I was 100% guilty of #3 when I learned. Not only not counting, but not sure whether it was important to count, or if The Audience would be just as ignorant as I was, sort of like a trill: a slow trill! But I think with #2, you do probably want some slight pause. Basically, following #2 strictly would violate #5. One thing that amazed me when I closely examined the performance of someone much better than me playing a different piece was that in one place, where they seemed to slow down, they didn't slow down notes evenly: it was more that they increased the spacing between groups of two notes. A bit like slow steps during dancing or something: instead of lifting each foot slowly and putting it down slowly, you move a bit sporadically, in bursts. Or to take it to an extreme where it's hard to imagine as a dance, if you're hopping along, there's a limit to how high you can make each hop to slow it down. So you condense the pauses to distract The Audience from your inability to jump 4 feet in the air.
Hi, thanks for watching and the comment. You make a good point. While playing it more in tempo (or a gradual rit) would be safer, someone with a good musical sense could pull off what I tend to call a hesitation. I think that's what you're getting at. A slight pause that is, proportionally, longer than it should be given the amount of slowing down you've done leading into it. I think that's a great idea and would be very musical. I would encourage learners of Für Elise who read your suggestion to experiment with that, if they like, after they've learned the rhythm in a straight-forward way first. What I've seen in my students is the tendency to not be able to play in tempo, so they call it an intentional pause, haha. But they are not in control of the pause, their skill at that measure controls their playing. So yes, I think the interpretation you are suggestion can work great and should be done if someone likes. But I think most of the learners are struggling with the notes, not making intentional musical decisions. Thanks again for the well articulated comment!
@@Wywghh Oh sweet, so you're more advanced. It's hard to tell from RUclips comment how far along someone, haha. The Chopin etudes are truly amazing. They are among my favorite sets of pieces. I've played a handful of them, but not close to all. I don't know if you can tell from the video, but I have pretty wide hands, so I gravitate to the big arpeggio etudes (Op 10 1, 8, 12, Op 25. 12) more than the small scaler ones (Op 10 2, for example). And I think the 3rds etude scares us all. Oh, and Op 10 3 might be the most beautiful melody in existence!
I hated learning this song so much just bc I didn’t enjoy the song too much but you really realize when your are a beginner learning this song opens your eyes to so many new techniques, I see this song as an essential learning song
@@ryanabshier right now I’m working on Liszt liebestraum no 3. And Beethovens Pathetique sonata, going to learn the whole sonata I’m working on the second mvmt right now
@@nicklogic9842 oh nice, those are great ones. The middle movement of Beethoven is so beautiful, but I think the 1st and 3rd are my favorites. Great sonata, there's a reason it's so famous.
If you are not careful, the opening of the piece and the repetitions of the main theme will sound like measures of four eighths time preceding and interrupting the three eighths time of the piece. In heaven's name, do not be careful! (Some editions actually have a crescendo and decrescendo that emphasizes the first note of the first full measure (the third note of the piece). Shame on the editors!)
That is a great, nuanced point! If someone takes a beginner rhythm course, they might feel like they need to bring out all the beat 1s. In fact, I encourage my students often to feel beat 1 as a little stronger in music (in general). But, Beethoven loves, LOVES, messing with us. The Op. 28 sonata is my favorite example. The listeners are often led to believe beat 2 is beat 1, and that's perfect! You shouldn't fight it, Beethoven is flipping the beat. So again, great point. Deciding when to emphasize the beat or obscure it is a big musical question.
I stumbled upon your video tonight and I almost didn’t watch it. I’m of the opinion that fair Elise is really overplayed and that’s a shame because it’s a lovely piece. Are used to play it fairly well with a few many years ago. I still play three or four days a week but I’m not very good if I live near you I’d sign up for lessons. There are some very good people who do piano instruction on RUclips and there’s some really think they’re very good but they’re terrible. Her young pianist you fall into the very best category. I will come and I can watch you because you have quite a knack for teaching. And you’re very enjoyable to listen to. Best of luck
Thanks so much, I really appreciate the kind words and that you enjoyed it. It's awesome that you still play a few days a week, I'm sure that's helped you to retain some of the skill. What kind of pieces are you interested in learning if you did go back to lessons?
