assed.  Also to be relateable for the audience, that someone who doesn't listen to classical can enjoy it as much as a connoisseur (this might not be possible, but worth a try).

I figure my individual personality will come through anyways, I don't need to give it much thought, just to not supress it.

[ted]

opus10no2 - "inexorable unpredictability" - excellent ! That is a wonderful expression, using different words to express exactly what I consider to be the most important property of my own music. It is analogous to mathematical chaos - neither random nor structured.  The extremes of randomness and complete order are equally uninteresting musically, as far as I am concerned. What I am after is the magical border state of chaotic surprise, wherein an infinite, ineluctable stream of transporting ideas flows, as if from outside oneself and through oneself.

The trouble is, m1469, I don't think there exists one word to describe it. "Chaos" in the specialised mathematical sense, almost says it, but the word in normal English means disorder, and that is precisely what it is NOT. "Inexorable unpredictability" is very good. "Surprise" is almost right, but rather twee. A non-musical friend once told me, regarding a certain improviser, "When he plays an idea you wonder why on earth he did it but then, a split second later you think it's the only thing he could have done." That expresses the same quality but in too many words.

[opus10no2]

 

Yes, to me this is also a quality which makes great composed music.

We like to be pleased with ourselves for guessing correctly what is going to happen, and and the other hand -  we also like to be surprised by something unexpected and delightful.

If music satisfies completely on first listen it is almost guaranteed to be somewhat unsatifying in the long term.

I always welcome the richness that unfolds upon every repeated listen.

[Mozartian]

with a sense of artistic integrity, moving, intelligent, pure

(heh my role model is lipatti)

[lagin]

The greatest compliment I can think of off the top of my head would be for someone to say, "You bring the music to life with each and every note."

[opus10no2]

with a sense of artistic integrity, moving, intelligent, pure

(heh my role model is lipatti)

I think your playing exudes these qualities already 

Elegance is another one I associate with you.

[cygnusdei]

I want my playing to simply be 'convincing', meaning anybody who listens will agree with my interpretation, or be convinced of its validity even though they might have different ideas.

[arensky]

In one word; "Beautiful" or having beauty.

https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/beauty

[m]

I realized today that I have always wanted my playing to be somehow 'radical'. 

 

People don't realize it, but the most 'radical' and 'original' way in fact, is the simplest one--to be yourself. People just mostly forgot it, trying to find inspiration in other things and getting traped in a dead end.

Try this--before you get to the piano stop for a minute and think what you are and who you are. Listen to yourself and listen to the voice of your ancestors.

Then calmly reach to the keys and start playing yourself--just be honest...

[m1469]

People don't realize it, but the most 'radical' and 'original' way in fact, is the simplest one--to be yourself.

Hey, I didn't keep up with this thread and now I see that there are some comments that I missed .  Actually, this is something like what I have been realizing.  I don't know how to put it into words currently, but, when I think about what 'radical' means to me, it's not just some kind of thing out there ... it's my innermost self.  And, somehow I have been able to connect directly with that as I have thought about this word for my life and my living, and my piano playing/music making.

Try this--before you get to the piano stop for a minute and think what you are and who you are. Listen to yourself and listen to the voice of your ancestors.

Then calmly reach to the keys and start playing yourself--just be honest...

Yes, I have been doing this more -- last week something just made sense for me with all of this.  I have just been more honest.  I have been stopping trying to hide things, and stopping feeling ashamed about things... and, just being me -- where I am at with it all, right now.  It's like there is just this whole other universe in me that I have been kind of peering at and peering into from behind some glass-seeming window, and then, I realized I can actually just walk in there.  So, I have been walking in there.  I will do as you say when I wake to my beauty (my piano)tomorrow 

Thanks,
m1469

[amelialw]

finesse

[counterpoint]

understandable, intense, (musically) surprising

[counterpoint]

Try this--before you get to the piano stop for a minute and think what you are and who you are. Listen to yourself and listen to the voice of your ancestors.

My suggestion would be

Before and while playing any sort of music: think who the composer is,  in which situation he composed the piece and what he wanted to express. Forget who you are!

[dnephi]

My suggestion would be

Before and while playing any sort of music: think who the composer is, in which situation he composed the piece and what he wanted to express. Forget who you are!

Only the greatest master can become the perfect servant.

[ramseytheii]

The luckiest and most enviable pianists, well all artists really, are those that have beautiful poetic epithets composed for their art by someone else.  To have someone listen, truly appreciate, and then be inspired to write an analysis or poetic analysis is the best thing we can achieve.  To that end, we need to work as hard as possible to achieve the demands of the music - not the demands of our inner feelings.

In that sense, I feel this topic approaches this point from backwards direction.  Something which is radical for instance, is not felt as radical by the one perpetrating it.  Stravinsky was shocked when the audience tried to ruin the premiere of le Sacre.  He later said he couldn't understand how sounds so familiar to his ear, could ignite such fury.  Schoenberg too - he arrived at his abandonment of tonal centers through a long, arduous, hyper-rational process; and couldn't accept it when people didn't follow his ruthless logic.  For them, their ultimately radical actions were not radical at all, but actions that fulfilled necessity of music and logic.

