Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner I get it. Some folks think you can learn something from Youtube.

If the above truly is kbk playing, then all this discussion is beyond nonsense and shows how meaningless some discussion on the internet can be. I played better at 12 even without going to the British library.

Each to his own.

Guys, he's sight reading. Give him a break.

Although, I think that video defeats the whole point in this thread. Aren't you trying to say that you can't learn anything from just watching someone play (let alone sight read)? Or that it's somehow counterproductive and ruins the experience of playing it yourself?

Well, thank you js. You'd need to understand the kids problems re: original thread and PMs to get the point of the video.

Actually, the more I listen, the more I now understand what Haydn was doing with the dynamics. Subtle tricky stuff.

Interesting. kbk first talks about the uselessness of videos in helping anyone and then posts youtube videos under the name "keyboard class" in order to help people.

I don't know about kbk, but anytime I watch someone better than me play the piano I learn something. For me, Youtube is one of the best things that ever happened to the amateur pianist.

Not to mention how great it is to be able to listen and watch the greatest pianists for FREE!

Jeez, this is getting complicated. Since being a member of PW I have always posted videos to help posters out with problems. They are meant to be instructional and always have some PMing or posting with them. That's another world away from those who insist on trying to take apart a performance to use as evidence of good practice. Don't study the performance, study the practice.

If watching a video of someone playing is bastardizing the learning process, then getting input from an instructor, no matter how qualified, would also be bastardizing it. Ridiculous.

Sorry Dan and Laura I'm having trouble getting my head round that one.

If you can't learn from watching someone play on a video, how could you learn from an instructor demonstrating a piece to you?

Because you can't ask Horowitz why his fifth finger sticks up in bar x of piece x but you can ask an instructor. To take performances as pedagogical models is to take them way out of context. How often do you hear 'Don't do as I do, do as I say'?

To take performances as pedagogical models is to take them way out of context.

Perhaps - but it's still preferable to having no model at all. Personally I've found Youtube videos to be very helpful - although I can see the danger for folks who don't recognize idiosyncratic technique when they see it.

Originally, this thread focused on interpretation and the perceived hazard of being unduly influenced by YouTube. We now seem to be talking about the usefulness of video for teaching technique(s).

kbk, does your statement (quoted above) reflect that shift in the conversation—and, coincidentally, the oft-cited difference between a composition's technical difficulty vs. musical difficulty?

Is it your opinion, then, that video is counterproductive for inspiring interpretation but useful for addressing technique?

Steven

KK, you are right about being able to ask the teacher, which you can't with a video. And ya I exaggerated my point a little. But watching and listening to others performances is a valid way to learn. Painters learn a great deal and are strongly influenced by looking at other artists works.

I am personally of the opinion that the recording itself is a wonderful lesson on musicianship- listen to how they use time, balance, phrasing, and SOUND. And that's thinking audio only. A visual context even provides some idea of how they execute. Granted, it should all be taken with a grain of salt, but careful listening can most definitely be an excellent way to learn about a piece.

Truecrypt's recordings are quite a mine!

And I will provide a link to one of my favorite recordings of the Scriabin 4th sonata . Simply because I think the whole world should hear it.

Steven, here's one of my early posts. I didn't steer it away to interpretation, it was where people wanted to go.
So no, it's the other way round unless we're talking instructional videos.

Thanks for clarifying, kbk. It makes sense now. (I had overlooked, or forgotten about, your earlier post that you quoted.)

Steven

Are there or are there not great performers?
Horowitz, for example or Barenboihm

If somebody on this forum is as good then who is he.or she.

I believe its a monstrous conceit to think one cannot learn from the masters.

You tube therefore provides an invaluable opportunity to learn from these greats.

Several folks have mentioned that one can learn from viewing clips of "great" performers.

One can also learn from the 'not so great' - if nothing else, how not to do something.

Learning comes in various guises, if we are receptive.