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#413301 - 04/18/03 01:43 PM Technique
Anonymous Unregistered	Hello everybody. I was wondering a couple of things regarding technique. I have a very good teacher who's in love with etudes and that's all I'm doing now. I love it. Etudes and scales. I want to get my technique fantastic, even if it may take me the rest of my high school years. (Currently in 10th grade.) I haven't learned all the scales yet because before I couldn't be bothered and before I could play E major I played the Tschaikovsky first concerto!!! I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I played the Chopin scherzi for my new teacher, and then she asks: "now play me an e major scale" and I don't know how. So my new teacher says "we need some changes. Big time. No more Rachmaninoff for you, now." And so she has me do scaled, chords, etc. which I hadn't done before. My technique was ok before but now I realize that a good technique is the key to everything. Once your technique is good you don't have to struggle. And you don't have to "fight" the piece. So I do about an hour of scales every day and the rest I spend on learning etudes. I want to learn some Chopin, Prokofiev, Liszt, Moszkovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Clementi (perhaps a Godowski) etudes. I want to have a huge repertoire of studies when I graduate and be like my friend: he says he plays through all Chopin etudes every day as a warm-up. After a year his technique was brilliant. So I have decided to do a lot of etudes, not really work on "pieces." The Question: By the end of my senior year, do you think that if I do continue this "etude-mania" and practice basically only etudes by various composers, do you think that it's a good idea? DO you think it'll boost my technique a lot, and after that it will be much easier for me to learn "big" pieces e.g. ones I struggled with before? Are etudes a worthwhile investment? Thanks, sorry it got a bit long.
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#413302 - 04/18/03 02:19 PM Re: Technique
Praetorian_AD 500 Post Club Member Registered: 12/24/01 Posts: 717 Loc: England	Do Bach and Mozart. With them, you can never go wrong.
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#413303 - 04/18/03 04:01 PM Re: Technique
Gflat Full Member Registered: 03/20/03 Posts: 114 Loc: Wiltshire . UK	Quote: Originally posted by BeePhlatMinor: Hello everybody. I was wondering a couple of things regarding technique. I have a very good teacher who's in love with etudes and that's all I'm doing now. I love it. Etudes and scales. I want to get my technique fantastic, even if it may take me the rest of my high school years. (Currently in 10th grade.) I haven't learned all the scales yet because before I couldn't be bothered and before I could play E major I played the Tschaikovsky first concerto!!! I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I played the Chopin scherzi for my new teacher, and then she asks: "now play me an e major scale" and I don't know how. So my new teacher says "we need some changes. Big time. No more Rachmaninoff for you, now." And so she has me do scaled, chords, etc. which I hadn't done before. My technique was ok before but now I realize that a good technique is the key to everything. Once your technique is good you don't have to struggle. And you don't have to "fight" the piece. So I do about an hour of scales every day and the rest I spend on learning etudes. I want to learn some Chopin, Prokofiev, Liszt, Moszkovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Clementi (perhaps a Godowski) etudes. I want to have a huge repertoire of studies when I graduate and be like my friend: he says he plays through all Chopin etudes every day as a warm-up. After a year his technique was brilliant. So I have decided to do a lot of etudes, not really work on "pieces." The Question: By the end of my senior year, do you think that if I do continue this "etude-mania" and practice basically only etudes by various composers, do you think that it's a good idea? DO you think it'll boost my technique a lot, and after that it will be much easier for me to learn "big" pieces e.g. ones I struggled with before? Are etudes a worthwhile investment? Thanks, sorry it got a bit long.[/b] _______ For myself I gave up playing etudes long ago. They did nothing for me , absolutely nothing - just another bundle of notes going by in a blur. Just before that I had given up playing all the concertos and then sonatas.... OVERATED in my opinion I moved on to scales at the end but again I realised they were just making me even worse. In the end I stopped playing altogether . My teacher now says I am playing better than ever before but to be honest I think she's just being nice to me :rolleyes: Gflatasapancakeandloonyasabin ! _________________________ " You want to play the what !?!"
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#413304 - 04/18/03 05:23 PM Re: Technique
jimmyD Full Member Registered: 11/04/02 Posts: 80 Loc: Fredericksburg, VA	If I were you, I'd mix it up. Etudes can be great, but I'd think playing ONLY etudes would get old. Many etudes are very musical, but throw in some sonatas, etc. And it never hurts to play Bach's WTC. Fugues are a challenge!
