u/HomePianoGuy

Hi all. Not sure if this is an accordion flex or fail so im going to give the context and the story and I'd appreciate two things please:

Advice on how to play the buttons properly.

Advice on managing the bellows I think they're called.

So here's the context-

A friend of mine came up to me after hearing me play the piano ( I can play it quite well ) and he asked me if I'd be willing to play the accordion for beach activities. I said yeah that would be fine but I need an accordion to actually play it. My friend said he would ask around and see if he could find me one to borrow before I play it.

True to his word, he found me an accordion I could borrow. I took it home and started practicing two weeks before I'd have to perform it.

Thankfully the pieces I needed to play were extremely simple on the piano side and not many huge jumps on the button side.

What I did is I spent the first day memorising the buttons. Teaching myself the order, what the highest button and lowest buttons were and memorising all in between. Then I started practicing some of the simplest pieces with decent success. They were recognisable which is a good first step.

I clarified with my friend that the letters between the notes meant different chord types. I was lucky enough they were all major chords :)

Then came the actual day when the beach activities would start for a week. I went to the team leader and he asked me to give him a demonstration. Feeling confident after picking up the accordion very quickly I let him pick the piece.

After I played it he asked me why I didn't play the um-pah.

😐

That emoji conveys my expression and understanding regarding what he asked.

He then showed me what the Um pah was and I was clueless as to how to play it.

So when I performed it, I did something as a pianist I think was wrong. (Sorry accordionists)

On the piano its bad technique to hold down a pedal for too long.

I assume on accordion its bad technique to hold down a button until you have to change chords.

Aside from missing the um pah, I played the piano side well and I played the chords. (I didnt use the root buttons just the majors and when needed minor buttons)

Also sorry guys but I have to be honest… the accordion is in my top 5 hated instruments. Im a skinny guy and by the end of the week my shoulder was aching and my ears were tired of this instrument. Ive been on a long break though and now I want to actually learn it properly this time.

So my questions are these:

How do you learn an um pah, please bear in mind I've only played the instrument 3 weeks total 😅

Also, do you get used to the weight of the accordion or does your shoulder go numb to the pain?

This sonata may be my favourite Beethoven sonata of all time and that is because there is so much to it. Within this sonata I have found so much that makes me love it more each time I play it.

This sonata was Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 Op. 31 No. 2. That means it was the second piece of his 31st collection of published works. It also means it was his seventeenth sonata he published.

Firstly, I will start with the easter eggs.

This sonata was written not long after the moonlight sonata and if you compare the first movement of the tempest to the third movement of the moonlight sonata you can see where Beethoven took certain ideas. In bars 177-184 of Moonlight 3 you can see a series of triplets. Bars 162-172 of the first movement of the tempest sonata has the same rythm and listening to those sections back to back is like listening to long lost twins. They're distinct enough to not be a copy and paste but they are similar enough to be a reference to the Moonlight Sonata.

Secondly, Beethoven had a way of making you feel the sonata.

In the first movement, Beethoven opens with a slow arpeggio. Then he plunges us into a sudden, fast paced set of quavers before slowing us down to a chord. He repeats this again but instead of slowing down he only speeds up, increases the volume, and by doing so increases the tension. The movement has a cycle of fast and tense, calm and relaxed. It's almost like being shaken violently before being taken to the park for a picnic. Then the second movement comes. If played attaca off the first movement you can hear the cycle continuing. Beethoven is giving us a peacful movement where we can relax. Then the third movement. This has to be a unique example of simple yet hard. Most of the piece is just singular notes and very few chords but it has this way of making you feel like your falling and catching yourself just in time with the next note. You rise and fall with it as if you're a sailor on a boat amidst a stormy sea. You rise and fall with each swell of the waves.

Lastly, I have found a piece which is personal to me.

When I play this piece I don't play for a crowd within a concert hall in Vienna. I play for myself and to feel the music. When I do, I find I don't stick to the dynamics like glue. It's not performance worthy in that sense. But it's how the piece itself speaks to me. If I were to perform it I would practice it more rigorously. However, I believe that the most connection you can gain from a piece comes with your own personal changes. This usually consists of rubito and little more then that but if you connect with a piece more then you usually do with other pieces then I believe you play the piece how you feel it should go. I do this in the tempest. I agree with Beethoven's tempo markings throughout the first and second movement but when I play the third movement I imagine myself lost at sea on a rocking ship. I crescendo and dimminuendo with the waves. And when the motif returns I play it with energy like home is sighted through the storm. This doesnt match Beethoven's dynamic markings unfortunately but it means that I enjoy the piece more and that is a sacrifice I can live with.

