Chopin - Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 (snippet)

[m1469]

I LOVE this sonata ... just kidding, I know it's a ballade .


Okay, so this -chunks of bigger pieces- is taking over my "project baby pieces" and I will post progress.  I am, for all intents and purposes, just starting this piece and have never had a lesson with it yet.  Also, I'm deciding to really let my inwards lead, I mean, I'm letting myself feel how it's "supposed" to go for now.  This is 1'41" of bare nuggies.

Cheers!!

[pianowolfi]

My feeling is that your inwards is a good teacher, and this start/beginning sounds very promising to me! I am really starving to hear you play the whole Ballade

[m1469]

Thanks a bunch for listening and for your comments, Wolfi .  Yeah, I'm rather starving to play the whole thing, too .  

[m1469]

My feeling is that your inwards is a good teacher, and this start/beginning sounds very promising to me! I am really starving to hear you play the whole Ballade

I feel I want to comment on this.  I can't say that I understand where I'm at, exactly, in my overall progress.  I think that I am making strides anyway.  And, okay, since I'm quite thoughtful (too much, actually) lately, I want to add to this thought in this thread, that it's not ONLY that I let myself feel how it goes.  Because, I have done that in my life before, and it has not been actually satisfying for me.  And, while I realize I am only at a start with this Ballade, there is a certain satisfaction I am already starting to find (at least it seems) in being able to express musically, but it is not actually devoid of the wonderful teachers who have really put some time and effort into me (I feel even in my core that this is truly).  I find that I have in me also the lessons I am learning with especially my current two teachers, and this is helping me to be growing into what feels like my musical expression.

Anyway - I am just very grateful ... for music and for people who also love it (at least if not always feeling IN love with it, admit to themselves in some form that it has a certain place within their lives!).

[lorditachijr]

Having only started this piece a month ago, I'm not a great judge, but I'll try my best. I think you have a really great sound, and I think you've done a good job so far with the textures. The one thing I'd like to say, and you and your teacher may disagree with me, is that since you are just starting it, you may want to take back on the rubato. I think that all of the rubato can be added later, when you have the whole piece solid. Not necessarily with the metronome, but you should feel the rhythmic pulse throughout. A few times my teacher has had me count out loud the whole piece. It's hard, but it really helps to get a rhythmic foundation. Also something I found really helps with those chords in the Moderato is to practice playing them fortissimo so that when you play them as soft as they need to be, you'll have more control over them. These are just some suggestions, so please feel free to disregard them as I am just a student! It really does sound great.

Good luck!
John

[m1469]

Hi John,

Thanks for listening and for your thoughts.  It has actually given me a bit to chew on since you've posted it; and then, of course, that in line with some subjects I am maybe considering in an ongoing way.  Firstly, definitely I will explore this piece with my teachers and am open to that and to their thoughts, of course.  

But, I am deciding to consider your thoughts from exactly where I'm at right now, and from exactly the way I personally think right now (which includes the fact that I've not taken this piece to either of my teachers yet).  Pulse and tempo are something which are somewhat ... fascinating or interesting to me.  Mainly because it's tempting to think of it in strict terms similarly or exactly as we would a metronome.  And, it's also easy to think of sound as tied to this, and that being what makes music.  While this is perhaps an important perspective, especially in practice, I don't agree that this is what makes music.  If it were, a computer could make music, or a person who plays like a computer would be just as musical as anybody else.  Along with that, though, I don't believe that tempo and rhythmic deviation or variation is what makes something human, or along those lines I don't believe that those are exactly what makes something musical.

So, okay, a discussion on what is musical or not, aside.  Concerning tempo and rhythm, what I am fascinated by at the moment is the tempo and rhythm of the message.  To me, this is where tempo and pulse and rhythm are most valuable and most tied to.  I think that, obviously, the tempo of the sound(s)/notes and the tempo of the message are linked, but they aren't exactly the same, either.  And, I think the message trumps the sound.

How you get to all of that is still something I am ... exploring and open to coming to better understand.  And, while much of the time my practicing is quite strict in the sense that I believe I am nearly always trying to achieve something fairly specific, my practicing is generally different in some way each day, or rather what, exactly, I am trying to achieve each day, is a bit different.  To play the sounds in strict tempo, again, is perhaps a useful tool and perspective, but not my ultimate goal and even though I'll still go through phases of that (I'm sure), for me, this particular recording was meant to communicate the meaning.

[benechan]

Check out Chopin Ballade No.1 in G Minor Tips, Resources, Tutorials, and Masterclasses (how to play) Opus 23 from the Piano Sage Blog https://pianosage.blogspot.com/2011/08/chopin-ballade-no1-in-g-minor-tips.html

[lelle]

Nice work!  I think the most important thing to focus on in these opening section is that you watch out for any random accents and "dropped notes" and so on. The most difficult thing in Chopin (for me at least) is apart from the technical problems the cantabile. Work on projecting melodic lines that aren't interrupted by accents and that all the notes within a phrase are connected.