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Topic: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)  (Read 2226 times)

Offline mjames

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This was a recording i made on an eletronic (yeah yeah i know) months ago when this piece was still new to me. I want to revisit this soon and give the first section MORE LIFE and VIGOR and on a real piano too. I might post another video too. Yeah i know the last part is anti-climatic too...and i know...man i hate this recording but anyways, help me with this. Give me as much as advice as you can my friendos!!!



https://vocaroo.com/i/s1u4pbdVd977

plz jmenz no snobby jokes

plz

plz


....plz

ps the middle section is a little bit smudgy..laptop mic lol

Offline coda_colossale

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #1 on: September 02, 2014, 10:13:09 PM
Oh boy, how I wish faulty was still here ;D

Offline mjames

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #2 on: September 02, 2014, 10:16:01 PM
Oh boy, how I wish faulty was still here ;D

Is it that bad?

Offline j_menz

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #3 on: September 02, 2014, 11:14:36 PM
It's not sitting comfortably under your hands at this (that) point, so there are parts that just lose the flow - it's in your head but not coming out.

The sound quality is poor, so there's some difficulty in distinguishing what's you and what's a recording flaw at time.

The tempo fluctuations are sometimes a little lacking purpose, though the basic ideas where they work are actually quite good.

To my ears, the tempo starts off too slow. You are free to disagree, but it would be useful on many levels if you were to at least be able to play it somewhat faster.

There's actually quite a lot of potential in this, and I would be most interested to see what you've done with it in the intervening months. 

It's actually hard to give suggestions on specifics where you have moved on anyway and what is said may no longer have relevance. So - post an up to date version. You're on the right track with this one in many respects, so lets see where you've taken it.

BTW, I don't make "snobby jokes".  My lawyers are tracking you down as we speak.  :P
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline mjames

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #4 on: September 03, 2014, 12:16:49 AM
Alright, thank you very much for the advice. I'll work on an update version, but first i need to get some access to an actual piano, though I will probably still end up on using a laptop mic. (poor college student)

And if I get access, i will probably post the g minor mazurka too.

Offline j_menz

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #5 on: September 03, 2014, 12:20:00 AM
And if I get access, i will probably post the g minor mazurka too.

Cool. You may even overcome your aversion to naming poor old Freddy.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline outin

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #6 on: September 03, 2014, 03:22:13 AM
I'm not qualified to give much advice. But it didn't hurt my ears in any way except for the recording quality at some points....
Considering the time you've studies piano you are doing just fine.
Keep at it and please do make us a recording on a real piano next time :)

In general I would recommed to spend time studying some easier repertoire as well in the early years, if you don't already. It can be surprising how much it can transcend to your abilities on these bigger projects.

Offline mjames

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #7 on: September 03, 2014, 03:53:55 AM
I'm not qualified to give much advice. But it didn't hurt my ears in any way except for the recording quality at some points....
Considering the time you've studies piano you are doing just fine.
Keep at it and please do make us a recording on a real piano next time :)

In general I would recommed to spend time studying some easier repertoire as well in the early years, if you don't already. It can be surprising how much it can transcend to your abilities on these bigger projects.

That is actually what I'm doing atm. Over the summer I worked on the op. 42 and the polonaise in eflatminor, and boy, they were hard. Especially the waltz. Really enjoyed it too.i realized that I lacked control for the most part and balance, but I am still happy with the results. Decided to put the works side since I've learned them, and now I'm going to work on less technically challenging works, and focus more on the musicality instead. It's amazing how much you can tell you've progressed by learning " "easier" works. A year ago I would have struggled with op.24no. 1 and the waltz f minor post, and now I can learn them/memorize them much easily, so I spent a lot of time of nuances and control of tempi instead.

Once I find a quiet place in this *** university with a piano, I will cont. to work on the Bach, a challenging but not too challenging moskowski petite etude (no.11), another chopin mazurka or maybe a liadov valse, I'm not sure. Also read through schubert a minor no. 16 sonata, and I want to give the first movement a try. Not technically challenging, but musically very challenging! Ican see that it's very hard to pull off a decent performance. AND maybe afterwards, after all this I can finally work on my second beethoven sonata (all movements), so I'll go for the  g minor op. 49. Will try to find some chants or chorales or pop songs to practice my sightreading...


That's the plan...

Now all I need is a piano.

Got withdrawal symptoms already.

Offline outin

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #8 on: September 03, 2014, 04:15:47 AM
That is actually what I'm doing atm. Over the summer I worked on the op. 42 and the polonaise in eflatminor, and boy, they were hard. Especially the waltz. Really enjoyed it too.i realized that I lacked control for the most part and balance, but I am still happy with the results. Decided to put the works side since I've learned them, and now I'm going to work on less technically challenging works, and focus more on the musicality instead. It's amazing how much you can tell you've progressed by learning " "easier" works. A year ago I would have struggled with op.24no. 1 and the waltz f minor post, and now I can learn them/memorize them much easily, so I spent a lot of time of nuances and control of tempi instead.

Once I find a quiet place in this *** university with a piano, I will cont. to work on the Bach, a challenging but not too challenging moskowski petite etude (no.11), another chopin mazurka or maybe a liadov valse, I'm not sure. Also read through schubert a minor no. 16 sonata, and I want to give the first movement a try. Not technically challenging, but musically very challenging! Ican see that it's very hard to pull off a decent performance. AND maybe afterwards, after all this I can finally work on my second beethoven sonata (all movements), so I'll go for the  g minor op. 49. Will try to find some chants or chorales or pop songs to practice my sightreading...



With easier pieces I meant things you can learn faster, in a week or two.

Maybe add some Scarlatti sonatas, they are the best "studies" I can think of. Would add a little more variety. Chopin used to give them to his students  ;)

Offline mjames

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #9 on: September 03, 2014, 05:20:23 AM
will do

Offline coda_colossale

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #10 on: September 03, 2014, 09:09:43 AM
K. 141 is such a joy to play :D

Offline cbreemer

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Re: Nocturne Op. 55 No.1 (DONT BE TOO MEAN, PLZ, IM VERY VULNERABLE)
Reply #11 on: September 08, 2014, 06:00:50 PM
The playing does not seem bad at all but it is hard to gauge with this atrocious sound quality.
Awful lot of noise, clipping, distortion etc. going on. The recording device and postprocessing (if any ?) are probably to blame for that far more than the instrument itself. There seem to be a number of misreadings and I did not quite understand what you were doing at the end. I would recommend listening back, if possible in slow motion, and checking every note (unless they were
simply slips). It is rather too slow but it has a good and steady pulse (I hate it when people feel they must rhythmically distort every bar of Chopin under the pretext of rubato). At least here I
sense a respect for the classical values of Chopin, who revered Bach above all IIRC.
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