Hello! I am self taught and just started level 2 earlier this month. I started with the easy arrangements of Fur Elise. I’m now learning the 1810 version. Trying to find the right way to play it and I found your video. Thank God for you 😊
@@ryanabshier I actually had few lessons when I was in grade school. I loved it, but was too young and my priorities were to play with friends. We also had to move from the Philippines to the US. Fast forward, I got really sick with stage 4 cancer. I’m actually a living miracle per my onco. After treatments, I’ve decided to learn and relearn many things including playing the piano. I started playing on Memorial Day this year and I play at least 2 hours/day. I’m obsessed! My goal is to master Fur Elise to celebrate my 5th year in remission (which means I’d be officially cancer-free) on 12/26/23 🥳 wish me luck 🍀
That's such a sweet journey. Congrats on approaching 5 years, I know the struggle and fight it takes is enormous. Nice job getting back into piano and best of luck with continuing to learn Für Elise. I think as adults we sometimes go back and appreciate piano more than we did as kids, so I'm glad you've gotten back into it.
This was phenomenal and so helpful (and hilarious)! I'm 58 and decided to fulfill a lifelong dream a couple of years ago and teach myself piano. Fur Elise was the 2nd song I learned, and I still stumble over it a bit because of some of the reasons you listed. Now I can finally work on the weak spots, so thanks so much! Learning piano is the best thing that ever happened to me 🥰👏
That is so cool. I love when adults start learning piano because you're doing it because you want to. Für Elise is a challenging 2nd piece, so it makes sense it would be a challenge. But great job learning it! What else are you working on now?
@@ryanabshier Thanks!! To my surprise, I've been able to learn, and commit to memory, Minuet in G Maj, Fur Elise, Canon in D, Prelude in E Min., Moonlight Sonata, Enya's Watermark and Day Without Rain, River Flows in You, Giazotto's Adagio in G Min, Chopin's Waltz in A Min, and Crazy. Right now I'm learning Kygo's Piano Jam #3 and Por Una Cabeza. I'm determined to learn how to read music because I think I'm limiting myself by just using memory. But I'm having a blast and that's the main thing. Thanks so much for connecting, and I look forward to watching your other video's and following your channel 🙂
@@jopratt1965 That's awesome! A ton of music memorized in a short time. Yes, that's always a delicate balance, reading vs memory. Most of us naturally lean one way or the other and have to work on the opposite end. My biggest 1-sentence advice about reading music, understand "how" the staff works (up, down, lines, spaces) before worrying about memorizing specific notes.
@@ryanabshier Thank you so much again Ryan for that great advice - I know it will help me so much. Best of luck with your channel and all the best from Canada 🎹🎶🎵🎼
Thanks for the tip. I do like thinking about it as a blend of the EE and OO sounds, that's very helpful for placement. Hopefully the one time I actually tried I got it close 🤣 I find vowels to be an underappreciated challenge of pronunciating languages. When you get a vowel sound that doesn't exist in your languages it's so difficult to do. In English, I think about a short A in cat, bat, rat vs how it's different in ran, man, can. Those are so hard for people learning English and you can hear the accent in them for a long time. So I appreciated all the tips!
I'm actually playing this song on the piano it's called shinunoga e-wa . i think it's really nice. you could maybe show me how you would play it. of course do so only if you are really interested in the song..:)))
@@_ShrutiSubash Oh interesting, I just now listened and hadn't heard of that one yet. It's such a unique sound. I'll try to figure some of it out and see if I can help you out. About what level are you in piano? What songs/pieces have you played?
I’ve doing the awful pause (practicing that transition now to remove the pause), and have lost count of the E/D# more than once (“and one and two and three and keep on playing on”…). Haven’t played this piece with pedal yet. Haven’t learned how to use the pedal at all yet actually. But as a lifelong violist, I can keep my fingers down to make the same effect, mostly.
A Clarinetist told me a great counting story once. Basically in an orchestra rehearsal a young musician said something like "I just can't feel where to come in" and a couple orchestra vets turned around at the same time and said "COUNT!" Hahaha. It's solid advice though. I heard that story like...idk...10-15 years ago and still to the day when I have a section of music I struggle to feel I can hear the old guy yelling "COUNT!!!" You know, a video just teaching pedaling could be really cool. Especially because I often disagree with the way it's taught. Pedaling is harder than you expect. If someone says it's easy they probably don't know all the subtle nuances of it. I always start out teaching pedal connected to your ear, because in the long run that's what we do, listen for the connection. Here's a good basic exercise. Play a C scale only using 1 finger. Do an exaggerated lift after each note so that your finger doesn't make any legato and only your foot is involved. So, here's the sequence. Play note, foot down, lift finger way up, play next note, foot up and down, finger way up, play next note, foot up and down... Basically you want the freedom to do all of these elements when YOU choose. Not your foot and hands being permanently linked together with no flexibility. Then later on you can more easily adjust your pedaling (more legato, thinner...). There's more to it, but that's where I like to start for those that already play some. Good luck!
