It's only a double spread so it shouldn't have taken so long, admittedly, but you might remember a couple of weeks ago I was practicing 'I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise' by George Gershwin.
Well, I've finally uploaded the final take and I'm very pleased. It could still improve, mind, but ultimately I'm glad I persisted as the awkwardness of jazz piano technique on this poor classically trained pianist is good practice and exercise for me!
Here is the vid:
You might remember my friend and woodwind extraordinary Michael A Grant, composer of 'Miniatures for Piano' that was released earlier this year?
Well, in spite of him being a masterful wind player, he has once again turned his sympathy towards the black and white keys of the piano and, less created a masterpiece than...adapted one.
That masterpiece was Symphony No. 3 in C Major, by none other than Jean Sibelius.
And as anyone who knows anything about symphonies will tell you, they tend to be orchestral!
Yet Michael has taken on (and successfully achieved, I might add) the bold challenge of transcribing an entire orchestral symphony for a piano. Something that is no mean feat, I can assure you. Aside from having to condense orchestration in such a way that impact is not lost yet the piece is achievable by the performer (remember pianists usually only have the two hands), the piano works in fundamentally different ways to almost every instrument in the orchestra, and so clever technique has to be employed.
Michael asked me to record for promotional purposes a video of me performing the first 36 bars of the second movement: "Andantino Con Moto, Quasi Allegretto", and here's what I managed to pull together for him;
So how did I ensure I got the best performance that I could?
Aside from plenty of practice before the take, read on...
The first thing that is true of a piano that is not true of literally any orchestral instrument (except the harp, if you wish to count that) is that it does not have the ability to hold a note down as what is called a 'pedal' note. That is, an indefinitely long note that does not diminish in volume. As soon as you strike a piano key, the note starts to fade away. It's just the nature of the striking action.
Often you'll see orchestral interpretations rely on 'tremolo' technique to counteract this. This is when you play two of the same note one octave apart, but in rapid succession. It is particularly effective in bass notes in the left hand as it gives a false but effective impression of the note being indefinitely long. However, it only really shines through in passages of music that are both
quick and
loud
...and I dare say this passage is neither.
Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that we give each note at the beginning of the movement its fully intended finger depression. This way, the notes will at least ring out for as long as they possibly can. You'll see my fingers swapping between each other on those long notes at the beginning, and this is to ensure that I don't let them go. Sure, the pedal would do the job too, but that would do the job for all notes - including the medley that I wanted to slur nicely, but not sustain.
Composers who orchestrate music vs. the same composers who write music for piano write very differently depending. You can create colours galore from the piano, but the stark contrast between the palette available to you in the orchestra is so tempting that things are interjected and given full change to shine on their own.
This is true of Sibelius' use of pizzicato strings near the beginning of the passage - before the woodwinds come in as in the original orchestration and take the magical melody, the pedal notes are broken up by some very slow but very definite plucks.
It is very difficult to get across any type of interpretation for solo piano whereby this sounds like it's supposed to be a different voice, even though it doesn't necessarily bear any resemblance to the melody itself. However, I always feel that pizzicato strings can best be achieved by slightly splaying them (upwards). For example, each hand takes three rising notes near the beginning of the piece. If the lower one can be offset ever so slightly before the higher one, it creates a much more magical effect that just playing both together.
It is very easy when attempting to play a piano transcription of a fully orchestral score to play it in such a way that would be much more logical for a piano.
Certain bars in this transcription required tenuto notes to be played above staccato notes in the same hands. This makes a lot of sense when orchestrating, as it may be that the winds, for example, can hold some chordal notes on between them whilst underneath, maybe some strings take the staccato (or pizzicato) notes. And it would sound lovely.
Yet it can be tempting for the pianist to not acknowledge these lengths fully. Perhaps to even ignore them. I felt it important for the fluidity of the piece anywhere, even when I played it through first time having not cross referenced against the original orchestration, that all notes were held on for their notated value (where possible), as there are plenty of times within the music whereby not doing would create a one voice effect.
