Score Questions

[Ruro]

Hey People, I recently aquired a new score, and I have a few questions after looking through it, just minor ones I think... some may have been asked before, but a particular answer was hard to find :/

In this score snippet:
www33.brinkster.com/ninjakirby/other/score_example.png

How on EARTH do you play let's see... 24 notes at the same time with only 8 fingers and 2 thumbs? :/ I have a feeling that's explained somehow with the 5 Staves (I think they are called Staves...) [Ah, the top 4 are Treble Clefs, the bottom one is a Bass one just in case that's important!]

And the other question is, does sight reading have in the end, a limitation? I'm native British, and some times you still get stuck on complicated twisted sentences even used in your own language (or it's English being too complicated :/), but if not, does this occur in music? In the example above (not a very good one), there are sharps written all over the place. The bottom left has 4 notes with 3 sharps, how do you even begin to align them to each note, let alone in larger clumps!?

And for the sake of making this thread more useful, and for my own curiosity, the "ffff" is presumably speed up 4x the amount? Is that increasing the BPM in certain percentages, or whatever feels right for you to transfer your interpretation and feelings across in the piece?

And one more, there are curving lines from note to note... presumably it's phrasing? I remember my teacher ages ago told me about it. But if you play the C Major Scale, without phrasing, instead of literally playing an exact note do you always cut ever so slightly off the end to make it seperate? If that's true, notes can only be a true full note if it's phrased to be followed exactly one after another? Otherwise they are always like... 10% less then it should be I guess, just to seperate the sound of the notes being played :/

Thanks for your time in answering further random (and newb) questions ^_^ And if you recognize this piece somehow; don't mock me! I know I'll never play it Just curious to see the piece really, and although I havn't heard anything by him yet, I already think the composer is gonna be a favourite I was right about Prokofiev anyway...http://

[abell88]

I'm sorry but I can't see the score when I click on the link (not allowed to be displayed because it has errors is the message), so I will just answer one of your questions:

And for the sake of making this thread more useful, and for my own curiosity, the "ffff" is presumably speed up 4x the amount? Is that increasing the BPM in certain percentages, or whatever feels right for you to transfer your interpretation and feelings across in the piece?

ffff has nothing to do with speed...it is a dynamic (volume) marking. It's fortissississimo, meaning very, very, very loud.

From your description I suspect, however, that this is not a piece of music that is expected to be played...or perhaps not on piano?

[xvimbi]

Hey People, I recently aquired a new score, and I have a few questions after looking through it, just minor ones I think... some may have been asked before, but a particular answer was hard to find :/

In this score snippet:
www33.brinkster.com/ninjakirby/other/score_example.png

One has to download the linked file, then open in a graphics program.

Is that Sorabji or Finnessey or the like?

How on EARTH do you play let's see... 24 notes at the same time with only 8 fingers and 2 thumbs? :/ I have a feeling that's explained somehow with the 5 Staves (I think they are called Staves...) [Ah, the top 4 are Treble Clefs, the bottom one is a Bass one just in case that's important!]

Apart from the fact that this type of score is often impossible to play in the first place, this one can actually be played, I think. The notes are held with the pedal. First you play four notes in each hand, then you play another four, while the pedal is down. This means the first eight notes keep on sounding. The ties indicate this. Then, you keep on playing four notes at a time until all 24 notes are sounding.

And the other question is, does sight reading have in the end, a limitation? I'm native British, and some times you still get stuck on complicated twisted sentences even used in your own language (or it's English being too complicated :/), but if not, does this occur in music? In the example above (not a very good one), there are sharps written all over the place. The bottom left has 4 notes with 3 sharps, how do you even begin to align them to each note, let alone in larger clumps!?

Site reading something like this is an absolute prerequisite to be able to play the piano. Everybody can do this!

Just kidding.

And for the sake of making this thread more useful, and for my own curiosity, the "ffff" is presumably speed up 4x the amount? Is that increasing the BPM in certain percentages, or whatever feels right for you to transfer your interpretation and feelings across in the piece?

"f" stands for "forte", meaning "loud", not "fast". "ffff" means as loud as possible.

And one more, there are curving lines from note to note... presumably it's phrasing? I remember my teacher ages ago told me about it. But if you play the C Major Scale, without phrasing, instead of literally playing an exact note do you always cut ever so slightly off the end to make it seperate? If that's true, notes can only be a true full note if it's phrased to be followed exactly one after another? Otherwise they are always like... 10% less then it should be I guess, just to seperate the sound of the notes being played :/

See above. Those are ties, which means that you don't replay the note.

[asyncopated]

Out of curiosity, is sffffz sforzando with 4 fs sforforforforzandon or sforzandisisisisimo? 

Anyway, sfz is bad enough how does one acutally go about doing sffffz?

al.

[xvimbi]

Out of curiosity, is sffffz sforzando with 4 fs sforforforforzandon or sforzandisisisisimo? 

Anyway, sfz is bad enough how does one acutally go about doing sffffz?

Well, "sfz" means "sudden, strong accent". Thus, "sffffz" means "suddenenenenest strongestestestest accent"

[eins]

Hi Ruro,

From your questions I conclude that you are a beginner. You ask very basic questions. Answers can be found in the first lessons of piano 101.

