Moscow Bells(Sergie Rachmaninoff)

[bharatbash]

Greetings everyone!

I am a self taught player, in awe of Rachmaninoff. I managed to play the main motif of his Prelude in C sharp minor on my digital piano. I'd like you guys to please spare a minute out of your time and have a look at my effort. Here it is:

Any sort of criticism/suggestions/comments are welcome.

Thanks!

[seb1982]

Firstly, you've done *very* well to teach yourself that!  In my experience, people teaching themselves piano rarely works so well!

The one thing that absolutely jumps out at me is that your arms seem to almost leap up from the bottom of the key after every key press - it's almost like the video of playing it has been reversed!  While that doesn't matter so much on a digital piano, if you were to play like that with a grand, it wouldn't give you a very nice tone 

So ...  what you need to do (and it's horrible to try and explain with words!) is to imagine all the weight of your arms and upper torso (for the loud notes, anyway), relaxing right into the bottom of the key bed for each note you strike.  Keep your fingers on the notes, afterwards too - don't pull up out of them immediately so you're relying entirely on the pedal to keep them sustained - use as much finger legato as you can, too.

Hopefully someone else can explain all that better than I just did, anyway!  Do let me know if it raises any questions or difficulties!

All the best 

[bharatbash]

Thanks so much for your time and thoughts!

I can understand what are you trying to say, Since i've had no one to teach me these little 'secrets' in playing, i guess i am pretty much on my own to figure it out, ofcourse with help from you people!

I will surely try to incorporate that aspect.

Also, what about the tone? Did i bring out the top melody line in those chords? Sorry if i am being self-critical, i just want to do justice to a great piece.


My Best,
Thanks!

[seb1982]

I just had another listen.  Your chords are nicely played - the notes aren't accidentally spread out - it's all crisp, and your voicing is about as good as you can get on a digital.

The main thing, I'd suggest, is getting the whole thing more fluid - some of your transitions between chords are a bit hesitant - you're still searching for the notes a bit.  I'm afraid that only repeating them again and again will get it right!  But you might want to try just two, three or four chords' worth at a time, working on each little section for, say, a good five minutes before moving on to the next.  Really get those finger positions for each chord hammered into your brain!

Hope that helps a bit, anyway    Keep us posted how you get on and if anything else crops up 

[riskarb]

Excellent! For someone that's self-taught, that's amazing. Keep up the great work and look forward to more Rachmaninoff from you in the future!

[bharatbash]

Thanks for your time and thoughts. I am inspired to play more heart into my playing with your support.

Yes, more of Rachmaninoff is on its way lol but i think Rachmaninoff's music needs 'maturity' and i've only been playing since 2 years now. So, More of Chopin as of now!

[awesom_o]

Yes, more of Rachmaninoff is on its way lol but i think Rachmaninoff's music needs 'maturity' and i've only been playing since 2 years now. So, More of Chopin as of now!

Why would Chopin take less maturity to play than Rachmaninoff?

[bharatbash]

No, I meant some of the preludes of Chopin are 'relatively' easier to interpret. BTW, I have also uploaded Chopin's Prelude no. 20 Opus 28 in the audition room.

Kindly spare a minute out and have a look at it.

Thanks!