Thanks everyone for the great recommendations.

I'm very glad to read just how inaccurate that article is. I'm looking forward to taking up some of these recommendations and learning more about Chopin.

Yes, thanks for the great recommendations...

CA

Back to the memory thing: Jeff Clef, I'm afraid that I usually don't naturally memorize pieces even after playing them a squintillion times. It surprises me. I do find that I'm not reading every note anymore in those cases, but I'm still totally dependent on having the sheet music for clues. Typically I wouldn't even be able to start such a piece without looking at it. I think what this means is that I've never really encoded the notes in my brain even though I've played them so many times. I'm a relatively good reader, and the reading seems to take place with circuits that don't involve memorizing at all.

Right now I'm working with two short pieces that I have managed to memorize. One is the 7/2 mazurka, which I first learned about (eek!) 33 years ago, and which is both familiar and pretty simple. When I tried it recently, I found that a lot of it was already automatic, so I was able to go ahead and memorize it the rest of the way. So that, for once, worked more or less the way Jeff said it should.

At the same time, I picked out an extremely simple, even simplistic, little piece by Mussorgsky, specifically because there is so little information in it to remember. I started memorizing it right from the beginning, as soon as I started playing it. Even though it's almost childish in its simplicity, it's still taken me many, many repetitions over a couple of weeks to get it to come out fairly well from memory, and I'm still having to stop and think for a moment at times. This is what I meant about having to treat my brain like a developmentally disabled small child. But patience does seem to be working, and perhaps with practice I will be able to memorize more complex material more easily. I am definitely far more conscious of the notes, and can see them in my mind, having learned them this way.

I was never wonderful at memorizing guitar or lute music, either, but generally it contains less information than keyboard music, because it isn't possible to play as many notes at once. Pieces that consist largely of chords or arpeggios can be memorized as a series of left-hand configurations, which are easy to form a mental picture of, and one doesn't usually have to be very conscious of the right hand. So there are fewer chunks of information to have to keep in mind, sometimes very few, even for a piece that has a lot of notes in it. A contrapuntal type of piece can be far more difficult to memorize.

Kathleen, when you are trying to learn those broken chords, I assume you're thinking of them as whole chunks, as if they were block chords? Can you see them as if they were all together in a chord? Are you analyzing them as chords? That way you're still concentrating on the "big picture," as you said is natural for you.

Elene

Hi Elene: You and I must have been standing in the same line when they were giving out brains (for music, that is). I also need that piece of paper in front of me though I am not really “looking” at it. This is the case even if I have played the piece a trillion times (no exaggeration here, I’m surprised my piano doesn’t stand up on it rear leg and shout: “Enough Already!). I can’t even begin it without the music. I suspect my muscle memory is taking over as I play (blindly), but I hate to rely on it. My sister took piano lessons as an adult for 8 years, and she can’t play at all, even with the music in front of her. I blame this on her rather eccentric teacher.

One thing I have noticed that is some cause for celebration is that my sight reading has improved 100%, so I am guessing that I am looking at those notes. My sister says that we both have VDDM - Visual Deficit Disorder for Music, and I tend to agree. My theory is sadly lacking, so I can’t see those chords as a whole in the left hand. I am going to try writing them down on manuscript paper. I’ve learned that when I write out my shopping list or someone’s phone number, I remember it (even though I have left that list at home, which is normally the case).

My best,
Kathleen

For me, I think it's a matter of confidence. If I know a piece well, I like the music in front of me as a kind of safety blanket. I sometimes forget to look, and then suddenly realise I am playing from memory and panic!

Exactly -I know it just well enough to get into trouble.

Writing out music definitely helps you learn it. It makes you process what you're seeing more consciously.

I often write in chord names, also, as an aid to learning, even when the chords are obvious to me. The only trouble is that with Chopin there are often chords that are difficult or impossible to analyze, the kind he came up with apparently through noodling around at the keyboard rather than a theoretical construction. It always amazes me how such a chord will sound completely natural in the flow of the piece, yet it's harmonically out of left field. At least to my level of ability to do harmonic analysis. Occasionally I ask my husband what he might make of those, and he can't make any more sense out of them than I can.

