Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum River Flows in You - Yiruma

Hey PW.

Well, I just broke my mouse (touchpad right now) so that means less gaming for me and more piano.

I have been only playing piano for six months, and it is my first musical experience. I was first self-taught, then I started taking Piano I at school. Note reading is getting way easier, but like my teacher said the timing is the hard part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhN7SG-H-3k

So I decided to tackle this song a few days ago. I'm about halfway through (it is only 3 pages long). Having some trouble since both hands share the same key very quickly.

If anyone has played through this song, please share any tips for it!

I'm actually quite surprised I can even touch this song! I remember when I first started I tried - then less than five minutes later threw away the sheet music. Any estimate on how much experience is needed for this song?

Hi, 12fingers. "River Flows in You" is a beautiful piece, and pretty hard. I learned it a couple of years ago but haven't played it in a while. [but I'm now strongly tempted to pull it out again]

I'm not sure I have any tips for you. It was a great piece for practicing grace notes/ornamentations, and it sure gives those 4th and 5th fingers a workout. I did learn, the hard way, that this is a piece I can play only after being thoroughly warmed up, if that helps any for you.

You may want to ask your teacher whether he/she thinks you're ready to tackle the piece. My own impression is that most people at 6 months wouldn't be ready for it, but ymmv.

Well, well. This is interesting.

I just started this piece as well, and have had lessons for 6 months and a week. =) The only problem I'm really having with it so far is the timing in the places where you play a couple of 8th notes, then some 16th notes in your left hand, while playing a mixture of the two in the right hand as well. Sooner or later I'll get it, but it's a bit of a stickler right now.

Thankfully my teacher is excited to see me wanting to play it and convinced that I can. That's really helpful. =)

Haha, I wish I could see my teacher (at school) for help, but since its vacation I can't. I'm just about to spill over to page 3 on the sheets.

Its really easy once you find the pattern - the same broken chords and you need really fast pinky and ring fingers.

But the hardest part for me was the segment about a page and a half through where both hands need to play the same "E" key in succession. (You could probably see my other thread about it) I'm still struggling with it, but looking at videos on youtube, all the people I see just skip it and play one E key.

I think we have different versions. For one thing, mine is four pages long, and I don't think I have anywhere where I need to play the E with both hands.

I should try to find the first version I started with... that's probably what you have. I remember finding my current one soon after that and liking it better. =)

how long should it take to learn to play this song?

Well I've been at it for about 2 weeks and just need the last few measures (they are easy). This is with 7 months experience in music/piano.

But more experienced pianists can play this in minutes...

I would agree with Monica. The grace notes/ornamentations is the hardest part. Getting the notes down and playing it vanilla (without embezzlements) is one thing but getting those grace ones to sound natural will take some time.

I'm talking about myself here. I haven't been doing my Hanon.

Also Pedaling. Do you know when to change the pedal?

I haven't penciled in the pedal markings to my score but it pretty straightforward. Its pretty much a constant pulse. You can see him pedal at about 36 seconds in your video.