Ching’s Piano Adventures
I was inspired to return to the piano 4 years ago after hearing a 93 year old lady (Patricia) play Schumann’s Arabeske. It was the first time I heard this beautiful piece for the first time and her sensitive touch despite her frail frame just floored me. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a score and start playing it. Since then I couldn’t stop playing the piano several hours a day (after 20 yrs hardly touching it) and have learnt to overcome technical challenges and play at a level I never thought possible. Such is life’s surprise, and never too late!
During Covid I set the goal of doing a Diploma exam as a way of motivating myself to play pieces I love at a decent level.
- Scarlatti sonata k 426 + k 427
- Mozart Rondo K 511
- Czerny variations on a Theme by Rode Op 33
- Verdi/Liszt Rigoletto Concert Paraphrase
- Debussy Pagodes from Estampes
- Falla - Spanish Dance no 1 from La Vida Breve
I might have bitten off more than I could chew - as half of this are quite virtuosic in some way. But after 8 months I’m getting somewhere and hope to share some of this with you.
Ching
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I share this video of Patricia performing at her care home. She sadly passed a year later. I am eternally grateful to her.
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Patricia is the 93 year old we all wish to become! Thank you for sharing this amazing video.
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Ching Lee Goh What a beautiful legacy Patricia left. Thank you so much for sharing her gifts with us!
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I’m taking a break, wisely or unwisely, from my diploma pieces the last 2 weeks to return to some pieces I have left off for a while. This includes the Schubert/Liszt Gretchen am Spinnrade which I started after feeling I’ve accomplished something with Widmung. I love Liszt’s transcriptions which also explains why his Rigoletto Concert Paraphrase is in my exam programme.
Not sure I’ll be able to hone Gretchen am Spinnrade to a decent level. The main challenges are 1) maintaining the song/voice in the RH which also carries the constant spinning of the wheel2) overall evenness of the spinning notes and maintaining a perpetual motion
3) Tricky sections that require some finger gymnastics, but possibly manageable with redistribution and reducing some notes
Here is a work in progress…Don’t think I can get it to a level for the community concert, but will try to submit for a masterclass.
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Ching Lee Goh you are amazing! Your choice of repertoire is inspiring because (I think) it reflects your personality and the kid of music that is most dear to you. Thank you for the video: you are very accomplished!
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Monika Tusnady Thanks! I love your nocturne too, it was very polished. I played quite a bit of Chopin’s nocturnes before, but not to a polished level. The only possible exception is the No 2 in D flat, though I still find it difficult to execute the filigree passage smoothly. Monika Tusnady
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Ching Lee Goh The excellent Seymour Bernstein masterclass on the first Nocturne made me want to play it again. Just understanding the opening measures, I saw the whole piece quite differently.
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Here is video…
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Ching Lee Goh Sounds great. I love Liszt transcriptions too. I spent a few months on this piece last year but gave up as I didn’t feel like the fingering I had was working given the complexity of the piece. I would love to see this in a Masterclass.
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vbashyam Thanks! The fingering is tricky and I’ve made compromises in order to keep the melody line and the flow going. When I’m more confident I’ll pick through the fingering again. One consolation was seeing on YT some who performed it at a much slower tempo and still achieved the desired musical character. I would love to hear one of your Liszt transcriptions.
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Ching Lee Goh I love this piece! Thank you for introducing it to me.
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Ching Lee Goh I love this piece!! Bravo!!!
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How beautiful, I can see the joy that she feels when playing. This has inspired me so much, thank you for sharing this video with us.
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Thanks for sharing this Ching. Lovely to hear her; hope I will be playing like that at her age.
I am currently playing Arabesque. I started it a year ago and it is almost memorized. There is a Tonebase lesson on Arabesque.
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Carole Kincaid Look forward to hearing your Arabeske!
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Back to focussing on my exam programme after Schubert. I’m 80%-90% there in terms of preparation, still some technically challenging passages I’d need to master. The exam involves submitting a video of the pieces in 1 take, I have no idea how to play/manage a 40 min programme without too many slips…Maybe Hilda will have some tips! My intention is to keep practising until I can play it all effortlessly, before I record for the exam.
In the meantime, here is the beginning of Czerny’s Variations on a Theme by Rode. I first heard this in Melvyn Tan’s performance in the Uk and fell in love with it, and it so happened to be in the diploma syllabus. It seems it was Horowitz who rescued this piece from obscurity by recording it, and one can’t say Czerny is boring after this!
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Ching Lee Goh Wow Ching Lee, what an inspiring set of repertoire! actually, I played the Rigoletto paraphrase myself last year! It was the first Liszt piece that I'd learned :)
I'd love to support you in your exam programme, and first I'd like to know what kind of difficulties you are having. You mention "slips" - could you be more specific? When is your Exam? When you say to keep practicing, how do you intend to practice?
I have very general tips, but I'd like to get to know your situation better before I mention any of them.
Kind greetings -Hilda
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Hilda Will be very grateful for your insights. There’s no deadline, but I’d like to complete in 2 mths time so I can move on to other repertoire. My particular problem is no matter how much I practice, my fingers sometimes slip or hit the wrong notes, which is really frustrating. How does one prevent that?
Some other issues:
a) Still some technically challenging passages through my programme which I think I can resolve through slow practice, refingering, or reconfiguring the ‘patterns’ in my mind
b) How little pedalling is too little? I had a teacher who’s from the ‘dry’ school - Her view was that examiners look for the character of the piece and appropriateness to the period, so my Scarlatti is played with notes detached without any pedal, and the Mozart Rondo only perhaps 20% pedal. I can understand her approach and in fact quite like the discipline. But on YouTube, great performers are playing the same pieces with pedal throughout and sound so much nicer! And probably a lot easier to play too! Would love a second opinion on this!
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It's been a long time. Have been practising but have not recorded much, which is a mistake. Now I'm realising how much I could have progressed if I've listened back on myself more often. Here is a run through of Falla's Spanish Dance no 1. There are still certain passages whose difficulty i can't still seem to overcome which is very frustrating. But here goes...
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Ching Lee Goh Great playing! You are bringing out the Spanish gusto quite nicely. I love this piece!
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Ching Lee Goh Wow. Great playing! So full of life.
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Ching Lee Goh I love your playing of this vibrant piece!
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Ching Lee Goh lovely playing! It's such a lively rendition!
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Ching Lee Goh I'd never heard this piece before. Fantastic! I like your balance between the hands, and I can hear the guitars :-)
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