Piano Forum



Enfant Terrible or Childishly Innocent? – Prokofiev’s Complete Piano Works Now on Piano Street
In our ongoing quest to provide you with a complete library of classical piano sheet music, the works of Sergey Prokofiev have been our most recent focus. As one of the most distinctive and original musical voices from the first half of the 20th century, Prokofiev has an obvious spot on the list of top piano composers. Welcome to the intense, humorous, and lyrical universe of his complete Sonatas, Concertos, character pieces, and transcriptions! Read more >>

Topic: fittest musicians  (Read 2135 times)

Offline 49410enrique

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3538
fittest musicians
on: June 30, 2012, 01:09:37 AM
generally who do you think takes the prize. i.e. thoughts on the the most 'athletic' music?

my vote has always gone to these guys but if there's an instrument or music I am unaware of i would love to learn more.

(the strength and conditioning geek in me really nerds out on this stuff).

i love watching this stuff. it's freakin awesome. the amount of stamina and strength necessary to perform this stuff is insane!


Offline costicina

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1062
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #1 on: June 30, 2012, 06:02:45 AM
I couldn't find yet a good photo/video, but some adepts to Capoeira (the Brazilian martial art-acrobatic dance) are incredible when they play they instruments, percussions and the berimbau (a chord instrument). The music is quite boring, but they are mesmerizing....

Offline quantum

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 6221
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #2 on: June 30, 2012, 06:59:32 AM
There used to be many more videos of Gen Hirano around, including an incredible Scribin 65/3. 


Made a Liszt. Need new Handel's for Soler panel & Alkan foil. Will Faure Stein on the way to pick up Mendels' sohn. Josquin get Wolfgangs Schu with Clara. Gone Chopin, I'll be Bach

Offline ahinton

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12144
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #3 on: June 30, 2012, 07:01:46 AM
What about Kevin Bowyer playing Sorabji's Organ Symphony No. 2 or Jonathan Powell playing his Sequentia Cyclica super Dies Iræ, the first occupying almost nine hours and the second just over seven, the almost unremitting demands on the mental and physical stamina of the player in each case being more than enough to see most keyboard players off altogether? These might not actually look like feats of stamina (especially the former, since one does not even see the player,m as he's in the organ loft) but there's no doubt that they are so!

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline lousyplayer

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 80
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #4 on: June 30, 2012, 07:56:25 AM
There used to be many more videos of Gen Hirano around, including an incredible Scribin 65/3. 




awesome!

Offline ahinton

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12144
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #5 on: June 30, 2012, 10:59:08 AM
awesome!
Quoi? What would anyone need to be especially "fit" and with vast resources of stamina of any kind in order to play this rather unnecessary arrangment?

Finnissy's English Country-Tunes or Fourth Piano Concerto, anyone?

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline 49410enrique

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3538
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #6 on: June 30, 2012, 12:56:06 PM
all super interesting.

i'm not sure i follow the capoeira example though, that is, is there a music aspect to it that requires a particular amount of athletic development to pull off, or on the flip side does practicing and performing the music actually place the types of demands on the body that forces performance and physique adaptations? or are they already 'fit' and athletic from their dance/martial art pursuit when they happen to play music?-if i am misunderstanding you, please let me know i'd love to know more! :)

as for the piano, again most interesting and thanks for adding but my question was about a set or class of musicians or particualr type of music of an instrument (not a specific indiviaual who is already fit outside of their music when they decide to perform) that requires an uncommon amount of athletic development in order to actually play it rather than an athlete or fit individual already who just happens to pony up to said music, piece, piano, etc.


i think the conducting/solist example in is super valid, those ultra long pieces require and incredible amount of shoulder and arm endurance and joint mobility (conductor), also a pretty robust cardiovascular system to handle the demands (i.e.good circulation, heat dissipation, deal w dehydration etc.)



as for honerable mentions
you'd prolly need a super great set of lungs to keep a didgeridoo going like that (i.e. 'constant air flow')


i think there's an understastated fitness required of the alphorn kids too, i.e. you need to be able to have great lung recruitment and respiratory mechanics at super duper high altitudes when breathing is already impaired consider that many times these things are taken all the way up to the peaks then played!

Offline ahinton

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12144
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #7 on: June 30, 2012, 01:55:16 PM
i think the conducting/solist example in is super valid, those ultra long pieces require and incredible amount of shoulder and arm endurance and joint mobility (conductor), also a pretty robust cardiovascular system to handle the demands (i.e.good circulation, heat dissipation, deal w dehydration etc.)
Indeed; think of the conductor giving an entire Ring cycle within the space of less than a week!

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline thalbergmad

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16730
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #8 on: June 30, 2012, 09:07:13 PM
What about Kevin Bowyer playing Sorabji's Organ Symphony No. 2

When I worked in a Bank, one of my customers used to be the assistant organist at Lincoln Cathedral. He told me that he often used to play longer works just in his underpants, which he found more comfortable due to the heat and the effort involved.

Whether or not he was pulling my leg, I do not know.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline costicina

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1062
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #9 on: June 30, 2012, 09:37:47 PM
 ::) ::) ::) Yes, maybe the capoiera example is not proper. Only, when the rhythm of the movements gets faster and faster,  the atabaque (a kind of big drum) players too get frantic, creating an electric atmosphere...

Offline ahinton

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12144
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #10 on: June 30, 2012, 09:50:00 PM
When I worked in a Bank, one of my customers used to be the assistant organist at Lincoln Cathedral. He told me that he often used to play longer works just in his underpants, which he found more comfortable due to the heat and the effort involved.