@@ryanabshier I took up the piano in my late fifties. When I started ABRSM Grade 2 my teacher said, "I'm going to teach you how to pedal. You might as well learn now because you'll have to pedal when you get into more advanced pieces and it's better to learn at the beginning how to do it right. You'd be surprised by the number of experienced pianists who make a hash of pedalling. I'm going to show you from the outset how to do it right." That may have been the best piano lesson I ever had. Ryan, RUclips needs to be taught how to pedal properly! Go!
@@Gill3D Yes, your teacher is completely right. Pedal is so layered. It really does have degrees from beginner to advanced. When you 1st learn pedaling you think the challenge is "how" to change, and at the advanced levels it's knowing "when and how" to change. It really can make or break an advanced performance. And also advanced pedaling takes in to consideration hearing the room you're in and adjusting on the fly. So, good technique and ear.
This is emphatically not a beginner's piece. I'm surprised so many people attempt it in their early days of learning the piano. I'm studying Grade 5 ABRSM and I find it a challenge.
You're right, it's solidly intermediate. I think it's why so many people struggle with it. However, because the 1st section is so slow, beginners can dabble with it and they do. I'm always torn as a teacher with my own students. A kid, I'd probably make them wait to play it much until they were ready. An adult who is super motivated, I could see learning small sections as long as they are okay with 1. going slowly and 2. working on other easier pieces at the same time.
@@ryanabshier Yeah generally with german words it is really funny to see how english speaking people pronunce it, but I often get the urge of correcting dem :)
@@tomgates3250 yes, even when we try to say a word in another language correctly, it is really hard to get the vowels sounding right. Same with people coming into English, they might have a word down, but it's so hard to place all the vowels in the same spot as a native speaker.
The Ü has no similar sound in english. In danish we could use our Y sound, which is a far cry from the english Y. I think the best approach is to simply use the english FOR if the german sound is too hard. Do NOT use FIR is sounds wrong in all languages :-)
@@xian8531 haha, I hope you appreciated my ridiculous "fir" sound though. I was hoping to sound as atrocious as possible 😂 But yes, the Ü sound is very annoying for us because we don't have a similar sound. However, I found Ö even more difficult for myself. It just feels like a sound made from deep within the German soul.
Yet you still play. The joy of music isn't in the instrument, it's in how the instrument is played. A kazoo played well sounds better than a piano played poorly.
I just looked it up (Salieri opera), it did make me smile how similar they sound. Beethoven might have heard that and copied it but here are a few alternatives to keep in mind. 1. If you check out the score of the opera here: imslp.org/wiki/La_fiera_di_Venezia_(Salieri,_Antonio). The harpsichord part is not notated completely. He is using "figured bass", which is an older convention where you just give the keyboardist bass notes and they create the RH. So when you hear performances of operas using figured bass, the pianists is actually making up the top part, the part you hear in this recording that plays "Fur Elise" (or it has been made up by a later musician and written down). So the Für Elise moment could have been added later. To confirm Salieri actually wrote it you would need to find it in the score, I didn't see it, but I didn't scan the whole opera, it's huge! So, it's very possible the keyboardist during this recording stole the melody from Beethoven and stuck it in here. 2. But maybe more importantly, the opening melody by Beethoven isn't necessarily unique. If you think about it, it's just a way to play a little downward motion in A Minor, but 1st add a little chromatic wiggle. So, in a sense, many melodies are copied/borrowed because there's only so many options of what to do. The keyboardists playing this opera reduction might not have meant to copy Fur Elise, if that was the case. However, I will admit it is super similar and shocking to hear with Für Elise in mind.
"noch zehn minuten!!" :D oh and although i am not 110 % sure about it, i think the original name of this piece is "albumblatt" ... (maybe also a bit easier in pronounciation ;) )
I think it's referred to as an Albumblatt, but that's not a name it was given. Though I could see him referring to it as such in conversation. Short and not difficult (relative to his other music). You know how musicians are "oh no, this is pretty a small, short, easy little piece". *drops most famous piano solo ever 🤣
Hehe, if you like it a bit less simple try Beethovens revised version from 1822 - ruclips.net/video/jblFQ1whX5s/видео.html I’m very much stuck on the bar with the triolas rn, but this version - especially the last bar! - is awesome!
