video - tulip (by Moon, Aram)

[gmweek]

Hello,
Today, I played "Tulip" (composed by Moon, Aram who is pianist & composer in S. Korea).
Although I am not good at all, I just enjoy playing various genre of piano music.
It is a super good hobby to me.   

[dogperson]

Great job! Well played and, most importantly, quite musical
Thanks for sharing

[gmweek]

Thank you for your comment~~~

[ranjit]

In this piece, I think it's really important to incorporate rubato. The rhythm in the right hand (from 0:02 to 0:07) is repeating over and over. It gets predictable and tiring after a few repetitions of the same rhythm. Here you have a grouping of 7 notes going "up", and then 2 notes going "down". Keep slightly varying the time delay between these two sections of the phrase. This creates a call-and-response like feel. Think about longer phrases. For example, after every 4 or 8 smaller phrases, you can either slightly increase or decrease the time delay between the two sections of the phrase. This will maintain interest. Otherwise, the music grows stale after about 4 or 5 repetitions of the same rhythm in the right hand.

In addition, you should experiment with rubato and varying the rhythm, according to what you want to convey. A good rule of thumb is that not more than two repetitions should sound exactly the same.

I looked it up on youtube, and found the video below. Observe for example, how she plays the same phrase from 0:02-0:06, and 1:44-1:47. Notice how the last note of the phrase at 0:06 fades out, but the last note of the phrase at 1:47 is left ringing. These are the kind of things that maintain interest, and create a narrative for the piece. Unfortunately, you will usually not find them written out in the sheet music, so you will need to use your own ears.

[gmweek]

Dear Ranjit,
Thank you for your detailed comments. Otherwise, I wouldn't understand at all, because I never learned these kinds of things before. I will keep it in mind and try again.

[ranjit]

Sure thing. If you're learning on your own, make sure to listen to recordings (that is how I learned stuff). Sheet music gives you the notes, sure, but to understand how to convey the feel, always refer to recordings (of course, you are still free to make your own choices). The issue is that if you learn from sheet music and don't have a teacher, you can completely miss all the details which actually make something sound good.