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#413305 - 04/18/03 05:25 PM Re: Technique
Brendan 4000 Post Club Member Registered: 05/26/01 Posts: 4790 Loc: McAllen, TX	Quote: Originally posted by BeePhlatMinor: I played the Chopin scherzi for my new teacher, and then she asks: "now play me an e major scale" and I don't know how. [/b] Even though the last scherzo is in E major and has several rapid E major scales in them? Come to think of it, the 2nd and 3rd Scherzi both have rapid E major figurations as well. _________________________ http://www.BrendanKinsella.com
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#413306 - 04/18/03 06:16 PM Re: Technique
CrashTest 4000 Post Club Member Registered: 06/23/01 Posts: 4063	What I am doing now, since I have an upcoming recital, is work mainly on my main repertoire. (Beethoven Op.22, Chopin Scherzo in B minor, Debussy Voiles, Bach p/f in d bk I, and a few more Debussy preludes as needed) In addition, I am working on 3 or so Chopin etudes, but I am not concerned with working them up to tempo, or anything of the sort. Their purpose is to help me develop more technique in conjuction with my recital pieces. This way, I don't have to put too much time into each etude, just enought to get the desired result. Of course, if I were studying these etudes for a perfomance, it would be a different matter. They are musical masterpieces just as they are great etudes, so they deserve attention to the utmost musical and technical detail. _________________________ www.thiagotrevisan.com
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#413307 - 04/19/03 06:43 AM Re: Technique
Gregory Urich Junior Member Registered: 04/18/03 Posts: 3 Loc: Lund, Sweden	Hi Bee, Sounds like you have ackomplished alot for your years. Bee, be careful! I had a Russian teacher in college who said she would straighten out my techniqe. She showed me the "proper" movements and within two weeks I was in pain and never recovered until recently. Exercises for building strength and endurance are unnecessary. Coordinated movement is the key and any repetoire is appropriate. In the past three years I have been studying piano technique and functional anatomy quite intensely and it seems there is really only one complete and reliable technique--"The Taubman techniques". It's important to have a good teacher though. I have a site with quite a number of technique links as well as some book reviews. Check it out... Piano Hands I had been injured for 18 years (since music school). I began studying the "Taubman techniques" with Edna Golandsky Edna Golandsky about two and a half years ago. I now am pain free and have a facility and control I never dreamed of. Best of luck, Gregory
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#413308 - 04/19/03 09:40 AM Re: Technique
Jason_dup2 Full Member Registered: 02/12/03 Posts: 151 Loc: Maryland	Quote: I want to have a huge repertoire of studies when I graduate [/b] What you are going to end up with is a lop-sided repertoire. You play nothing but romantic era pieces, and you say you value technique. Try the two and three part inventions of Bach for some technique builder and expand your mind and playing ability. Surely you can find a couple pieces of Bach or Mazart and Beethoven you like. I read a passage in a book that said "practice what you want to play" he did not say this to completely take away from scales as a basic foundation. I take this to mean play some scales for basic technique but practice the music you want to play since the ultimate goal is to play music that we want to play. You are much further along in your playing than I but, you really need to expand into more than one era of music. It will help you become a more well rounded pianist.
