Видео

I always assumed that the crescendo is a logical consequence of harmonic progression with Dominant (including the 9th) placed at the end of the chromatic scale. In this case, if we agree that harmony dictates certain dynamic shaping, Beethoven expected such crescendo by harmonic design.

My apologies for the flats… this was just my shortcoming in using Musescore. One day I shall re-record the video to correct that. It bothers me as well.

Such wide-position fingering is used by Liszt in some of his advanced works (eg. Rigoletto or Spanish Rhapsody) and despite the traditional scale fingerings drilled on our youth, is not difficult to learn. Traditional fingering works in 98% of cases, this fingering works is in only a handful of places so the value of learning it lies in the particular situation and it might not be worth the effort.

If he does not answer you, here are some recommendations for beginners. Let’s start with actual pieces: (1) Minuet in G - Petzold (misconceived as Bach’s), (2) Prelude in C Major - Bach, (3) Für Elise (Bagatelle No. 25) - Beethoven. Here are some beginner techniques: (1) Proper posture is important. I will not describe this, as it is slightly complicated. There are various good RUclips tutorials. (2) Listen to the pieces. This will improve learning by a LOT. (3) Start slow, and try understanding the music. Follow the score, and do not pedal for now. (4) Get a proper teacher if you can - this will benefit a lot, but if not applicable, there are various good online videos. (5) Always take baby steps. You can’t run without knowing how to walk. (6) Here are some physical techniques: (sub 1) wrist motion with movement up and down the keyboard (it should be almost self-explanatory), (sub 2) Watch out for fingering. Try out the provided fingering(s) in the music score. (7) Stay dedicated only up to three pieces at a time. I recommend a sweet spot of two, for a beginner. (8) Enjoy the music. If you don’t like it, why are you playing it? I hope this helped greatly; let me know your progress!

I am really happy to hear you found the video useful! Thank you for taking your time to comment.

Thank you so much! It did take a long time to record and edit this particular video so it is great to hear that you found it useful.

Dear @maryhealey6739, thank you for your comment. I have never thought of Beethoven Sonatinas as needing a very different approach to sound comparing to his Sonatas. I see the Sonatinas as a step towards his larger and more serious works, and try to imagine that when students are learning Sonatinas, they are taking an important preparatory step towards being able to eventually play Beethoven's more advanced pieces. I hope this helps! Best wishes, Wojciech

Glad to hear it!

I hope it helped!

Thank you! I am happy to be of help 😊

Thank you!

Thank you, enjoy learning the piece!

I will, thank you!!@@pianoarticlesweekly

Thank you for your kind words - much appreciated!!

Thank you! Do you have any particular sections in mind which you find challenging?

@@pianoarticlesweekly especially those fast triplets in the left hand; How to do it properly in the original tempo. And also the right hand's cords in the same place, and play it together with the difficult left hand.

My pleasure, thank you for watching!

Thank you so much, I am glad to hear it is helping you 😊

Terrific!

Great! I hope it helps 😊

It is my pleasure! I hope it helps!

Maybe one day when I have more time for practicing. It would be so nice to be able to do it.

Dear Elina, thank you for your comment and for watching the videos! I hope you get to study with a foreign teacher as you hope, and that your study goes well. I have not recorded the whole piano sonata so I am afraid I cannot point you towards the video. I have performed it in the past but at this moment, teaching takes most of my time and there is just not enough time to practice and to perform. Please feel free to ask questions here or send me an email so we can communicate how I can help you. Best wishes, Wojciech

It depends on your personal insight into the music.

Dear Elina, I am afraid I have trouble understanding your question here. Do you think maybe writing your question in your native language and then using Google Translate to convert it into English might help? Sorry, I would like to answer your question but I am not sure what you mean.

Thanks a lot!

I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the video! I love this music. Good luck in your learning of the Sonata!

Thank you! I will try to find time during the Christmas break to add a video about arpeggios. Is there something particular regarding arpeggios you are interested in?

Thank you so much to make videos for arpeggios. I am particularly interested in how to speed up arpeggios but the movement keeps smooth. I am practicing 4 octaves arpeggios now.

I wish it was c7x😊 - it’s c2x.

Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I am glad to hear you enjoyed the video!

Thank you! Will do.

That is so kind of you to say, thank you!

Thank you so much! I am glad you found it helpful:)

You are so right about this video! It took me three days to record it, then two weeks to edit, and then I had to go back to re-record a few sections because of external noise I had not noticed during the initial recording time. I do it in my free time between students so it takes a long time to finish:) Very good idea about the shorter videos! I just wanted to test whether such a long video would suit more viewers, but I think a shorter format is better. I am glad I did it though. I got much faster with my edits and recording because of it. Excellent idea regarding the transfer of fingerings and hand position to the flute! I have never thought of this, but I am happy to hear you found it useful. Good luck with your flute and piano study! ps. I used to accompany lots of flute players so I am quite familiar with flute/piano repertoire. What pieces are you learning at the moment?

You are way too kind 😊 thank you! I wish I had proper time for practicing to prepare the entire sonata - it has been years since I have performed it. Thank you for watching 🙂

Thank you Michael, this puts a smile on my face! It is so nice to hear my videos are helpful 😊

You are very welcome. I am thinking of making a few more videos about this piece - just thinking about what else might be useful. Thank you for watching!

@laurenth7187 18? As an advanced piano player you’re, could you share what piece that you are practicing now and what challenges you have? So you may have a chance to be other piano beginner viewers’ "role model!"

Dear Laruenth7187, Thank you for commenting. The concept of matching notes in the melody requires at least decent level of listening skills and good deal of attention to learn. I am sure you are aware of how many pianists do not even care about obtaining such skill. In my title, I was not intending to imply that the Claire de Lune is an advanced piece, but that the video discusses a more advanced mean of creating a singing melody line (which is coincidentally part of this music). Over the years, I have taught a large number of popular classical pieces hundreds of times each. Despite of this, I have not gotten bored or tired of the music I teach. Every time I work on something again, I try to re-create it (Stanislavsky), see a different perspective, particularly with the help of students whose personalities are never the same. The simplicity of Claire de Lune (or similar pieces) does not deter me from communicating its musical message, regardless of how trivial it might seem comparing to something like Schubert 960. I just love this music for what it is. Just to add some perspective to my words, although most of my students never reach levels of highest artistic and technical proficiency, I regularly teach the most difficult repertoire available, and have played a great deal of it at a young age. I find my age relevant only in the context of life experience and maturity necessary to understand some of the advanced music, but not in the way of preventing me from enjoying simple music. I hope this makes sense. I hope in my future videos I get a chance to approach some more complex music - hopefully - to your enjoyment. Best wishes, W

@@pianoarticlesweekly I think I agree with your perspective. I think it'd be a great shame if a piece such as Clair de Lune is gatekept by age and piano level. It's a beautiful piece that can be played at varying levels of expression, and also rather "reflective", which I think only gets better with age!

Dear Volodia, To be honest, as I am getting older I tend to spend less time listening to recordings and often I do not have my personal favourites. I love Hoffman for many of his performances, and I enjoyed the Debussy you mentioned (I have note heard it before). I enjoy different personalities of pianists, particularly of the 'old school'. If I had to play this music myself, I would make all possible efforts to understand my personal outlook at this music, supported by as much reading and knowledge I can find. Being a humble and honest musician is my goal, as it leads to very personal communication with an audience and creates something unique for them.

I am so so sorry to hear you went through so much trouble with the sonata. You did the right thing to take a break, allow your hands to recover, then reassessed your practice strategies. I hope your hands are well since then! Tiredness and pain are absolutely unnecessary in learning the piano, even if the music is very challenging.

I remember learning Spanish Rhapsody by Liszt many years ago, and having to practice bars 613-620, (which are written in tenths) and thinking to myself: wow, that’s how pianists with smaller hands must feel when playing octaves! If one has large hands, it is easy to say that we should ‘relax’ our hands when playing octaves, but it is so difficult to do when hands are small 😞 When facing large intervals, I try to avoid holding an ‘open hand’ above the uncomfortable interval for a long time. I keep my hand in it’s natural solan till the last moment and then expand just for a short time. It is also useful to ignore long notes and play them shorter than written to relax (this is not always possible, particularly if we cannot use pedal to help). I also like to think that the piano keys expand our hand when we press them, rather than us having to expand the hand to attack the large interval or a chord. It’s a complex problem, but how we think has a great impact on how we feel. Good luck with your practice 🍀