Hello Again

I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but I thought I would post an update about some piano-related things:
The Guild Auditions I told you about in the last post went great! I got 31 "Cs" (which stand for "commendation"), and 3 "As" (which stand for "needs attention"). Some of the reasons I got the "needs attention"s are because of my nervousness affecting my memory of the notes I was supposed to play, a little bit of hesitation, etc. I'm pretty proud of my score, and feel like my hard work paid off.
The big piano recital is coming up - this Sunday!! I'm really nervous, even though I've been playing all of these pieces for SO LONG, and I have been playing through the 9-piece program a lot. My teacher and I have added a few to the program, but I won't tell you which pieces they are unless you come to the recital (which, by the way, is at St. John's Methodist Church on 1200 Old Santa Fe Trail on Sunday, June 5 at 2:00 PM).
Anyway, that's about it for now.

Conclusion - Goodbye (Until a Few Months) Everyone!

Well, today is the last day of my Tech class that we will be working on our projects. I guess I'll talk a little about what I accomplished and such. Overall, I pretty much accomplished all of the goals I had set for myself. This includes posting blogposts regularly, posting cool links and videos, recording and posting videos of me playing piano, etc. I did all of this, and even discovered a cool video converter-thing that I had to use to convert all my videos which were in some crazy ".mod" format to ".mov." I learned a lot about piano, felt satisfied with my little group of followers, and was quite surprised and happy with the total number of page views I received. Although this also includes my own editing views, still, my estimate for how many of my views leaves a pretty good number of views from you guys.

So I suppose this is goodbye, except I think I might post something in a few weeks after my great shared piano recital with a senior in high school, and after I have played my pieces for this piano competition-like recital, called the Guild Auditions. During the Guild Auditions, I will be playing about six pieces, the same ones I listed  in an early post about the recital with the senior in high school, for a judge. A few days later, my piano teacher will be given the results and scores of how well I played the pieces for the judge, and will show them to me to improve my playing as best as possible. Every Guild participant also receives a pin, as well as the certificate with the results on it. Here is a little picture of a Guild pin (didn't have time to take one of the two that I have, from doing it twice):

Last year, I got a perfect score of no mistakes, and I don't mean to brag. The year before was my first year, and I got a fairly decent score. It was interesting, more than anything, to be able to know what an expert thinks of my playing, and what constructive criticism they can give to me, so that I am able to improve my playing.
Until next time!
Karen

Different Styles of Piano Playing

Today's blog post topic is different styles of piano:
Many modern styles of piano playing are based around the blues, but other modern styles often tend to be a very emotional, popular style. What classifies a piano style as emotional-popular is often an ever repeating melody or theme, and many chords. Watch the video below to get a general idea of what this style is like:

Another popular style of piano playing is ragtime, which is not only a style of playing, but a genre of music itself. This style of piano playing is often very... "jumpy," so to speak, as it moves around a lot, and is very playful. It is a very fun and bubbly style of playing. Watch the video below to get a general idea of what this style is like:

And then, of course, is the classical piano style, which is the more traditional, older style that is used for practically all classical music. I almost always use the classical piano style, although, if you refer back to one of my older posts, the C'etait Salement Romantique piece I learned to play part of is actually emotional-popular style. So watch both my classical style videos that I posted a few weeks ago, as well as the song I learned! Thanks!

Nocturne (Op. 54 No. 4, in C)

Enjoy this video of me playing "Notturno," or Nocturne, by Edvard Grieg:

Child Prodigies

Recently, I've been looking up a lot of the pieces I play or have played on YouTube, and always discover some little five or six-year-old music genius who has already perfectly mastered it. It always gets me down in the dumps, because, obviously, I know that a little kid can play the same pieces I can. But sometimes, though, I have the reassurance from some YouTuber's comment that, actually, the little kid just plays the piece fast, and doesn't actually put any dynamics (that's loud and soft, etc. for all those people who don't know music very well) or emotion into the pieces. So that makes me feel a little bit better.
But, in any case, this brings up the interesting topic of child prodigies. After doing some research, I've found that basically anyone can force a little kid to play well and not stop until they play perfectly, but what actually defines a child prodigy is that they themselves have the ability to play greatly, and work hard enough that they can do well in the music world. This could mean that, for instance, maybe they can play with the same level of dynamics and emotions and near perfection of a music expert, or simply that they can compose some really wonderful music. And I found a video with several comments from people who are very...passionate about the subject of child prodigies. So pay special attention to the comments on the video, but before you do, take a look at the definition of the word "prodigy," then go to the link below and compare it to the comments the people posted on the video:
prod·i·gy
–noun, plural -gies.

1.

a person, especially a child or young person, havingextraordinary talent or ability: a musical prodigy.

2.

a marvelous example (usually followed by of ).

