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Weedygarden said:
I think this is true for many of us, heard our first classical music from cartoons.
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My parents were classical music fans. Actually, they were fans of all kinds of music, but they could identify the music that was played on the cartoons, and we all learned. As an adult I learned to appreciate it and enjoy it more.
 
Senedra said:
I would have preferred to post Rachmaninoff himself playing this but it wasn't live and it's better when you watch the person play. I have played this one (after a fashion) with far more mistakes than this young man. It's one of my favorites.

@Camper. Maybe you will enjoy this .... ???

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Just curious, have you followed any of these child prodigies. This boy was 13 when he performed this in 2015. I wonder if he is still playing professionally? It is a beautiful piece.
 
Haertig said:
My piano teacher would point things like this out to me. I would often tell her how I yearned to be able to play a whole repertoire of pieces like that. And she would reply, "Are you willing to practice for 10 hours every day, rarely with even one day off? That's what it would take. You have the desire and the skills, but that does not make you play like this (referring to adult artists who I admired). That takes lots and lots of work and practice, practice, practice."

So as it turned out, I was able to play pieces like this child did in the video above (at one time, but not now, as I have backed off quite a bit). But learning that one piece to performance level would take me many months. I was never able to juggle more than a handful of pieces at this difficulty level, in performance shape. Scratch that - I could only juggle "a small handful". And even that took a lot of practice and dedication. People may be born with a musical aptitude. And they may put in the years that it takes to learn the skills needed to play at this technical level. But that is not enough. I admire the people that take the next step and dedicate their lives to performance. I used to want to be them. But now I don't. I am happy playing for my own enjoyment these days. I don't do "show pieces" anymore. Now I play pieces that are technically much simpler, and are more dependent on emotion to perform well. Claire de lune is a great example. Technically, this piece is fairly simple to play. But difficult to play well, and really draw listeners emotions into it. A technically perfect performance of Claire de lune - where you hit every note, and your timings would make a metronome blush - sounds absolutely awful.
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I understand what you are saying and I made the same decision many years ago that piano would be for my enjoyment, not for show. I played keyboard (piano, electric keyboard, organ) for church for many years and I was good at that, and that was good enough for me.

My brother and sister in law gave much more of their time to practice of their instrument (bassoon) and play in symphony orchestras and have done back up for the 3 famous tenors, Moody Blues, Yani, and many others. They devoted the time. Another sister in law did the same with oboe and clarinet. She is the clarinet you hear as you stroll through Disney World.

They were able to do that and still raise a family, but I am sure it took a huge toll on everyone.

I rarely play the piano now because I have a back problem that is very painful. When I do play it is something like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" or Holst "Jupiter" . If I can sit for it, I always enjoy playing "Fur Elise" and I have a killer personally arranged version of Chopsticks.

My family is full of musicians. My son's brothers in law wrote original music for his wedding, orchestrated it, and brought a small chamber orchestra to play for their wedding. One brother in law is concert master in the Seattle 5th Avenue Theater.

I am at the bottom of the heap musically in my family and..........I like it there.
 
I got into classical music early on. I was a tightwad even that far back.
Why buy the latest LP for a ton of money only to hear 4 musicians play when you can hear 104 musicians play for a fraction of cost? :dunno:
It was only later, I found out that I recognized most of the music because my mom would put on 78's to get us rambunctious boys down for a nap :).
 
Senedra said:
When I do play it is something like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"
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Below is my favorite performance of that. By one of my favorite pianists. This is a great example of a piece that is technically relatively simple (what would you tag it as, "early intermediate" is where I'd put it). BUT, to play it well, and draw your audience's heart into it, takes much more. The link below is all three movements. Everyone knows the 1st. The 2nd and 3rd are less well known to the masses. I can see why ... I don't like them nearly as much as the 1st, which is instantly recognizable.

The way Valentina performs this first movement is just exquisite IMHO. Her dynamics, and the way she can stretch and pull each note to it's perfect length leave me in awe. This piece, like Clair de lune, is one that is not going to wow you with its technical difficulty. But when you hear either one performed like below, you know you are listening to a maestro.



I may have posted this link earlier in this thread. I did not scroll back to check. So I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate post.
 
Haertig said:
Below is my favorite performance of that. By one of my favorite pianists. This is a great example of a piece that is technically relatively simple (what would you tag it as, "early intermediate" is where I'd put it). BUT, to play it well, and draw your audience's heart into it, takes much more. The link below is all three movements. Everyone knows the 1st. The 2nd and 3rd are less well known to the masses. I can see why ... I don't like them nearly as much as the 1st, which is instantly recognizable.

The way Valentina performs this first movement is just exquisite IMHO. Her dynamics, and the way she can stretch and pull each note to it's perfect length leave me in awe. This piece, like Clair de lune, is one that is not going to wow you with its technical difficulty. But when you hear either one performed like below, you know you are listening to a maestro.



I may have posted this link earlier in this thread. I did not scroll back to check. So I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate post.
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Very nice. I like all three movements and know them well to anticipate what's coming next. Thank you for posting this. I enjoyed it.
 
BTW, when I said "early intermediate" above, I was only referring to the 1st movement. The other movements are much more difficult, especially the 3rd. I never even attempted to learn the 3rd myself - that one is above my skill level.
 
Haertig said:
Below is my favorite performance of that. By one of my favorite pianists. This is a great example of a piece that is technically relatively simple (what would you tag it as, "early intermediate" is where I'd put it). BUT, to play it well, and draw your audience's heart into it, takes much more. The link below is all three movements. Everyone knows the 1st. The 2nd and 3rd are less well known to the masses. I can see why ... I don't like them nearly as much as the 1st, which is instantly recognizable.

The way Valentina performs this first movement is just exquisite IMHO. Her dynamics, and the way she can stretch and pull each note to it's perfect length leave me in awe. This piece, like Clair de lune, is one that is not going to wow you with its technical difficulty. But when you hear either one performed like below, you know you are listening to a maestro.



I may have posted this link earlier in this thread. I did not scroll back to check. So I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate post.
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That is a great piece of music!
 
Senedra said:
Awesome whatever your political leaning.

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It is amazing the number of musicians they had when you see the credits roll.
Makes a symphony orchestra look like a corner street-band :oops:.
 
Camper said:
Hope the off topic posts didn't offend anyone, and hope the thread continues on topic. I actually expect to find some classical I'll like when the mood strikes me.
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Naaa, not a bit.
Have you noodled thru the other 200+ posts? Something you will like is in there. :thumbs:
For us 'classical junkies', when we run across an old favorite, we have to thumb thru a bunch so we don't end up just posting a duplicate.
 
Camper said:
Hope the off topic posts didn't offend anyone, and hope the thread continues on topic. I actually expect to find some classical I'll like when the mood strikes me.
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No, but I’d bet there are other blues fans here. You could start a blues thread. If someone started a country and western thread, that would be one that I would be the least interested in!
 
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