Highly admirable, Monica. How about reworking your research interests to include the study of fandom? You could begin this fine line of work by interviewing extensively the fans of Einaudi. Of course, its easier (and arguably more cost effective), if you go to them rather than all of them coming to you for these interviews. Trip justified!!!

Ha! Actually, one of my good friends spent her entire sabbatical following U2 on tour, collecting data on queuing behavior. And she got it published, too.

Did she study cultural differences by chance? I would bet my life that there is no human behavior with a larger amount of cultural variability than queuing behavior.

Not in the first paper. She was focusing on a particular subgroup of U2 fans, e.g., the die-hard fans who follow the band all around and take it upon themselves to "police" the queue and enforce norms about place-holding and break-taking behavior etc. It's pretty much the same group of people at all the shows, so there's not much cultural variability there. But I think she's looking at cultural differences in the other fans in some of her more recent studies.

I made another new Einaudi fan today... we were killing time at a local Guitar Center, waiting to pick my daughter up from a dinner party, and I was noodling around on some of the digitals they had on display. I was playing "I due fiumi" when a young woman came up close and started looking at me intently. I thought she was a potential customer so stopped right away and asked if she wanted to try the piano out. She hastened to tell me that she was enjoying the piece and asked me who did it. I went back to playing and after I was done she had me spell out Einaudi and I due fiumi so she could note it down in her iPhone.

...and I talked my dad and step-mom into going to see Einaudi in Seattle even though I couldn't make the trip. I convinced them that they deserve to hear what Einaudi pieces REALLY should sound like instead of being at the mercy of my annual CDs.

One thing about trying to sound like the way Einaudi plays on his CDs, I assume he uses some sort of compression or post processing, because there is very little reverb on his recordings, all the notes sound crisp and clean. Unfortunately playing live my piano sounds quite blurry/muddy if I use the pedal (like he does), not crisp. Has anyone else noticed this or am I too fussy :-)

Yeah, I sound blurry/muddy too. But I suspect it's not just recording engineering. He sounds crisp and clean in concert, too.

Only a few weeks to go until the Milwaukee show!

Hubby, alas, backed out of going with me. Turns out he's got a coin show in St. Louis that weekend and a deal to look at there, and the misguided fool would rather make money than hear Einaudi play live. tsk tsk. So if anybody is wavering about whether to go, I've got an extra ticket in a prime seating location.

and not too long till the San Francisco one! Can't bloody wait. Sheryl and I are making it a 2 day trip so that'll be a fun mini vacation
- SC

Hi. This is just a courtesy visit as I felt after taking all your information (yeah I read all 40 odd pages) I should introduce myself (as you can see I'm more of a reader than a poster given my number of posts).

I've only been playing piano for about two months, currently working through the Alfred method (love that thread too). Having self taught two years of guitar and getting basically nowhere thanks to other commitments and general laziness, I felt I should make a proper effort with another instrument when I found a keyboard at home.

I've already looked into Einaudi but decided not to buy the book until I got more advanced, however when I found this thread I figured I'd pick it up anyway. Anthony and AWtPP inspired me given that they both either slowed down or gave up on Alfred to play some of Einaudi's music. I have a copy of the Nuvole Bianche sheet music on my laptop but I can't print it yet. Given that I hate playing from my laptop I've only given it half an hour or so, but it looks promising for at least the first two pages once I get the bass down.

So the book should be here tomorrow or saturday hopefully and I've thoroughly enjoyed all your recordings and insight. No doubt I'll be looking at Limbo first! Unfortunately because of living arrangements, space and money I'm stuck with an unweighted 61 key keyboard for at least a year, however given my current level I'm just happy to be making music and even with this "toy" and my amateur touch I still think I can get some real enjoyment from this music. And it'll just be all the more sweeter when I get onto a real piano. (My university has a ton of practice rooms with a couple of steinway grands! As soon as I'm back there in a few weeks I'm gonna look into using these a couple of times a month).

I also just found out about his tour but unfortunatly all the venues near me are sold out, so maybe next time.

Anyway, happy playing all, and enjoy the concerts. I'm sure they'll be fantastic.

Nice to meet you mate.

Yes Anthony & Monica are terribly good at sending even the mildest of beginners into Einaudi frenzy! Looking forward to your updates.

