Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum am i ok for 3 months?

i dont have a teacher
sorry if i competly destroy your favorite pieces

alla turca

http://www.zshare.net/audio/60119489976290d0/

minuet in g beethoven
http://www.zshare.net/audio/60119556ffa2b5a5/

7/8 of moonlight sonata
http://www.zshare.net/audio/6011957290eb9d0a/


i also learned chopin waltz op 19 posthumous but its even more horrible than the above

Aren't you playing a bit fast? The Moonlight is an Adagio. Yours is more like fast andante.

Your Alla Turca ... the sound is not piano. It's some sort of eardrum-destroying synth/techno. Also, it must be a fake. Even machines can't play that fast. Was this a MIDI, edited to play at warp speed?

well i heard the andras schiff lecture on moonlight and he said its suppoesd to be faster

and the alla turca is a piano

I only listened to the first one, but can you post that on You Tube so I can see how you do it?

Something seems off in the recording or something.

I listened to the first one and the timing/rhythm seems to be messy to me, and I often hear timing is the hardest part in music.

Have you honestly been playing for 3 months only? Or working on the pieces for 3 months? I am at 5 months and I am nowhere close to finishing a such a long piece; in my opinion, concentrating on the basics is where you should begin rather than tackling hard pieces like Alla Turca to impress.

But if you have got the basics down with these pieces that is amazing in such a short time period. Perhaps you are experienced in music... I had to learn music theory while learning piano.

Also, a video would be much better; technique is very important. We can't see if your fingers are curved, if your posture is correct, and is the piano is a correct height..

In the alla turca I hear in the 3rd (?) measure - and consistently thereafter - incorrect notes. You speed up the 16ths there and I'm not sure you are playing them correctly. Take a look at the score to check yourself, and be careful not to speed up, as it should all be the same tempo throughout. Perhaps play it at a slightly slower tempo that you can manage cleanly.

In the minuet, your thirds aren't as legato and together as they should be. I would check how you are using your 5th finger here, be sure you aren't playing on the side but the tip as you are the other fingers.

For the Moonlight sonata, I don't necessarily feel that your tempo is too fast, but it is too metronomic. Try to have a little more give and take to highlight important parts. Also, when the melody at the top of the RH comes in, that really should ring out more. Sometimes you try to play the 16th note too fast, I think (perhaps as a 32nd note) around 0:51. Also, don't be afraid to use the sustain pedal on this piece. It will give it a more ethereal effect. Also, some dynamic contrast would be good here in the ascending diminished arpeggios.

I think that it's wonderful that you are so motivated to learn these pieces, but like most self-taught people, you are trying to run before you can walk. I'm not trying to be discouraging, just honest. I think perhaps you should spend more time on pieces at the level of the Minuet before trying to tackle the advanced pieces. For Chopin, play some of the easier preludes: No. 4, 6, & 20, as well as Schumann's Album for the Young. Easier dance pieces by Bach, Haydn, Mozart (both Wolfgang & Leopold) and Beethoven will also be good for you.

to ihave12fingers:
started around the beginning of february
but i have played violin and guitar before and i just needed to figure out the bass clef notes


to morodiene:
yeah after listening to these alla turca is rushed and seems like it will fall apart any moment (i agree that the 16ths are too quick but i cant seem to find any wrong notes im playing) also the reason it sounds like **** is because i accidently put my $4 recorder too close to the piano

, the minuet has sloppy blurred thirds and moonlight is just horrible ( i still have trouble getting the pinky note louder even if i angle my hand)
the trouble is i dont seem to have any motivation to learn easier pieces... wouldn't my time be more worthwhile spent just trying to fix the flaws in the pieces i already know?

ok i rerecorded alla turca at a (hopefully) slower tempo
the recording is just SLIGHTLY better than the last one, haha
http://www.zshare.net/audio/60303931712e5eeb/

also:

heres my waltz posthumous--- its horrible but i want all the criticism i can get


http://www.zshare.net/audio/60304140d48d43c9/

You Mozart seems to be a bit better. This is a better overall tempo for the piece at performance speed. However, when I talked about slowing it down, I mean practice it *really* slow. Not just 1 tick slower on the metronome. In order to play fast accurately and evenly, you should practice it 1/4 of the tempo it should be up to speed. So try it at like 72 for the quarter note. Then gradually work it up a bit faster as you repeat it. While your tempo was better and those 16ths were cleaner, they were still uneven and sometimes you'd miss a note.

As for your question about working on the harder stuff, that is up to you. I'm just telling you that there is *tons* of beautiful, rewarding stuff at your level that you are missing out on. Working on pieces above your level is fun for a while, but it will be a case of having to revisit the piece again and again over the years as your technique catches up with your desire to play it. I know from experience that it is better to not work on a piece that is several levels above what you can do because you may build in bad habits. Then you'll have to stop playing it for a couple of years to forget those habits. Again, I'm not trying to be discouraging, just there are better ways of going about things. I use pieces that I know I can't play *yet* as a carrot to spur me on through the great pieces I'm learning because I know they'll get me to where I'm going. But I don't mind the trip along the way, either.

can you give some videos of some easier stuff? that you personally like

oh and is the chopin waltz i have up there an example of what you mentioned--- amazing stuff that is at my ability

Just out of curiosity, why does it matter how he looks while playing if the music sounds good?

Personally, I'm an early beginner, but even with guitar, I didn't focus on technique, I did what felt right, and if the music comes out okay, the who care what you look like UNLESS you are performing for people in person/on stage. But that goes more into the entertainment side, and not the technical side.

Just curious is all, I'm a person that believes if the music is good, and sounds good, and the people can close their eyes and feel it, then who cares what the person playing it does to get the sound through

I think this is a good question. One hears sometimes here on PW of the "damage" that can be done from bad habits at the piano. As far as I can tell the most actual physical damage that can be done is from tenseness.

There's a post stickied at the top of the non-classical forum on Keith Emerson cancelling concerts that has some possible insight in to this, although of course we don't actually know the precise causes of his problems. But, as someone who has had the beginnings of repetitive stress from computer keyboarding, and knowing someone who had to quit playing piano because of spasms in the palms of his hands, I tend to believe that playing without tenseness is important. Besides, I can play faster if I play easier

It does seem to me that that's one of the things folks look for who ask for videos and not just audios. I don't think it's just a "looks" thing, at least not for Morodiene. EDIT: I don't think it was Morodiene that asked for a video here.

But I do wish that when the topic of bad habits having consequences comes up that people would be specific. There was a whole thread on it once, and very few of the posts actually mentioned dire physical consequences Or, for that matter, finger or hand positions, or posture, or whatever.

Cathy

I think the waltz is closer to what you should be doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJK7WT87gRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdso4VZok1E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUOIzCeSIY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSuxAUwhoqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-52_akHnwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FejHZUyj_Lw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFsP25IoSUU&feature=related

You can also look into Kuhlau sonatinas, as well as some more difficult sonatinas by Beethoven & Mozart.