Week 3: Discovering Schubert Month
Dear Pianists,
As we're coming up to the last week of Discovering Schubert Month, I'm keen to hear of your insights and takeaways from your month's work.
Here's the Week 3 thread, where you may post your text and video updates! I've only got one question for you this week:
What does it take to build Schubert into your life?
I've previously asked you about the piece you are working on, a passage you are satisfied with, and one you're less satisfied with. I've also learned a lot about your musical imagination and pianism by asking you how you might describe the character of your piece, the pianistic tools you use to convey the aforementioned character, and particular elements of the piece you notice by playing it. I'm always so moved by the process of learning a piece of music, playing it, performing it, and continuing to live with it. Playing piano has always been a bastion in my life and I hope that through your regular ritual and practice it can be a source of comfort and empowerment for you too.
I hope you'll consider proposing your Schubert piece for Piano Community's upcoming Community Concert, and to share your work with other supportive members of our community! I really believe I am awarded deep insights when I take the time to deeply consider the elements of my colleagues' successes.
If you're new to the Schubert gathering this week, welcome-it's never too late to join! You may find the guidelines for participation in the Rules and FAQ thread.
See you below, 
Hilda
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whoops-apologies, had trouble uploading but hopefully it is here now!
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Angela Fogg nicely played! thanks for sharing
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Angela Fogg It's my very first time hearing this movement. I guess it's nicely played and your touched seems so gentle and light. Thanks for sharing. And I love the C. Bechstein piano.
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Charlie Gesualdo thank you Charlie!
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CK thank you CK. It’s a really fantastic sonata. I’ve just come back from a concert where Joanna MacGregor played this sonata. She was fantastic! She played this movement much faster than me, it really danced along, so I’m off to experiment with the tempo!
Thank you for noticing the piano, I’ve only had it a few months and it just so wonderful!
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I have always adored Schubert’s piano music. Such beautiful melodies and the bitter sweet quality the play between major and minor gives it. Hard to beat!
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Angela Fogg YES! The interplay between major and minor is so tender to me. It's like Schubert just gets that sometimes I feel one way about something, and another, I feel another way!
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This is the first half of Waltz No: 15 from Opus33 D 783. There's one mistake as one of our cats, Ash, arrived at the door asking to be fed. I didn't re-record to remove the mistake as it's quite tonal. Ash knows where the cadences are as those are the moments that he is most vocal.
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This is the second half Waltz No 15. The excessive rubato at the end is because I am making sure that I use the correct fingerings. One of my observations from this challenge is that I am increasingly aware that I choose a preferred fingering, which then changes over time, usually because I might use 1 2 4 for a chord instead of 1 3 5, which then impacts on the rest of the bar! I shall now turn to sorting out how to upload to Youtube to attempt to play each waltz with repeats before 2 March - if they're decent enough...
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Roy James-Pike I'm really delighted to see you posting such concise videos. Your playing gets right to the point.
You seem to have a very clear understanding and awareness of your playing, whether that be of the fingerings, cadences, and rubato. Bravo! How did you come to develop this awareness?
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Hilda Thank you Hilda for your kind comments. I am really pleased that I plucked up the courage to start posting videos. It's quite clear that many of the TB students are working pianists and their posts are so impressive. They have a much more direct relationship to playing to others than I do so this element of TB is well-suited for them. I am more concentrated presently on just stabilising my piano playing, to which I have returned after a huge gap.
I am a trained flute player and taught and played for about a decade many years' ago. I stopped teaching but carried on playing in public, when asked. Many musicians arrive at a point in their lives when they have to make a decision about the direction of their career, which I did. However, my view is that one does not start or stop being a musician. It's a given!
My sense of rubato comes from the flute. We play lots of notes, which are extremely high,and so very exposed. There is nowhere to hide. 'Rubato' is so useful at making sure that every note is played, despite the fingering challenges, albeit not quite in time with a metronome! Sometimes there are so many notes that it's better to ignore the bar-lines, at least for a few milli-seconds!
Fingering [the appropriate finger for the note] is a primary focus at the piano. Playing the flute means that each finger does one thing only, usually. It is very rare that fingerings change. The piano is so different. People choose to miss out notes, which is quite shocking! I would struggle right now to work out in the moment any notes that weren't really necessary.
Cadences - it's probably again related to the flute, as we are usually playing the melody [adding colour to the violins in an orchestra]. Therefore, the harmonies produces at the piano are a driver for me. I think I make mistakes when the harmonies change so rapidly that my ear doesn't keep up with my fingers.
Thank you for your session on Saturday. Your upcoming TB live sessions are not being sent out by email one hour before the due time, which is how TB reminds us to log in. Thought you should know...