Elene

I want to enlarge my library with books that are considered excellent. I went on Amazon and Ebay looking for the Siepmann's book on Chopin and also the Samson book.

However, Siepmann lists a few books on him. Could you recommend a specific title, same for the Samson book?

Many thanks,
Kathleen

I just wanted to post something that i just discovered today in my area, El Paso. There is an annual Chopin Music Festival, http://elpaso-chopin.com/ I'm hoping to make tomorrow night's performance and also hopefully the final performance on the 31st. Though being Halloween and having three youg kids that might be a problem.

Really excited to find out this is going on in my area.

Wow, steveMac, I didn't know there was an annual Chopin festival in El Paso. Live performance is infinitely more rewarding than a recording. Hope you enjoy it very much!

Well, today is the 160th anniversary of Chopin's death. He seems, to me, so far and at the same time very near. Please do listen to the commemorative ecital that many of you have taken part in. I am listening to it as I write, and it is absolutely delicious. Thank you to everyone involved, from gerg who has put up our lovely new website, to Mati who did clever techie stuff as well as giving a stunning performance, our hero LisztAddict who filled in a vacant spot at the last minute, and each and every one of the performers.


Nocturne Ecital 17 October 2009

Thanks and congratulations to all who worked on the e-cital!

Elene

Elene, I am so proud of everyone today!

Me too, gerg.

I have been thinking of Chopin's final days and funeral today. Of course, we all know that Chopin was buried in France to great pomp and circumstance, but as there were a number of Poles surrounding him at his death I have been wondering if perhaps some Polish customs might have been invoked. I also wonder what the ceremony was like (if any) when his heart arrived back in Poland.

You can read a good bit about Polish funeral traditions here:

Polish Funeral Traditions

Excerpt:

A variety of folk beliefs were associated with death, although many of them were only half-believed or treated tongue in cheek. The even person at Wigilia supper was thought not likely to see another Christmas. The girl who picked the pot containing a clump of sod on St Andrew’s Eve was said to have chosen death. The ominous hooting of an owl, the family dog howling and tugging at his chain, a mole hill just beyond the threshold, a mysteriously tapping on the window -- were all regarded as signs of impending death in the household. Nowadays many people die in hospitals: drugged, plugged and surrounded by strangers. The goal of most everyone was once to die in their own bed, after having received the Sacraments, with family and neighbors in attendance.
As we can see in Władysław Reymont’s ‘The Peasants’ (‘Chłopi’), even homeless beggars, who rarely had a roof over their heads and slept wherever they could, hoped to have a bed to die in. There was nothing more demeaning and undignified than to breathe one’s last ‘pod płotem’ (next to a fence), like a dog, forsaken by God and man. The priest would be called to the deathbed, and as he made his way through the village, villagers would kneel and make the Sign of the Cross as the Blessed Sacrament he was carrying passed. Everyone would leave the room to enable the priest to hear the dying person’s last confession, administer Holy Communion and Ostatnie Namaszczenie (Extreme Unction -- (now called the Annointing of the Sick Namaszczenie Chorych). Relatives would then return and pray for the one not long for this world. A lighted gromnica (candle) would be placed in the dying person’s hand to light his or her way to the afterlife.

Thanks to all. That was truly great!

CA

At least the hospice movement has made it a bit easier for people to have the option of dying at home with their loved ones.

While Chopin had a protracted and painful death, he had the good fortune of being surrounded by some of the people who were most important to him-- though not all of them, of course.

Recently Mary-Rose sent me a copy of John Donne's poem "The Apparition." Though it's a very different subject, this reminded me of one of Michel Ouellette's choreographies from his "Great Composers" series. The last dance in his Chopin film is set to the Fantaisie-Impromptu. Mme Sand is sleeping, her current lover at her side, and Chopin appears as a spirit in her room. They whirl about in a most romantic and affectionate manner, and she is clearly thrilled to be with him again. He seems to get quite robustly materialized, even managing to do lifts!