For me, I have 2 books and I'm hoping to pick up Nightbook a the concert in San Francisco next month. Then I can happily try to learn almost all of them over the next 2-3yrs

SC

Hi Giano! Welcome to Einaudi addiction.

I do hope you can get lots of time in on the practice room pianos at your school, because a 61-note unweighted keyboard is going to get old fast. I'm guessing it doesn't have a sustain pedal, either, and Einaudi's music cries out for pedal. Maybe you can find a cheap used 88-key digital for sale somewhere?

Yeah the lack of pedal is somewhat irritating. The keyboard does have a sustain button, so I can sustain for a whole song if I choose which I hear is ok for Einaudi's pieces. It's not perfect as it can only be on or off (hitting it during a song is hugely awkward) but it'll do.

I've been looking into a cheap 88key but it just isn't practical right now. I've just moved house again (3rd year in a row for different uni accommodation, and I have a really small room in the new house. Not to mention I'm living with 3 other students so i'd rather not put a nice DP in the house knowing it might get broken by someone by accident given the activity in the house.

With that, I know I'm moving back home next June/July. I'm also coming home over christmas and easter and I'd rather not have to move it constantly (otherwise I'd be without it for a month at a time) whereas the one I have is ok to move.

As well as that I'm planning on a gap year next year before finding a full time job, and I might be moving to Australia for up to a year. So you can see this isn't exactly a good time to settle into a nice piano...

So the plan is to just get into the practice rooms as much as possible I guess. I think it's first come first serve for time slots so it should be ok as long as I get straight on it.

Anyway sorry for the life story. On a plus note the book should be here today or tomorrow (Hopefully today, post is in an hour or 2) so I can get right into it in preparation for the practice rooms. I'd hate to have people over hear me sitting down at a grand piano and have nothing to play lol.

I love this book already. Limbo is memorized but far from perfect, and now I'm working on I Due Fiumi as well.

A quick question though. At around measure 33 or something (the book isn't with me right now) the bass changes to 10ths (F-C-A, G-D-B, A-E-C etc). Do you guys play this as written and swivel on the index finger (playing it 5-2-1) or do you rewrite the chord as C-F-A, D-G-B for example to make it more manageable?

I play those as written, using 5-2-1-2-1-2 for each measure. Yeah, it's a big stretch between the 2 and the 1, but I couldn't think of any other way to play it smoothly at the desired tempo. (Which, I hasten to add, does NOT mean there isn't a better way to play it!! )

Yeah I'm still trying to decide. I'm still not used to big stretches so I need to look down really. This would be fine if I had the part memorized but I keep losing my place in the sheet music lol. Playing smaller chords (jumping the lowest note up an octave) leaves a lot to be desired as, without the proper bass, it sounds somewhat hollow.

I expect I'll end up playing it as written, it'll just take a lot longer to learn than Limbo did (oh how I miss block chords now...) which was surprisingly easy (this definitely doesn't mean I can play it perfectly though, just that I have it memorized).

Bumping to the top since he's going to be here in Concert VERY soon. Also for anyone else who's played (recorded) Nuvole Biache how are you doing the fingering in the chord sections 2m in?

I've just finished watching Monica's video with crossing fingers. I was discussing this with my teacher who suggested "trying" the open hand kind of span method.

Thus far this hurts like hell too much so I believe I may be opting to get my muscle memory down for the cross-over. I was able to do a little hop with the LH but you can for sure "hear" it even with the pedal (drats) lol..

Of course we're in Oct soon and that means get ready for Xmas stuff but I just can't put this piece down - I love it!
- Steve C

Huh... I can't imagine playing the bass in that section without doing the crossover. I'm not even sure what the "open hand span" method is. Are you just shifting your hand down quickly to hit all those notes?

I use that crossover for many other pieces (most recently, the Galloway version of the Canon), so it's not so foreign. But I'd be very interested to hear if there is a more effective way of getting those bass arpeggios done.

...and speaking of the concert, I need to go book my hotel room...

OK so here goes my very first attempt at writing what I've seen here so many times before (note names etc).