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#413309 - 04/19/03 09:51 AM Re: Technique
Kreisler Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member Registered: 11/27/02 Posts: 12483 Loc: Iowa City, IA	His repertoire will only be lop-sided if he does only etudes for years. How long term is your teacher's plan? If it's scales and etudes for only a few months, then it might be very helpful. If it's for a few years, then your repertoire will suffer... _________________________ "If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt) www.pianoped.com www.youtube.com/user/UIPianoPed
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#413310 - 04/20/03 08:31 AM Re: Technique
ryan 1000 Post Club Member Registered: 06/04/01 Posts: 1995 Loc: Colorado	Quote: Originally posted by Brendan: Quote: Originally posted by BeePhlatMinor: I played the Chopin scherzi for my new teacher, and then she asks: "now play me an e major scale" and I don't know how. [/b] Even though the last scherzo is in E major and has several rapid E major scales in them? Come to think of it, the 2nd and 3rd Scherzi both have rapid E major figurations as well.[/b] Brendan, I am with you. The original post was total BS. Tchaikovsky's First Concerto has scales in it as well. Ryan
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#413311 - 04/20/03 10:03 AM Re: Technique
da 6th finger Full Member Registered: 10/14/02 Posts: 87 Loc: New Zealand	Completely overshadowed by what Brendan pointed out, "All Chopin etudes every day as a warm-up" fails to live up to its BS potential. _________________________ the nocturne in c sharp minor is the most beautiful thing on this earth
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#413312 - 04/20/03 10:26 AM Re: Technique
BruceD Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member Registered: 05/26/01 Posts: 15666 Loc: Victoria, BC	No matter what his reincarnation is on this Forum, he always ends up at the same point: stretching our credibility and testing our gullibility to the point that we really can't believe much of what he says - if we can believe any of it. The amusement factor soon changes to tedium! Regards, _________________________ BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190 in satin ebony
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#413313 - 04/21/03 02:17 AM Re: Technique
Zephyr Full Member Registered: 03/31/03 Posts: 175 Loc: Los Angeles, California	How can you not know the scales if you've played all these songs that you claim that you can play? Did your teacher say, "Lets forget all the basics of piano and start playing your first piano concerto!" ???? _________________________ To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else's type of thinking- William James
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#413314 - 04/21/03 04:53 PM Re: Technique
Anonymous Unregistered	Hi everybody and thank you for your replies! Maybe I didn't make myself clear: I only can play the first two scherzi. Zephyr, that's basically what happened. My teacher let me do whatever I want without doing the basics first, which is why I have to re-learn everything and do etudes and scales now. That's why she said: "bye bye Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky!!!!" So yes, I'm almost starting over again. But it'll be nice to have the fundamentals down. And yes they do have scale passages in them, but I didn't think of them as that nor could I identify what scales they were: I just "hacked" through the pieces loosely playing them. I didn't play them with an orchestra or anything though!!! Only with my former piano teacher, and didn't play them as well as I will be in a couple of months when I get the basics down! Gregory, those links were really helpful! Thanks a lot!!!!! BeePhlat
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#413315 - 04/21/03 07:42 PM Re: Technique
Gflat Full Member Registered: 03/20/03 Posts: 114 Loc: Wiltshire . UK	Quote: Originally posted by BeePhlatMinor: Hi everybody and thank you for your replies! Maybe I didn't make myself clear: I only can play the first two scherzi. Zephyr, that's basically what happened. My teacher let me do whatever I want without doing the basics first, which is why I have to re-learn everything and do etudes and scales now. That's why she said: "bye bye Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky!!!!" So yes, I'm almost starting over again. But it'll be nice to have the fundamentals down. And yes they do have scale passages in them, but I didn't think of them as that nor could I identify what scales they were: I just "hacked" through the pieces loosely playing them. I didn't play them with an orchestra or anything though!!! Only with my former piano teacher, and didn't play them as well as I will be in a couple of months when I get the basics down! Gregory, those links were really helpful! Thanks a lot!!!!! BeePhlat[/b] Utter classic , you're cracking me up mate, cracking me right up . If I ever need some quick hilarity 'fix' in my life I can be guaranteed to find it in this particular forum. Whatever you do don't stop ..... please. Bwaaaaahahahahahahhaha.......Fantastic. Gflat $\:D$ $\:D$ $;\)$ _________________________ " You want to play the what !?!"
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#413316 - 04/21/03 07:47 PM Re: Technique
CrashTest 4000 Post Club Member Registered: 06/23/01 Posts: 4063	I think we must also remember that only because he says he played these pieces, does not mean he played them up to a high level. It is not uncommon for beginners to venture out and attempt difficult repertoire because it is appealing to them. It may be that we are perhaps jumping to conclusions assuming that he claimed he could play them up to concert level, when even he says he "didn't even play it with an orchestra" and "hacked throught the pieces". No other-worldy claims there! $\:D$ _________________________ www.thiagotrevisan.com
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#413317 - 04/21/03 09:53 PM Re: Technique
Brendan 4000 Post Club Member Registered: 05/26/01 Posts: 4790 Loc: McAllen, TX	But what on Earth would make you suspect that he hasn't played Tchaikovsky? Or perhaps a more pertinent question: Is anyone else bored? _________________________ http://www.BrendanKinsella.com
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#413318 - 04/21/03 11:10 PM Re: Technique
StanSteel 500 Post Club Member Registered: 04/17/02 Posts: 646 Loc: Los Angeles	I am actually wondering what will be more fun in the long run. Ignoring his posts, or answering and get more of his delightful feedback. Hmm... either way is boring. _________________________ "War does not determine who is right; only who is left."
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