I got to thinking that if Chopin had been granted the opportunity to visit Mme Sand in this way (and who knows, maybe he was), he probably wouldn't have taken it. We know that she thought of him, and that he was among the departed friends she liked to imagine conversing with later in her life. But in my own imagination, I think his attitude might have been something like this:

Some nights, I know,
you speak to me,
your words, fantasy
as before.
You fancy, too, that I reply.
I never will.

Now I am but a
fluttering of wings,
a breath,
but only now
I know my power.
If I wished,
I’d sink beneath your skin
and you would know me
as you never did.
If I wished.
I could give you thoughts
and you’d accept them
as your own children.
That boy who lies with you
would never guess.

What I would
have given, once!
A part of me cannot forget
the silk of your throat,
the swell of your hip.
What I was
I am still, a man.
But time brings wisdom,
looked for or not.

Why our paths crossed,
or what will come,
I do not know
But time is long;
in that, God is kind.
Adieu.

Elene

That's quite haunting, Elene. Madame Sand's throat doesn't look very silky to me though

I have been re-reading some eyewitness accounts of Chopin's last days. Norwid (Polish poet) seems to have visited him a lot. He wrote:

‘The artist's sister sat by him, strangely similar to him in profile.... In the deep shade of the curtained bed, resting on cushions and bound in a shawl, he was extremely beautiful, just as always in his movements in everyday life possessing something complete, something monumentally drawn...'

And more recently, another Polish poet, Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, wrote:

"The fact that he was surrounded by so many people, that so many of them left accounts of these hard days, that the echo of him dying would resound so widely, it all proves how significant this man had been, not only for his friends, but also for the wide public. The greatness of his music was not properly appreciated yet, it was not possible to assign it its due rank at that point. But Chopin as a person must have been making incredible impression, compelling everyone who happened to meet him".

Well, I could imagine the "swell of her hips" part.

Meow, meow,,,,,
Kathleen

And the swell of most of her other parts too... double miaow.

Does anyone know how to post a picture (jpeg) here?

To change the suject a bit....I have bipolar disorder (which everyone in the universe knows by now.) I have just now been thinking if the 5 medications I take everyday have seriously interferred with my both my ability to learn a piece in a timely manner and my inability to play it without my fingers almost constantly hitting the wrong keys.

I also have problems typing, something which I have been doing for 55 year! I drop things, my glasses, cell phone, dishes, cups of coffee, pieces of paper, CD,s and even my poor dog! I know there are a few of you out there who also have this disorder (hey, this means we are creative geniuses, right?) I was wondering if you are experiencing the same problems, also throw in the ability to concentrate and memorize.

If you would, could you PM me? I just want to blame these darn pills and not my age, that's all?

Many thnks,
Kathleen

Kathleen, I would strongly recommend you share your concerns with your physician(s) (and, if you already are doing so, to continue!). It's possible for the same medication to affect different people in different ways (especially in terms of side effects), and it can be especially difficult to figure out what's going on when we're taking numerous medications that can interact with one another in unforeseen ways.

It can be a real challenge to determine the optimal combination that balances maximum efficacy with minimal side effects. I wish you good results from working with your doctor to assess any negative reactions you may be having to your meds and making any adjustments that may be necessary.

Steven

I take a fair amount of medications myself, Kathleen. The worst ones, as far as interfering with piano, are probably the ones to control pain from a spine injury (and, I'm not getting any younger). But, what are you going to do. It seems to me that Steven is exactly right; you'd be best served by taking this to your doc. A nurse once remarked that our bodies are not the same all the time--- it's a new story every single day of our life. So it's natural that the medications will have to be adjusted from time to time.

There's at least one person who didn't know you have bipolar disorder: me. Still, I'm glad you shared what's going on. All meds have side effects, all are a high-wire act one way or another. Still, as bad as the downside may be, we don't have to think back so long to a time when nothing at all could be done. It's within living memory, in many cases.

Chopin could have been treated, if he had lived today, and very possibly saved.

