SFU Recital Society

Tidbits on our year-end recital of spring semester.

Note* I am not in this! This video only includes members of the first half of the concert.

My first piano lesson in 2 years

I had my piano lesson with Mr. Henry Waack. Apparently he is an 83 year old man with a lifetime-load of credentials. I am uttermost honored to be one of his students.

The thing I love most about him is his indefinite passion towards music itself. He claimed to never retire and teaches music for his sole love of it. That is something that I appreciate and respect greatly.

He is also going to teach me counterpoint 4 (ahh!!). It doesn't seem too complicated because as he explained it this way: "counterpoint is going sideways on the music staff, while harmony is going up and down on the staff" - if you've taken counterpoint I guess you would understand what he meant.

I hope that I can squeeze in an hour's worth of practice a day. In the meantime, I am happy with all the support my parents have given me with striving towards my A.R.C.T, not also forgetting to mention the club that I partook in my spring semester of first year university - SFU Recital Society.

They really have changed my insight on music, and gave me the necessary push in order to strive for my A.R.C.T.

I will provide more input on them later on.

ARCT?

I am planning to take time off school (for about 7 months) in order to complete my ARCT diploma. Sounds quite intense doesn't it? Although in the end I will end up with something you'd only achieve once in a lifetime as I one day aspire to be a full-time piano teacher.

Don't get me wrong, I am already piano teaching two children at the moment (one is 5 and one is 9) and love it very much. But to actually do it as a career, it seems it will fulfill all my lifetime passions and desires. There is no career, that I can think of, as impacting as a teacher who guides a student through something you are passionate about - whether it be sports, music, a favourite school subject etc.

Views of music

..totally changed. I can now take a Chopin ballade or scherzo, and enjoy it thoroughly. Is this a sign of maturity? I really do hope so because it has taken me a good 2 years to be able to finally pick up on why Chopin was a genius.

As well as Bach. His stuff is full of complexity and harmonious melodies! I find his pieces are most fun to play (not emotionally draining like most romantic pieces are). They are just delightful and pleasant to the ear and touch.

Sight Reading

I have been told that I had an excellent ear when it came to music, although I believe this skill is a trade-off towards my sight reading ability.

At this moment, nothing fustrates me more then not being able to go though a score with enough precision and time without being becoming increasingly impatient! :(

I know, this is horrible for me to say, especially with the fact that I am at such a high level (embaressing), althought I'm quite sure everyone has their weaknesses.

w/e lol

Piazzolla

classically infused tango music.

sounds lame but entirely genius.

Anderson and Roe

Can anyone be more spectacular/amazing/phenomenal?

Julliard graduates right here :) I love them. Althought it makes me a little depressed knowing I will never reach their level (maybe with a million more hours of practice). But nevertheless, only prodigies are able to attend the prestigeous Julliard school.

Envious, I am. I'll post their video here soon.

Defined by Wikipedia

New Age music is music of various styles, which is intended to create inspiration, relaxation, and positive feelings, often used by listeners for yoga, massage, inspiration, relaxation, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management

Stylistic origins of New Age:
Classical music
Electronic music
Musique concrète
Progressive rock
Psychedelic rock
World music
Krautrock
Avant-garde music
Traditional folk music
Ambient music
Minimalism

New Age & Pianoworld

I finally realized that the style I loved is called "New Age".
With this style, what comes to mind are composers such as Yanni, Yann Tiersen, Michael Nyman and whatnot (I truly need work researching many more composers lol - don't judge!).

It's nice and you can listen to it on this website here
and click on Audio On

Anyways, I just discovered this amazing piano forum at Piano World. It's a great place for any opinions and musical questions for professionals musicians or anybody who plays music.

Wonderful.

I am feeling at home with music once again! =)

Sonata Pathetique!

Quite possibly one of the best pieces from Beethoven!

I love the beauty and intensity of this piece. =)

Gould is Gold?

I am currently practicing the "Partita 2" by Bach.

I searched it up on youtube and found this man playing it, who went by the name of Glenn Gould. Magnificent, is he not? I did not understand the way he had played the piece the first time I watched it because all I could concentrate on was where the humming came from. I realized then and there that the humming and singing was coming from Glenn himself! Interestingly enough eh?

Nevertheless, he has caught great recognition throughout the years for exceptional reasons for sure. He plays Bach very influentially - with love and accuracy in each note. A rare man indeed. A genius who appears to be mentally challenged.



2:05 is the climax of this piece =)

Knowing that Glenn Gould played this piece makes me honored to be learning it even further (I know this reason isn't a very good one - but I guess it just makes me even more excited to learn it anyways).

Classical tastes

A good friend of mine introduced me to a couple pieces that definitely caught my attention. They were written by a man named Yann Tiersen. At first, I was deeply evoked by the magnificent simplicity that the melodies seemed to produce. I was swept away and therefore found myself learning some of his music - which lead me to loving a whole new musical era of story telling.