@@ryanabshier my thoughts exactly! And I‘ve been playing the 1810 version since 1995 - of course for most of the time making most of the mistakes pointed out in this very video 😂
Hey there. Haha, I don't know if you made it far enough but I actually make a joke about my pronunciation part way through the video. But the way I say it most of the time in the video is pretty much standard American pronunciation. This just happens when names/words are translated, sometimes the new language preserves the original and sometimes it changes. So you really can't win in American English . Someone will say you're doing it wrong no matter (which is the point of my comment in the video). It's goes both ways, I hear Germans referring to the USA as the "oo ess ahh" all the time, that's not how we say it. No big deal, just happens.
@@ryanabshier yes, I did see the entire video that’s why I posted the comment, as you focused too much on the Für but didn’t mention Elise at all :) anyway, nice video, keep posting stuff like this :)
@@rbcm1 Thanks! I checked out your channel, nice playing! Yeah, to keep the video focused I cut down my pronunciation rant quite a bit (I talked way to long when filming). But I do actually keep the bit where I say "elisa" once at the end of the rant 3:35.
Maybe next time I talk about it I'll just do a strong southern accent. Really play it up. I think my bad pronunciations weren't obvious enough this time around.
@@ryanabshier Music of the period is played today in all manner of different ways, and on many different types of instruments. Personally I'd prefer to hear Beethoven on a straight-strung piano ~ a fortepiano ☺
@@GregoryJamesB I've had the opportunity to play on a straight strung piano and yes, it is gorgeous, really makes certain pieces come alive. The clarity is such a unique experience.
I used to hate hate hate this song. But sitting down and really trying to learn this has completely changed my perspective on music.
It's true that it's overplayed. But yeah, once you study a Beethoven piece for yourself it's hard not to like it. Glad you checked out the video.
5:10 You are so funny 🤣🤣🤣 was not expecting this "tutorial" to be hilarious
My robot face 🤣 glad you liked it! Try to bring a little joy while telling people they're doing things wrong 😃
I was 100% guilty of #3 when I learned. Not only not counting, but not sure whether it was important to count, or if The Audience would be just as ignorant as I was, sort of like a trill: a slow trill!
But I think with #2, you do probably want some slight pause. Basically, following #2 strictly would violate #5. One thing that amazed me when I closely examined the performance of someone much better than me playing a different piece was that in one place, where they seemed to slow down, they didn't slow down notes evenly: it was more that they increased the spacing between groups of two notes. A bit like slow steps during dancing or something: instead of lifting each foot slowly and putting it down slowly, you move a bit sporadically, in bursts.
Or to take it to an extreme where it's hard to imagine as a dance, if you're hopping along, there's a limit to how high you can make each hop to slow it down. So you condense the pauses to distract The Audience from your inability to jump 4 feet in the air.
Hi, thanks for watching and the comment. You make a good point. While playing it more in tempo (or a gradual rit) would be safer, someone with a good musical sense could pull off what I tend to call a hesitation. I think that's what you're getting at. A slight pause that is, proportionally, longer than it should be given the amount of slowing down you've done leading into it. I think that's a great idea and would be very musical.
I would encourage learners of Für Elise who read your suggestion to experiment with that, if they like, after they've learned the rhythm in a straight-forward way first. What I've seen in my students is the tendency to not be able to play in tempo, so they call it an intentional pause, haha. But they are not in control of the pause, their skill at that measure controls their playing.
So yes, I think the interpretation you are suggestion can work great and should be done if someone likes. But I think most of the learners are struggling with the notes, not making intentional musical decisions. Thanks again for the well articulated comment!
I tend do your personal favourite on that evil measure. You're welcome 😄
Super helpful video though, thank you!
I mean, you could just call it your personal interpretation, Beethoven spoke to you through the notes 🤣
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Thank you, Ryan, for these great tips! I´m trying them out!!
Great! Hope they are working for you.
This is fairly good for those who are self taught and learning.
To be honest, when playing this at around 4-5 year old, I didn’t make these mistakes.
Thanks for checking it out. Do you still play? What are you playing now?
@@ryanabshier I still play, I passed LRCM and I enjoy chopin etudes, so i'm trying to learn them all.
@@Wywghh Oh sweet, so you're more advanced. It's hard to tell from RUclips comment how far along someone, haha.
The Chopin etudes are truly amazing. They are among my favorite sets of pieces. I've played a handful of them, but not close to all. I don't know if you can tell from the video, but I have pretty wide hands, so I gravitate to the big arpeggio etudes (Op 10 1, 8, 12, Op 25. 12) more than the small scaler ones (Op 10 2, for example). And I think the 3rds etude scares us all.
