Why do I sound so bad

[stringbot]

Hello everyone,

Here is a recording of me playing Abegg Variations. I have worked on it for several months now, but no matter how much I practice, it seems that my recordings all sound so amateur. What exactly is causing this? Is it the tone quality, the mistakes, or perhaps the muddy pedaling? If anyone could provide any suggestions, that would be very appreciated. Thank you.

[keypeg]

It didn't actually sound terrible to me playing wise as a whole.  The sound of your piano gave me nostalgia for the never-tuned piano my parents had when I was a teen (I thought that's how they should sound).  Great sounding recordings also involve equipment, maybe editing - you have an acoustic piano, some kind of microphone - it won't sound "professional". By contrast, I have a hybrid DP, a cable that transmits directly to the computer so the sound is optimum - plus it's perpetually "tuned".  So there's your playing on the one hand; and the instrument and recording equipment / process on the other.

[brogers70]

Hello everyone,

Here is a recording of me playing Abegg Variations. I have worked on it for several months now, but no matter how much I practice, it seems that my recordings all sound so amateur. What exactly is causing this? Is it the tone quality, the mistakes, or perhaps the muddy pedaling? If anyone could provide any suggestions, that would be very appreciated. Thank you.

A couple pf things I noticed that might be fun to work on. In the theme itself I'd try backing off on the accompaniment - the LH is a bit too loud. You might also try just singing the theme with your voice, as expressively as possible, and then try to imitate that phrasing and shaping with your RH. As it is it sounds just a little mechanical. Finally, in the first variation some of the rapid notes just sound a bit uneven, so I imagine some slow practice and/or practice with different rhythms might help. It is possible as keypeg suggests that some of the things you dislike about the recording are technical recording issues (and the tuning).

[lelle]

I think you sound pretty good to be honest.

What can improve has a lot to do with your tonal control, and I think a lot of what you are hearing that's bothering you has to do with this.

First of all, listen to your left hand in the theme. You do not have absolute control over each individual note in each chord. You keep getting random accents on different notes in the chords, while dropping other notes, and some chords are more accented than others in a way, and it doesn't sound deliberate. You need to be able to play these chords very evenly and deliberately in terms of tone quality. This applies to many other things in the piece too.

Second, listen to your phrases. I can hear your phrasing ideas, but you do not have full control over the line; your tone quality differes from note to note, some notes become a bit too accented, others a bit too weak, the result being that they do not sound fully connected in one smoothly shaded gesture.

Third, you can improve the contrast between voices you want in the foreground and background - higher dynamic contrast between melody and accompaniment (left hand needs to be softer in the theme, for example). But also, in more polyphonic textures, between melody, base and middle voices. They all need to be on their own distinct layer, with their own distinct color and dynamic level, not intruding on each other, unless you deliberately choose so. For example, in an overall dynamic of forte, melody could be mezzo fortissimo, base mezzo forte, and middle voices piano. You already do this, but it could be even more carefully crafted.

Fourth, there is some unevennes in general in the fast notes. But a lot of it sounds pretty good. I think the issue has more to do with the uneven tone quality in some of the melodic phrases and chords, than the fast notes.

A lot of this has to do with technique, becoming more relaxed, expending less effort, and just having more command over your body. But you would be helped by a well tuned, well regulated instrument which you don't have to fight, so you can concentrate full on listening to these things and get predictable results back for your efforts. I think you would benefit a lot if you could get regular access to a well regulated grand piano to practice on at this point in your development. Did you record this on an upright or grand?

[stringbot]

Thank you for all of your comments! They were very helpful.

I think you sound pretty good to be honest.

What can improve has a lot to do with your tonal control, and I think a lot of what you are hearing that's bothering you has to do with this.

First of all, listen to your left hand in the theme. You do not have absolute control over each individual note in each chord. You keep getting random accents on different notes in the chords, while dropping other notes, and some chords are more accented than others in a way, and it doesn't sound deliberate. You need to be able to play these chords very evenly and deliberately in terms of tone quality. This applies to many other things in the piece too.

