Rant!

[starstruck5]

I have watched quite a few masterclasses, where it has been suggested you try and make the piano imitate another instrument - apparently because the piano is a percussion instrument it has its limitations wrt melodic timbre.

To be honest I really hate this idea.  The piano can NEVER sound like a violin, or a cello or an oboe, whatever inner desire you might have. To me this is like an insult to the instrument I love. I think the piano sound is the most beautiful of all.  I love the way the harmonics are always so alive, and the way it isn't sustaining like a violin, this is what gives the piano it's own unique character. It is that character and beauty I want to find in every note.  Yes, the piano has to sing sometimes, but I am part of the sound and I sing inside - I don't want to emulate the human voice though - which of course is impossible for anything other than the human voice.

I am sure a cellist is hardly ever told to try and make it sound like a piano! 

I sometimes why Barenboim bothers to play the piano at all - he insults it often enough. If I had been good enough to participate in one of his masterclasses - I think an argument might ensue!

[werq34ac]

The reason pianists are asked so often to emulate other instruments is because pianos are actually capable of emulating the sound of another instrument. It's absolutely incredible how many different colors our instrument can produce; the only thing more colorful than a piano would be a full orchestra. A cellist is never told to make it sound like a piano because a cellist is INCAPABLE of imitating the piano, while a piano is capable of producing a mellow, singing, cantabile sound. At the same time, a piano can play perhaps an airy flute or a laid back bass pizzicato. Really the piano is the closest thing one can get to a one-man orchestra.

So you shouldn't be insulted when a pianist is told to emulate another instrument. It's simply taking full advantage of the color pallete available to a deceptively simple instrument.

[lostinidlewonder]

I agree with werq34ac. Also the piano is often the instrument of choice to compose with because its range covers the pitch ranges of the orchestral instruments. Of course the piano cannot sound exactly like other instruments but it can emulate what other instruments tend to do. Advanced students should be encouraged to listen to orchestral versions of pieces they learn because it often reveals expression you can also imitate on the piano.

The human voice can be emulated on the piano, but not with human fingers.

[nyiregyhazi]

I have watched quite a few masterclasses, where it has been suggested you try and make the piano imitate another instrument - apparently because the piano is a percussion instrument it has its limitations wrt melodic timbre.

To be honest I really hate this idea.  The piano can NEVER sound like a violin, or a cello or an oboe, whatever inner desire you might have. To me this is like an insult to the instrument I love. I think the piano sound is the most beautiful of all.  I love the way the harmonics are always so alive, and the way it isn't sustaining like a violin, this is what gives the piano it's own unique character. It is that character and beauty I want to find in every note.  Yes, the piano has to sing sometimes, but I am part of the sound and I sing inside - I don't want to emulate the human voice though - which of course is impossible for anything other than the human voice.

I am sure a cellist is hardly ever told to try and make it sound like a piano! 

I sometimes why Barenboim bothers to play the piano at all - he insults it often enough. If I had been good enough to participate in one of his masterclasses - I think an argument might ensue!

I sort of agree, in a way. If you can emulate the sound of someone emulating an orchestra on the piano, it doesn't matter whether you conceive it orchestrally or pianistically. That the result is effective is what matters. When it comes to Barenboim, he might be thinking of an orchestra but his FFF is often hideous. His recording of the Liszt verison of the Liebestod is bloody awful playing. He'd do better to listen to the sound he is actually producing then imagine something else.

[fantasmic]

Really the piano is the closest thing one can get to a one-man orchestra.

And his name is Franz Liszt.

Seriously, just listen to the transcriptions of EVERY Beethoven symphony