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None of Schumann's Op. 15, Scenes from Childhood, is particularly easy. I think people tend to conflate 'scenes from childhood' with 'easy pieces for children,' and they're clearly not.
Yes, there is a whole genre of music that seems to use Childhood as a theme. I've broken these down into groups: Pieces FOR Children, and Pieces ABOUT Children. The second category is, understandably, way harder, lol.
None of Schumann's Op. 15, Scenes from Childhood, is particularly easy. I think people tend to conflate 'scenes from childhood' with 'easy pieces for children,' and they're clearly not.
Clearly not!
Lisa
Playing RCM 7-8 repertoire Cunningham Studio Grand & Yamaha CLP645
"I tell my piano the things I used to tell you." - Frederic Chopin
It's an intermediate piece, so it's kind of supposed to be hard .
But to answer you question: - Because it has a polyrythm. As simple one, but still, playing a different rythm in the left and right hand is hard - It has multiple voices, playing three voices with two hands is complicated - It's really fast, at least the original tempo by Schumann is, though I personally prefere it slower
Here's another version by Paul Barton Note the slight hesitations here and there which I think are quite deliberate and kind of help the phrasing (but I'm no expert, sadly, so could be completely wrong). I 'picked this piece up' when @KevinM showed us his version which I thought rather good and was actually why I 'picked it up,' kind of 'must play that' and re-awoke my interest in Schumann. Thanks, Kevin. I think it's a very nice piece, with the different 'voices' LH RH, very 'open' sound etc. and tbh I think very enjoyable not only to play but also to look at the sheet music - having said that, no, I don't do perfection but it 'often works nicely ' It is interesting to watch how Paul plays it; nice and light, gives a good tone. Well, IMHO.
PS. I think the fingering is very important to get the sense of fluidity, and I did have to force myself to get that right before it started to flow.
Last edited by petebfrance; 02/01/2108:44 AM. Reason: the PS
None of Schumann's Op. 15, Scenes from Childhood, is particularly easy. I think people tend to conflate 'scenes from childhood' with 'easy pieces for children,' and they're clearly not.
Not particularly easy compared to what? The Op.15 is(especially From From Lands and Peoples), very easy compared to most everything Schumann wrote except his Album for the Young and a few of the Bunte Blatter Op. 99.
Henle rates this piece a 4(the lowest intermediate level) and ABRSM rates it a 5. I also don't think this piece has what would usually be considered a 4 vs. 3 polyrhythm difficulty although some posters have mentioned this. One just plays the 16th note half way between the last note of the triplet and the next melody note.
OK, I've given up and commenced drinking instead. 👍👍
I've also renamed this piece FFS and I'm fine with that. 😂😂😂
haha I like your style!
This piece looks very challenging!
I nicknamed Knight Rupert, Night Rip-Apart. 😂😂😂 That was at least easier on the brain! 😊
I called Knight Rupert "Bad Santa." Foreign Lands... I always thought of as Wandering around lost in a foreign country or Is my hotel on this street? But FFS is a good fit, and is much simpler.
Henle rates this piece a 4(the lowest intermediate level) and ABRSM rates it a 5. I also don't think this piece has what would usually be considered a 4 vs. 3 polyrhythm difficulty although some posters have mentioned this. One just plays the 16th note half way between the last note of the triplet and the next melody note.
It's probably the easiest version of a polyrhythm but I still found it really hard to learn initially. I started this piece waaaay to early though, I completely underestimated it .
It's a beautiful piece, Lisa...I hope you persevere! I worked on it in December. I thought I was doing quite well...then I checked out a couple performances. OH [FFS!], it's supposed to be like 50% faster. Ooooops....well, I'll come back to it at some point.
It's a beautiful piece, Lisa...I hope you persevere! I worked on it in December. I thought I was doing quite well...then I checked out a couple performances. OH [FFS!], it's supposed to be like 50% faster. Ooooops....well, I'll come back to it at some point.
It's definitely getting easier, thank goodness! My brain finally kicked in, LOL!
Originally Posted by malkin
I called Knight Rupert "Bad Santa." Foreign Lands... I always thought of as Wandering around lost in a foreign country or Is my hotel on this street? But FFS is a good fit, and is much simpler.
I remember you said that when I was starting KR last year, LOL!!! And for what it's worth, this piece sounds a lot nicer when it's slower.
Originally Posted by petebfrance
Here's another version by Paul Barton Note the slight hesitations here and there which I think are quite deliberate and kind of help the phrasing (but I'm no expert, sadly, so could be completely wrong).
Thanks, I like this playing a lot! Very nice!
Lisa
Playing RCM 7-8 repertoire Cunningham Studio Grand & Yamaha CLP645
"I tell my piano the things I used to tell you." - Frederic Chopin
I think it is a difficult skill to project the melody in the right hand whilst playing the accompaniment lightly which is played both with the left and right. Try to play very quietly with the RH thumb which is not easy. You also have to shape the melody.
I therefore would advise you to persist as you'll find this skill in many pieces later. I play lots of pieces by mendelssohn and in songs without words he does this a lot! The one I am playing is something similar to your piece with accompaniment split between both left and right, so I too struggle with this when trying to play faster. Playing slower as suggested makes it easier.
A few years ago I "learned" this piece, but playing it was immensely difficult because of large movements of the left hand. Eventually I just stopped playing it.
Later, I saw a video of Horowitz playing it, and he barely moves his hands. That made me realize that I would need to rethink the distribution of notes between the hands completely. This rethinking has not yet commenced (been too busy with other works).
Roland FP-30, Roland E-28 Synthogy Ivory II Studio Grands, Production Voices Estate Grand, Garritan CFX Lite, Pianoteq 7.0 (Blüthner, Bechstein DG, Grotrian, Steinway D, K2)
A few years ago I "learned" this piece, but playing it was immensely difficult because of large movements of the left hand. Eventually I just stopped playing it.
Later, I saw a video of Horowitz playing it, and he barely moves his hands. That made me realize that I would need to rethink the distribution of notes between the hands completely. This rethinking has not yet commenced (been too busy with other works).
.
' It is interesting to watch how Paul plays it; nice and light, gives a good tone. Well, IMHO.
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