For example, holding on minims in the right hand whilst alternating crotchets play also in the right hand can be misconstrued as not holding the minims on and letting go, giving more a one voice crotchet feel. Yet keeping those notes held on give much more an impression that there are more voices, and needless to say we need to keep as many of these voices honoured in a piano transcription.
Us pianists kind of get away with murder anyway. That is, solo pianists.
Why?
Because so much music is open to our own interpretation and we can do it how we like. The piano is such a powerful solo instrument that us performers can get caught up in feeling the music to such a point that it doesn't necessarily flow.
However, orchestral music sort of has to.
Granted, there is a conductor at the front of an orchestra who keeps everything in check, but nothing is random. Everything flows perfectly with an orchestra. I tried to imagine that either I myself was conducting or that somebody was conducting me.
And trying to ensure that I kept up with it!
This piece definitely didn't beg for rigidity or strict tempo, but at the same time I didn't want to get too caught up in 'feeling it' if it didn't sound like it would do if an orchestra were performing.
This relates entirely to the first point - holding notes on. You know I'm a sucker for correct pedal use anyway, but it has to be said that this is of extra importance here.
The melody needs to be clear and really needs very, very little (if any) pedal use to capture its magic. Too much and it would all become too muddy, and my carefully planned tenuto vs. staccato and carefully choreographed held notes would pale into insignificance.
So whilst I did use it, I just had to be careful not to overuse it!
Visit Michael's website where you can Purchase a copy of the score or download a PDF and get playing Sibelius yourself!
If you've been following my practice journals, you will recall that - tragically - my metronome has been broken. And in the absence of some sort of metronome repair service - or indeed, the skill to repair it myself - I was forced to think fast (i.e. buy a new one).
So arrived my new metronome and very pleased I was - so much so that I used it in my piano lesson yesterday. However my pupil struggled a little.
This, however, is not uncommon, and so here I emphasise the importance of practicing with a metronome, including when to practice and how.
If you go for a clockwork metronome as I do, you'll be hard pushed to find one that doesn't look stunning. But aside from making sure that it blends in nicely with your piano and decor in the music room, there are some important things to look out for;
Volume: most clockwork metronomes are designed for practice against acoustic instrument - like pianos! Acoustic pianos are very loud, and so the metronome in turn has to be loud. For this reason, it very likely is. Just bear this in mind, however, if you are choosing a digital metronome. These can be more a 'beep' than a 'click' which - at a volume to compete with your piano - can be extremely shrill, not to mention annoying!
Measures: You'll not find a metronome without a bell anymore, and they will usually come in measures of 2, 3, 4 and 6 (or 'off' i.e. 0).
Tempo Markings: Naturally you'll have your numbers - BPM - but it's a good idea to keep an eye out for a metronome that states different tempo markings. Remember these days that not all notated music uses BPM and many use Italian or German terms to denote tempo. If you're unsure what any mean, the metronome comes in extremely useful to immediately reference it against BPM and hear the desired speed.
There really is no great skill to setting a metronome off!
Make sure it is wound up. Set your measures as needs be (for example - to 4 if playing a piece in 4/4, 3 for 3/4 of 0 for a piece with changing time signatures), slide the weight up or down the pendulum to match up with the appropriate tempo, remove the wedge from underneath the metronome, wind the metronome up if necessary (don't force it once it winds fully) and start the pendulum swinging!
So now you've got your metronome up and running! Let's think about situations in which we would use it to practice:
The whole point of scales, arpeggios, chromatic scales, broken chords and the countless technical studies that are out there are so that you can develop a strength and discipline within your fingers, leading to a discipline within your performance when necessary.
In order to translate these forward, these exercises need to be tight and even, both rhythmically and dynamically. Taking it slowly is a great way to start, gradually building up the speed as more confidence is developed.
