Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Please tell me if I am understanding this properly (liebestr

Regarding the length in which notes should be held in Liebestraum 3. Bar 2 treble cleff, how long should the very first C be held, on which part of the beat do you release it? Are you supposed to release it on the following A or E (right before you play middle C again)

Also on the baff cleff the very first quarter note A, do you hold onto that note until the following rest (treble cleff A note being played at that time) or do you release it immediately after you play the treble C?

Another way to ask, if you count "1 and 2 and" etc, on which part of the beat do you release those notes? The first C measure 2, would you release on '3' or 'and'?

Im sorry if this is poorly explained

It would help if you could provide a picture

Here is the score for this: http://conquest.imslp.info/files/im..._-_S541_Liebestraume_No3__edition_c_.pdf

That C lasts 3/4, so half a measure. You release it just before playing the same C with the left hand - together with the eight note E in the arpeggio.

The A in the bass lasts 1/4, so you play its second half (the "and" of "1 and") together with the E in the treble and release it before playing the A in the treble. Not sure if this is clear or if I actually answered your question.

A piece I'm learning too ...

In general this piece should sound somewhat improvisational; it should also be played with the melody moving fairly quickly. Once you have that, the exact length will fall out in the wash. Additionally, pedal is liberally applied both in the score and in practice - although do honor Listz's occasional mid measure releases of the pedal: They should be somewhat obvious anyway.

Which is all another way of saying the exact release of the melody in those places doesn't matter, it's the sound of the melody that you are going for.

As written you would release the C in measure 2 just before you play it again with the left hand. Do I do that? No, I release quite a bit earlier. But the pedal is still down so who cares?

For the bass notes, I hold them for the quarter note value but, pedal is still down so, again, you can't really have the rests in the left hand.

Remember in this piece, melody is absolutely king. Those bass notes are the anchor, true, but it's the melody that must sing. Everything else comes second. Work on that and you'll have it.

Then let me know how you did it so I can too!

Despite my horrid explanation you guys answered my question perfectly, thanks! I wasn't sure If I was overthinking this, but it was making my head spin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubVVSWHkxs8

Another thing, if you watch Lang Lang's performance of this piece you'll see, for lack of a better understanding, that he is very involved in the piece. It looks as if he's playing with such delicate precision and emotion. I understand it is a natural expression of playing this piece musically because I always find myself playing doing the same sort of movements and a lot of weight shifting forwards and backwards.

For some reason I have always had this tendency to play piano in this way, but it is hard to do so while learning this piece. So whenever I play HS or very slow, sure I can hit the notes because I have time but it will never ever sound musical to my ears. What would you recommend I do?

Firstly, movement is unnecessary. I've had to curtail mine in particular because it was often counter-productive. But I'm going to move in the right way for this piece.

I just finished my practice for this for tonight. There was the super-slow practice but that isn't about musicality. It's about the technical aspects to get the fingers just right. To make sure that the arpeggios have "their" weight and the melody has "its" weight (particularly where they meet.) And about learning the notes.

But I also play at what is probably 1/4 speed - at that point I can control fine, it's still slow but it can be musical and I make sure I can hear and feel that. If not, I'm doing it wrong.