Working on breathing Lose Weight Exercises is not easy and requires a lot of discipline. My musical phrasing can benefit from breathing more optimally and it can explain why I feel that my performances, while decent, are usually not my best showing. Without being trained in optimal breathing, the adrenaline will tend to overwhelm and you’re so conscious on not screwing up and at times, forget to just play. You also forget to breath and as a result, your hands get stiff and the music sounds as if it were played by an automaton.

Once I improve my breathing, I can then start working on proper balance…

Currently listening to: Sergei Rachmaninoff – The Complete Recordings (10 disc set)

I bought tickets to the Van Cliburn concert over 6 months ago for $150 a ticket.  And finally, it looks like the show will go on (after being rescheduled twice)…knock on wood.   For me, this is like going to the Super Bowl.  There’s also a preconcert reception that I’m looking forward to. 

Seeing that Van Cliburn is around 72 years old, I’m not expecting the performance to be anything like his performances during his prime.  His recording of the Tchaikowsky Concerto No.1 is still one of my favorites (S. Richter’s playing of Tchaik1 is also pretty darn good). 

As much as I enjoy listening to symphonies, concerti, and piano solos, it’s really hard for me to concentrate on my studies while listening to these.  Instead, I’ve turned to chamber music (at low volumes).  I bought the above CD’s to add to my chamber music collection and as an added incentive to study harder and longer.  I don’t know what it is about chamber music that intrigues me–perhaps it’s the ‘Bach effect’? 

So far, my favorite chamber music includes the Brahms, Schubert, and Schumann Piano Trios.  If you know of any good recordings out there, please pass the sugar!

She then asked if I knew where the middle of the piano was.  Apparently, I didn’t.  She pointed to the Steinway emblem on the piano as the center of the piano (which was about where the E-flat black key was), and to always sit in the middle of the piano.  I had always thought it was at middle C.

Sitting in the middle of the piano and far enough from the keys (enough to be able to stand up without using your hands for support), posture, and planting your lower leg/foot (more or less right angle to the floor) will give you better support and balance.  Especially with this Etude, which requires a strong trunk.

The other thing was that I was leaning too much towards to the bass register and that my playing was clearly biased towards those notes.  She wanted me to play the accented top notes (with equal emphasis as bottom accented notes)–think “ocean waves crashing against rocks on both sides”.

When she demonstrated this, I also noticed that she laid her hands pretty flat when playing the opening passage, with very minute digital movements–though every note was played clearly.

There were 5 or so performers in all.  The pieces included the Chopin etude, Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu, Chopin’s Ballade No. 4, a Liszt Concert Etude, Rachmaninioff Corelli Variations, etc.  Dr. Penneys was very tough critic though I believe she meant well.  She has a way of saying something that you aren’t likely to ever forget.  Even if you’re supremely talented, she’ll still put you in your place.  Her blunt comments reminded me of Simon from American Idol and Donald Trump from The Apprentice shows, but the difference is that her criticisms are intended to motivate those who are serious about music to improve their playing, whereas I can’t say the same for Simon or Donald.

Needless to say, I wasn’t too pleased with my performance and afterwards just drove back to my place and took a nap.  I realized that performing onstage in a music hall is a lot different than practicing in the practice rooms or at your home.  You have to adjust to not only the pressure, but also to the instrument, and the acoustics of the building/room.  On the positive side, most of her criticisms of my playing had more to do with the mental aspect rather than the musical.  She did comment that I played the Etude “well”, but it could be better if I incorporate those things.   During Monday’s lesson, Dr. N commented that she thought my performance went very well and that she felt Dr. Penneys thought the same.  And that Dr. Penneys comments were complimentary (really?).  I told her that I didn’t necessarily feel that way (one of those moments where you just wish you’re wrong) but maybe I’m just being too hard on myself?  But I did come out of this experience a lot more knowledgeable about music, piano performance, etc.