Oh, and Op 10 3 might be the most beautiful melody in existence!
@@ryanabshier Agreed, But I personally like chopins etude op 10 1 and op 10 12
I hated learning this song so much just bc I didn’t enjoy the song too much but you really realize when your are a beginner learning this song opens your eyes to so many new techniques, I see this song as an essential learning song
It definitely is a rite-of-passage piece. Basically everyone studies it. What kind of music do you play now?
@@ryanabshier right now I’m working on Liszt liebestraum no 3. And Beethovens Pathetique sonata, going to learn the whole sonata I’m working on the second mvmt right now
@@nicklogic9842 oh nice, those are great ones. The middle movement of Beethoven is so beautiful, but I think the 1st and 3rd are my favorites. Great sonata, there's a reason it's so famous.
OMG how can anyone not totally love this price. I get goose bumps every time l hear it!!!❤️❤️❤️😊😊😊
If you are not careful, the opening of the piece and the repetitions of the main theme will sound like measures of four eighths time preceding and interrupting the three eighths time of the piece. In heaven's name, do not be careful! (Some editions actually have a crescendo and decrescendo that emphasizes the first note of the first full measure (the third note of the piece). Shame on the editors!)
That is a great, nuanced point! If someone takes a beginner rhythm course, they might feel like they need to bring out all the beat 1s. In fact, I encourage my students often to feel beat 1 as a little stronger in music (in general). But, Beethoven loves, LOVES, messing with us. The Op. 28 sonata is my favorite example. The listeners are often led to believe beat 2 is beat 1, and that's perfect! You shouldn't fight it, Beethoven is flipping the beat.
So again, great point. Deciding when to emphasize the beat or obscure it is a big musical question.
I hear ya! Fun way of putting this too!
Thanks. Hope to make these fun and really helpful. Thanks for checking it out!
@@ryanabshier no worries! The video was featured in piano note weekly so had to click it!
@@DebiMaria_ oh cool, I didn't even know that. Is Piano Note Weekly a website or a channel on RUclips?
I stumbled upon your video tonight and I almost didn’t watch it. I’m of the opinion that fair Elise is really overplayed and that’s a shame because it’s a lovely piece. Are used to play it fairly well with a few many years ago. I still play three or four days a week but I’m not very good if I live near you I’d sign up for lessons. There are some very good people who do piano instruction on RUclips and there’s some really think they’re very good but they’re terrible. Her young pianist you fall into the very best category. I will come and I can watch you because you have quite a knack for teaching. And you’re very enjoyable to listen to. Best of luck
Thanks so much, I really appreciate the kind words and that you enjoyed it.
It's awesome that you still play a few days a week, I'm sure that's helped you to retain some of the skill. What kind of pieces are you interested in learning if you did go back to lessons?
love this
Thanks. Do you play?
Thank you for this 😊
You're welcome! Have you played Für Elise before?
Hello! I am self taught and just started level 2 earlier this month. I started with the easy arrangements of Fur Elise. I’m now learning the 1810 version. Trying to find the right way to play it and I found your video. Thank God for you 😊
@@cherylengberg605 That's so cool. The full piece is quite a challenge. Hope it is a joy to learn. What got you into piano?
@@ryanabshier I actually had few lessons when I was in grade school. I loved it, but was too young and my priorities were to play with friends. We also had to move from the Philippines to the US. Fast forward, I got really sick with stage 4 cancer. I’m actually a living miracle per my onco. After treatments, I’ve decided to learn and relearn many things including playing the piano. I started playing on Memorial Day this year and I play at least 2 hours/day. I’m obsessed! My goal is to master Fur Elise to celebrate my 5th year in remission (which means I’d be officially cancer-free) on 12/26/23 🥳 wish me luck 🍀
That's such a sweet journey. Congrats on approaching 5 years, I know the struggle and fight it takes is enormous. Nice job getting back into piano and best of luck with continuing to learn Für Elise. I think as adults we sometimes go back and appreciate piano more than we did as kids, so I'm glad you've gotten back into it.
This was phenomenal and so helpful (and hilarious)! I'm 58 and decided to fulfill a lifelong dream a couple of years ago and teach myself piano. Fur Elise was the 2nd song I learned, and I still stumble over it a bit because of some of the reasons you listed. Now I can finally work on the weak spots, so thanks so much! Learning piano is the best thing that ever happened to me 🥰👏
That is so cool. I love when adults start learning piano because you're doing it because you want to.
