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Gee... guys/gals, I am so tired and I feel so bad about not responding to your recent comments. My brain is still in D.C., I think.

I PROMISE to check the Bailie book very soon, honest.

I started, in earnest, on the first page yesterday...that piece is a true heart-breaker for me. I was actually tearing up (just the pure beauty of it got to me) If you know the story of Chopin and Maria and the meaning of "zal," well, this is it!!

Will post again with more "professional" infomation and thanks for being so patient with me.


Regards,
Kathleen

Well, here goes. Here's my first whack at this and the first recording in this thread and also on the Forum. I've figured out how to use my Zoom but it's way harder to get through a piece with that red light watching than I thought it would be. I have a new found respect for recording artists and what they must go through to get it right. I don't have a reference recording for this Waltz other than the link in an earlier post in this thread so I don't really know how this is supposed to sound. I matched the tempo as best I could to the earlier posting.

http://www.box.net/shared/1lr5kaqrg5

Dear Starting Over:

Your recording was absolutely lovely! You have the passion of bars 1-16 down! Try to ease up a little on the left hand to smooth it out somewhat...but otherwise, really wonderful. AND your "ossia" was great. The tempo, IMO, perfect. Although I have heard it played faster, I prefer a slower pace to bring out the beauty of this section...

The "sempe delicatissino" and the "poco a poco" could use just more smoothing out also. This will come in time when you get the "hang" of the rhythm. It's quirky. If you listen to the recording I posted, it might help.

Congrats on a very fine job and being so brave to post first! As far as that red dot...I have nightmares.

I have been thinking about buying the zoom mic. Do you think it's worth the money and is it relatively easy to use?

Cheers!
Kathleen

Kathleen, thanks for the kind words. My wife tells me my left hand is too heavy as well, not just in this piece.

As for the Zoom, it's really a terrific little device. Very convenient and very versatile. It actually does much more than I've done with it so far; maybe I'll explore more of it's features. For basic recording, it's pretty well dead simple as long as you're familiar with computer basics. I'm using it with Audacity, a free shareware program, because it's simpler than the Cubase s/ware that comes with the Zoom. There's no playback on the Zoom other than through headphones so the computer is a vital part of the system. I recommend it. How do you record now?

Bob

Thanks, Bob...I guess I will have to break my piggy bank and cave in to all the raves about the Zoom.

I record one of two ways. I can either plug cable in right into my computer from my Clavinova. I also use Audacity. But my Clavinova, as great as it sounds...like a grand, needs an adjustment (tech guys charge like $100 bucks an hour, I think) because the volume isn't right. The bass booms with the slightest touch and the treble can compete. However, the quality comes through very nicely using a direct line.

Or I use a cheap mic and my old grand piano. My husband says it sounds like I'm coming from some coal mine, buried deep within the earth.

Here's my quandry. Do I spend the $300 on Zoom and still discover that I sound like I'm coming from a coal mine (my grand is old, but has a good sound, I think?).

or

do I call a tech guy to fix my Clavinova and then just plug in.

I would rather play on my grand....

What do do...what to do??

Thanks for the advice.

I just love this waltz. It's really the first piece I've played where I actually get a little overcome with emotion. Not from my playing, obviously...but the simple elegance and longing quality of the piece.

Kathleen

Hi Gerg;

I just reacquainted myself with the Ab Valse Op. 64 No. 3. While it is very lovely, it starts off so fast. I doubt I could ever play it, at least up to speed.

This is what Bailie quotes:

"Perhaps the overall patterns are too uniform, and the little variants and modulations too subtle to create instant eclat; but whatever the reason, this enchanting number has escaped the remorseless public hammering suffered by Nos 1 and 2 of Op. 64."

Kathleen

How is everyone doing on the waltz? Where are you? What problems might you be having?

Would like to hear from you...so the rest of us can possibly get some help, some questions answered, etc. :rolleyes:

I am still working on measures through 16...the pretty part (as I call it). I can't seem to slow myself down enough to get it under my hands better. I hear it in my head, and I want to play it at that tempo. I won't go on to the "quirky" section until I can play the first part, reasonably well.

Kathleen

I haven't been spending much time with my piano over the last couple of weeks... Negligent. I did, however, give the waltz a good effort over the weekend.