Anyways, I was thinking of this to myself and I knew that this type of music would attract the general public, yet not nessesarily the die-hard piano player. This music did not have the structure of classical music that many people are used to - it was different yet still sounded pleasant.

I talk about this because when I think about the general public and classical music, the two do not seem to mix as formulated as we should. Many people would admit that they do not enjoy classical music and are therefore bored of it. I came to the interest to conclude that different types of piano music attract different people. For performance, at my high school for example, people really did enjoy a compilation I put together of a medly of about 10 pieces consisting of popular and well known classical pieces.

I also think that the general public are more interested with music with a profound melody line - such as pieces that are from the romantic or classical era (most especially Beethovan and Chopin - or late romanticism Debussy). If you were to shove a 20th century piece at them (Bartok ew lol) or a Bach Prelude and Fugue - I think they would be bored and utterly underestimate the beauty and complexity that only pianists would understand.

I think good pieces to recommend (to play) to the general public are romantic or classical pieces - from grades 5-10. ARCT may have some good songs too but are heavily complex and extremely long at most times... the general public usually label these pieces as "boring" or "too long". Which is fine, I am not critisizing their judgement as it is just as easy for me to apply those words on somebody else's ARCT performance as well, judgeing that I do not enjoy the piece.

Also, nocturnes are beautiful - Chopin ones in particular. Nocturne is the defined as night music, imagine an evening symphony or concert. Totally meant to be dark yet vibrant as the evening sets in.

This one has been labled the "Father of all Nocturnes"

I really love my pieces

I just wish I had enough time to practice them.

What I need to concentrate on

Since I am planning to learn much of ARCT on my own (without weekly lessons with an instructor), I will need to be able to practice efficiently on my own.

Three things to keep in mind while starting to practice:

1. Understand the RHYTHM before you start - using flawed rhythms that you are unsure of will be time-consuming after you realize you need to correct what you haven't learnt accurately in the beginning.

2. STRICTLY the correct FINGERINGS - vitally important, especially through 'faster-paced' passages and/or cadenzas.

3. Practice SLOWLY - I have made the upsetting mistake in the past of playing a piece at normal tempo right after I've learnt it. This creates instability with the piece and is vulnerable to mistakes being made without realization.

I know these things usually present themselves as common sense, but it's something that a lot of students overlook and tend to rely on their teachers for. And trust me, the rhythms I see aren't so simple. They consist of dotted 16th notes, 32nd note passages in various parts of the keyboard, not to mention the great amount of articulation you will need (especially in Bach). I was never the very strong in rhythm - I was more interested in the musicianship of the piece, the emotions that it presented and how to execute it. Yet I understand that to be an ARCT student, you must be more well-rounded.

I finally have an ARCT repertoire put together!

List A Partita 2 - Bach
List B Sonata Pathetique - Beethovan
List C Nocturne in Db+ - Chopin
List D La Cathedrale Engloutie- Debussy
List E Sonatine - Bartok
Concert Etude in G- (No.2) -Moskowski

I think you'd all wonder why Pathetique is there. Originally considered a Grade 10 piece, it has now (amazingly) been shifted to an ARCT level, and all you have to do is play all 3 parts to it. It is one of my favourite pieces, which is why I am thrilled to be learning it to perfection.

I love the Partita, it is much more "showy" then Bach's other pieces tend to be, so it's nice to do that after playing Prelude and Fugue in D+ a while back (even though Preludes and Fugues are technically amazing and the basis of what all piano music is all about to this day). Nocturne in Db+ is a beautiful piece - I've seen videos of Lang Lang and Maksim Mrvica play it, and I hope to one day execute it as well as they do. The Sonatine by Bartok is one piece that I'm not very sure of. I searched it up and listened to it and didn't really understand it. I know it is a 20th century piece, but this one just sounded very odd...and not something I would like to perform -- which is why I consider switching to another piece.. perhaps. The Etude in G- is very fast and ferocious, which was always something that is a lot of fun to play.

Hopefully I can pull my life together and be able to spend a fair amount of time practicing. My piano teacher really emphasized that I was not obligated to obtain my ARCT due to a hectic university schedule, but I will pretend that I am in order to pick myself out of my era of "major time-wasting" and hopefully obtain the ARCT like I said I would.

It is a must, not a choice.

Sound of my piano

I don't know why but when I watch my own current videos it sounds as if I am slamming on the keys of the piano. I swear I am not (as bad as it looks) and the reason it sounds like it (I think) is because the entire room is either wood or concrete (walls) and the 'bright' sound that the Yamaha is famous of just bounces off every crevasse in the room!

