I'm not very easy to please with a random classical music performance. I should blame my father for that. He taught me to be critical, to seek for beauty in music to strive for perfection in musicality. Not because he is being difficult. It's his job as a teacher, to help students to become the best musicians they can be. His job as a pianist to captivate the audience. Every musicians' job.
But you know, musicians don't always do justice to the piece they are playing. Sometimes they play very beautifully and then suddenly, a hideous staccato, rushed scale or a weird interpretation of the dynamics and rubato that ruins everything for me. Or the well known phenomenon of pianists playing the piano like they're typing on a computer in their office. Of course, everything is a matter of taste. But it's important to remember the fact that performing is not easy. Neither is interpreting.
I attended a masterclass of Valentina Lisitsa in de Doelen, last January. I was in the audience, taking notes. She helped some students with some Chopin Etudes I am working on, so that was very helpful to me.
At the end there was time to ask questions. I asked a question about some technical problems I had and she helped me very kindly. It was a great instructive afternoon.
Anyways, I've been looking through my notes to find interesting thoughts to share with you. I'm going to quote one of the first things she said when she actually got on stage:
This is the key to interpretation. But before interpretation, those first steps... You know what I mean... The horror word.
"Boring," you might think. If you think it's boring, there's probably something wrong with the way you practise.
This article is about my views on this 'boredom'. Essential stuff. Things that help me on the crucial moments after I finally gathered my strength to practise a bit. Things that help me to make it fun.
Quality over quantity. Fact. You can reach a higher level by practising effectively over a short time, let's say one hour then fooling around on the piano for five hours. That being said, you will probably not be the next Ashkenazy if you practise effectively for about ten minutes a week.
I know, I know, this is the hard part. It means we actually have to practise. I'm one of those oersons that likes playing and fooling around. Playing the piece from A to Z. But playing and practising is not the same thing. Playing can be helpful because it helps you to know the piece by ear, to play fluently eventually. But this doesn't help in mastering obstacles. Sorry. You will need to isolate the hard parts.
Here is one useful tip not a lot of students think about... Think of an airplane. Taking off and landing are things you focus on, you do it over and over again and focus on the process of taking off and landing until you can do it. It's normal, because those are the most important things. But how about the part inbetween, the flying? Are you neglecting that part and merely focussing on the process of taking off and landing? Would you feel safe if a pilot would be amazing at taking off and landing but doesn't know how to keep the plane in the air?
Analyze one difficult measure in your score. How do you practise? Do you start at the bar-line and stop at the next bar-line? Try starting in the middle of the bar, at the second or third beat. They need your full attention too.
My father (Léon Bak) calls this: "the weak third". You can use this principle to practise not only bars, but also phrases and motives, sometimes even the whole piece. All kind of musical structures. Don't neglect the middle part. Write down your fingerings to avoid a brain crash and start practising in the middle of the piece/phrase/whatever.
We all know practising some measures slowly can be very helpful. But there's a difference between slow tempo and slow motion practising. I quote Lisitsa: "Have you ever seen a sprinter, say Usain Bolt, preparing for a race by just walking?"
No, it's visualizing, making the same movements, using the same positions, dynamics as you will do later in a fast tempo.
This is actually a quite important issue. I got very tensed, especially my fore-arms when playing Rachmaninoff Prelude op. 23. no. 5. Maki Miyashita, an excellent pianist by the way, gave me some advice. Relaxation is a way to reach your goal. It's not a goal you set for yourself after mastering the piece. You have to learn to play the piece through being relaxed.
Here's a small guide to help you with relaxation:
1. Be sure you are completely relaxed. Everything. Back, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, fingertips. Breathe. (note: The back and shoulders should be relaxed always.)
2. Place your hands on the keyboard
3. Press the key(s) using the natural weight of your body. Contract your finger muscles to make the movement of pressing, and decontract immediatly after pressing the keys: Your fingers are still on the keys, the keys are down but you are not pushing anymore, you're completely relaxed.
4. Try this a few times very slowly and feel the contraction - decontraction of the hands.
So. Back to reality. Rachmaninoff. The goal is to be able to play this piece as relaxed as possible and of course in the right tempo without wrong notes. I have to practise slowly until my body understands the process I just described, then slowly speed up. Or, as, Valentina Lisitsa told the audience: "Playing the piano should be like swimming, easy, relaxed."
Unless you a genius yourself, don't practise without having the score and a pencil somewhere around you (preferably in front of you). No matter how advanced you are, we are humans, we can't remember everything we have to think about. A five second effort can make a huge difference: It would be sad, to miss a beautiful crescendo or a tenuto, just because you didn't take the effort to write it down.
Draw things in your score if you need to. I did this with a sweet nine years old violin student when I was rehearsing with her. I drew flowers on notes she was playing wrongly. It worked immediately.
At my age, 21, it still works. Might still work even if you're older (wink wink).
One day I used colors to figure out a passage in a Chopin etude I couldn't get through. I was colouring the chords and structures that were the same and it helped me a lot to understand the score. Draw things, write words like: 'bells ringing / water / thunderstorm,' to remind you of the effect you want to create.