So far, I can play the piece through in rough. That is, I can make it to the end without any major disasters. The one section that consistently gives me trouble is the part that starts at the top of the second page on the sheetmusicarchive version (don't know the measure number off the top of my head). I think it's marked "con anima". My fingers make it around the notes well enough, but something about the rhythm is confusing me. It always feels like I'm off balance. I think I might need to dig up a recording and see what it's supposed to feel like... Practicing and counting it out are not getting the job done.

Hi Pianolina:

Good that you've got throught it. Congrats.

That part is really strange. The only way I know I'll be able to get it (once I come to it) is by listening to a recording, as many times as necessary...just as you suggested. And probably take one measure at a time. sometimes that's the only way.

I "cut" that part out of the piece. Maybe this will help.

Ab waltz- quirky section

I wonder how the last two sections fit in with the first. They don't seem to have the same "feeling."

Thanks for responding.
Kathleen

Regarding how they fit together... Moving from the first section into the second didn't really bother me - But when the main theme came back towards the end of the piece, it completely threw me for a loop. It felt like I was happily walking along, and then suddenly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. Totally un-poetic transition.

I remember parts of this piece very distinctly. I've heard it lots of times, though I'm not sure where. I thought it was the radio, but it hasn't been on in at least a week. The parts that I remember clearly are much easier to learn.

I'm hoping that listening to a recording will clarify how the sections fit together as well as make some sense of that second section. Although, it could also backfire. I heard someone playing the Raindrop prelude live on the radio this morning, and the interpretation was very different from mine. I can feel the tentacles of self-doubt wrapping around my brain.

Thanks for posting that clip. I'm away from my piano at the moment, but it helps in terms of understanding the character of that section. Much more lilting that I had been doing.

I'm having trouble with the rhythm in the second section as well. Kathleen, in the recording you posted, the tempo seems to speed up in this section but I don't see any indication of that in my music which is why I played it trying to keep the same tempo. The Fontana version apparently is marked "con anima" at this point but my music says "sempre delcatissimo". I don't know what "con anima" means. Animated? I'll post another attempt after I figure out what's going on. Maybe another reference recording would help but I don't have one.

Yes, (from my 4 years of Latin in high school...I knew they would come in handy someday), I would venture to say that "con anima" means with animation or motion. The "sempre delcatissimo'...always play it delicately.

I have a recording of Ashkenazy playing it. I'll post it ASAP. He plays a bit on the fast side, so don't be influenced too much by that.

You know...my view is that one should play a piece within a "reasonable" tempo according to the composer's markings. But then with Chopin, who's to say that the markings are actually his.

Talk about confusing. So please don't worry about trying to match up to a tempo on a recording.

Ashkenazy - parts of Op. 69, 1

Hope it helps,
Kathleen

Well, now that's completely different isn't it? Fast. Looks like anything goes with this waltz. Amazing how this music can be interpreted so differently by different pianists and still sound good...

from Starting Over
Ah...that's Chopin!!

Kathleen

I didn't have much time to practice last night, but I did play through this section a few times. It actually sounded quite a bit better. Not perfect, but better. Listening to the recording must have helped.

Something can be both lively and delicate at the same time, can't it? I was thinking something along those lines yesterday morning when I saw a bunch of little birds flitting around...

Yes, Pianolina...lively and delicate go together quite well. My husband has a birdbath in the backyard (which he keeps full). It is a delight to watch the birds flutter around it. Some big ones drop right and give themselves quite a bath...the water flying out all over the place. Other smaller ones "delicately" hover and take a sip and a short dip. Really so funny to watch.

Glad the hear the waltz is getting better. Things tend to get better the more often we do them.

Kathleen

You know what I meant .

I just recorded myself to help indentify trouble spots. The link is below, if you're interested. It's definitely not as clean and elegant as Starting Over's recording, but we all have to start somewhere. And yes, I do have a metronome... But no, clearly I did not use it.
Waltz

Pianolina: That was SO lovely. I am green with envy. I thought your timing was just fine. And as far as mentronomes go (some use them, I know), I sold mine at my last garage sale.

Really...so beautiful. You have the touch!!

BTW, is that a Zoom mic you are using??

Congrats,
Kathleen

Great work Pianolina. You have the timing better than I did in my recording, especially in that tricky second theme. Also, mixing up the tempos from one section to the next heightens the interest. Are you using the Fontana version? I'm going to take another run at this now that I have a better idea how it's supposed to sound.

Kathleen, you're up next...