How hard is this piece?!

[roledo]

Hi! I'm new here and this is my first post!

I just want to ask how difficult is this piece in terms of the piano grading system and from your own point of view?

Also, tell me pieces that have the same difficulty level

And......... tell me YOUR take on this piece. Is it beautiful and worth learning?

Thanks!  

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Modified 12/2/12

 ABOUT:

Tabi no Tochuu or On a Journey

The opening song from the anime "Spice and Wolf", a tale about an immortal wolf deity who takes the appearance of a 15 year old girl and a 25 year old peddling merchant. The wolf deity tags along with the merchant and together they set out on a journey in a medieval fantasy setting and with an economy-driven theme. Along the way, they found themselves laughing, teasing, hugging, sharing, and sometimes crying. But most importantly, they found themselves caring for each other.


In a deeper context, it is about two lonely souls (one being an immortal and the other a striving merchant) finding comfort and happiness in each other's company. I must say their chemistry is a far cry from the formulaic male-female relationship archetype you can see in every other anime show. Their relationship is playful and a little bit flirtatious, but with sensibility and maturity in it.
I must also note that their witty banters and their childish verbal sparring are golden! No explicit gestures of love and attraction, but it is up to you on how you see their actions.



Now about the song. As I interpret it, the primary theme of the song is ,well, the journey of the two, with an undertone of a worried thought coming from the wolf deity that the journey with the mortal would someday come to an end, making her all alone once again.

(I wanted to write more but I'm too lazy and sleepy. ZzzzZZzzz. My interpretation is not yet complete, but I promise you; as soon as I get the nudge to write, I WILL WRITE)


Piano 1

A more 'literal' arrangement of the song. It stays true to the song and captures the jive and fun of the journey.


Piano 2

A version of the song that sounds that like it was really made to be played on the piano. It evokes more emotion to it. (my preferred of the two)

IMHO,the best rendition of the piece out there, with slight improvisations. Go watch the full video.

[sasuke_10]

You decide if it's beautiful to you, or not. If you want to play it, play it.

[roledo]

Of course the very reason of me asking this question is because I find the piece beautiful and I want to play it.


That is why I said "what's your take". In other words, I'm asking for your own opinion.

[sasuke_10]

Well, I don't like it very much. And, to answer your first question, I don't find it very hard.

[mikemiester]

In terms of musical quality (completely subjective) I would rate it around 1-2/10

In terms of difficulty, 1 being elementary and 10 being the hardest piano pieces, probably 2/10 at first glance.

I wouldn't recommend that to any of my students, but if you like it go for it!

[tdawe]

I'd probably say it was about as difficult as Grade 4 ABRSM pieces.

edit: Sorry, I was really lazy and didn't watch the whole thing... it's probably quite a bit harder than this.

[sucom]

There are quite a few technically difficult aspects to this piece - the moving octaves and jumps, the semiquaver passages in the left hand later on, the unusual chords, the numerous ledger lines, the required use of pedal - all of these point to a slightly higher skill level, certainly at Grade 5 ABRSM level or very likely above.

On a personal note, this piece lacks a certain interest for me.  Where is it going?  What is it saying?  But I easily accept that this might not be another's view on this piece, it's just not quite to my own taste.

[roledo]

Thank you for your replies!

I'm having a hard time with 3:40 onwards.

Anyways, could you recommend other classical, or more "refined" pieces with the same level difficulty as the aforementioned piece? I'm thinking of learning Nocturne op 9 no 1 after I finish mastering the piece.

P.S I can read basic sheet music (grade 1 piano student level), but I find using synthesia a more effective way of learning new pieces. I learned my first piece, Waltz in A minor posthomous, using synthesia, and now I'm tackling this piece (Tabi no Tochuu) as a second piece.

[roledo]

BUMP!

By the way, after practicing the section where the semiquavers are involved for an unknown period of time, I felt pain on my left wrist.

 

[nystul]

On a personal note, this piece lacks a certain interest for me.  Where is it going?  What is it saying?  But I easily accept that this might not be another's view on this piece, it's just not quite to my own taste.

Wasn't familiar with this... hunted around a bit to find the origin.  I think it is a very beautiful song, but I'm not sure this piano arrangement does it justice.  But the performance/rendering of the piano arrangement here doesn't do *it* justice either.  Very cold...

[sucom]

Wasn't familiar with this... hunted around a bit to find the origin.  I think it is a very beautiful song, but I'm not sure this piano arrangement does it justice.  But the performance/rendering of the piano arrangement here doesn't do *it* justice either.  Very cold...

Yes, I agree with you on this.  The drone of a monotone voice came to mind while I was listening.  I haven't heard this before and would be interested to perhaps find a more expressive performance which could actually sound entirely different.  Expression in performances can make a piece sound totally different so I won't throw it out just yet!    All I might say is, listerning to this performance didn't inspire me to search for the music, print it out and go and sit at my piano.

[tdawe]

Thank you for your replies!

I'm having a hard time with 3:40 onwards.

Anyways, could you recommend other classical, or more "refined" pieces with the same level difficulty as the aforementioned piece? I'm thinking of learning Nocturne op 9 no 1 after I finish mastering the piece.

P.S I can read basic sheet music (grade 1 piano student level), but I find using synthesia a more effective way of learning new pieces. I learned my first piece, Waltz in A minor posthomous, using synthesia, and now I'm tackling this piece (Tabi no Tochuu) as a second piece.

Chopin Op 9 No.1 is significantly harder than this piece... that's about a Grade 8 level I'd say. The passagework and polyrhythms are pretty challenging.

[roledo]

The video I attached with my first post is only a synthesized piano rendition of the song. No feelings, no emotion.... Just plain key smashing.

Anyways, here is the original song and a little bit information about it

Tabi no Tochuu or On a Journey

The opening song from the anime "Spice and Wolf", a tale about an immortal wolf deity who takes the appearance of a 15 year old girl and a 25 year old peddling merchant. The wolf deity tags along with the merchant and together they set out on a journey in a medieval fantasy setting and with an economy-driven theme. Along the way, they found themselves laughing, teasing, hugging, sharing, and sometimes crying. But most importantly, they found themselves caring for each other.


In a deeper context, it is about two lonely souls (one being an immortal and the other a striving merchant) finding comfort and happiness in each other's company. I must say their chemistry is a far cry from the formulaic male-female relationship archetype you can see in every other anime show. Their relationship is playful and a little bit flirtatious, but with sensibility and maturity in it.
I must also note that their witty banters and their childish verbal sparring are golden! No explicit gestures of love and attraction, but it is up to you on how you see their actions.



Now about the song. As I interpret it, the primary theme of the song is ,well, the journey of the two, with an undertone of a worried thought coming from the wolf deity that the journey with the mortal would someday come to an end, making her all alone once again.

(I wanted to write more but I'm too lazy and sleepy. ZzzzZZzzz. My interpretation is not yet complete, but I promise you; as soon as I get the nudge to write, I WILL WRITE.)


Piano 1

A more 'literal' arrangement of the song. It stays true to the song and captures the jive and fun of the journey.


Piano 2

A version of the song that sounds that like it was really made to be played on the piano. It evokes more emotion to it. (my preferred of the two)

IMHO,the best rendition of the piece out there, with slight improvisations. Go watch the full video.

I'm going to put this on the introductory post so that people would not think of it as another pointless  arrangement of notes.

[roledo]

BUMP?