Interpretation being NOT european

[keyb0ardfweak]

Hi,

I have been told that people from other countries have a different way to play pieces of MOzart, Beethoven, J.S Bach, etcetc and that it changes the way the composer intended it to be played.

Now, I am a piano student and I have played Bach's WTC1 Prelude #2 in Cm with a friend whom I wanted to judge me and correct me.

The first thing he said: " The way you played it is not good and not bad, but it is very noticeable that you are not european". My reaction was like  He told me also that I play very "dolce" everything


My ex piano teacher also told me this, that it has a lot to do if you are from other country. She gave me an example of her playing oriental songs, it would sound "strange"



Now the question is..

Can I really learn the "european touch"? xD

I am really worried about this..because I am afraid of people judging me like they do to Lang Lang for example..

[pianist1976]

I am European and I never heard about such a think as "European" touch. It is true that there are some, in my opinion, some superficial differences between some piano traditional schools (Russian, Hungarian, French...) but I really never heard about a generic "European" way of play. Of course, every prejudice must be eradicated. As an important artist said (I don't remember now who) "there are only two types of music: good music and bad music". Paraphrasing this, music can be well interpreted of bad interpreted. You must make the best effort in make the best music you can, regardless your country or continent.

[thalbergmad]

Can I really learn the "european touch"? xD

If such a thing exists, you must ask yourself why you would wish to. You must find your own touch.

I have yet to meet anyone that can tell the ethnicity of a pianist just by hearing them, but no doubt some clever clogs on here will prove me wrong.

Thal

[musicioso]

Ofcourse there is difference in interpretation between people from different places. Me, being originally from Afghanistan, grew up with two different sort of music: western music and eastern (hindustani classical music). And now, when i play western music on the piano there is some eastern touch in it, indeed. And when i play eastern music, there is a little bit western touch in it.

I am an amature pianist, and have no ambition to play on the stage. So it doesnt matter to me, i dont have to convince the jury at a piano competition. I play for myself, and the way i play, how i interpret music, is the best for me. So like thalbergmad said: why would you learn something different? You play your own feelings, you communicate your own emotions, but by immitating another way of playing you just miss the very essence of music.

[birba]

This sounds very wierd in this day and age.  I'm an american who has been living in Europe for umpteen years, and I really wouldn't be able to tell where a pianist was from just by listening to them.  I think classical music is so cosmopolitan by now and people grow up hearing radio, discs, internet from all over the world.  This would mean, I guess, that a french pianist would have a better idea of Debussy, a german one a more genuine feeling for Bach,  an american, Gershwin, etc. I did notice in Italy a certain technical facility for the keyboard.  Sort of a common denominator in the way they attack the keys.  And their Scarlatti is particularly spectacular, I guess.  Perhaps a real sensitive being COULD hear the origins of a certain sound and interpretation.   Mah...! Who knows?

[keyboardclass]

It's a bit like achieving the correct accent when learning a language.  All these things get hard wired by the time we're 7.  Coming to them cold, I really think cultures aren't so easily assimilated.

[richard black]

One might think that the language a musician speaks would have some impact on the way he/she plays, particularly in regard to phrasing, but all attempts to pinpoint this have, to the best of my knowledge, failed.

But of course people are biased like anything end far too often expect a person of, say, oriental appearance, or of known Russian extraction, to play a certain way.

[kelly_kelly]

Agreed about the bias... Often I wonder how much of the vitriol many Asian pianists get comes from the stereotype that they must have been forced by their parents, have no passion for music, and therefore of course play robotically If there were no video, I doubt that many of the critics could distinguish most Asian pianists from the American/European ones they praise...

I'm a first generation American whose parents grew up in India, and I have to say that I don't see many Indians playing Western classical  music - many of them do Indian classical music or dance instead, which in my opinion is just as good as, but different from, Western classical (in fact, I wish my parents had exposed me to Indian classical music at a young age so I would have a taste for it now...). But as a result, I sometimes feel uncomfortable in performance situations - for the past two years, I have been the only non-East Asian in my piano studio - and I feel that people don't expect me to play well because statistically few Indians pursue Western classical music. I also get the impression that some of the other students' parents are slightly resentful when I can play better than their children.

[keyb0ardfweak]

Those opinions made me feel better, knowing that music is a language and it takes time to learn it preoperly.

As pianist1976 said, "there are only two types of music: good music and bad music". BTW, I made a research on who quoted this, it was Duke Ellington..
Correct me if I am wrong..  



I believe that one has its own view of music. Some may enjoy listening to Brahms, and some may not, some may love oriental music and dislike european..

I guess there are tastes for everyone.



This is the good side of this.

The bad side is to be offended by this "conservative" people who tell you to play Bach like a robot stating that the instrument they used in the baroque era had no dynamics..-.-", but the only problem is that you are not playing the harpsichord!! You are playing the piano!! Personally I would get bored of Bach if I played it like robot with no feelings at all..when in reality his music tells a lot of things and is full of emotion, like every piece tells a story.

[keyb0ardfweak]

I also get the impression that some of the other students' parents are slightly resentful when I can play better than their children.

[seamonkey]

I believe, a special "touch" exists for those works that contain folk music elements.  Usually it will have a specific native sound that is only understood by the people in question.  People who have not been exposed or immersed in it long enough would not normally "get" it.  For example, classical music that is based on folk dance (polonaise, mazurkas, etc) have this issue.

[richard black]

Interesting what kelly_kelly says about Indians playing European classical music. Tallies with my observations of the faces I see around me in London (pretty cosmopolitan city): I have met a few Indian string players, quite a few opera singers (some of them _very_ good) but not one pianist I can think of. My wife has two Indian piano pupils, brother and sister - or rather, two pupils of Indian parents as the kids were born and brought up in the UK. But that's about it. An Indian musician friend of mine did once point out that the climate in India is so cruel to pianos that no one would want to keep one there. I suppose he may even have a point!

[thalbergmad]

An Indian musician friend of mine did once point out that the climate in India is so cruel to pianos that no one would want to keep one there.

I would have thought that in some areas, one has to tune ones Sitar every other day.

Thal