Für Elise is a challenging 2nd piece, so it makes sense it would be a challenge. But great job learning it!
What else are you working on now?
@@ryanabshier Thanks!! To my surprise, I've been able to learn, and commit to memory, Minuet in G Maj, Fur Elise, Canon in D, Prelude in E Min., Moonlight Sonata, Enya's Watermark and Day Without Rain, River Flows in You, Giazotto's Adagio in G Min, Chopin's Waltz in A Min, and Crazy. Right now I'm learning Kygo's Piano Jam #3 and Por Una Cabeza. I'm determined to learn how to read music because I think I'm limiting myself by just using memory. But I'm having a blast and that's the main thing. Thanks so much for connecting, and I look forward to watching your other video's and following your channel 🙂
@@jopratt1965 That's awesome! A ton of music memorized in a short time.
Yes, that's always a delicate balance, reading vs memory. Most of us naturally lean one way or the other and have to work on the opposite end. My biggest 1-sentence advice about reading music, understand "how" the staff works (up, down, lines, spaces) before worrying about memorizing specific notes.
@@ryanabshier Thank you so much again Ryan for that great advice - I know it will help me so much. Best of luck with your channel and all the best from Canada 🎹🎶🎵🎼
@@jopratt1965 thanks!
3:17 Balada para Elisa goes brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr in spanish jajaja (haha in spanish)
Oh no, I don't get the joke. I'm trying to make it work but I don't know enough Spanish or I'm missing something.
Basically I just said that (at least in méxico) we do EVERYTHING that you mension in the video
Nice, thanks for translating. Yeah, I feel like every student I teach does these same 5 things.
Great tutorial video man I agree alot people play This fast but they don't understand is full motion and softness
Yeah. Fast, aggressive, and beaty. Pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pooooowwwwww.
🤣pow pow pow that was epic
@@arrowblaze lol, came to me in the moment 🤣 I started typing a serious reply and changed gears. Glad you liked it! Haha
You are teaching amazingly bro keep it up 👍 I support this channel
@@arrowblaze Thanks! Glad you find it helpful.
Hahahaha...you are Funny...in a Good way😂
Thanks. Glad I could make you laugh. Have you played Für Elise before?
@ryanabshier yes ...but still practising to make it better and your Video is really useful to me
Awesome. I'm glad it helps. Good luck with the counting 😄
1:27 guilty of this hahahahaha
It's a common one. I don't know if I've ever taught this piece within someone struggling a little here. It's where it gets hard.
very helpful
Thanks. Any suggestions of other pieces/songs to do?
It’s Für AYLEEZEH. The “u” is an umlaut, like French /u/. A cross between EE with your tongue and OO with your lips.
Thanks for the tip. I do like thinking about it as a blend of the EE and OO sounds, that's very helpful for placement. Hopefully the one time I actually tried I got it close 🤣
I find vowels to be an underappreciated challenge of pronunciating languages. When you get a vowel sound that doesn't exist in your languages it's so difficult to do.
In English, I think about a short A in cat, bat, rat vs how it's different in ran, man, can. Those are so hard for people learning English and you can hear the accent in them for a long time. So I appreciated all the tips!
this is actually rly great
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Any songs/pieces you'd like to see me do?
I'm actually playing this song on the piano it's called shinunoga e-wa . i think it's really nice. you could maybe show me how you would play it. of course do so only if you are really interested in the song..:)))
you just got a new subscriber:)
@@_ShrutiSubash Oh interesting, I just now listened and hadn't heard of that one yet. It's such a unique sound. I'll try to figure some of it out and see if I can help you out.
About what level are you in piano? What songs/pieces have you played?
@@ryanabshier I would say about intermediate.. I've played canon in d, fur Elise, sonata and im also doing the trinity grade piano exam.
4 eyes Liz👓
This joke took me a week and I still didn't get it until someone else said it out loud for me. Haha, nice!
I’ve doing the awful pause (practicing that transition now to remove the pause), and have lost count of the E/D# more than once (“and one and two and three and keep on playing on”…). Haven’t played this piece with pedal yet. Haven’t learned how to use the pedal at all yet actually. But as a lifelong violist, I can keep my fingers down to make the same effect, mostly.
A Clarinetist told me a great counting story once. Basically in an orchestra rehearsal a young musician said something like "I just can't feel where to come in" and a couple orchestra vets turned around at the same time and said "COUNT!" Hahaha. It's solid advice though. I heard that story like...idk...10-15 years ago and still to the day when I have a section of music I struggle to feel I can hear the old guy yelling "COUNT!!!"