Don't forget that it is perfectly normal to stumble over yourself when you slow down - even if you think you play them perfectly at a quicker tempo!
The metronome is teaching you discipline with rhythm and with the finger's approach to the keyboard.
It stands to reason, therefore, that if scales and other exercises and technical studies are supposed to be even and tight then so do passages or complete pieces of music that rely on intricacy within the fingers. This can be from any era. For example Baroque music might have a lot of ornamentation such as trills and turns on notes that are to be played rapidly enough as is, whereas Romantic music might have bars of rapid semiquavers that jump between octaves in one hand. Jazz music, on the other hand, may feature a succession of unfamiliar chordal structures that don't feel natural to play straight away and so need some attention.
And here comes the metronome, once again to the rescue. Starting slow and building up helps to build up muscle memory. Muscle memory can, within reason, be sped up as it becomes more confident, but it is not always something that can be established if you attempt to attack a piece of music at its in intended tempo or intricacy.
In other words, if you wish to play a piece of music marked 'allegro', you'll do yourself far more favours and pick up the piece faster (not to mention play it better in the long run) if you start learning it slower rather than jumping in at an allegro pace - even if you feel you have a grasp on most of it. Unless you actually pick apart a piece of music and slow it down, you won't give every bar and passage the right amount of care, and can lead to an inconsistent performance.
As well as discipline in rhythm between the fingers, the metronome teaches us discipline within the overall performance.
Take the Baroque music era again, for instance. This era of music is typified by rapid passages on the keyboard - usually semiquavers or even quicker - and they don't let us. Moreover, there's little to no tempo alteration within a Baroque piece, which leads to it having quite a regimented feel. This is something that a metronome can help you to achieve, and it is generally quite useful even in pieces of music that don't necessarily beg a regimented performance in the end because it allows us to consider our performance as something that needs to keep up. When practising without a metronome, it can be tempting to go back on ourselves and try and correct things. Needless to say, with a relentless click you have to keep going, and it gets us into a mindset of learning what many musicians use as a mantra when it comes to making a mistake - just carry on!
Unless you were specifically testing and practising your sight reading, it wouldn't do you any favours to sit down with a brand new piece of music that you intend to learn properly and put the metronome on straight away. Not even if you put it on very slow.
In order to get the best results, you need to have a fair enough understanding of the passages you will be practising with a metronome, however they don't want to be perfect. If you know it too well then it can have the reverse effect. Be able to play a piece or a passage of music from beginning to end before you employ the metronome - even if you have stumbles and falters. The metronome can then be used to identify or further identify problem areas, as they will show up more with a basic understanding.
The same goes for scales and technical exercises.
Once you start practising with a metronome, it's essential that you don't rely on the metronome for every single practise run you do. If you do, you'll find it rather odd when you come to taking the click out of your performance.
This doesn't mean that you have to go full steam ahead once the metronome is off - you can stick to the same tempo, but what you need to make sure you don't lose sight of is your own discipline with tempo and - more specifically - keeping the piece tight. Sometimes when we take the metronome out, it can be tempting to rush. Even when we start at the same tempo, it can feel instinctive to pull forward. So try and get into the habit of using the metronome for half of your practice session and using your 'internal metronome' for the other half!
Of course, it may be the case that you don't need to use a metronome to practice a piece of music at all!
There is such a thing as artistic license in numerous pieces of music. Think of pieces from the Romantic era - the like of Chopin with his rise and fall of tempo and dynamic, use of subtle pauses. Rits and ralls etc.
Don't get me wrong, however. Romantic music, if we continue with this example, is littered with intricacies of its own, many of which will require their own focus in which the metronome can definitely help (remember my point earlier!), BUT if you rely on a very rigid tempo for practising then it can actually do more damage in the long run when you attempt to put the expression back into the music.
If you think a piece of music just requires you to go with the flow then you might just get away with it!