Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Themed recital - the BIG ONE!

I've recorded a couple of them.One's o.k ish the other one's not so good.
I've only got a rubbish video camera that records for a maximum of three minutes so I kind of feel the tension when I'm recording.It feels more like a live performance than I'm used to.I set the recording equipment running and then I have to perform.I know I can have another go but I'm always conscious it's there especially towards the end when the tension gets worse and the only thing going through my head is 'Don't make a mistake Tim'.Having to perform under a tiny bit of pressure is probably a good thing to learn though.
My third piece is nearly in memory, probably about a month off being recordable.

All systems go. I was a bit concerned about getting my audio files into a video streaming format. I had a go at this today with Op 102 no 6. As it turns out, movie maker was already loaded on my operating system and it wasn't so much to figure out. I hope we're not being scored for video creativeness though, ... it's quite lame. But otherwise I'm happy it's working and ready to be ready at any time.

I still have a ways to go, but I should have more time to spend on it now that SuperBowl and Mardi Gras are done. I can get through it, but not very fast, and definitely not evenly. I'm going to start seriously working on it again after I get my recital piece recorded this week (I hope). But it'll happen. Hopefully I'll get it to Presto. If not, I will settle for something close

I recorded two versions, I have two differing piano sounds on my little Digital. When I did `em, thought they were rubbish. But on relistening, I reckon it`s as good as I`ll ever get . . .So I`ll have to think about the vid! Can I mime to that ha ha (Joe King)

67-2 is sort-of finished but for expression - still experimenting. Fascinating listening to and watching the pros play. There’s a staggering variety of interpretation most of which is new to me and needs to be unravelled. A teacher would help here. S/he’d say “do this” or “do that” . OTOH without a teacher one is forced to listen critically so I see that as a beneficial trade-off. I’m trying to resist being plagiaristic - there are temptations although a lot of it is out of reach technically.

Still quite a bit more to do on 38-1. On the face of it it’s a less difficult piece but the chord voicings while simple are erratic so this is making heavier work for memorising and particularly fingering.

I think we`ve all been challenged here in some way or another. For my own part, I`m having to read as I play; I don`t think I`d be able to manage without the music as a prompt. . . that`s a tad unusual for me

Progress report: not anywhere close to recording. I put it up for a week and started again yesterday. The tricky passage is coming along nicely with the break from it (sometimes that works...don't know why). I'll be focusing on the flow of the whole piece. Should be presentable by end of March for sure.

Just keep at them Valencia, you will get there. As for the red dot, Have you tried recording a session, so like play a few of your favourite pieces, then try the one your wanting to record, I find that helps

It sounds like we are all having some difficulties/tricky bits, in one way or another, I see it that overcomming these is a great acheivement and a reward in itself for our efforts, keep up the good work folks And no need to worry over time, we will be ready when we are all ready, we're in this together

Really looking forward this going live, as I'm sure many here on PW are,

Richard, we have the highest expectations from your performance......... no pressure

No worries, mate. I'm relying on your "when we're all ready" line to keep me going till December!

Now I’ve divided my piece into four sections, and I practice each one separately. I think I’m getting better, but I’m not able to record it yet. Nevertheless I’d like to start recording in early March.

I have the notes and the dynamics down. I'm unsure about tempo, but I don't think it sounds bad at my current slow-ish tempo. My big challenge is voicing the melody so it sings out especially above the rest of the RH chords (playing the LH softer is going OK, but it's hard for me to have varied dynamics between the fingers of one hand). I haven't been practicing this for a while, feeling like I had reached a plateau. Time to bring it out again, and start recording, to get an honest listen to how I'm doing with the melody.

Generally I don't think we should worry too much about tempo. I have listened to quite a few performances over the years, and I'm not always impressed the most by the virtuouses being able to play fastest. Mendelssohn's pieces (like pieces by Chopin and other composers) contain lots of fine details that become barely audible when played too fast. This is very obvious in music by e.g. Mozart and Haydn where phrasing is very important. I have heard lots of Haydn-sonatas played at high speed. I'm impressed by the abilities of the performers, but still disappointed because all the delicate detail is gone. This is an issue in the SWWs too. I think all of us should try to develop our strongest sides and practice our pieces accordingly. High speed isn't necessarily what we all should aim for. Rather try to make the pieces sound nice.