While practising: listen to the chords you are playing. Learn to love dissonants. They make music interesting because dissonants sound like a 'problem' you are going to resolve in the next chord. Play with soul and passion like street musicians. Get that cavemen feeling, find the 'roots' of the piece. What feeling do you get? Think about what you like about that particular composition.
And remember, we pianists are private investigators, DIY relaxation therapists, storytellers and painters on this blank canvas: silence.
Maybe I'll post more about this subject, 'practising', in a next blogpost. My father has made a checklist with more than hundred principles, quotes of musicians he worked with, small pieces of advice, based on 25+ years of experience. About the basics of practising the piano, rhythm, melodies, harmonies, phrases, use of pedal, interpretation... I will share this with you as soon as I find the time to translate it to English.
In the meanwhile, I hope this article clarified some things for you and I sincerely hope it can help you a little bit to make practising less boring. The more interesting you make your practice sessions, the better the results.
Good luck!
Regards,
someone who needs to practise more often Alexandra
But you know, musicians don't always do justice to the piece they are playing. Sometimes they play very beautifully and then suddenly, a hideous staccato, rushed scale or a weird interpretation of the dynamics and rubato that ruins everything for me. Or the well known phenomenon of pianists playing the piano like they're typing on a computer in their office. Of course, everything is a matter of taste. But it's important to remember the fact that performing is not easy. Neither is interpreting.
I attended a masterclass of Valentina Lisitsa in de Doelen, last January. I was in the audience, taking notes. She helped some students with some Chopin Etudes I am working on, so that was very helpful to me.
At the end there was time to ask questions. I asked a question about some technical problems I had and she helped me very kindly. It was a great instructive afternoon.
Anyways, I've been looking through my notes to find interesting thoughts to share with you. I'm going to quote one of the first things she said when she actually got on stage:
"We musicians are private investigators, we have to investigate what composers meant. A pianist's job is to recreate composers' thoughts."
This is the key to interpretation. But before interpretation, those first steps... You know what I mean... The horror word.
practice
This article is about my views on this 'boredom'. Essential stuff. Things that help me on the crucial moments after I finally gathered my strength to practise a bit. Things that help me to make it fun.
'It's not about how long you practise, but how you practise.'
'Isolate the difficult passages'
Here is one useful tip not a lot of students think about... Think of an airplane. Taking off and landing are things you focus on, you do it over and over again and focus on the process of taking off and landing until you can do it. It's normal, because those are the most important things. But how about the part inbetween, the flying? Are you neglecting that part and merely focussing on the process of taking off and landing? Would you feel safe if a pilot would be amazing at taking off and landing but doesn't know how to keep the plane in the air?
Analyze one difficult measure in your score. How do you practise? Do you start at the bar-line and stop at the next bar-line? Try starting in the middle of the bar, at the second or third beat. They need your full attention too.
My father (Léon Bak) calls this: "the weak third". You can use this principle to practise not only bars, but also phrases and motives, sometimes even the whole piece. All kind of musical structures. Don't neglect the middle part. Write down your fingerings to avoid a brain crash and start practising in the middle of the piece/phrase/whatever.
'Don't underestimate slow motion practising'
No, it's visualizing, making the same movements, using the same positions, dynamics as you will do later in a fast tempo.
'Relax'
Here's a small guide to help you with relaxation:
1. Be sure you are completely relaxed. Everything. Back, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, fingertips. Breathe. (note: The back and shoulders should be relaxed always.)
2. Place your hands on the keyboard
3. Press the key(s) using the natural weight of your body. Contract your finger muscles to make the movement of pressing, and decontract immediatly after pressing the keys: Your fingers are still on the keys, the keys are down but you are not pushing anymore, you're completely relaxed.
4. Try this a few times very slowly and feel the contraction - decontraction of the hands.
So. Back to reality. Rachmaninoff. The goal is to be able to play this piece as relaxed as possible and of course in the right tempo without wrong notes. I have to practise slowly until my body understands the process I just described, then slowly speed up. Or, as, Valentina Lisitsa told the audience: "Playing the piano should be like swimming, easy, relaxed."
'Pencils are genius'
Draw things in your score if you need to. I did this with a sweet nine years old violin student when I was rehearsing with her. I drew flowers on notes she was playing wrongly. It worked immediately.
At my age, 21, it still works. Might still work even if you're older (wink wink).
One day I used colors to figure out a passage in a Chopin etude I couldn't get through. I was colouring the chords and structures that were the same and it helped me a lot to understand the score. Draw things, write words like: 'bells ringing / water / thunderstorm,' to remind you of the effect you want to create.
'Enjoy!'
And remember, we pianists are private investigators, DIY relaxation therapists, storytellers and painters on this blank canvas: silence.
Maybe I'll post more about this subject, 'practising', in a next blogpost. My father has made a checklist with more than hundred principles, quotes of musicians he worked with, small pieces of advice, based on 25+ years of experience. About the basics of practising the piano, rhythm, melodies, harmonies, phrases, use of pedal, interpretation... I will share this with you as soon as I find the time to translate it to English.
In the meanwhile, I hope this article clarified some things for you and I sincerely hope it can help you a little bit to make practising less boring. The more interesting you make your practice sessions, the better the results.
Good luck!
Regards,