Later that night  (Saturday), I went to a friend’s house for poker night.  They threw a surprise birthday thing for me and it was fun.  Admittedly, I was still upset about what happened earlier in the day, so I took it out on everyone at the table.  Played from 9:20pm till sunrise (6:45am).  I was just in the zone that night–making the right reads and knowing when to play aggressive, when to bluff, when to fold, etc.   You know it’s your night when you can sense that you’re ahead by a little bit (your top pair with 10 kicker beats his top pair with 7 kicker) and push him all in for the rest of his chips–knowing that he’ll call.  The final hand of the night was reminiscent of the final scene from The Cincinatti Kid.  I raised on the button with K5o and the big blind calls.  The flop comes out J65.  I bet out a little less than the size of the pot and my opponent raises me three times the amount.  I call (hoping to get either a 5 or K on the turn).  The turn card’s a 5 of spades.  He bets about two-thirds the size of the pot.  I had already calculated his chip count before the flop so I knew that if I made a medium-sized raise here, he will probably try to put me all in (if he’s on a draw or with top pair).  Plus, he most likely can’t put me on trips.  So I raised him about 2.5 times. He calls.  On the river, a 2 of diamonds.  He goes all in (2-3 times the size of the pot).  I think about how he played this hand and wondered how likely is it that he was holding 34 and chased an open-ended straight or had a boat.  Knowing the player and remembering some memorable hands between us, I thought I had 70% odds of having the best hand here.  After 4-5 minutes of deliberation, I call.  My trip 5’s held up. Biggest pot of the night.  Fittingly, a record was set that night.  I just wished it could’ve been the other way around– en fuego at the piano masterclass and loseWeight Exercise all my money at the poker table instead.

Today was very blah.  After work, I went straight to the funeral home to attend the viewing (the sun/moon had something to do with it–and no, i’m not superstitious).  This being my first ‘wake’/'viewing’, I seemed a bit out of place with my white button-up shirt (though I was wearing black pants).  It’s interesting how different cultures wear different colors that must symbolize something.  Some wear red, some black, and some white.  To me, it makes the most sense to wear white.  Black is just too drab and why depress yourself anymore than you have to? At least I wasn’t in jeans (today was jean and sneaker day at work).  At the viewing, they had a video collage of his life with some Sinatra and some nameless music for background.  Perhaps it’s due to my inexperience with this, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit weird about the whole thing.  I’m just not a big fan of funerals to begin with.  And I don’t understand the point of ‘viewing’ the corpse.  I asked someone afterwards why they show the corpse, and they said it was to dignify them.  Well, IMO, if you want to show dignity, you close the casket.  At my funeral, I sure hope it’s closed casket.

It’s pretty weird to have to think about what your funeral’s going to be like.  But I guess you gotta start thinking at some point.  When I saw the email at work informing everyone that a former coworker passed away, I remember thinking, “I wonder if he wants people to know.”   Maybe I’m just weird, but I might actually prefer to go quietly and be forgotten than to have everyone talk about my death.

I was asked to play piano at the funeral.  However, the funeral service is at the same time as the masterclass that I’ll be performing at (i had a premonition that this would happen).
Right after the viewing, I went to Dr. Rebecca Penneys (Professor at Eastman and recording artist) recital and thought some more about the viewing, about performing tomorrow at 10am in the same auditorium, and of course, the music (Schubert’s Moment Musicaux, Mompou, Mozart, etc).  I have to wake up early tomorrow to play for Dr. Penneys the Chopin Etude (Op. 25, No. 12) at the masterclass–I feel my hands perspiring as I’m typing this.  On Monday, Dr. N allowed me to practice in the auditorium on the 10′ Steinway.  It was a neat experience to say the least though the fact that the keys were incredibly difficult to press down and the dynamic range being limited (in other words, the piano’s great for Mozart, Schubert, etc, but for fast and loud pieces, it can be potentially disastrous).  I’m going to have to slow down the tempo just a tad when I perform tomorrow.  You know what, I don’t really care how many wrong notes I play (there’s bound to be a few here and there) as I’m going to let my hair down.  I believe that it’s better to make a few mistakes here and there, but make the instrument sing rather than play noteperfect but all flat.