I feel that any words we want to describe our playing have to be earned, and not bestowed upon our playing by ourselves.  This means we shouldn't have an idea in mind, that our playing is going to be this or that, and then try and achieve that; but only deal to the utmost with the immediate demands of the music.  This approach guarantees an integral, organic outcome, that if the dedication and vision is strong enough, will inspire others to poetic epithets.

Walter Ramsey

[rc]

This means we shouldn't have an idea in mind, that our playing is going to be this or that, and then try and achieve that; but only deal to the utmost with the immediate demands of the music.  This approach guarantees an integral, organic outcome, that if the dedication and vision is strong enough, will inspire others to poetic epithets.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you...  But I think it would be a good idea to know what our playing is supposed to be expressing (as dictated by the music) - the better the idea the more clear the expression.

[ramseytheii]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you...  But I think it would be a good idea to know what our playing is supposed to be expressing (as dictated by the music) - the better the idea the more clear the expression.

Oops!  I meant, we shouldn't have a idea of how we want our playing to be described, and then fit the music to that mold.  All the ideas should come from the music itself.

Walter Ramsey

[quasimodo]

Virtuosity 
Almost there... 

[theodore]

Spontaneous performances are those that leave the audience with something to talk about. One of the best stories of such a spontaneous and unique recital was when Beethoven wrote a special sonata for the violin virtouso George Bridgetower.

At the premiere performance of this opus 47 sonata, during the repetition of the 1st movement Presto, the violinist decided to play a cadenza using the C major arpeggio.

Beethoven listening to this cadenza, played a C major chord, held down the sustaining pedal until the violinist finally finished, and then, unexpectedly completely stopped the performance,  jumped up and embraced Bridgetower shouting: “Noch einmal mein lieber Bursch !!” (once again my dear boy !!).

Beethoven subsequently edited the opus 47 sonata and inserted the C major cadenza into the piano part. A few days later, he got into an argument with Bridgetower over a woman and re-dedicated the opus 47 sonata to Rudolphe Kreutzer.

[burstroman]

tone and form

[arbisley]

Meaningful to anyone who listens to it, not only conaisseurs, but at the same time valid to the music as written, partly being a mix of what the composer wanted and being humble towards that, but also not  "hiding" behind this but playing it out with conviction so that you make others understand it, possibly even "believe" it too.
Of course that's once you've got over all the basic points of technique etc. which take up the biggest part of practice for most people... I prefer to work on pieces for a very short time so that I get the most out of the technique without learning mistakes, so I preserve a clear musical idea which doesn't get bogged down in repetitive practice, but that's completely personal.

[keyofc]

That it glorifies Jesus Christ
and this is not a religious post, by the way.

It is my honest answer.

[m19834]

hmmm ...

Well, I am preparing to accept that people will embrace me and my playing as who they themselves are.  That doesn't mean I will not have things to learn.  However, I believe my drive in playing is the desire to express what I percieve from "another world" and so, if I had to put that into words as something that I would like to have describe or "define" my playing, today I believe I would wish for it to be "other-worldly" ... though the words are not the same as the experience.

[mrba1979]

Humility.  The best make mistakes and I am far from the best.  That I should always be open to suggestions, and never grow comfortable or stagnant with my playing. 

Also, that I am having fun and play simply because I enjoy music and the challenge.

Last but not least, that I spent more time enjoying the piano then watching TV.  Of course Bones, Boston Legal, and Fringe are all good shows. OH! and don't forget Grey's Anatomy. 

Obviously, I have to practice often to keep up.

[mostlyclassical]

A 'cantabile' quality. For people to sing or hum cheerfully after listening. 

[pianowolfi]

Coherence and authenticity.

[Kassaa]

Honest, intense, structured and detailed.

[pianisten1989]

Dramatic and quite original interpretations, and hopefully quite convincing..

[m]

What quality would you like to have define your playing ?

Consistency

[db05]

Unpredictability.

[gyzzzmo]

Sexuality

[db05]

Sexuality

Which sexuality? 

[gyzzzmo]

Which sexuality? 

I want all women to get a spontanious orgasm when i'm playing. That kind of sexuality.

[db05]

I want all women to get a spontanious orgasm when i'm playing. That kind of sexuality.

Ahhh. I would love to see that.

[imbetter]

Exiting!

[db05]

Freshness. I want my audience to say, "That was delicious!" 

[tds]

"That was delicious!" 

chinese?  :P

[javacisnotrecognized]

Raw energy, as if you had just been hooked up to a car battery.

[db05]

chinese?  :P

Filipino. The word "masarap" means "delicious" as well as "enjoyable (to listen to/ watch/ experience)."  

[tds]

Filipino. The word "masarap" means "delicious" as well as "enjoyable (to listen to/ watch/ experience)."  

i am hungry. i want nasi goreng 

[db05]

i am hungry. i want nasi goreng 

Get concerto_love to cook for you. 
Wanna see me play sometime? You'll get hungry. 

[tds]

Get concerto_love to cook for you. 
Wanna see me play sometime? You'll get hungry. 

havent seen concerto for 2 centuries. i wanna see you cook for me. cook some masarap filipino meal.

and of course i wanna hear you play!!