3.

something wonderful or marvelous; a wonder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXg92atWVg

Cadence Chords - What is a common tone?

A common tone is a pitch class that is a member of or related to a musical scale. It sounds complicated, but isn't really. Cadence chords tie into the general idea of a common tone, as they are chords that consist of a changed version of another chord that shares the original chord's common tone. Here are some pictures to help you get an idea of what cadence chords look like:

The original chord of C Major, consisting of C, E, and G, looks like this:

Its first cadence chord, sometimes called the antepenult (even though I've never heard of this name before), consists of B, D, and G, and shares the C Major chord's common tone of G:

Its last cadence chord, consisting of C, F, and A, and sometimes called the final, looks like this, and sharing the C Major chord's common tone of C (I think...):

Thanks to Fiona for taking the great pictures!

Rondo Alla Turca

Here is a video of me playing Rondo Alla Turca by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Some More Cool Piano Stuff

Just thought I'd make this a little blog post with tons of awesome, piano-related stuff!
Click the link below for a virtual keyboard:
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/music/piano/
Watch the video below of two people playing Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" on a GIANT PIANO!

Watch the video below of a few people playing a song on a stair-piano...it's hard to explain unless you watch it:

New Song-Learning Followup Take 2

This time, below is a quick video of me actually playing the new piece I learned a part of. I learned more of  it, but forgot to record the other part, and didn't have time to post it as well. But here is the little part I learned (and it repeats itself many times in the piece, although I only played a bit of it in this video):

The Key To Musical Composition (no pun intended)

I have been thinking about what to do for my next blog post, and finally decided to do some research on the questions: what is the key to musical composition? Do you have to be a genius like Mozart? Where do you start? Well, seeing as I do not have much experience with composition, I decided I'd do a bit of research. Here is what I came up with:

Once you choose the key your piece will be in (which you can probably do by just randomly messing around and seeing what key you like best), you should always stay true to that key. You can't just start the piece of in A minor and switch to B flat major later.

Also, the key a piece is in determines the mood of the piece, as minor could be mysterious, sad, melancholy, or angry, and major could be happy, in love, excited, or bubbly.

Another element to composition is appeal to the listener. For instance, if you think about which melodies might be appealing to many different people, you might not want it to be very out there or crazy, unless the listeners you are appealing to are into that. Conversely, if your audience is more into your average, more traditional style of music, then you may want to include things in your piece such as a strong melody that comes back many times.

One more thing to think about when composing a piece is if you are copying a piece that has already been composed. It's sometimes a great idea to get ideas from other melodies of pieces, but its best to at least slightly tweak them, as opposed to taking a melody from another piece and incorporating it into your own piece. Not only is this a form of plagiarism, but no one likes a piece that sounds exactly the same as an already made piece.

Also, when thinking about how to find inspirations of composition, you should always try your best NOT to perfectly identify the emotion that inspired you to compose the piece. This is because when composing a piece, it makes it more interesting and enjoyable if there are many emotions intertwined and embedded under the music. But then again, too many emotions can end up in the confusion of the listener, or conflicting emotions within the piece, even though you should still have separate parts of the piece that don't necessarily have to display the same emotion. You just have to make sure that the emotions are understandable enough that the listener is able to make an educated guess as to why the emotions were put together.

And so there you have it - now go out an compose a piece!

New Song-Learning Followup

Well, I suppose I have fulfilled my goal of learning that new piece from my last blog post. I learned it...for the most part, but the only YouTube video on how to learn it only had part of the song. So I learned what it provided, and it was a pretty cool experience. It wasn't really that hard; I didn't expect it to be as basic as it turned out to be. But in the end, it was interesting since I usually don't play the genre it was classified under; I mostly play more classical. Here is the video of me from last Friday, playing on the Baldwin (just like the piano I have at home) at school, when I first began to work on and learn the piece (obviously it won't sound very...put together, seeing as this was the very first time I learned the piece, but I guess you could say I am too lazy to record and post another video of me playing the piece, now that I can actually play it...because uploading these videos has been a NIGHTMARE!!!!):

Bruce Adolphe - Piano Puzzler

I first heard of Bruce Adolphe on the “Piano Puzzler” on KHFM, the classical radio station. I thought his work sounded really cool – he creates a Piano Puzzler for KHFM every few days. The Piano Puzzler is a song he remixes so that it mimics the distinct style of a composer. The time that I heard the Piano Puzzler, he had remixed the song “If I Only Had A Brain,” from the Wizard of Oz, into the style of Johann Sebastian Bach. The reason it is called the Piano Puzzler on KHFM is because they call someone up, and play the Piano Puzzler for them, and then the contestant on the phone has to guess what song it is, and which composer is being mimicked. If they do, they usually win some sort of prize, but it’s really hard to do. I couldn’t even guess it until they told me what it was at the end. It was pretty cool, so I thought I’d look up a little bit about him.