One more of the medical morceaux, if you want it: my doc fixed me with a certain look, and remarked, "Getting old is not for wimps. You not only have to be tough--- you have to be very adaptable." He obviously intended to close out the discussion... but a day may come when they'll be able to say, "Oh, we can make that go away; we'll make you nineteen years old again." Do you think you could bear it? I'm not so sure I could. Though it seems to me that many of us never progress past the emotional age of four...

At the end the only thing that could've saved Chopin today was a heart transplant and as a self employed musician with no insurance - - -

We also often find that medications affect older people differently. A drug that was fine earlier might become more of a problem simply because it is being metabolized differently with age.

Well, Chopin never suffered from aging much, at least.

At the end of his life, he was poor enough to qualify for Medicaid-- though he might have died before getting through the red tape. Wait-- France has national health insurance. Does it count for resident aliens?

And thanks for the, ahem, scholarly literary analysis of my poem, ladies!

(I can't criticize anyone's hips any more than Chopin could afford to criticize noses.)

Elene

Kathleen - I'm so sorry your meds are affecting your playing.

Joe and Elene - Chopin wouldn't have needed private health insurance if he lived in modern-day Europe.

Hi Kathleen,

I have sent you a PM.

CA

"...perhaps you should read Jim Samson's and Jeremy Siepmann's biographies of Chopin..."

Unfortunately, it seems they are out of print, as far as Barnes is concerned. Amazon made such a hash out of my last order that I'm gun-shy about them, though they will go to third-party vendors that Barnes won't fool with, and may turn them up. A used bookstore or the library might work out; the bookstores in San Francisco are better and more plentiful than the (single) one here. The "Letters" are still in print. I'm considering "Chopin: Pianist & Teacher as Seen by his Pupils," "Chopin in Paris," "Fredric Chopin as Man and Musician" by Niecks, "The Cambridge Companion to Chopin," "The Age of Chopin: Interdisciplinary Inquiries," published by Indiana State U. (which has put out some pretty good music studies volumes).

The last two seem most likely to win this round of Music Education Wheel of Fortune. I think the Niecks is definitely out. "Teacher as Seen" and "Paris" are contenders, but I have to make my music budget hit as hard as it can.

While that pot boils, I've been listening to Mazurkas this afternoon (Ohlsson) and Scriabin this evening (Ashkenazy). Chopin was his favorite composer.

Jeff,I would strongly recommend you buy Alan Walker's Chopin Companion to start with. It is a series of essays by various specialists covering Chopin's life and music, and contains high quality scholarship IMO. I just checked and it is in stock with Barnes and Noble. I first bought it in the early 1970s and it's still valued by Chopin fans and scholars to this day. Together with Chopin's letters (which can be bought quite cheaply in paperback and are the most reliable insight into the composer's personality) this is a good start.

If, after these, you are ready for more, a charming work that doesn't seem to get much mention is 'In Search of Chopin' by Alfred Cortot. Niecks is terribly inaccurate but has a certain period charm. The same could be said of Liszt's biography of his friend. Eigeldinger's 'Chopin As Seen by his Pupils' is very good, as is Bailie's 'Chopin: The Pianist's Repergoire. A Practical Guide' but both are pricey and could perhaps be left til later for that reason.

That's right, it's "free" - at least until the birthrate/deathrate ratios catch up and there are more pounds leaving the medical dole than coming in...

To say nothing of the time Chopin would have needed to wait. Would he have survived that long?

No, the only way to save our fictitious modern-day F. Chopin is in a private insurance country wherein his wealthy benefactors would pitch in to save his life in a timely manner. He had friends in high places, and friends with friends in high places. He very well could have been saved.

Greg, I'm sure the health care debate is too close to politics for most of us to stomach, but I don't believe that having wealthy benefactors to assist in a medical rescue, or having private insurance if one chooses, need be foreclosed by universal health coverage.

The problem with the wealthy benefactor/friends-in-high-places solution is that it requires some extraordinarily good fortune. For that matter, so does having private medical insurance that makes the patient's interests a priority rather than the company's profits; a question might be posed as to how long Our Friend would have been kept waiting for pre-approval for the treatment he needed, or whether he would have had the strength for a predictable battle over whether it was medically necessary.

Steven