Technique versus musical interpretation

[go12_3]

 I know that  topic might have  been posted and discussed here.  But I am wondering how  particular pieces is an "exercise" in itself to acquire better technique.  Wouldn't it be better to acquire the technique through exercises?  Each piece is so different that we learn, and yet, I feel I need to be "prepared in my mind"  to execute a particular passage, as in arpeggios, runs, and so forth, visually.   And I wonder, when there is so much being stressed on technique that we might lose our muscial interpretation of a piece.  I would rather practice for the pure enjoyment and yet keep my technical skills intact by doing exercises(yes, we know, the Hanon, etc!) on a regular practice routine.  Mechanically the fingers need to be trained and that is through exercises for a few minutes a day.  Then the difficult pieces I am learning now I still work on the technical aspect(fingering, rhythm, passages, so forth) until the pieces becomes more familiar in time.  Then the musical interpretation will need to be addressed.  I think I need both technique and musical interpretation to learn and polish a piece.

best wishes,

go12_3

[iroveashe]

Wouldn't it be better to acquire the technique through exercises?

Why? Wouldn't it be better to acquire technique while practicing on musicality at the same time?
Besides, the only technique you acquire playing exercises is technique for playing exercises

Mechanically the fingers need to be trained and that is through exercises for a few minutes a day.

It's the brain that needs to be trained, I can literally move my fingers as fast as Hamelin... only not at the piano and playing the correct notes. When I go mindlessly over and over through some passage or piece, and I already have it on my muscular memory, I realized that if I wanted to sing in my mind and think about the notes, for example, the names of the notes, their 'feel', their location and my mental image of those notes, related to the rest of the notes in the piano, the one/s that come before and after and at the same time if it's a chord or multiple voices, and related to the whole musical phrase and idea, and identify which part of the left hands goes with the right hand and the other way around, and all those things we automatically do while playing; if I wanted to do that WITHOUT the piano - in other words, if I wanted to recreate on my mind and imagine the feel, the conscious state I have while I'm playing the piano, I can't. I get lost without the aid of the physical part, and THAT's what I'm interested in training, not to move my fingers quickly. The fingers (and the keys, the strings and every physical aspect) are (or should be), to me, noting more than the means to connect what's on my mind with the music, to make it real and alive. Therefore I don't see why I should ever practice that physical side alone when I could be practicing it while acquiring new repertoire at the same time. After all you can't play the piano without the physical part, so why train something that will be trained anyway?

[go12_3]

What I mean by trained is through the repetition of a passage, but slowly at first.  And what I mean by *trained* is throught the brain, of course.  That is where all of our input and output comes forth unto  learning a piece. I am not for the speed either, by the way.  I am quite adapted in being musical myself through learning a variety pieces, whether they are easy or difficult.  The eyes has to be trained to see the similarity of the passages of the score and  how the notes are grouped and arranged.  I can hear some of the passages in my mind when I need to work on a particular passage.  And I often hum it.  I do the same thing with my violin pieces that I learn.  Of course, the piano is needed for the *physcial* aspect of the training.  And I still feel comfortable in going through exercises just to wake up my fingers and mind.  I can play those just as effectively for only 10 minutes.  Then I proceed to practice my other pieces.  Learning a piece doesn't have to be a race to make it polished, so I prefer to enjoy the process of maintaining a steady and productive practice sessions. In which, by the way, I have already acquired.

best wishes,

go12_3

[m19834]

Well, I think that you can't actually separate them, HOWEVER, if you think you can, it will sound like it (you will perceive it to be so).

(I just noticed I have a paper cut on my knuckle ...  )

Anyway, musical 'interpretation' has mostly to do with the ability to digest the score and make sense out of the language to the point of developing clear textual images.  Playing 'musically' is not actually about having emotion vs. not having emotion, but I think it's rather more about one's ability to simply connect the dot(s) from the mental/spiritual image to the 'actual' real time manifestation (though perhaps some people connect more deeply than do others ?).  In other words, being 'musical' is the very act of that connection from some inward point A to the outward manifestation point B.  It is the actual ability to do so, and that can be practiced anytime we have a specific goal, whether it be 'exercise' or not !  That is the thing that I think require the *most* practice and is the most difficult out of ANYTHING that there ever was in the whole, entire Universe ! 

Something I have been doing is putting my music on the walls in a place I in no way can view from the piano.  I am experimenting with not playing with it in front of me AT ALL anymore !!!!    Even for pieces/parts I have not really learned before.  So, from scratch I learn it from the wall, with the music rack on my beautiful piano already down from the very beginning...

