How to become a more mature pianist?

[stringbot]

Hello everyone,

I have been watching a lot of videos of performances recently, and there seems to be a clear difference between the seasoned pianists (e.g. competition winners) and the amateur ones. Even though the dynamics and articulations are observed in both cases, the seasoned pianists' performances just seem more "musical". I think I belong in the amateur category. Whenever I listen to my performances it just sounds "sloppy" even though I played all of the musicalities I've planned. I don't know if this makes any sense, but if it does, do people have any tips on achieving this musical maturity and what the "difference" actually is? Thanks so much.

[brogers70]

I don't know what the complete difference is. One thing I've noticed though, is that performances that sound mature in the way I think you mean, feel at ease. And one reason they feel at ease is that the performer pays attention to how phrases end, doesn't thump them, let's the end breathe a bit, doesn't feel hurried on to the next idea. Obviously, this is a very small thing in terms of timing - I don't mean long gaps in the flow - just a relaxed feel that lets one idea finish before starting another one. Pretty vague, I know.

[roboute guilliman cfa]

One way to look at it is that the professional's repertoire is 30,000% or 40,000% larger than the amateur so they have tens of thousands of hours more development. A very advanced amateur's entire lifetime repertoire can be learned in under a single year or maybe two (and this may be overly conservative, probably just one year is enough) for a top professional like a Daniil Trifonov or Grigory Solokov.

So the phrasing and finer muscle control, sensitivity to the escapement, ability to fire the wrist, familiarity with wider ranges of motion with the elbow and more extreme wrist rotation, moving the torso, pedalling, ability to voice with the 4rth and 5th fingers trained in all sorts of double note textures and variations -> all those things will be learned and refined much more thoroughly as you go through the repertoire.

Even if a piece like the Chopin B flat minor nocturne is within a lot of amateurs' level, the professionai wll still sound better because he or she has performed most of the ballades, scherzi, polonaises, both concerti and both sonatas, a lot of the other nocturnes, waltzes, mazurkas, etc.

Tons of amateurs play the Moonlight sonata or Pathetique but the professional who's played 4 of the Beethoven concerti, and 20 of the other sonatas or even all 32 sonatas will still sound better.

A really advanced amateur might play something like the Liszt HR2 friska or La Campanella well but professional who has played the Liszt grande fantasie on la clochette de Paganini, El contrabandista, all the opera transcriptions, will perform it with a lot more freedom and bravura because they cut their technique on much harder jumps than in the easier Liszt, and because of the higher  margin of safety they can divert their concentration more to color and clarity, and no longer have tendency to cover up flaws with heavy pedaling etc.

I suspect that psychological freedom to use the pedalling cleanly is a huge factor in this. If you can play a piece at  a high level and clean up the pedalling - this alone and nothing else - will set you apart and allow listeners to wonder if you're professional.

[lelle]

One way to look at it is that the professional's repertoire is 30,000% or 40,000% larger than the amateur so they have tens of thousands of hours more development. A very advanced amateur's entire lifetime repertoire can be learned in under a single year or maybe two (and this may be overly conservative, probably just one year is enough) for a top professional like a Daniil Trifonov or Grigory Solokov.

So the phrasing and finer muscle control, sensitivity to the escapement, ability to fire the wrist, familiarity with wider ranges of motion with the elbow and more extreme wrist rotation, moving the torso, pedalling, ability to voice with the 4rth and 5th fingers trained in all sorts of double note textures and variations -> all those things will be learned and refined much more thoroughly as you go through the repertoire.

Even if a piece like the Chopin B flat minor nocturne is within a lot of amateurs' level, the professionai wll still sound better because he or she has performed most of the ballades, scherzi, polonaises, both concerti and both sonatas, a lot of the other nocturnes, waltzes, mazurkas, etc.

Tons of amateurs play the Moonlight sonata or Pathetique but the professional who's played 4 of the Beethoven concerti, and 20 of the other sonatas or even all 32 sonatas will still sound better.

A really advanced amateur might play something like the Liszt HR2 friska or La Campanella well but professional who has played the Liszt grande fantasie on la clochette de Paganini, El contrabandista, all the opera transcriptions, will perform it with a lot more freedom and bravura because they cut their technique on much harder jumps than in the easier Liszt, and because of the higher  margin of safety they can divert their conversation more to color and clarity, and no longer have tendency to cover up flaws with heavy pedaling etc.

I suspect that psychological freedom to use the pedalling cleanly is a huge factor in this. If you can play a piece at  a high level and clean up the pedalling - this alone and nothing else - will set you apart and allow listeners to wonder if you're professional.

Very well put. It's hard to get around that you need a large quantity of experience. Quantity can be achieved by 1) playing many pieces that are around your level (i.e. you can learn them in 1-7 days) and 2) developing your technique so that the pieces you can learn in 1-7 days become significantly more advanced. The very best pianists could learn concertos and the like in a few days and then perform them successfully. That's not feasible for everyone but it's good to be aware of what's possible.

[stringbot]

Very well put. It's hard to get around that you need a large quantity of experience. Quantity can be achieved by 1) playing many pieces that are around your level (i.e. you can learn them in 1-7 days) and 2) developing your technique so that the pieces you can learn in 1-7 days become significantly more advanced. The very best pianists could learn concertos and the like in a few days and then perform them successfully. That's not feasible for everyone but it's good to be aware of what's possible.

1-7 days? That's a crazy amount of time. If that's the case then my level is not nearly as advanced as I think it is.

[pianistavt]

I have been watching a lot of videos of performances recently, and there seems to be a clear difference between the seasoned pianists (e.g. competition winners) and the amateur ones. Even though the dynamics and articulations are observed in both cases, the seasoned pianists' performances just seem more "musical". I think I belong in the amateur category. Whenever I listen to my performances it just sounds "sloppy" even though I played all of the musicalities I've planned. I don't know if this makes any sense, but if it does, do people have any tips on achieving this musical maturity and what the "difference" actually is? Thanks so much.

Good question!  One that any hard-working pianist needs to ask...
You say, "even though dynamics and articulations are observed in both cases" but the differentiator is that the professional level pianist is observing/executing a lot more than the amateur.  This comes down to execution of tone control, dynamics, phrasing, pedal, rhythm, and things that can't always easily be defined...

There's a correspondence to number of hours spent, number of pieces studied, but it's more than that - - it's about the quality of the effort in those hours - especially mental effort, thinking about the music - how to make the music ALIVE.  A professional is utterly honest about the reality of his/her playing compared to the goal.  The goal is critical: a professional probably modeled himself on an outstanding pianist in his developmental years.  It helps if your teacher is an outstanding pianist.