Chopin 'black keys' , Rachmaninoff Prélude Op.3, No.2

[stephanieapi]

spam

[awesom_o]

Why are you trying to get people to vote on something that has no relevance to how well you play? It sounds to me as though you are trying to get approval by dividing people's opinion into two black and white categories (approval of your tempo, and disapproval of your tempo).

Part of playing better is in being able to make these artistic decisions regarding tempo for yourself!

It looks to me like you are a bit too caught up in making gesturing movements with your hands and wrists in the Rachmaninoff that are not helping the sound. They may look nice to you but remember, it's more about how it sounds to us, than how it looks to you.

In general, although both performances were riddled with mistakes, your technique seemed better in the Chopin. Less of the gesturing, and more musical involvement from the hands themselves.

As I said in the other thread, you are developing some very nasty pedaling habits. I strongly recommend you just take a vacation from the pedal for a good, long time, and try to get comfortable with the sounds you can produce from the piano using only your hands (and not your foot).

If you do not address this now, things will get worse for you down the road! I'm serious.


I want to emphasize that you have some very good musical ideas in both performances. I think the material is SLIGHTLY too difficult for you at this stage. This isn't a problem in and of itself! Often we need a stimulating challenge to really take our skills up a level or two.

Just don't expect your interpretation of these pieces to be 'perfect'. Every performance is just a work in progress. Sometimes it can be very difficult for us as musicians to accept that. But we need to.

May I ask how long you have been studying these works for?

[awesom_o]

Oh yes, I forgot to add.... Your left hand seems to be very good at making careless mistakes.


If you really are having a hard time making that hand behave, take up juggling! Very good for piano because it trains both hands to be equally dexterous.

Here is a spur-of-the-moment performance I gave of the Chopin not too long ago. It was not at a concert, so I hadn't rehearsed and wasn't particularly focused.

You'll notice that I took quite some care to make the mistakes happen slightly off-the-beaten-track, so to speak, and they're small mistakes, so they're difficult to notice even when they are slightly obvious. 

[johnmar78]

Hey Stephei.. I have listened to both, both are musical BUT, at this stage I would say go back to 30%- 50 or even slower, to study the motion and finger strengths-this will lead you a faster tempo playing. ATM, it sound rashed in black keys and too many slips . With Racf, some places you missed timing - especially at the begining. This is more to do with technical error than musical error. On elast tip, reduce your recoding volume by 2 notch, if not by 25%.

[unholeee]

im not really in a position to judge since you play better than me. but i really dont like the constant sustaining sound in the rach, or the dynamics.

[stephanieapi]

To Awesome, I'm sorry about spamming in pianostreet . I was new and I didn't really know where exactly to put my videos, and I was kind of 'stupid' to made a new poll instead of new topic..I just didn't know what happened to me, I apologize for that! And I agree with what u've said , my pedal habit is really bad I know . I'll adjust that ! For Chopin I've spent like  2 weeks , and 1 hour or 2 max per day. I'm an university student so I don't have that much time to play every day . For Rach, I've spent a bit less .

Hey Stephei.. I have listened to both, both are musical BUT, at this stage I would say go back to 30%- 50 or even slower, to study the motion and finger strengths-this will lead you a faster tempo playing. ATM, it sound rashed in black keys and too many slips . With Racf, some places you missed timing - especially at the begining. This is more to do with technical error than musical error. On elast tip, reduce your recoding volume by 2 notch, if not by 25%.

I do agree with you, I was too much in 'technic' aspect

im not really in a position to judge since you play better than me. but i really dont like the constant sustaining sound in the rach, or the dynamics.

I'll work on that! I promise that next time it won't be that boring