I go to the wall, study a phrase (or part of it if it's too much), I take the entire idea in ... I take in the dynamics, I take in the structure, I take in the concept of physically playing it ... all of it ... I just put it right on my spoon and feed myself ... mmmmmm ... and then, I walk over to the piano and I play it.  I will tell you something, this has been forcing me to develop clear ideas in complete form like nothing else I have ever done !  Okay, I have done A LOT of other stuff, too !!!  But, this is seriously taking the cake right now !!  I LOVE it .  It's by far the most fun I have ever had learning my music so far !!!

[ramseytheii]

Anyway, musical 'interpretation' has mostly to do with the ability to digest the score and make sense out of the language to the point of developing clear textual images.  Playing 'musically' is not actually about having emotion vs. not having emotion, but I think it's rather more about one's ability to simply connect the dot(s) from the mental/spiritual image to the 'actual' real time manifestation (though perhaps some people connect more deeply than do others ?).  In other words, being 'musical' is the very act of that connection from some inward point A to the outward manifestation point B. 

I like this!

Walter Ramsey

[db05]

Karli,

The shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line, right? Can you tell us the rules/ guidelines so we can stay in that line?

btw, regarding your pieces-on-the-wall method, it doesn't work for everyone. I had mentioned before in another thread how I learned/ memorized a piece away from the piano and couldn't play it until weeks later. Thus I concluded that I may have learned the music, but not the "technique".



I think technique is what separates the music appreciators from the performers. Most of us have more musicality that we give ourselves credit for, imo. We can listen to pieces beyond our technical ability and have our preferred interpretations, but we cannot play something we don't appreciate.

Some exercises, though apparently easy, I can't play because I don't find them interesting. My teacher insists I do Hanon and Czerny at the start of every lesson to build technique, but this routine bores me and sets me up for frustration throughout the session. On my own, I prefer to warm up with my finished pieces, all of which I play from memory. If I can't play them from memory, it is a very bad day, and I stop because I don't expect to learn anything on that day. Kind of a litmus test.

[lostinidlewonder]

I think excersises are like practicing particular words or combinations of words, where playing music is words put into sentences. You might be really good in saying particular "musical words" but if you don't practice it in a "musical sentence" you can sound very forumulated. It is like presenting a speech but doing it in a boring way because you only memorized the words not the message and expression behind it.

Putting pieces on the wall is helpful for us to get an overall picture of the piece that we study. It helps us to visualize the overall memorization of the piece given that we have highlighted patterns and sections etc. When we look at them we should be able to hear that section in our minds eye, our Sound memory should be influenced every time we make an observation of the patterns we have sectioned in the score out. Seeing the entire score simultaneously, colored out and sectioned out in a way that is logical and understandable for yourself is helpful especially when learning large scale works. Many people approach learning music by doing page one and not moving onto the second page until they have mastered the first. So pasting up your music forces you to observe your music all at once breaking down the security blanket of doing everything safe and one at a time.

I would have to say to play a piece properly one has to emotionally connect to a piece. There are many shades of emotions, if we simply consider everything on terms of loud soft, fast slow, then we can miss the more spiritual/emotional side of playing the piano. Something may sound sad, but what if the sadness is more reminiscent of the past instead of a loss of the present? Is there a difference? I would say so and music can inspire these different shades of similar emotions. Like for instance Chopins Ballade No 1, much of it sounds like an old person thinking about their past long gone and it seems that the entire piece highlights their memory of the past and how now its all gone but back then it was so great!

One can make up any story they like, what is important is that they can emotionally connect to it, thus the abilty to present the music becomes more natural and from the "heart". Ondine from Ravel is easier to understand because there is a poem that is attached to it, so when that single note phrase is played near the end do we simply think, oh slow and gentle here, or do we think of tear drops dripping one by one into the lake because the spirit was denied love? Then do you simply think, arpeggios now follow or do you think, the immortal spirit gets up laughs it off and dives back into the water deeper and deeper never to be seen again.

I think images speak one thousand logical words. Of course this only applies for those with a more advanced ability, it would be hard for a beginner or intermediate to do this effectievly but they can still do it in smaller situations. I usually tell beginners who learn little ABA form pieces, to think of a sandwich, for example play part A Forte (eg an image of hard stale bread), have a very quiet middle B part (soft fillings), then end in the same forte fashion. So I don't have to say play this bit softer I just say have to say, Oh now we have reached the middle of the sandwich, which makes them understand they should play softer, noticing how that phrase is softer than the first part but that they should expect the first part to repeat again to complete the sandwitch. Always having your mind in context to the entire piece using imagry and symbols is very helpful and can be used at all levels. This is something that can only be trained with pieces however.