I highly reccomend Beethoven's tempest sonata to everyone reading this. Even if you're not interested in the above it is a masterpiece to listen to.

If you play the piano I would also suggest you learn this wonderful sonata.

I love the piano and classical music around it.

But when it comes to non piano music I'm quite sketchy on my knowledge.

I've seen a lot of Mahler this and Mahler that going around the community.

My question is this:

Could someone explain who Mahler was and what I could listen to?

I'd like to say thank you all for your answers (this is an edit)

Im going to listen to his first 5 symphonies as they have been most strongly reccomended.

Also there's a lot about his life and I will definitely read more into him. He lived at an interesting time, to say the least, for any composer.

Hi everyone. Please know I know WHY this is in place as I will make clear. This is just my view of it.

I recently took my graded practical piano exam. It went well with a very nice merit. I see where I lost marks and what I did wrong as it said on the report. But here is the part of the exam I don't like at all.

The singing part.

It's a piano exam! If I wanted to learn how to sing I would have taken the vocals exam. But I wanted to learn piano so I'm taking the piano exam! I don't get why it has to be in the exam.

The reasoning behind it is that as you get more advanced you'll be expected to have an ability to sing back phrases or to sing a piece etc....

But let me ask this.

If there comes a point when you have to sing to let people know what the piece is why not play it?

This is because there probably isnt a piano everywhere and you'd have to know how to sing to replace it the piano.

Another question… why not just learn every freaking instrument? The piano is the one provided by the examiners (in my experience) and you provide the vocals. Why not make you sight-dance in case you need to write a ballet or write music in case you one day need to write a song? Why not sight read every single instrument under the sun in case you need to use it one day?

Why not just leave the piano exam for the piano and the singing for the vocal exam?

Starting notes only:

1. A-G-E Staccato and played across three octaves

2. E-D#-E-D#E-B-D-C-A

3. Key signature of E flat, B-G-F

4. Key signature of C# minor G-C-E (x4)

5. C-E-G-B-C-D-C

6. A-G#-G-E

The lengths are not written down but some of these are so iconic that they shouldn't need much help.

There is:

1 Bagatelle

1 Nocturne

2 piano concertos

2 piano sonatas

Try not to look at the comments for this one. I will reply to guesses for the next 9 hours until midnight GMT

No it's not duolingo. It's on a piano piece.

A while ago I learnt Ravel's Ondine, a beautiful piece. I put it on a shelf but I never really got to refine it to perfection as I had hoped to.

I revisited it a few days ago and I just looked at each hand seperately to refresh my memory and work out any errors.

I then played it in full today to see how it would go.

I was doing quite well, enjoying the piece, getting the musicality etc.. but then came the tragedy....

There's quite a few leaps and oddly shaped rythms in this piece which requires full focus. I'm not sure what happened but as I was moving my fingers in the left hand to the next phrase, my middle finger got stuck between two sharps 😅😅😅 within the space of a semiquaver i thought:

I'm near the end, how did this happen, i've failed the piece!

Then I just played as if nothing happened. But it did mean I lost a few notes in the left hand. Thank goodness my right hand was independent from my brain!

If anyone is wondering, i don't remember the specific section it was just a momentarily lapse of focus which led to a silly mistake.

It's what it says in the title.

Before I actually list my favourites, i'd love to read your comments and hear what your favourites are 😁

1. La campanella, Lizst

It just has so much fiery energy that I find it hard to hate it. It takes the legendary piece to a whole other level which is hard to beat.

2. Moonlight sonata (3rd movement)

After the demisemiquavers, on the penultimate page in my edition, the rest of the piece is magnificent and I'd be lying if I said I played the piece for another reason then this ending.

3. Ondine (From Gaspard de la Nuit)

The shimmering arpeggios give it such an enchanting feel that it feels as though it pulls me into it before it's cut off right at the end.

4. Le Preux

The ending of this is just magnificent. It gives grand finale a whole new meaning.

5. The toccata in D minor (The famous one by bach)

It's often played with the fugue (i love that too) but the maestoso ending of the toccata is majestic, grand, powerful. It's absolutely wonderful.

These aren't in any particular order but they are what I would consider the greatest. What are your thoughts and what changes would you make?

Hey everyone i just tried a simple variation of moonlight sonata. Try this and tell me what you think:

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After the sixteenth notes on the last page theres two semibreves. Try doing a tremolo and accelerating into the semiquavers in the left hand.

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On the last bar theres a C# minor chord rest and the same chord an octave lower. In that rest go an octave higher and play the C# minor chord before playing the last chord normally.

​

I'll read the comments so please give me feedback on this.

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Also i'll just ignore any comments about: Beethoven and the moonlight sonata are holy and must never be touched or altered. Im going to ignore comments like that because the piano is an instrument not a rock and pieces change thats how variations are made.