I'm in that phase myself. I'd love to play music that sounds a bit more involving than Twinkle, twinkle little star, but you've got to learn to stand before you can start to walk (or even run, like you want to).

Best,

[Ruro]

lol, thankyou Eins ^_^ I infact didn't want to play this piece at all, I know it takes virtuosos a GOOD while to learn this piece, and I'm happy with my Arabesque (I get such a thrill of finaly playing piece hands together succesfully ).

Interesting about all this "sffffz"'s.... so it's not speed, it's the decibal level :/ I'll remember that...

Being a beginner, and starting on a keyboard, I didn't know what the pedals did... I thought they actually cut the sound of the key off sooner, to seperate notes and play phrasing more neatly or something, but I are wrong again

I guess the whole identifying flats and sharps with notes on the score is down to experience, and judging what comes next via the Key used int he piece and stuff? >_<

And xvimbi, for the sake of argument that I keep seeing, and because some peple find it difficult to resist asking "why?" in this case... I did not reveal the composers name

Thanks alot people ^_^ And I presume that Piano 101 is a learning book? Either way, I'll google it after this!

And Eins, I still feel that way I can't wait to play a Prokofiev Concerto, lol *Is Patient Though*

[chopintod]

Hey Ruro...good luck with your learning.

Since others have answered your questions about the dynamic markings, I'll confine my post to dealing with your sight-reading questions.

In a nutshell: learning to sight-read well takes time.  Lots of time, and lots of practice.  When I was first learning, I often had to go note-by-note when just starting a piece, and it often didn't even sound like music.  And those sharps and flats would really mess me up.

But, eventually, after lots of practice, different things start happening.  Mainly, your hand-eye coordination gets to the point where you can read a note on the paper and your finger plays it without you having to look at the keyboard.  Meaning, your fingers begin to remember where the notes are.  Also, those sharps and flats sort of blend in after a while, although they still can give me problems (for example, bars 11-12 of Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu...an accidental nightmare (lol)).  And, finally, you begin to recognize patterns in the music you're reading, as you're reading it.  Long, multi-octave arpeggios become series of simple chords.  Seemingly endless series of eigth- and sixteenth-notes become simpler patterns and repetitions. 

But!  There are limits to sight-reading.  Definitely!  Complex rhythms (again, refer to the 3 vs. 4 of Fantasie-Impromptu) are an easy trip-up; gigantic chords become seemingly impossible stumbling blocks.  This is when the pianist's secret, mysterious weapon is used: hours and hours of mind-numbing practice! (lol)

But, like you said, you get a thrill out of finally being able to play a piece. 

Good luck, and keep with it!

(PS: I love Abaresque! I still play it every once in a while)

Terry

[eins]

Ruro,

I'm glad to see you taking all of this with a good sense of humor. Pain weakens when you smile 

I presume that Piano 101 is a learning book?

Sorry, I should have known. 101 is a US synomym for the first class of a new subject. Basic piano. Any beginner's book should cover those secret signs of this new language we are learning: music. You'll find lots of Italian words in it, and, Italian itself is like music. (It takes both hands too, just like piano) 

[Ruro]

lol, I'm such an idiot!

101 is a US synomym for the first class of a new subject

For some reason I just read it as a name :/ But thankyou though for clicking that over in my mind ^_^

I'm glad to see you taking all of this with a good sense of humor. Pain weakens when you smile

Perculiar you say that, infact... well worrying, because I love playing the mini tunes like Arabesque and stuff, Prokofievs Concertos give me so much emotional power I still find tapping away single notes such a joy It could be that I notice I'm progressing, and gives me hope that I might one day be a great pianist ^_^ I managed to get an amazing pace (from my perspective of ability!) at Arabesque today, hitting the right notes (whilst with improvement on the right hand!), so it's all so great! *explodes with excitement!*

Now you got me started :/ Anyway, thankyou again Eins


ChopinTOD, thankyou for the post!
It appears I have made a bad move all this time... very bad move, which I promise to myself I shall fix, because it will not help me. I actually sort of new this, but I couldn't help but get down to all the Piano playing :/ Curse me.

My problem is I have been learning... from the keyboard, indicating on the screen which keys to play, then I just memorize that :/ I rarely use the score, but do always use for viewing the suggested fingerings, very helpful! But... Honestly, I always have to count from Middle C or Higher(?) C, and go either way to figure out the correct note in the Treble Clef.
And well, the bass keys is even WORSE, I just know ACEG in my head, which I even forget to implement when I'm trying to work it out! Infact to me it seems ridiculous to change the keys in bass by... 2 higher? Someone correct me before I mock it further!

Anyway... thankyou AGAIN, I always feel guilty people posting in my threads. I may be overly parranoid, but I swear I'm just in the way; all newbie like with never ending questions and deplorable sentence structures (which is why I stopped repling in my "Arabesque Confuses Me... " thread, I felt it was too prolonged and driving everyone insane), which is why I like have spent 10 minutes writing this post :/

Although I bet this is all confusing anyway, I got a 'D' in English Language >_<