Second, listen to your phrases. I can hear your phrasing ideas, but you do not have full control over the line; your tone quality differes from note to note, some notes become a bit too accented, others a bit too weak, the result being that they do not sound fully connected in one smoothly shaded gesture.

Third, you can improve the contrast between voices you want in the foreground and background - higher dynamic contrast between melody and accompaniment (left hand needs to be softer in the theme, for example). But also, in more polyphonic textures, between melody, base and middle voices. They all need to be on their own distinct layer, with their own distinct color and dynamic level, not intruding on each other, unless you deliberately choose so. For example, in an overall dynamic of forte, melody could be mezzo fortissimo, base mezzo forte, and middle voices piano. You already do this, but it could be even more carefully crafted.

Fourth, there is some unevennes in general in the fast notes. But a lot of it sounds pretty good. I think the issue has more to do with the uneven tone quality in some of the melodic phrases and chords, than the fast notes.

A lot of this has to do with technique, becoming more relaxed, expending less effort, and just having more command over your body. But you would be helped by a well tuned, well regulated instrument which you don't have to fight, so you can concentrate full on listening to these things and get predictable results back for your efforts. I think you would benefit a lot if you could get regular access to a well regulated grand piano to practice on at this point in your development. Did you record this on an upright or grand?

It's funny because I actually use a grand piano - a Baldwin. I am recording on my ipad though. Regarding the control over the notes, I think I do do a fair amount of slow practice for the first variation and less on the other ones such as the finale. So I do think the finale sounds worse though, right?

Also, in the theme, a problem is that sometimes I eat the chords if I try to play it softer, which is supposed to happen to emphasize the theme in the RH. Is there anything I can do to avoid this? Thank you.

[lelle]

Thank you for all of your comments! They were very helpful.

It's funny because I actually use a grand piano - a Baldwin. I am recording on my ipad though. Regarding the control over the notes, I think I do do a fair amount of slow practice for the first variation and less on the other ones such as the finale. So I do think the finale sounds worse though, right?

Also, in the theme, a problem is that sometimes I eat the chords if I try to play it softer, which is supposed to happen to emphasize the theme in the RH. Is there anything I can do to avoid this? Thank you.

The sound of the instrument reminded me of my dear upright I used to practice on, perhaps thats why I assumed you also played on an upright

Without seeing what you're doing it's difficult to know exactly what advice to give regarding the chords. One thing I have learned for myself is that its easy to fall into the trap of trying to play softly by trying to avoid playing too loudly. That results in you trying to inhibit your body from making the wrong movement by tensing up, which causes you to lose some control even if the tension is very slight. Another way of doing it is by deliberately making exactly the movement you need to play softly while staying relaxed. Soft = moving the key slower, which you can accomplish by moving slowly instead of trying to avoid moving to fast. I dont know if the difference makes sense? You can also try not letting the keys go all the way up between each chord, but stay very close to the point of sound.

[brogers70]

Thank you for all of your comments! They were very helpful.
Also, in the theme, a problem is that sometimes I eat the chords if I try to play it softer, which is supposed to happen to emphasize the theme in the RH. Is there anything I can do to avoid this? Thank you.

I agree with Lelle that sometimes trying to play softly ends up making you tense. One thing I do when trying to voice different lines or hands differently is just to listen for the line I want to hear most prominently. For some reason focusing my attention clearly on it helps my hands figure out what to do to bring it out without my thinking about things like how hard I'm striking the keys. Sort of a biofeedback that bypasses the need to think consciously about exactly how you are moving.

[droprenstein]

Hello everyone,

Here is a recording of me playing Abegg Variations. I have worked on it for several months now, but no matter how much I practice, it seems that my recordings all sound so amateur. What exactly is causing this? Is it the tone quality, the mistakes, or perhaps the muddy pedaling? If anyone could provide any suggestions, that would be very appreciated. Thank you.

I think it sounds fine. I think it's your piano. Old and untuned pianos(even grands) often sound that way. I think there was a bit too much pedal, but not enough to cause anything too significant in terms of quality.

[stringbot]

Thank you all so much! The suggestions were super helpful!