Amen to that, 100%. It`s about the music, not the player.

My last attempt to getting the remaining peices covered

Book 1, op. 19b (1829–1830)
No. 1 Andante con moto in E major - Dipsy
No. 2 Andante espressivo in A minor - ragnhildK
No. 3 Molto allegro e vivace in A major - Evelyn S
No. 4 Moderato in A major - Devrie
No. 5 Poco agitato in F-sharp minor - Ganddalf
No. 6 Andante sostenuto in G minor - Recaredo

Book 2, op. 30 (1833–1834)
No. 1 Andante espressivo in E-flat major - Valencia
No. 2 Allegro di molto in B-flat minor - Numerian
No. 3 Adagio non troppo in E major - PianoStudent88
No. 4 Agitato e con fuoco in B minor -DanS
No. 5 Andante grazioso in D major - Beric
No. 6 Allegretto tranquillo in F-sharp minor - LimeFriday

Book 3, op. 38 (1836–1837)
No. 1 Con moto in E-flat major - dire tonic
No. 2 Allegro non troppo in C minor - ROSSY
No. 3 Presto e molto vivace in E major - Morodiene
No. 4 Andante in A major - peterws
No. 5 Agitato in A minor - Dipsy
No. 6 Andante con moto in A-flat major - Sam S

Book 4, op. 53 (1839–1841)
No. 1 Andante con moto in A-flat major - Morodiene
No. 2 Allegro non troppo in E-flat major - Ganddalf
No. 3 Presto agitato in G minor - musicusblau
No. 4 Adagio in F major - WiseBuff
No. 5 Allegro con fuoco in A minor - Sam S
No. 6 Molto Allegro vivace in A major -DanS

Book 5, op. 62 (1842–1844)
No. 1 Andante espressivo in G major - ZRTF90
No. 2 Allegro con fuoco in B-flat major - Oleg Yakerevich
No. 3 Andante maestoso in E minor - ZRTF90
No. 4 Allegro con anima in G major - Oleg Yakerevich
No. 5 Andante con moto in A minor - LimeFriday
No. 6 Allegretto grazioso in A major - Numerian

Book 6, op. 67 (1843–1845)
No. 1 Andante in E-flat major - timmyab
No. 2 Allegro leggiero in F-sharp minor - dire tonic
No. 3 Andante tranquillo in B-flat major - timmyab
No. 4 Presto in C major - Carey
No. 5 Moderato in B minor - Pavel.K
No. 6 Allegro non troppo in E major - Numerian

Book 7, op. 85 (1834–1845)
No. 1 Andante espressivo in F major - Valencia
No. 2 Allegro agitato in A minor - Wayne33yrs
No. 3 Presto in E-flat major - Morodiene
No. 4 Andante sostenuto in D major - Rupak Bhattacharya
No. 5 Allegretto in A major - Ganddalf
No. 6 Allegretto con moto in B-flat major - Numerian

Book 8, op. 102 (1842–1845)
No. 1 Andante un poco agitato in E minor - Greener
No. 2 Adagio in D major - FarmGirl
No. 3 Presto in C major - AimeeO
No. 4 Un poco agitato, ma andante in G minor - LadyChen
No. 5 Allegro vivace in A major - LadyChen
No. 6 Andante in C major - Greener

A voice of musical reason. Thank you Ganddalf...that frees us all to make the best music we can, worrying less about speed and more about expression. Our own enjoyment of practicing and the pleasure of the listeners we hope to share with should be enhanced with this vision of our SWW. Sometimes the quest for faster tempo frustrates me and makes the piece something I want to just lay aside.

Notice the edit folks, only 3 remaining

There are some couraueous people out there. And many observers . . . best o` luck guys! Your fingers will be going where they have never gone before . . . or as fast heh heh

what's the consensus on this?