The cross-over(s) kind of go like this..
LH (Crossover)
F-C-F-Ab-F-C 5-2-1-3-5-2 / 5-2-1-3-5-2
Db-Ab-Db-F-Db-Ab 5-2-1-3-5-2 / 5-2-1-3-5-2

LH (Open Span)
F-C-F-Ab-F-C 5-2-1-3-5-2 / 5-2-1-3-5-2 (SAME)
Db-Ab-Db-F-Db-Ab 5-3-2-1-2-3 / 5-3-2-1-2-3

The best thing I could find (picture wise) was a hand spanning like this


With the hand open like that (seems like at all times) you are kind of rolling left-right. As I said, after trying this for a few mins my forearm, wrist & hand were hurting so I opted to drop this.

(Steve's previous crazy hop)
F-C-F-Ab-F-C 5-2-1-3-5-2 / 5-2-1-3-5-2 (SAME)
Db-Ab-Db-F-Db-Ab 5-2-1-1-2-4 / 5-2-1-1-2-4

This felt MUCH better and way more accurate than the cross-over. But alas as my teacher pointed out, you could really hear the hop. Well it wasn't bad but it was for sure there..

So it would seem its a true "Suck it up Steve" and get mastering the crossover..
- SC

Hmmm... that's not the fingering I use. I do 5-2-1-2-1-2 for the F-C-F-Ab-F-C etc. (p. 88, bottom line, first measure. I basically pivot my hand over the thumb and leave the thumb pretty much where it is on the F the whole time.

Monica, you play this piece beautifully, so the crossover obviously works for you.

I do the open hand with 5-3-2-1-2-3 fingering. You just sort of pivot around your wrist by moving your elbow slightly in and out. It's a swaying motion that should be very relaxed and never painful. It actually helps me keep a consistent rhythm. On that first F-C-F-Ab, you have to kind of walk up the keys to catch the Ab with your thumb. The other sequences are more natural. I do have rather large hands, so that makes it easier.

Many years ago when I had a teacher, I was told that I "grossly abused" the crossover technique. She made me work very hard to learn to open my hand up. It was a big issue for her, and I think it really helped my technique overall. I don't know if teachers still push that issue, but you might ask yours about it.

Well I wrote it down wrong, see I failed my first attempt (lol). Yes I was using 5-2-1-2-1-2 for the cross-over..

jlynne
I will continue to "give it a go" now and then but is was just too painful for me to do the after only a few mins.

Thanks for the help to you both (and AnthonyB via message) so I'll see how it goes..
- SC

Hee hee. The crossover wouldn't be at the top of the list of things I abuse on the piano (that honor surely belongs to the sustain pedal!), but you and Ttigg have got me curious about this open hand span method. I'll have to give it a whirl. I'm guessing that one could be more accurate using it than the crossover (because it can be hard to hit the proper not swinging that index finger over sometimes).

I found a pretty good example of what I'm talking about on youtube. No, it's not me,

Maybe this will help - sometimes a picture is far better than words. (edit: see video at 2:28)

EXACTLY just like that (I had also watched that video too). So yeah, that makes my bloody hands,wrist & forearm ache like not in a good way. I'll continue to give the cross-over some more work/practice and see where I go from there.

This is WAY more accurate for sure, decisions decisions
- SC

It shouldn't hurt, TTigg - even when just starting. Are you keeping your hand and wrist in line and moving your whole forearm, or are you just twisting your wrist to move your hand separately? If the latter, that would certainly cause pain. Don't do that, 'kay?

Cross-overs are good too, but there's a lot of music that can't be played that way, so don't give up entirely.

Hmmm yeah I may be "overly" moving the wrist outside of the arm/forearm moving also. I'll give it another shot on Thursday (Home Office day) and see how it is. I knew I was doing something wrong since it began to hurt after only a few mins!. Thanks for the details & tip..
- SC

I tried playing those arpeggios last night using the hand span method, and what a nightmare!! That 5-3 stretch was just too uncomfortable, and my accuracy sucked.

[Monica goes back to happily abusing the crossover technique. ]

Hey, jlynne. I'm working on Exit that has alt G-D-B-D-F#-D-B-D, which im playing 5-2-1-2. I was having the same prob as TTigg with pain in the wrist. Your tip help out a lot. I just have to smooth it out now. Thanks

Welcome to the forum, MartinJB, and welcome to the wonderful world of Einaudi in particular.