Just remember to bring out the melodic contours of the piece, dynamic ranges, the accented notes, use your upper arm (to create the ‘basic rhythm). Your hands should be flat and to bend your wrists sideways at the top/bottom notes.

Today was definitely not one of my better days (there were some other things that I left out here).  Whether they [the audience] like it or not, they’re going to hear about it tomorrow.

There weren’t too many people in the audience.  There were probably less than 20 in the audience.   There is sure to be more at the next masterclass because it’s Dr. Rebecca Penneys teaching (Dr. Kim was under her tutelage at Eastman’s).

The students’ performances were what you would expect from amateurs.  Good effort and some good ideas here and there, but very raw, unpolished playing (i’m probably no different).  Dr. Kim’s a very funny guy and really knows how to get his point across using funny analogies.  Here’s what I learned:

In a lot of Baroque music, the ending is ‘long’ and ‘late’.  Long refers to how long you hold the note(s) before the last chord/note (Dr. Kim used the image of a skateboarder on a halfpipe, up in the air, then down again).  Also, because of the difference between a harpsichord and a more dynamic instrument such as the piano, you want to make the 16th notes sound much more busier than the 8th notes.

With the Chopin Mazurka, he encouraged the student to take breaths between phrases lest the audience get bored and confused about the message.  In chromatic passages, rubato has an interesting effect.  Exeriment with rubato in passages containing chromatic notes.

Silence can be golden.  Dr. Kim mentioned how when Horowitz played, he would play loud passages that were immediately followed by a half-second of complete silence and this had a delirious effect on the listeners.  Created more drama.  Experiment with this.

The Schumann piece lacked the ‘punctuation’ needed to create excitement.  Pay close attention to which notes are stressed.

The Liszt piece was very raw and Dr. Kim asked the student to use more rubato in some passages, and if you’re going to play a cadenza in the beginning, you need to play another cadenza later on in the piece (which the performer forgot to do).  Also, there’s a fulcrum in the 2nd or 3rd finger and work on wrist rotation.

Spent the entire hour playing the Chopin Etude (“Ocean”). I had practiced for an hour earlier in the practice rooms (which had software keys) and had warmed up pretty well and was playing at tempo (=120). I asked Dr. N if I could play on her Steinway in the office (there’s a Steinway grand and Kawai grand side by side in her office–wish my office space resembled that!)…usually the student plays on the Kawai, since the piano at the concert hall is a Steinway, what better way to prepare? Turns out her Steinway is quite new and doesn’t seem broken in yet. I was clearly struggling through the first few passages as the Steinway keys were probably the toughest to press than any I could remember and to worsen things, the depth of the keys seemed to be only 3/4 of what I’m used to. The pedal had the same problem. It was so tight and the depth was maybe half of that of a normal piano. So it was very difficult to vary the gradations.

Dr. N encouraged me to work on rhythmic accuracy in certain passages. Sometimes, I try to deceive the audience by playing a group of notes too quickly or maybe stress the offbeat when I shouldn’t. She recommended that I practice slow with a metronome on. Slow practice will make everything more accurate, she says.

She also gave me a pep talk on the masterclass (2 weeks from now) which I’ll participate in. I told her this etude is scary to play without any warmups whatsoever. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to play a few measures before the masterclass to get a feel for the piano. Maybe two Monday’s from now (next week is Spring Break, so no class) I’ll get a chance to ‘rehearse’ there. Another idea is to play another ’slower’ etude such as the Left Hand etude (G-sharp minor) as the first piece. And the Ocean etude as the last. I may suggest that to Dr. N next week.

Dr. N wants me to play the Rhapsody atTh tempo (=132). However, I feel that this is too fast. I think I should play the piece a bit faster than what I’m normally playing, but maybe closer to 123 than 132. I just feel that playing this piece too fast makes for a very agitated audience. I guess people’s interpretation of ‘drowning’ (I tend to view the bass notes acting as the current pulling the upward RH melody notes down) is a tad different. Yes, there is a struggle and the tempi in the piece should suggest that, however, I feel that the main character of the piece feels resigned to her fate early on in the piece and the whole piece is really more reflective/contemplative-melancholic than agitato-desperation. But that’s me. I’ll learn to play it at both tempo. The great Josef Hoffman once noted that his teacher, Anton Rubenstein once remarked that you have to “know how to play a piece differently on a cloudy day than you would a sunny one.”