Hi. Im relatively new to the whole composing and stuff and id like the advice of more experienced composers on two questions I have.

When I write music it takes a while to think of a decent idea to start with but then the idea comes to me and then the whole piece comes after that. How do more experienced composers write focused on one theme like a nocturne or dance for example? I ended up writing a dance sort of piece by accident when trying to focus on a different style of piece. My first question is how do you stick with an idea when composing?

How do you share your music without risking theft of music? Im pretty cagey with my music as I only have a few pieces and I really love listening to them (not pride as i have written stinkers which I hated and destroyed). How can I release my music while protecting myself against theft?

Hey everyone. Im enjoying composing 😂

I thought it would be boring and a chore but let me tell you this . . . The music im writing is music im enjoying. To my ears it sounds great and im just loving it. Ive written only a handful of pieces but ive got a few favourites:

I attempted an etude and when i was wondering what to do i took a look at some etudes i know. Composers just make dumb stuff up and it works (i know theres some rules but be honest theres not many 😂) and i took inspiration from the layout of winter wind. It was quite fun to do.

Then i did my own variation of canon in d. I love it in so many ways and im road testing it by letting others judge this one for me.

Hey everyone.

I've started a project I'm curious to get thoughts on.

I've been playing piano for what feels like a while now and I've recently gotten this book of 60 pieces that every pianist should apparently know. After learning the ones I like and stuff I feel like I should know I decided to learn all 60 and by learn have a succesful begining to end play through.

Then I got an idea. Why not apply this to all my repertoire. Some pieces I got when I was overly ambitious for example I got Gaspard de La Nuit at a time when I was overly cocky. And also I have a large collection of music books from my nonna, of which I only played a small percentage.

So my project is to go through every sheet of music I own and play it all the way through. This will mean I re-learn some old ones and discover new ones.

Also this should boost my sight reading a ton as I'm noticing it's improving vastly with each new piece. Today for example I decided to go for Toccata and fugue in D minor. I didn't play it perfectly and it probably sounded like a swiss cheese (full of holes) but I got to the end and it wasn't the worst I've heard it. I also sight read tempest 1st movement and pathetique 2nd.

Any thoughts/feedback on this project?

Did anyone else attempt this?

Is it really the wrong way to say figure it out yourself?

My piano teacher once challenged me to figure out how to do scales in thirds. So C-A, D-B, etc. I learnt it and now im fluent in it and i can do it up down and in arpeggio style.

I'm also learning a lot of pieces independently from lessons. This includes classics like fur elise, moonlight etc and occasionally I play them or small sections for my teacher for additional input. By listening to recordings I can say ive learnt the pieces and im putting my own interpretations into them now.

So my question is with that in mind is it really the wrong method to do it yourself? It sounds harsh to my ears but also realistic because it seems to work.

This is a funny story.

The piano I use was given to my mom as a gift from my Nonna (passing down her own to my mom). With it came my Nonna's music collection which contained about 11 or 12 books in a series of slightly simplified versions of pieces.

Now I'm more advanced and i've gotten the unedited versions of these pieces including: Fur elise, pathetique, turkish marches, nocturnes, moonlight and several others. But there's a few pieces I haven't played in this collection.

Today I decided to see how far I could get sightreading through the collection. I played Ave Maria, a few Brahms and several others with some old tunes relearning them. Then I got to a Lizst piece. It was Hungarian Rhapsody. I mistook the name for Hungarian dance and I didn't read the composer. After sightreading through 2 lines and enjoying it I realised "this sounds familiar". I had only heard it off recordings. I glanced at the title. The composer. I took it off the piano put it away and finished for the day. Some pieces just scare you if you know the name.

Anyone else ever do that? Sightread a piece realise what it is and quit out of embarresment and respect for a piece 10 levels above your own?

Hi all. Ive been learning the piano for 4 years and at this point ive got more side projects going on then the actual ABRSM graded exams.

A project i've started recently is Fantasie Impromtu to learn some Chopin pieces. Im starting with the finger mapping, slow practice, etc... anyway thats on tuesday.

Today I went to my teacher with the first two lines of finger mapping asking for feedback and area for improvement. There were a few as im still learning and she corrected them. Then while she was at it she sight read beyond my finger mapping absolutely showing off.

She did used to do this for concerts and stuff but sightreading Fantasie Impromptu… anyway long story short I left the lesson confounded

About Fantasie Imrpomptu. Im studying for my grade 4 exam. My teacher said its fine to go for it but forewarned me its very tricky to manage the rythms and keep the tune at the right volume (voice control). Any tips from those who played it?