My first recording.. Nocturne E flat by Chopin (updated Feb 5th, new recording!)

[_achilles_]

Well, I finally got around to recording myself. I think it turned out ok, it's definitely not my most expressive playing of the song and there were a few little mistakes..

Song: Nocturne in E flat by Chopin
Performer: Me!
Date: 4/12/2011 (or 12/4/2011 if we don't want to make sense)

Improved version (played February 5th)

As always will be the case with anything I post; comments/critique/insults/compliments/money are more than welcome.

[pianoplayjl]

SLow down-you definitely played this too fast. Appley some rubato. Shape the melody. create more contrast within the music. Having said that, you handled the cross rhythms brilliantly and the trills towards the end were fantastic.

JL

[pbryld]

Agree with the poster above!

Date: 4/12/2011 (or 12/4/2011 if we don't want to make sense)

If you could press "I like", I'd do it!

[costicina]

Maybe LH too loud, covering the RH melody? Maybe it should be more "fluent", in the technical/musical point of view??
Anyway, IMO you are doing very well. Chopin is devilish difficult to play well,even the less demanding pieces require the performer to be a MUSICIAN in the full meaning..
Thanks for sharing
Margherita

[ian_f001]

You certainly have the "waltz" feel of this Nocturne. The trick is to maintain the underlying 1-2-3 pulse, but to think of the larger phrases with the RH that extend out across many measures. The melody sounds a little bit like it is being chopped up into one measure bits. Let the left hand provide the feeling of triple meter and let the RH sing out independently over it.

All of this would be more easily accomplished by just slowing down a bit. Remember, the few runs that occur in this piece are not Liszt-ian runs, but Chopin-ian runs. They are not there to sound flashy or show-offy. They have to be integrated into the melody. 

[_achilles_]

All of the above sounds like very good advice, so thanks for the tips!

I definitely played it too fast, faster than I normally do, and I feel like that robbed it of some of the expression I normally give it. I've played it a few times since reading these comments and I feel like they definitely helped. I might post an "improved" version sometime. I like that I know this song so well that I can really focus on the expression and rarely have to focus hard on the notes at all.

[_achilles_]

Here's an updated version, I feel like it's a lot better. I really need a better mic 

Let me know what you think!

[doudly]

Great improvement indeed!

But you really need to work on your left hand, it's waay too loud and kinda distracts from the melody!
Try to sing more with your right hand btw, sometimes it's kind of choppy!

And pay attention during more technical parts (like the trills), your tempo tends to slow down or speed up dramatically!

Good job anyway, keep working like that and you'll get it soon enough!

[_achilles_]

Thanks a lot for your reply. I was having troubles seeing where I needed improvement and your suggestions helped a lot. The mic might have a little to do with the strong left hand sound but it definitely could use improvement. It's interesting to see how much my mind changes what I'm actually playing sometimes.. I feel like it might be bringing out the melody when I'm playing without me noticing that I'm not bringing it out in the music I'm making.

I mentioned this with other comments on either this video or another, but it's funny to see it happening again in a different way: I had vaguely realized my off tempo on the trills and more complicated part but had never thought of adjusting it.. it's interesting to see that my brain notices but doesn't react to things like this, I guess I'll just keep evolving as a pianist.

Thanks again!

[johnmar78]

Arch, first like to say, Thank your for your will  to learn this piece. And memorise the piece .
 Now I will tell you my findings....(truth hurts but learn from your mistakes).

There are too many wrong notes and irratic rthyms that is not rubato.
time, 15;24;29;38;45;52;1.13;1.15;1.23;1.27;1.30.1.44.2.00;2.07;2.11;2.40;2.46;3.07;3.08 etc.

Ask your musical friends or teachers to watch your video.

If you want to play better, fix up all the wrong notes first, it would be hard because your muscle memory already memoroised the wrong notes. Now you need to do is to play bar by bar slowly and READ it carefully.

Fix up what I ahve mentioned above first or just record  one page see if you have done the right thing for your next recording.
No markings at this stage....
I hope these notes helps.

 Cheers 
Cheers

[_achilles_]

johnmar78: Thanks for your input.. however, I think you might of been looking at my old performance. At lest that's my guess given that your first time is at 15 seconds and in my improved version I haven't even started then. I have added the updated version to the original post just to make it clear. I'd like to hear what you think of the changes!

[johnmar78]

ok, i listended it once agin....please check your PM.
You had a score infront of you just for piece of mind ,...

Here are my findings without mentioning any dynamic improvement or so ever.

Time listed-wrong notes and irratic tempo change...sorry.
29sec;38;43;53-59;1.03;1.34;1.37;1.46 -50;2.29;2.0;2.38;3.18;3.43;3.50;4.02 ending 1/16th group ,,,you missed two I think. Please fix up these for your own good and future playing.
 No markings yet... untill you fix up your errors.

Cheers....

[robpina]

For me the LH is just a bit too loud. Apart from the wrong notes you seem to have a very nice idea of how to play the RH with proper feeling and motion. If you work on your tempo changes and quiet the LH I think you'll have it down.

[quantum]

I listened to your second video. 

Regarding the sometimes erratic tempo.  This tends to occur in the 16th note runs.  Consider that faster note values do not equal a change to faster tempo.  I know it is easy to get drawn into the graphical notation of the 16ths and think "oh my, I need to play these notes faster.  They sure look fast on paper."  In reality what is happening is there are more notes to play in the same amount of time.  So instead of thinking 16ths need to go faster, think 16ths mean twice as many notes fit in the same space.  I think you are trying to compensate for the quicker note values by adjusting the tempo of the piece.  What you need to do is fit more notes into a stable tempo stream.