Whether or not he was pulling my leg, I do not know.
Perhaps he had been (literally) pulling his own! Had he played Sorabji's Organ Symphony No. 1 (he'd not have been able to try his hands an feet on either of its two successors as their scores would almost certainly not have been available to him at the time), he might have had to dispense with the underpants as well. The mind fair boggles.

But you worked in a bank, you tell us; to what extent did you interfere with interest rates or sell SMEs interest rate collar products that they neither wanted nor needed and which totally screwed it for most of them? Not at all, I know! But someone did...

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline thalbergmad

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16730
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #11 on: June 30, 2012, 10:06:45 PM
But you worked in a bank, you tell us; to what extent did you interfere with interest rates or sell SMEs interest rate collar products that they neither wanted nor needed and which totally screwed it for most of them? Not at all, I know! But someone did...

I was a PPI seller, but comfort myself with the fact that I turned whistleblower and helped cost my ex employers millions.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline ahinton

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12144
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #12 on: July 01, 2012, 04:13:17 PM
I was a PPI seller, but comfort myself with the fact that I turned whistleblower and helped cost my ex employers millions.
Well, good for you; I hope that you were duly rewarded for having done so. That said, I do feel very strongly that it's quite wrong to blame all of this on PPI products themsevles, because as long as they were properly explained to clients for whom they were actually suitable, there was no problem; it's all down to how and to whom they were sold and there's no doubt that, in principle, they could be a good thing.

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline thalbergmad

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16730
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #13 on: July 01, 2012, 04:43:43 PM
The product itself was a good thing in certain circumstances, but it was absurdly expensive considering the size of the average claim. In addition, it was often added on to the borrowing to which it was attached, therefore attracting interest to make it even more expensive.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline ahinton

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12144
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #14 on: July 01, 2012, 05:50:14 PM
The product itself was a good thing in certain circumstances, but it was absurdly expensive considering the size of the average claim.
Sometimes, yes, but not always.

In addition, it was often added on to the borrowing to which it was attached, therefore attracting interest to make it even more expensive.
Indeed it was, all too often and that was an utter rip-off; those who actually needed such plans were almost always better off obtaining them independently of the loan against the repayment of which they sought to proctect themselves. Also, the terms of them varied enormously; for example, Halifax Bank in Ireland used to offer one which, despite it being available (as far as I recall) only to Halifax mortgagees, was independent of the mortage itself in that it was collected separately from the mortgage repayments by a different department of the bank and they never did a hard sell of it and probably didn't need to, as it was reasonably priced and its cover was excellent.

Anyway, back to the fitness of performers to give performances of music, methinks!

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline 49410enrique

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3538
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #15 on: July 01, 2012, 07:51:36 PM
let's give a nod to the DCI kids and related groups. drum and bugle corps and marching bands musicians work extremely hard on their show. i marched for a long time (tuba and keyboard percussion/auxillary), hot uniforms, heavy instruments, and the need to put out a  BIG sound (enough to fill large venues and out over crowd noise). i never finished a show not drenched in sweat.

Offline iansinclair

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1472
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #16 on: July 01, 2012, 09:43:14 PM
When I worked in a Bank, one of my customers used to be the assistant organist at Lincoln Cathedral. He told me that he often used to play longer works just in his underpants, which he found more comfortable due to the heat and the effort involved.

Whether or not he was pulling my leg, I do not know.

Thal

He wasn't.  They were boxer shorts, not briefs -- but I think I know who you mean.
Ian

Offline iansinclair

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1472
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #17 on: July 01, 2012, 09:45:55 PM
Do you classify ballet dancers as musicians?  (I do...).  If so, they win, hands down.  Both strength and stamina.
Ian

Offline 49410enrique

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3538
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #18 on: July 01, 2012, 09:51:09 PM
Do you classify ballet dancers as musicians?  (I do...).  If so, they win, hands down.  Both strength and stamina.

no. they are not making music. they are artists, performing artists, etc. they must know music, connect with it, understand musicality, but no not in this discussion. the only 'grey' area i could see dancers falling into the category would be tap dancing due to the percussion they utilize as opart of their perfomance. i.e even with music playing (that they are not producing) it is almost accompanyment to their 'solo' of 'dance/music' and vice versa
for example



now if the ballet dancers were somehow operating an instrument and making sounds they could quality but would not be 'fittest' as i can not see what kind of music they would be peforming that would require anywhere near the athleticism they exhibit when they perform ballet. note i am not looking down or disparaging ballet in anyway, as athlete, former strength and conditioning coach, and appreciator of all things human movement, i hold them in the highest of esteem in terms of their physical development and movment skills, and artistry.

Offline rachmaninoff_forever

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 4933
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #19 on: July 01, 2012, 09:52:07 PM
The percussionists at heavy metal or rock concerts.  
Live large, die large.  Leave a giant coffin.

Offline j_menz

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10148
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #20 on: July 02, 2012, 01:46:27 AM
Air guitarists.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline rachmaninoff_forever

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 4933
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #21 on: July 02, 2012, 03:16:20 AM
Air guitarists.

Hmmmmm, what's your reason for that?  I don't disagree with you, I just wanna know.
Live large, die large.  Leave a giant coffin.

Offline j_menz

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10148
Re: fittest musicians
Reply #22 on: July 02, 2012, 03:32:58 AM
Hmmmmm, what's your reason for that?  I don't disagree with you, I just wanna know.

I need a reason?  :o

Actually, it's the weight of all that hair flipping around. And the sort of exaggerated movements no-one could sustain if the guitar was of a more solid variety.

That and they seem to do it for long periods of time.
At least that's what the young men tell their Mums they're doing alone in their rooms for long periods getting sweaty.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant
For more information about this topic, click search below!
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert