Young Musicians Need to Stop Doing This...
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- Hey everyone!
This was a video I wanted to get out there for quite some time. While I haven't been studying the piano myself for many years, I've picked up on something that I do quite often. And that is searching for the "difficulty" of a piece before actually jumping into the piece itself. While many resources that explain the "difficulty" of a piece can act as a great guide, and that's in my opinion how it should be viewed, it should not be a way of telling you what you can and can't play. I hope that this video can shed some light on something that I know other people do as well since these piano forums and specific Google searches would not exist if it wasn't happening LOL.
Hope you all have a great day!
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Hey guys! This video was really meant for the people (like myself in many instances) who lack the self-confidence to dig deep into a challenge. I said music was subjective, but it is also objective and I missed out on explaining that in the video. I really feel like I could've put more time into making this video more clear... but I do hope that my points make some sense hahaha. Whether you agree with them or not, I'd love to hear what you all have to say about how you go about choosing your next piece! I also need to learn to stare at the camera rather than drifting my eyes to the main points of this video that I had written down… Anyways, thanks for watching the video
I'm talented enough to know when someone isn't performing hot cross buns very well
I have spent a lot of time on piano forums and Reddit comparing piece difficulties, but more so just for fun. I do think it can get out of hand if you read into it too seriously, but in general it can still be good research about pieces you’ve never played or want to play
Yeah, I feel like reading through the piece slowly and/or going right to the trouble areas is usually a good remedy for this issue as opposed to endlessly searching henle rankings. I think Henle would agree with you though and say that they just provide those rankings as a very rough outline. After all, the Waldstein and Rach 3 both have a 9 score so... probably not objectively comparable 😅 glad to know other pianists do this same stuff though!
Definitely agree with this. It is smart to work your way through a tough spot and see if it's feasible!
Agreed. They also put Op10/2 below Op10/1. For ME at least 10/2 is miles harder than 10/1. I tried 10/2 (gave up, will return when fingers 2,3,4 are more capable of chromatic scale)
I feel like a lot of people on Reddit who are experienced pianists (as they say) discourage people who ask the same questions about how difficult something is. They come up with answers such as: "NO. You need at least eight years of experience to try this" or "Two years of experience isn't enough to play this," and then proceed to write a whole essay about it. I feel like its unnecessary and completely agree that it is up to the musician to focus on their abilities for a piece instead of relying on the opinions of people on the internet.
I like to look up the difficulty of pieces to know relatively how good I am, and how far away I am from other things that I want to accomplish. Even though several aspects of technique are subjective, a generalized difficulty rating can give at least a decent sense of where you are
My biggest breakthrough while studying piano (currently for over 7 years) was the shift from percieving pieces in terms of difficulty to "feeling" the images, emotions, messages they try to convey. As you said, music is art, and it was the realisation that techniques are simply, imbellishments, or devices that cater to conveying a certain expression
Yes! I recently finished Chopin etude op 25 no. 6, and my playing level before was pieces like Rach C-sharp minor prelude, Chopin nocturne op. 9/2, and op 25 no. 6 is much harder according to things like the Henle ranking system. But I didn't find it impossible, and I certainly couldn't play Chopin Scherzi, Ballades, and so on, before doing more etudes (I'm currently on op 25 no 10) to build up my technique. Entering a Junior conservatoire and getting an amazing teacher has helped a lot.
Great to see your videos, even if they take a month or longer!
I actually feel so bad that I don't get more videos out 😭 But, do know that every video I put out is an experiment. I'm still trying to figure out what content works best for me :) Thank you for the support!
I think for me I try to look for a combination of music that I genuinely enjoy listening to and want to play and pieces that are just outside of my current skill level to allow an adequate challenge without being bored with staying within my current level of competency.
I think I agree with your conclusion. I don't think that it is an entirely bad idea seeing what other people have found difficult in certain works nor looking at something like the henle gudie for a very rough ballpark that might give you a rough idea of how much effort you would have to spend to play at a level that is reasonable to perform.
I do however also think that few things beat looking through the score of something from time to time and trying out certain things that you find difficult. If you come to the conclusion that the piece is much too difficult then this can also be a way of keeping track of your progress. Something you can't do now might be something you find easy in the future, sometimes sooner than you expect.
Today I learned that using Reddit for finding pieces is a shared experience
I love scriabin 2nd sonata by Yunchan ;)
I look at the difficuoty of a piece so i can see what other cool other pieces
I focused on Bach for 2 years, which resulted i me beeing able to play very difficult pieces like the Toccatas BWV910-916 even though I am a normal hobby pianist.
Last month I started with the Scriabin preludes, which should be way easier, but I am making faster progress on a 3 voice fuge than on these.
Чувак, ты так мне напоминаешь Братишкина (популярный русский стриммер в России), прям ваще
Where are you maaaaa man? 🤔Still waiting for a new content😆
I know it's been too long 😭 I've got a new video soon though 🙌🏼
@@PiergiorgioWilson waiting for you maaa boy no worries🫡🤝🏻❤️
my teacher doesnt care about the ratings, he will find the hardest shit to throw at me and make me learn it despite being above my current level
I just eyeball them and try them out and if they're too difficult then I stop and try something else
Enle levels are very unreliable, since Chopin's etude Op.10 No.1 and Liszt's Sonata in B minor both are level 9. You can't use these pieces to guess the difficulty of a level 8 piece, and you won't be able to guess anything other than rough estimates of technique requirements using a one dimensionnal scale from 1 to 9
This one is pretty simple for me.
I listen to the piece then I read the score...
...then I ask myself: Can I really play it?
...And my answer is pretty much always "no".
It's exactly why everyone should compose for themselves and to their own individual technical prowess. I never write repeated octaves or glissandoes in 3rds in my compositions and as a result, I ALWAYS sound pro.😎😂
I focus more if I love the piece or not. If you don't love a certain piece, you will never learn it effectively, regardless of how difficult it could be for you.
Omg hahaha i always thought i was the only one who always used to look that up
Thank you
Indeed...
Someday I'd like to produce a catalog of the entire western music repertoire, quantifying everything related to technical proficiency etc. For now, every website I've found falls far short of that aim.
What peace are you practicing/learning now? Just curious
Mendelssohn's Fantasie Op. 56!
To me, I ONLY compare difficulty with regard to technique present. I don't think about musicality whatsoever, because musicality is ALWAYS infinitely difficult and inherently subjective. The only "objective" metric is technique, which I think can be somewhat reliably applied to certain pieces. For example, a Mozart sonata will be objectively less difficult than something by Sorabji or Kapustin from a technical standpoint, but musically you cant even begin to compare them. Even hot cross buns can be so thoroughly decomposed musically to the point of being ridiculous to try to compare its difficulty to any other piece.
I feel like this vid is calling me out 😂I'm learning Chopin's Ballade No.1 as someone who's only taken a couple months of lessons. I just love the Ballades too much to not touch them right now
thanks bro