The last 25 minutes or so was spent on the Chopin Etude. Dr. N is going to sign me up to play for Rebecca Penneys on stage in a semi-packed auditorium 3 Saturdays from now, which is somewhat daunting come to think of it. I need to start practicing this piece at least every other day if I want to do well. Dr. N liked my progress with the piece as it sounds more ‘energetic’ than my previous playings (which were more melancholic–notice a theme here?). I’m able to carry the momemtum of the piece forward instead of feeling restraint from being overly meticulous with hitting the right notes. I’m going to start practicing one hand alone and clean up the notes a bit. Musically, I think it’s getting there (following the melodic contours of the piece and knowing when to poco rit to set up entrance into a new key); however, technically speaking, it’s not as clean as I would like it and that’s where I need to work on.

I have a makeup lesson this coming Thurday at 2pm (will work on the Etude again and bring the Mozart Sonata)

Remember that the left hand accompaniment should sound like a murmur/battling brook. The Alberti bass prevents decay. For the most part, your rhythms are accurate, except for b. 27, b. 54, 56-8.

• Play b. 58-61 with humor. Follow the markings suggested by Dr. N.
• b.73, 74. Note the Fp.
• watch rhythm in b.186.
• in b. 239, you should start your trill on the C per the rules of the Classical period.

Tonight’s performer was Alexander Kobrin, the 2005 Van Cliburn Competition Gold Medalist. I had high expectations going in, and was quite delighted to see the Brahms Rhapsodies on the program (i learned the B minor Rhapsody a few years back and am currently learning the G minor one). However, the recital got off to a shaky start as the Brahms rhapsodies were played with excessive rubatto and sounded ‘rushed’. If you’re a fan of Brahms’ music, you appreciate the fact that it sounds good without being overly sentimental. Kobrin rushed through the two rhapsodies and you almost get the sense that he was trying too hard to display virtuosity in a piece that requires more delicate handling. The listener never got a chance to feel the expansive chord progressions and the rhythmic pulses of the B minor rhapsody nor did he bring out the Jeckyll-Hyde quality of the G minor rhapsody.

The other Brahms shorter piano works that he played started off sounding just as perturbed, though after the A minor Intermezzo, he began to give more consideration to the music. In contrast, his playing of the Rachmaninoff Etudes Tableaux was excellent and it was only during which you understood what the judges at the Van Cliburn Competition heard. Kobrin also played two encore pieces–the A Major Prelude (No. 7) and the G Major (No. 3) Prelude.

In conclusion, Kobrin played the Rachmaninoff pieces brilliantly, but the Brahms pieces seemed foreign to him as if he lacked the maturity to play ‘deeper’ pieces.

The real Van Cliburn, 71, will be in town next month to perform the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Florida Orchestra. Tickets are $75-$150 dollars. I hope it’s not sold out…

Below’s the program:

___________________________________________

Van Cliburn Gold Medalist

Soloist
Alexander Kobrin

Program
Once every four years, a select group of the world’s finest young pianists test their considerable talents in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, named by the Chicago Tribune “the most prestigious classical piano contest in the world.” You’ll relish the profound virtuosity of this year’s winner, Alexander Kobrin, who represents the finest from a field of 147 contestants from 33 countries.

Recital Program:
BRAHMS — Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 (No. 1 in B minor, No. 2 in G minor)

BRAHMS — Fantasies, Op. 116 (Capriccio in D minor, Intermezzo in A minor, Capriccio in G minor, Intermezzo in E major, Intermezzo in in E minor, Intermezzo in E major, Capriccio in D minor)

RACHMANINOFF — Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 (No. 1 in C minor, No. 2 in A minor, No. 3 in F-sharp minor, No. 4 in B minor, No. 5 in E-flar minor, No. 6 in A minor, No. 7 in C minor, No. 8 in D minor, No. 9 in D major)