Juilliard graduate helping dedicated adult pianists who love challenging repertoire practice less while learning more.
๐น ๐คฆโโ๏ธ I broke my own rule {video}
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I thought my competition days had ended more than 30 years ago. Apparently not. ๐คทโโ๏ธ There are very few international piano competitions with no age limit. I only know of three. I love the preparation. What I didn't love was what happened last week. The maximum submission length was 15 minutes, which isn't much time to make an impression. My plan was to submit Brahms's left-hand arrangement of the Bach Chaconne. It's an extraordinary piece, but also an extremely transparent one. One wrong note lands like a dropped plate in a quiet restaurant. ๐ฝ๏ธ So I recorded it. Again and again. Sometimes three times a day. โพ๏ธ The problem wasn't the notes. ๐ถ The problem was that I had slipped into chasing perfection. ๐คฆโโ๏ธ Which is ironic, because my motto is "Screw Perfect. Just Make Music." Not exactly the slogan of a competition pianist. Hours before the deadline, I made a last-minute decision and recorded Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie instead. One take. Not perfect. But it sounded like me. It had breath. Space. Color. If I'm selected for Spain, I'll still play the Chaconne in the semi-finals. But I'll have a couple more months with it... to stop chasing perfection and start chasing beauty again. For now, here's a 50-second glimpse of the opening of the Polonaise-Fantasie that made the cut. Play On, ps Stay tuned for the full recording... |
Lisa Spector, Piano Ninja
Juilliard graduate helping dedicated adult pianists who love challenging repertoire practice less while learning more.
I started this weekly newsletter 6 months ago and have been searching for the right name for it, followed by a logo. And here it is, sitting at the top of your email. PRACTICE NOTESunfiltered. It didnโt go perfectly. I knew when I landed on the name (after 48 iterations) but I originally started with a completely different design direction. It just wasnโt landing. So I scrapped it and went somewhere entirely different before arriving at the logo you see now. And as soon as I had it, I knew....
Your score tells you when to pedal down and when to release. You know what it doesn't tell you? How slow or fast to pedal. ๐ข ๐โ๏ธ That gap is where most of your pedaling decisions are happening on autopilot and you don't even know it. In this YouTube short from the recent 50 Shades of the Damper Pedal workshop, I'm playing 24 seconds of Debussy Reflets dans l'eau. I'm describing what to watch and listen for. Watch my foot. You'll notice it doesn't always move at the same speed. Sometimes fast....
Last week I told you the score is lying to you about pedal. This week I want to show you what it sounds like when you stop following the score and start listening instead. Are you using the damper pedal the same way every time? Down to connect. Up to clear. Repeat. ๐It keeps things smooth. It keeps things safe. And it keeps your playing from ever sounding like anything other than competent. Pedal isn't a connector. It's a color. ๐จ And the moment you hear the difference, you can't go back. In...