You know, a video just teaching pedaling could be really cool. Especially because I often disagree with the way it's taught. Pedaling is harder than you expect. If someone says it's easy they probably don't know all the subtle nuances of it. I always start out teaching pedal connected to your ear, because in the long run that's what we do, listen for the connection.
Here's a good basic exercise. Play a C scale only using 1 finger. Do an exaggerated lift after each note so that your finger doesn't make any legato and only your foot is involved. So, here's the sequence. Play note, foot down, lift finger way up, play next note, foot up and down, finger way up, play next note, foot up and down... Basically you want the freedom to do all of these elements when YOU choose. Not your foot and hands being permanently linked together with no flexibility. Then later on you can more easily adjust your pedaling (more legato, thinner...).
There's more to it, but that's where I like to start for those that already play some. Good luck!
@@ryanabshier I took up the piano in my late fifties. When I started ABRSM Grade 2 my teacher said, "I'm going to teach you how to pedal. You might as well learn now because you'll have to pedal when you get into more advanced pieces and it's better to learn at the beginning how to do it right. You'd be surprised by the number of experienced pianists who make a hash of pedalling. I'm going to show you from the outset how to do it right." That may have been the best piano lesson I ever had. Ryan, RUclips needs to be taught how to pedal properly! Go!
@@Gill3D Yes, your teacher is completely right. Pedal is so layered. It really does have degrees from beginner to advanced. When you 1st learn pedaling you think the challenge is "how" to change, and at the advanced levels it's knowing "when and how" to change. It really can make or break an advanced performance.
And also advanced pedaling takes in to consideration hearing the room you're in and adjusting on the fly. So, good technique and ear.
This is emphatically not a beginner's piece. I'm surprised so many people attempt it in their early days of learning the piano. I'm studying Grade 5 ABRSM and I find it a challenge.
You're right, it's solidly intermediate. I think it's why so many people struggle with it.
However, because the 1st section is so slow, beginners can dabble with it and they do. I'm always torn as a teacher with my own students. A kid, I'd probably make them wait to play it much until they were ready. An adult who is super motivated, I could see learning small sections as long as they are okay with 1. going slowly and 2. working on other easier pieces at the same time.
about the pronunciation:
its more like "für elese" (the second e is like in "eat", the first and last are the typical german e)
Thanks for the help. In my head I really want it to be "eleise".
@@ryanabshier Yeah generally with german words it is really funny to see how english speaking people pronunce it, but I often get the urge of correcting dem :)
@@tomgates3250 yes, even when we try to say a word in another language correctly, it is really hard to get the vowels sounding right. Same with people coming into English, they might have a word down, but it's so hard to place all the vowels in the same spot as a native speaker.
The Ü has no similar sound in english. In danish we could use our Y sound, which is a far cry from the english Y.
I think the best approach is to simply use the english FOR if the german sound is too hard. Do NOT use FIR is sounds wrong in all languages :-)
@@xian8531 haha, I hope you appreciated my ridiculous "fir" sound though. I was hoping to sound as atrocious as possible 😂
But yes, the Ü sound is very annoying for us because we don't have a similar sound. However, I found Ö even more difficult for myself. It just feels like a sound made from deep within the German soul.
Meanwhile me who doesn’t even have a pedal or touch sensitive keys.
Just call it a "harpsichord style" performance of Für Elise.
Yet you still play. The joy of music isn't in the instrument, it's in how the instrument is played. A kazoo played well sounds better than a piano played poorly.
@@Gill3D very true! It can be quite relaxing
I did the whole song when I did grade 2
Nice! What are you playing now?
Hi, the theme is not by Beethoven. Its borrowed. Its Sad wikipedia doesn’t say the truth. Its borrowed from an italian composer.
I just looked it up (Salieri opera), it did make me smile how similar they sound. Beethoven might have heard that and copied it but here are a few alternatives to keep in mind.
1. If you check out the score of the opera here: imslp.org/wiki/La_fiera_di_Venezia_(Salieri,_Antonio). The harpsichord part is not notated completely. He is using "figured bass", which is an older convention where you just give the keyboardist bass notes and they create the RH. So when you hear performances of operas using figured bass, the pianists is actually making up the top part, the part you hear in this recording that plays "Fur Elise" (or it has been made up by a later musician and written down). So the Für Elise moment could have been added later. To confirm Salieri actually wrote it you would need to find it in the score, I didn't see it, but I didn't scan the whole opera, it's huge! So, it's very possible the keyboardist during this recording stole the melody from Beethoven and stuck it in here.
