Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Audition Results: The Pianist who has never had a Teacher

Congrats MellowCyrpriot!

I recently found a teacher as well. A professor at a conservatoire, I'm pretty lucky she squeezes in time for me and her Steinway L is magnificent. I meet with her about twice a month, depending on when I polish off certain etudes or pieces.

How often do you plan on meeting with your teacher? Having a teacher is great, really sets some long term goals plus its a treat to play on top tier pianos.

...He started off by asking me about myself, how I came to move here, about my past with the piano. All very genuine, and I was feeling more and more comfortable by the minute.

....He said I could take a light warm-up on the piano, a nice Yamaha grand, before playing the music. I remembered reading something earlier about Richter.....he never liked to try them beforehand, he dove in and grappled with the spirit of the new piano on the fly, creating music while learning about his new partner....
what works for Richter did not work for me.

....the action of the Yamaha is much heaver and much less sensitive than of my upright Sohmer. Playing the Kinderszenen, and needing to bring out the top melody relative to the other notes in the right hand, proved almost impossible!....

I don't know what he saw, but after hearing me play, he said he would accept me as a student.

After the initial conversation, it was mostly a one-way interview, and I didn't get the chance (nor did I feel composed enough) to ask him about himself.

Then there was the surprise sight-reading exercise.....This, also, a flop.

So, the audition with the teacher has come and gone, I wanted to share the results for those who are interested, and to hear any interesting feedback.

Here is the original post:
https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...a%20Pianist%20who%20has.html#Post1879581


So, to describe the audition: in a word, I survived.

I arrived at his house, on a beautiful piece of land, overlooking a field with a forest at the end, a small pond nearby, and not another sign of human life to be seen. The teacher invited me in, he was very nice and unassuming. It is easy, based on his personality, to forget that he plays concerts all over the world and is a teacher at the University.

He started off by asking me about myself, how I came to move here, about my past with the piano. All very genuine, and I was feeling more and more comfortable by the minute.

Then time for the music. He said I could take a light warm-up on the piano, a nice Yamaha grand, before playing the music. I remembered reading something earlier about Richter. He gave many concerts on pianos of differing qualities throughout Russia. He said some of the best concerts he ever gave were on pianos of the worst condition. And he never liked to try them beforehand, he dove in and grappled with the spirit of the new piano on the fly, creating music while learning about his new partner.

I thought this sounded like a nice idea, and I didn't want to overanalyze about the qualities of this new piano. So I tapped out only a couple notes to hear the sound. Unfortunately, what works for Richter did not work for me.

I started off with the 1st Kinderszenen, a piece I have known for a couple years and am comfortable with. I had the usual nerves, but hoped they would disperse once I began playing, as they sometimes do.

After playing the first few notes, my nerves shot through the roof and would stay that way until the end of the audition. I'll tell you why. It seems that the action of the Yamaha is much heaver and much less sensitive than of my upright Sohmer. Playing the Kinderszenen, and needing to bring out the top melody relative to the other notes in the right hand, proved almost impossible! Sometimes I hit the key and no sound would come, then I would over compensate and was definitely no longer in piano.

I was concentrating on grappling so much with the piano, and was thrown off by its different feel, and this was interfering with my memory and muscle memory of playing the piece.

Nice of him to ask me if that was the way I had intended it. I mentioned I had trouble bringing out the top voice, and we worked on the singing tone for a while. Then on to the next, the 2nd movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight," he was surprised at the choice (used to the 1st movement I think). Here, similar problems with my control, and based on comments about my rushing through the piece, I think my nerves were so overwhelming that I lost concept of time, and could not relax and slow down.

Although I got through that piece, my attempts with Bach's C minor fugue were even more disappointing. I was stopped after only a handful of measures, my rushing and lack of control were not doing me any service. And I also began Beethoven's sonata op.28, but also didn't get very far in.

I don't know what he saw, but after hearing me play, he said he would accept me as a student. He said that many adults new to lessons have stiffness in the hands that is prohibitive, but my hands were relaxed and he said that he was encouraged on how far I'd come in the repertoire without help. When I expressed an interest also in chamber music, he seemed excited as he said most students are not interested, and I know he regularly performs chamber works as well as solo.

After the initial conversation, it was mostly a one-way interview, and I didn't get the chance (nor did I feel composed enough) to ask him about himself. I enjoyed his unassuming personality and his open-mindedness (when he asked me about my tempo on Moonlight M2, I said I felt it was a scherzo, and although he disagreed and felt it was more of a minuet, he did not try to impose his idea on me, and he seemed to appreciate my opinion).

So it looks like I'll be going back to study! If anyone has some thoughts or comments, I'd be happy to hear. My apologies for the length, thanks for reading this far...