Comments | pianists: Getting back into Beethoven

gingerrose in pianists

Getting back into Beethoven

Jul 21, 2010 12:12

Do any of you have a composer who, while you enjoy listening to their music, just seem to have trouble deriving the same enjoyment from playing it? For me, that composer is Beethoven. Don't get me wrong, I love the piano sonatas--I just could never really bring myself to like playing them. My piano teacher tried to introduce me to Beethoven, but I ( Read more... )

Comments 14

jajunk July 21 2010, 17:25:33 UTC

I've never really considered that someone might enjoy listening to a composer but not playing his pieces, granted the technical ability is present. If awareness of the piece and general Beethoven-intelligence is what you're going for, just listening to the music should suffice. Listen to Kempf play Beethoven; I personally have learned a lot about the composer from this guy's great interpretations. There are some good videos on YouTube.

Something else you can try, is to buy the immense Classical Fakebook by Hal Leonard which includes main themes/melodies, changes, and lyrics if any, and use that to "fake" pieces or just skim through and read many at a time, having fun exploring composers and their works withoutt necessarily dedicating hours to a curious impulse.

Ps, maybe you like Waldstein because it's an absolutely amazing song :))

gingerrose July 22 2010, 13:56:06 UTC

Uh huh, it's difficult to explain why I don't enjoy playing it as much as I enjoy listening to it. There's just not that connection with Beethoven that I feel like I have with other composers. And it's definitely possible that I like the Waldstein because it's amazing. :-D

I totally did not know that there's a Classical Fakebook out there! That's simultaneously hilarious and also very helpful. And thanks for the pianist recommendation; YouTube videos can be really weird quality sometimes, but if there are good ones out there I'm definitely going to give it a listen. :-)

changing_heaven July 21 2010, 22:55:03 UTC

Hi! That's so funny that you're tackling the Waldstein - that's my summer project ( ... )

changing_heaven July 21 2010, 22:57:02 UTC

PS - This book is also very useful.

gingerrose July 22 2010, 14:00:54 UTC

It helps a lot, thank you! You're right in that the advice you're giving is pretty commonsense stuff, but it's amazing how easy it is to forget things like that. I'm hoping that, now that I'm ready to approach Beethoven, the fact that it's not immediately easy for me to understand will end up making learning the pieces even more exciting. :-)

I think we had that book in the music store where I used to work! :-D It looks awfully familiar. I bet I can get it on InterLibrary Loan at my school, so I'll check it out!

por_que_no July 21 2010, 23:04:59 UTC

Ahh, the Waldstein is one of my favorite Beethoven sonatas! The third movement has continued to elude me, though (I only have a 9th reach, which makes the return of the B section a lot more difficult)

I don't have any specific advice at the moment, but I felt the same way about Chopin until I started doing the G minor ballade (one of the few overplayed pieces that I liked enough to take it on)...I've actually found that, on days when it's not super sloppy, it's quite fun to play!

gingerrose July 22 2010, 14:06:52 UTC

High-fives for small hands! *high five* I am cursed with these perfect piano-playing long fingers...on super-tiny hands. :-( I probably only have about a 9th reach, too, so some parts of the Waldstein sounded pretty hilarious. So many of my piano lessons were spent adjusting pieces to my incredibly limited reach. It's good to know there's someone else out there who feels my pain ( ... )

por_que_no July 28 2010, 13:34:17 UTC

haha...I felt that way with a teacher (a grad student who taught as part of my preparatory program) I had in 8th/9th grade--he LOVED jazz and wanted to get me to play it, but my hands were too damn small and I'm so completely unfamiliar with playing in that style that it was just utter fail. At least my college piano prof and I could agree--Bach and Mozart are the two composers I can play, and he's a Mozart addict who also had me learn 4 WTC prelude and fugue sets in a single school year :P Oddly enough, I've also found I can do Liszt a lot better than Chopin!

deadache139 July 23 2010, 03:52:44 UTC

I'm in a similar situation. Love me some Beethoven, but when it comes to playing his music, he just isn't my guy. I've spent the last 2 years learning one movement per semester of a Beethoven Sonata (Op 31 No. 3). I was SO over this Sonata for the longest time (bad idea) but I finally gave it a break and now it's clicking. I've found that analyzing it thoroughly made a huge difference as well. Theory and history are my thing, so you just have to find your own way of approaching it.

Maybe one or two lessons would be beneficial--just to get a push in the right direction. Good luck!!

sploogal October 24 2010, 14:55:45 UTC

I love Beethoven! Especially his piano sonatas. I'm working on the Pathetique at the moment, and the first movement just seems to go on forever when I'm playing it! I find that the more I listen to the piece I'm working on, the more it makes sense to me when I'm playing it. It makes it easier to hear in my mind's ear where the piece is headed before my fingers get there ( ... )

gingerrose October 24 2010, 16:34:34 UTC

Thanks for the suggestions! I don't analyze nearly as often as I should when I'm playing. I also wonder if maybe I haven't just heard all the Beethoven sonatas too many times. :-P I do love listening to Beethoven, and maybe hearing it so much is making it difficult for them to feel fresh to me. Or maybe I just need to listen to a variety of different recordings.

To help my case, I did get an edition of the Beethoven sonatas from InterLibrary Loan recently. I'm embracing Beethoven, little by little! :-)