Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Perfect Copy... As if you weren't nervous enough already. :)

Anybody who has read my posts knows what I think of perfect copy. My teacher, in her great wisdom and experience, came up with a statement that hit hard.

She had introduced me to the D7 chord. First one in Alfred with a sharp. I asked her about chords and playing in keys, etc. She talked about incidentals, etc.. Then said: If you're supposed to play F# and play F. That is an accident that you, as a listener, it will hit you as so strange. That is the one thing you will remember about that song. Long after hearing the song, you will remember that one note. You will never forget it.

That really struck me deep. It is so true. It took her to change my opinion on perfect copy.

I now have to put perfect copy on par with: It's gotta be music.

Can you explain by what you mean "perfect copy"? Copy of what? (Lost).

I can add a story. I was at an event where a person that coached some of the big name singing show contestants was talking. The coach said many of the contestants could not read music and many had a hard time learning each song. Many contestants would go on the live show and sing some incorrect notes. Either they couldn't learn it, or couldn't sing it, or both. Most of the time, it wasn't intent, it was incompetence.

Sometimes the judges would note it, with the cliche "pitchy" comment. Once in a while, the mistake would get praise, "you made it your own."

For most piano beginners, better to learn it the correct way. Playing a D7 chord with F tends to sound like carp. Yes, if a person is a big name, or has other factors that may indicate it wasn't a mistake, that it was intentional, maybe it might earn that "you made it your own," line from some.

Some not so good beginners want to claim title to artist, to make a piece their own, instead of playing a perfect copy, when they are just bad. For most of us beginners, learning the correct way, as written tends to be the better road. Now, if a person is writing original music, that is another thing, but if a person is playing a known piece, beginner mistakes tend to be mistakes, not artistry.

Perfect copy of the music sitting in front of you.
Orr...err...rather... lets say.... hopefully...there is music sitting in front of you. You know what I mean. Pieces of paper, with lines across it, with dots and funny slanted circles.

And if you aren't capable of playing the intention of the composer, how could you claim you've made it your own rather than incompetence? My teacher told me that someone listening to me should have no trouble writing the score out with all the articulation marks, dynamics, and notes properly. At this point in my developement I am encouraged to be musical but not alter the score, except for a cadenza in one of my exam pieces where I'm taught to depart from tempo quite a bit for 3 measures where there is otherwise no tempo changes indicated. Actually, I'm a bit worried about how that would turn out in front of the adjudicator. Another baroque piece, my teacher has me play completely ignoring the slurs placed by the score editor. I'm a bit worried about those for the exam, but my point is, even a teacher who says you should follow the score would then go ahead and alter some of them.