READ ME and POST HERE!
WELCOME TO OUR LATEST TONEBASE PIANO COMMUNITY PRACTICE CHALLENGE:
Mini Challenge: Finding Colors in your Sound!
We invite you to participate in this mini challenge leading up to a livestream on
March 8th at 11am PT with Boris Giltburg
Enter a World of Color with Boris Giltburg
Get started in this challenge by:
1. Picking a piece of music!
2. Posting an excerpt of the piece, and describe the color that YOU feel in the music.
3. (optional) tell us how you are trying to achieve this color!
Example:
1. Debussy: Prelude (Bruyeres)
2. I am trying to capture a "sky blue" color in the beginning! Because I find the music to have such an open quality (plus I am imagining an open plain, without a cloud in the sky!)
3. I am trying to achieve this by focusing on a slow attack, and washy pedal (but not muddy!)
When does this take place?
Challenge start: February 27th
Challenge days: February 27th - March 8th!
Why are we doing this?
Because we want to challenge ourselves to practice every day
Because learning together is more fun than learning alone
Because we get to share our progress with others (whether video or just text)
Because new music is wonderful and these pieces were written especially for us!
Because we want to meet our fellow tonebase community members
Because we get to hear new music which we might not play ourselves
ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE BELOW!
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My excerpt is from Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Major (Op 32 No 5). This piece creates so much imagery for me. In the first half of the prelude (my excerpt), I imagine a tranquil glen in the middle of a forest. There are deer, rabbits and other woodland creatures relaxing on the soft green grass. There is a small stream running through the glen with birds enjoying the water while fluttering their wings. The sun is shining through the trees. Everything is calm and tranquil. In the next part (not in my excerpt) everything suddenly changes and becomes dark and agitated- a feeling that maybe a wolf or some predator is about to intrude. But after some worry, it is just a false alarm and the animals return to their peaceful time in their secret glen. As far as colors, I see green (grass), blue (water) and yellow filtering in (sun) when everything is good. This gets interrupted by gray/red with the predator and worry. Then back to happy colors again.
I am working on trying to keep a calm left hand and bring out the melody in the right hand. I am using the una corda pedal and also a lot of right pedal. There are tempo/dynamic changes to depict what is happening in the forest. G Major is so tender/sweet to play and helps a lot in the color and imagery.
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Vidhya Bashyam that's beautiful, Vidhya! The tranquility and gorgeous scenery you have described comes through.
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Vidhya Bashyam Listening to this was a beautiful way to start my morning! It's like an opening to a fairytale--I can't wait to hear what happens next :-) Such a great idea to experiment with the una corda pedal. I wish they would TB would do a course on pedaling.
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Adriana López Thanks Adriana! I agree with you that the melody should be louder (and the left hand more tranquil). Things always feel a certain way when you play them but then the recording shows the reality
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Natalie Peh Thanks Natalie
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Leah Olson Thanks Leah! Rachmaninoff pieces are all like a fairy tale to me! Luckily for me, my sheet music (from a really old book I have from maybe mid 1900s) has lots of details noted- including Una Corda. By the way, there are a bunch of classes/livestreams on pedaling on tonebase and Dominic even did one on una corda a few months ago.
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Vidhya Bashyam Good to know. I'll have to look for those!
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Vidhya Bashyam Wow, sounds gorgeous and peaceful, how well you show magic spirit of this music!
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Juan Carlos Olite Thank you! “Magic spirit” is a great term to describe Rachmaninoff’s music.
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Vidhya Bashyam Love your visual imagery. I’ve heard this piece many times before and your description of the deer in the forest, and also your point about G major … both are so so true!
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Hi!
Today, I’m uploading an extract of Quejas la Maja y El Ruiseñor of Enrique Granados.
This extract is the first part of the melody after the introduction.
I’m trying to be very free in the tempo (although of course, there’s passages that feel more comfortable than others, right now). And I’m trying express the sadness and love that this piece mixes together.
And a little bit of desperation, since let’s not forget that this piece speaks of a treason.
Hope you enjoy!
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Adriana López nice playing, Adriana! I see waves of orange which gradually turn crimson, wonderful!
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Adriana López Beautiful! I'm not familiar with this piece. It's so expressive. I felt that freedom in the tempo, but you didn't lose the pulse or take it to far--it felt natural to the piece.
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Adriana López Beautiful! What an expressive piece and playing!
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Adriana López Very beautiful and passionate, Adriana!
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Thank you so much Natalie Peh , Vidhya Bashyam and Juan Carlos Olite
I'm very grateful for your comments and that you liked it :) It means a lot to me. -
Leah Olson thank you so much!! It's good to know that the freedom of tempo is not exaggerated.
And this piece is so beautiful. Actually this is a transcription of the opera Goyescas. Granados took part of this opera and transcribed it to piano. Is a series of pieces with the same name: Goyescas.
I leave you the link of the cycle for piano if you're interested :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGPT9G15uSk
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