Bruce Adolphe was born in 1955, and has lived in the U.S. all his life. He is a composer and pianist, and has been doing the Piano Puzzler ever it started on National Public Radio. He has composed pieces for many different symphonies and orchestras, even including the National Symphony and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, has composed things from operas to violin concertos. Below is a picture of Bruce Adolphe:

Some past Piano Puzzlers Bruce Adolphe has composed include “Til There Was You,” from the Music Man (musical), “On Top of Old Smokey,” and “London Bridge is Falling Down.” Click the link below to go to a site of many of the recent Piano Puzzlers, and if you scroll down to March 9^th, 2011, you can hear the exact same one I heard of “If I Only Had Brain,” even though I just gave it away…but you can still guess the other ones, and at the end they tell you both the piece and mimicked-composer:

http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/podcast/piano_puzzler/

New Piece - C'etait Salement Romantique

Today, I am starting to learn a new piece called "C'etait Salement Romantique," by Coeur De Pirate (the girl who wrote it). It's a more modern piece, since I thought I'd try something new and different, as I usually play classical. The name means something like "a bad romance." I don't have the sheet music for it, unfortunately, so I am learning off of a YouTube video, which is semi-frustrating. But I have gotten the main gist of it, as I practiced and learned it at school during my Tech class.
I will be posting more about it on Tuesday, which will also (hopefully) include a video of the practicing I did at school. So check out the video and POST A COMMENT, PLEASE! :)

What It Was Like to Play "Minuet in G"

I found Minuet in G by Ignace Paderewski an enjoyable piece to play, despite a lot of repetition, as the melody came many times. Some of the ending was a bit hard, especially the trills, which I had to work quite a bit on. But otherwise, it was a nice, simple little piece. It took me...say, 3 months to completely master this piece, dynamics and all. And take into account that during that time I may have been unable to have a piano lesson, for various reasons, and therefore could not totally continue to master it, seeing as I did not have my teacher's feedback, etc. Anyway, all in all, I liked playing this piece. Hope you enjoyed my playing it! >>(see last post)

Minuet in G - Ignace Paderewski (performed by me)

Man playing a burning piano!

A Brief Intro to (Some) Piano History

In the early 14th century, a device called a dulcimer, which was a small, closed box over which stretched wires would be hit with hammers eventually led to the early development of the clavichord, which was a bit more developed into a more piano-like structure. Below is a picture of a clavichord:

 (from www.harpsichord.com)

By the 17th Century, this amateur instrument developed into what we know today as the harpsichord. Many of the harpsichords originated in Italy.

 (from wikipedia.com)

This picture is a French Grand piano from 1781. Notice how different it is - smaller, shorter, most likely less keys, and the colors of the keys are reversed - black to white, and vice versa.
The downside to harpsichords is that they do not offer a range of dynamics - no matter how softly you play on a harpsichord, it will sound the same.

And there you have it - just some snippets of early piano history!

My Piano Experiences

So far, I have only played a few styles of music in my approximately-8 years of playing - some rags, some jazz and blues, but for the most part classical. Recently, I have been polishing some pieces for a recital with a senior in high school who will be playing for about a half hour, and I will be playing for another half hour. It's on June 5th at Saint John's Methodist Church in SFe (I believe...not quite sure), but I am still working very hard on them. The pieces are as follows:
Nocturne (by Edvard Grieg)
Bells Ringing (also by Edvard Grieg)
Waltz in B Flat Major (by Franz Schubert)
Rondo Alla Turca (by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Minuet in G (by Ignace Paderewski)
Puck (another by Edvard Grieg)

Here are some pictures of the composers in my recital: (in order: Mozart, Grieg, Schubert, and Paderewski)

Personally, I think Paderewski has the COOLEST HAIR!!! (out of all of them, at least...)

Cool Piano Stuff

The largest and longest piano ever was built by Adrian Mann (from New Zealand), and is 18.5 feet across! But it still produces the same music...
Click the link for more info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x57kcRdojrY

The smallest piano was built by a Japanese manufacturer called Sega Toys, and is 25cm wide, and 18cm high! Still fully playable.
Click the link for more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQhyE9am35E

Piano shaped building in Bergen, Norway - Edvard Grieg's concert hall.
See picture (I TOOK IT MYSELF!!!!):

Introduction

Hi! My name is Karen, and this blog is going to be about playing the piano. It will be based around not only the pieces I have played, and how I am doing with a piece (etc.), but it will contain some stories and information about playing piano, such as some famous pianists, history of piano, stories about your average-everyday pianists, and much more!
I highly encourage viewers who play piano to PLEASE post videos/recordings of you playing the piano, any type of question relating to the topic of music and piano, and even if you just want to say hi...well, sure - I would really appreciate it!

Thanks!