My piano progress after playing for one year

[aarey]

Hey there! I am a long time lurker and first time poster to this forum and I would love some feedback on my playing after one year.

I know its not perfect, but I am happy with how Ive progressed over the year. I am aware that every Variation needs work and that is why getting the ones I know perfect is my current goal. I have had a ton of fun learning and I only want to keep improving so Id like to hear what you all think!

[bronnestam]

I think you are doing fine! This is a good foundation. But you write yourself what is most important: it was fun to learn. Even though I fully understand that you want to share your progress - piano playing is a bit lonesome sometimes - you should stick very much to your own joy and don't let opinions from strangers (like me) affect you too much.

Do you have any teacher? How many? Might be a strange question, but I have found that even a single lesson for a prominent teacher could give you terrific insights that will be useful for you for a long, long time after. So even if you have a regular teacher, you should also seek advice from other teachers. Not people on a dicussion board like this, but someone you see IRL. You can also attend master classes (online will do, if you cannot find a live event where you live) and watch when others are being taught. Master classes are not meant to be just a show where the audience is supposed to sit like ooh and aah          to everything the Master and the Terrific Student do; they are lesson for everyone who is watching and you can certainly learn a lot from them.

Now, for you progress from now on: I suggest you leave the piano and "listen" to the music in your head. You don't have to sing it aloud, but you have to have it in your head. Now, when you are not concentrating on the technical stuff, you can just investigate the music. Every bar and phrase of it - what do they say? How can you maximise the emotion, feeling and depth in them? Pay attention to every detail, and then to the wholeness, and then the details again. Then you can experiment a bit at the piano, with shorter segments. Don't be afraid of exaggerating, it is about pushing the limits here. Experiment with different styles and moods, challenge the rythm, change tempi from section to section, enjoy some of the coolest chords and harmonies in full. The point is not that this should be the end result, but you should feel free and explore the possibilities. You should feel that this piece right now is YOURS, not Bach's or anyone else's, it is YOU talking here. Then you can take it back to the "correct" version if you like.

Right now it sounds a bit fearful, like you are struggling to remember what key to play next, and the result is a bit flat. It is still all right as you have not played for a long time; it sounds like that to every unseasoned pianist. When you perform this to an audience, they should understand that this guy does not only know exactly where the keys are, but also knows exactly HOW to play each and one of them in this piece of music.

[aarey]

Right now it sounds a bit fearful, like you are struggling to remember what key to play next, and the result is a bit flat. It is still all right as you have not played for a long time; it sounds like that to every unseasoned pianist. When you perform this to an audience, they should understand that this guy does not only know exactly where the keys are, but also knows exactly HOW to play each and one of them in this piece of music.

I have posted this to a couple places on the internet  and the positive responsive have been overwhelming. However, no one has taken a critical look at what i see are flawed variations, so thank you for that  . I realized now that I have focused way to much on the technical side of things instead of the musical side. Ive listened to the Goldberg Variations MANY times by MANY different pianist, so i know exactly how I want each Variation to sound... but i lack the confidence to do so, which is why i feel everything sounded a little "off" when I played.  Thank you for helping me understand that to take the next step, I cannot worry about the next note being played, but instead worry about what I want to express with each variation. I now want to strive to create something that is unique to me. Not Bach. Not Gould. but my own. Thank you.

[lakers4sho]

very nice! How much do you practice per day, on average? How long did it take you to finally learn this piece?