I'm quite sure about this because I have recorded a video in the past when I still had carpet floor, and the carpet seemed to insulate and absorb all the unwanted echo from the piano.

This is how my piano sounded about 2 years ago when there was carpet playing Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley:



This was back in 2007, that I have made a piano version of it myself (I learned it myself by ear listening to the guitar version). You might recognize this tune because it was played in "the OC" when the main girl died or something.

Notice how warm the sound of the piano is compared to the other videos. This is quite frustrating to me! The sound of the piece is extremely important to me and if I cannot execute it properly on camera then I don't know why I am doing so at all.

Here is another example with the carpet floor with my Noctourne in C- (also back in 2007)



There is a harsh audio-video lag on this.. This was after I had completed my Grade 10RCM. If only I did my ARCT right afterwards, then I would have almost finished by now.. It's never too late though I guess.

Rue Des Cascades - Yann Tiersen

La valse d'amelie - Yann Tiersen

I have already posted this before (in an older video of my older posts) but I decided to redo it hopefully to elimate the mistakes that I've done before.

It's difficult to record a peice well done, especially when you find yourself correcting your flaws months after you thought you had the perfect shot.

Keyboard?

You know how everybody thinks that when you reach Grade 10 or ARCT, you should be practicing off of a grand piano? Well, since I'd rather not throw 20k away, I would prefer very much a professional keyboard.

I was looking at the Yamaha S90es, the "perfect combination between synthesizor and keyboard". It was the model I used when I went to the "Electronic Music" workshop at the Art Institute back in 2007.

The piano sounds of the keyboard are recorded off of 'apparently' Yamaha's most expensive grand piano that's selling for some odd 200k. From my experience, it is quite a very nice feeling keyboard; and the sound is almost realistic like a piano!

So I'm currently rummaging through craiglist trying to find a good deal on it, and hopefully I will be able to use this great keyboard for 2k in placement for the grand piano. (I know it won't be a fraction as amazing, but whatever! I'm not about performance anyways, and I'd much rather just play around with the knobs and settings here and there!!).

I have my good old upright Yamaha, anyways, that I'm happy enough with.

Sound Quality

It's horrible on my camera -- the warmth of the piano is totally demolished from the hardwood floor. The sounds of the piano just bouce off of :S This is very fustrating as the music that I play is supposed to sound gentle and subtle, yet after recording sounds very harsh and ugly.

Comptine d'un autre été - Yann Tiersen

ARCT

So I've been thinking about completing my ARCT.. but since I haven't really been practicing anything (technical), I might actually have a really hard time with it. I don't plan on taking any lessons merely because of my schedule at SFU, so will I suffice by learning on my own time?

There's no use in giving up on it right? I've already acheived my Grade 10 Certificate and my Elementary Piano Pedagogy certificate, ARCT should be a peice of cake! (hahaha yeah right)

ARCT is very complex as you need a tremendous amount of theory (History Harmony Analysis and Counterpoint) -- and of course memorized peices consisting of an HOUR long performance over the stretched period of 2 years. This is not you're average course, it's basicly a degree.

I will be choosing my ARCT repertoire soon with my instructor.. and we'll see how this process goes.

Composing

I wish I had the ability to compose!! But NooOOo I don't whatsoever! I actually tried a few weeks ago, and I usually end up giving up or forgetting how it goes (I'm way too lazy to be writing down my ideas when I know they are going to be worthless).

How depressing.

Update

I actually haven't touched this blog in a while (because I've been on my personal blog so much). So I will give an update on what I would like improve on:

1. Yann Tiersen pieces
2. Claire de Lune - Debussy
3. Noctourne in D flat major - Chopin
4. Arabesque - Debussy
5. Sarabande - Debussy
6. Pathetique - Beethovan
7. Moonlight Sonata - Beethovan
8. NEW ARCT PEICES?!

Style that I love

I've always loved a good story. There are definitely some pieces that set the mood to an extravagant adventure; either filled with doomed romance or flaming emotions. Those are the type of musical styles I find most enjoyable to play. You could probably say that it would fit more towards to Romantic/Modern era where undoubtedly 'emotion' was the center of the piece



This is a great example of what I'm talking about. Nothing too complicated, but nevertheless the simplicity takes a tole on telling a lovely experessive story.

Music that will be posted

Goals:
Noctourne in C-
La valse d'Amelie(full version)
The Piano
Jay Chou's Secret
Bach prelude in D- ( post)
Canon

..more will be added

La Valse D'Amelie - Yann Tiersen

I learned this by ear watching Dave Thomas's version of it.

Which is here:

An introduction..

I've been playing the piano since the age of 4, and have carried on the love of it to this day. This is just a blog to commemorate what I've learned over the years. Some of my musical influences include Beethovan, Chopin, Bach, Debussy, Yann Tiersen, Michael Nyman and Dave Thomas :)