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Op. 90, No. 3. Impromptu in G♭. . . please try not to notice the hiccups
. . . Erasing old fingering from my muscle memory and re-grooving the finger substitutions, and then trying to not over-pedal all those phrases in the heat of battle is a bit more than my 66-year-old brain handle in a short time frame. Recording and sharing is new for me, and I get really nervous and tighten up with the camera running. Hopefully that will go away over time. This has been a really valuable learning experience for me, and I enjoy the community. -
Charlie Gesualdo Wow! Nice playing! Despite the nervousness! I tried yesterday to video my playing, after hours of trying I gave up! I get so nervous that I keep making mistakes! So I understand you! I will try again tonight and hope I will be able to share my playing.
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Aline Valade yes, please do! I am absolutely terrible at recording, but it exposes so many things that need work. I wish I had done it more. . . I intend to do it a lot more going forward. Bonne chance!
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Je serais ravie de jouer un petit morceau avec vous aussi, si ça vous intéresse!
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Hi Sindre!
i have learned the rest of the Impromptu, but I won’t have time to record it until later this week. I guess I’ll keep working on it in March.
i love YOUR playing!
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I am so nervous as soon that I taped my performance. I know those pieces and I can play them really well, but as soon that I put a video, my finger start trembling, and I searching for my notes! So, to learn to play front of people I have to challenge myself and play, no mather what. Lol. So, I did it this morning before going to work. Not perfect! I still have a lot to learn about those nice pieces of piano. Valses sentimentales, no 5, 13, 18, 19 and 20. I decided to share all of them. Three weeks a go I did not know about those valses sentimentales, so be indulgent with me because I am slow to learn. I'ts not a final video, I don't think I will post some for the party, but it's ok. I am proud that I did that this morning...I know I made a lot of mistake but it's a question of time for me...ET désolé pour mon mauvais anglais, je suis québcoise et je parle français...lol!
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Aline Valade Vous l'avez fait! Toutes nos félicitations! La beauté de Schubert brille à travers vos peurs, et à cause de cela, et de votre courage, ce sont mes performances préférées. Et vous vous exprimez aussi bien en anglais.
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Charlie Gesualdo Merci Charlie, c'est très gentil et apprécié! Votre message me fait chaud au coeur!
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Aline Valade Congratulations, Aline - I think it's so wonderful that you're making regular videos. I remember your last appearance on the tonebase community concert, where you mentioned it was your first time performing for others over zoom. I hope that your experience recording will help you in future concerts!
You mentioned that you were interested in playing for others in your community - what are some of your ideas? Where and what will you play?
Is recording very different for you from playing live?
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Hilda Huang Hi Hilda, thank you for your kindness, it's really appreciate. Yes, I did, making video for the first time! I will do it again because I discoverd that it helping me to manage my anxiety when I play for people. And it is what I need to learn, to play with all my vulnerability, my anxiety and my fear. I can use those in my performance instead trying to avoid it.
I play piano since the age of 15, I am 63. And, I never played front of people. Instead my teachers. I always play alone, and I dont know why, maby I was to severe with me, or my way to play piano.
I will like to play for people in my community. I use to be a photograph for l'ALQ, Association des libraires du Québec. And I use to go in old age people houses with them, they where organising reading workshops with autheors, and I was there to photograph the event. And I realize that they all have grand piano in there. So I will like to reach them and offer them to play piano for those people. An hour concert, with reading of poetry, or part of books I love.
I will like to play the pieces that I learn during all those years since the day I play piano. Eric Satie, Gymnopedies and Gnosiennes, that I love so much. Inventions a deux voix de Bach, the one I learned, about 6 of them. Grieg, 6 lyrical pieces. Bartok, Hungarian dances, I love Bartok. Fur Elise, of course, lol! What else....I used to play Chopin Watlz, I have to remember those waltzs again...And since I am with tonebass I learned a lot of new pieces that I love to play, as an exemple, Beethoven, the six variations that Dominic Cheli offer in october for the challenge of the month, I learned it and i love to play it. There is Brahms pieces, that I learn with the november challenge of Tonebass, and of course , the Sentimental Valses from Schubert.
I have other pieces that I will like to play. I have to build a repertoire of pieces.
And, I start giving some piano courses since october to people of my community. I have 3 students. I will like to have more and organise with them concert at the church beside my house, and invite the friends an family of my students to assist to this concert. It will be fun to do that. And I will play to during this concert.
I don't know if doing video or playing front of people are the same, but I think doing video will help me to manage my anxiety and help me to play.
I will participate to the next concert of tonbass, it will help me to, and I want to play some of the Sati I know.
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Charlie Gesualdo Je suis tout a fait d'accord! Aline a super bien joue! (hmmm....mon clavier a perdu les accents francais pour l'instant...)
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Gail Starr Merci Gail! C'est gentil et très apprécié! Ton français est très bien!
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