2. But maybe more importantly, the opening melody by Beethoven isn't necessarily unique. If you think about it, it's just a way to play a little downward motion in A Minor, but 1st add a little chromatic wiggle. So, in a sense, many melodies are copied/borrowed because there's only so many options of what to do. The keyboardists playing this opera reduction might not have meant to copy Fur Elise, if that was the case.
However, I will admit it is super similar and shocking to hear with Für Elise in mind.
Tysm! Love it!
Thanks! Nice job on the cubing channel. I love solving the cube!
@@ryanabshier ty!
@@swablzz what's your average solve?
@@ryanabshier 25 seconds maybe less
@@swablzz oh nice. I'm more around 40 average
"noch zehn minuten!!" :D
oh and although i am not 110 % sure about it, i think the original name of this piece is "albumblatt" ... (maybe also a bit easier in pronounciation ;) )
I think it's referred to as an Albumblatt, but that's not a name it was given. Though I could see him referring to it as such in conversation. Short and not difficult (relative to his other music). You know how musicians are "oh no, this is pretty a small, short, easy little piece". *drops most famous piano solo ever 🤣
I like you very much 🎉🎉❤
Thanks! Hope the video was fun to watch, I'll try to keep them coming. Do you play?
@@ryanabshier yes I do play the piano I am actually 13 years old and I like your video very much it's very fun to watch 😊👌👍
@@poonjartime1631 oh cool. What are you working on?
@@ryanabshier my goal is to be a pianist like you
And my Für Elise isn't that perfect so I am trying to correct that mistakes specially the third and fourth part.
❤ ❤ ❤
Für Eleece
Für Eleece like Gruh-eece 🇬🇷 (my autocorrect is panicking)
Thee OTHER thing which always annoys me about it is, it's a simple bit of music, not an overblown Emotionally wild bit of music, ....let it be simple!
Haha. Don't you want to see the piano player crying though 😅 It makes everything better.
Hehe, if you like it a bit less simple try Beethovens revised version from 1822 - ruclips.net/video/jblFQ1whX5s/видео.html
I’m very much stuck on the bar with the triolas rn, but this version - especially the last bar! - is awesome!
@@lukask5285 wait, how do I not know of this? I learned nothing in school! I need sheet music!!!!
@@ryanabshier my thoughts exactly! And I‘ve been playing the 1810 version since 1995 - of course for most of the time making most of the mistakes pointed out in this very video 😂
@@ryanabshier also I’d loooove to see the pedaling video you talked about elsewhere 😍
How about saying Elise correctly? It’s not “Elisss” it’s almost like “Elisa”
Hey there. Haha, I don't know if you made it far enough but I actually make a joke about my pronunciation part way through the video.
But the way I say it most of the time in the video is pretty much standard American pronunciation. This just happens when names/words are translated, sometimes the new language preserves the original and sometimes it changes. So you really can't win in American English . Someone will say you're doing it wrong no matter (which is the point of my comment in the video). It's goes both ways, I hear Germans referring to the USA as the "oo ess ahh" all the time, that's not how we say it. No big deal, just happens.
@@ryanabshier yes, I did see the entire video that’s why I posted the comment, as you focused too much on the Für but didn’t mention Elise at all :) anyway, nice video, keep posting stuff like this :)
@@rbcm1 Thanks! I checked out your channel, nice playing!
Yeah, to keep the video focused I cut down my pronunciation rant quite a bit (I talked way to long when filming). But I do actually keep the bit where I say "elisa" once at the end of the rant 3:35.
@@ryanabshier thank you, but I’m still years ahead your level. I’m just a very ambitious late beginner / intermediate player :)
@@rbcm1 I like the sound of your keyboard. Do you use default settings or add reverb? It sounds 👌
You are mispronouncing Fü..., oh never mind 🥴 I just read all the many correction made below.
Maybe next time I talk about it I'll just do a strong southern accent. Really play it up. I think my bad pronunciations weren't obvious enough this time around.
@@ryanabshier Music of the period is played today in all manner of different ways, and on many different types of instruments. Personally I'd prefer to hear Beethoven on a straight-strung piano ~ a fortepiano ☺
@@GregoryJamesB I've had the opportunity to play on a straight strung piano and yes, it is gorgeous, really makes certain pieces come alive. The clarity is such a unique experience.
Please don’t show off at the beginning.
🙄 Let's be real though, we've all heard people play it that fast 🤣
I have done at least 20 wrong things.
🤣 Working on a new video now...