r/piano

Today, our culture seems to celebrate those who excell at playing the piano. Pianist who bring to life the music written by the greats before them like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, etc.

And while playing the piano beautifully is a skill worth honoring - there is so much that goes into making music sound good, I think we should equally recognise those who compose beautiful music today. To me, it feels like many piano teachers and players primarily worship composers of the past without acknowledging that there is a whole body of great piano muskc that is perhaps less famous, but just as worthy of being played.

I also think learning to compose music is a foundational skill that is often overlooked when playing the piano. For example, I took piano lessons in my teenage years, but the topic of composing never came up. I only discovered composing accidently a few years later.

I'd love to hear your thoughts: do you think composing is an underrated skill and practice, or an optional extra for piano players that can be learned later in the piano playing journey?

Hey all, sorry if this isn’t the right place but how do I make my fingers less…stiff? This has always been such a struggle for me and nothing I’ve tried (as a note I’m hypermobile if that matters) has worked. I’ve been playing for years, albeit not very well, so it’s not as if it’s a muscle memory issue, or maybe it is since I’ve been muscle memory-ing the wrong thing?

So anyways that is my question: how to make my fingers less stiff/clunky when playing

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i am a self taught blues, rock, and soul pianist for 20+yr playing on weighted, touch sensitive keyboards, in addition to organs and seminweighted and waterfall keys.

I recently started classical training and am finding it hard to get used to the acoustic pianos. my ears expect a certain sound when i hit the keys with certain touches and i only have maybe 30 to 40min playing on a baby grand with instruction. i also have 10min prior to warming up on an upright. the baby grand is in better shape than the uprights, but they all have their nuances of resistamce amd some that need tuning.

i play on a kawai ca99 at home. set the touch to heavy4. i dont have access to acoustic pianos outide my lesson time. my playing is almost night and day difference between my ca99 and the accoustic.

has anyone else experienced taking a while to get used to accoustic pianos?

sometimes i think i might be being too picky and sensitive from playing digital keyboards for so long..

Mine is Chopin's Op.62 no 2

I swear it sounds better at 45-55 BPM (it's marked Lento after all), with minimal rubato in the A and B sections, and an ever so slightly faster, more passionate playing in the agitato section. This flows more naturally and it's the only way those embellishments sound non-superfluous to me.

Do you ever had a piece where you just cant understand why everyone plays it that way?

I’m an advanced player. I have a Roland RP301 at home which is kind of old but that’s what I’ve been practicing on ever since I started learning the piano.

Whenever I play a grand piano, the volume feels very loud and the action feels different compared to my digital that I play with my headphones on and I’m not used to that feeling at all.

I was curious if it’s worth to upgrade my digital piano to a better one closer to a grand in terms of feeling, without spending a fortune on it. Or do I really need to get an acoustic piano to be used to the feeling?

Hello!

This is the first original piece I’ve composed for piano. I also produced, mixed, and mastered it myself in my DAW, so any constructive feedback regarding the composition or the music production is welcome.

Synopsis:

A composition for solo piano inspired by the castle of the same name, built in the 12th century. This nationalist-style piece reflects the strength and vigor of its builder (Ibn Mardanish, “the Wolf King”) by combining elements of Spanish nationalism and Islamic tradition, which are in turn embellished by impressionistic coloristic techniques.

A little bit of a changeup from the usual discussion on here... I'd guess that despite the usual tendency to discuss classical pieces/compositions that there's probably a lot of us who really enjoy his music in this sub. A friend asked me what I thought his most well written song was last night and I was able to narrow it down to three songs (and I still had to knock several favorites off the list)... I wound up with Boxing, Narcolepsy, and Hospital Song. They aren't by any means his most impressive piano playing, but they've got IMO his best match of awesome lyrics to the feel of the music that goes with them.

I currently know the entirety of op. 27 no. 2 (moonlight) and a little bit of each movement of op 13. (pathetique). I am also working on learning all Chopin waltzes at the moment. I am wondering if there are any other sonatas from Beethoven (or any peices from any composer) I should learn before even attempting Waldstein. Thank you to everyone in advance!

Currently playing at an RCM level 6, which is intermediate at this point, but I notice that fundamentally my technique looks bad when I play. What was the process of fixing poor technique at an intermediate or advanced level for those of you that had to stop moving forward and fix it during your piano journey?