Arturo Michelangeli - Debussy Reflets dans l'eau

Another water piece. Composed by Debussy. Performed by Legendary Michelangeli.

Imagination

The power of imagination has been under-determined by many people. Imagination can inspire both a scientist and an artist. The imagination can shine a light on your success or scare you from pursuing your ideal. Imagination can make you stop trying after failure or make you keep trying after failure. The difference is small. It is just a split-second in your mind. But the consequences is widely different when the imagination becomes reality.

What can imagination do for a pianist? Pianist can apply visual imagination in preparation of a piece. Close your eyes, you can visually imagine how your fingers move to play a certain piece. That is like dancers "choreographing" their piece. While practising, pianist "choreograph" their hand movements to achieve certain sound. That is always called the technical part of practising a piece.

On a higher level, something more concerning to a pianist is the aural imagination. Ultimately a pianist wants to present a piece that is aurally ideal in his/her mind. So, that imagination comes before visual imagination. Aural imagination is the core for the visual imagination for a pianist. It is the artistic part of the practising process.

With those two imaginations, you will attract a good friend - physcal sensation of performing a piece. It is not a goal in practising. However you will attain it eventually without purpose. However, treating your "good friend" well will give you support when you need it in performance. Many times we have attention slip in performance, the physical sensational memory will catch you when you fall and keep you going. It is hidden in your subsconscious. It appears when you are in a memory slip to bridge your over the small gaps. Sensational memory is a good friend for you when you perform. But it is not your leader. It just comes to accompany you in performance as a result of your practise.

To enhance your aural imagination, you can listen to more music performed by other people. To enhance your visual memory, watch live performance and PRACTISE on your piano a lot. PRACTISING is the only way that will enhance your physical sensational imagination for your live performance. All these are powerful for any high performance task. Be it sports or career. Your imagination is like your will power over your own body. If you imagine you are calm, you 'will' your own body to be calm. If you imagine your fingers move certain way, you are actually "will"-ing your fingers to move that way.

Of course all the imaginations are good at enhancing your attention. It helps you to focus because you expect specific things before it happens. This is the benefit of focus. And right away, you can't believe how good your memory has become.

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2

My most favorite part of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2. Magical. It feels like a snowball rolling, gaining momentum and dangerously rolling. Sound better on HQ recording.

Quote

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
-- Samuel Johnson, Lexicographer

Dance music - Tango

Playing dance music is a good way to develop good sense of rhythm and steady pulse. Beside avoiding the chance to get bored by steady beat music, dance music also helps students to cherish excitement accompanying the strong steady beat throughout the music.

A Sassy Tango- Tango for Piano by Igor Stravinsky



Another tango- Libertango (Piazzolla) - performed by Yo-Yo Ma and chamber group

Left Hand vs Right Hand

Your left hand and right hand should always compliment each other like a husband and a wife. However, there is always a dominant hand. Most people are right hand dominant. Some are left hand dominant.

In most cases, the dominant usually leads the sub-dominant hand. However, if the right hand is too far more capable than left hand, it is time to train your left hand so that you can achieve some kind of balance. So that besides right hand complimenting left hand, left hand is also capable of complimenting right hand.

Sometimes, without training, your left hand is playing too loud and drown your right hand's beautifully crafted melody. Sometimes, when the right hand give the left hand a chance to voice out, left hand is too nervous, inconfident or incapable of doing that.

Some very good piece for training the independence of your left hand are first movement of Corigliano's Etude Fantasy, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 in B-flat major for the left hand and Ravel's Piano Concerto for Left Hand in D Major.

In these pieces, wide leaps, playing both melody and accompaniment with only left hand helps to challenge the pianist's other side of brain to think about more actions at one time for left hand.

Corigliano's Etude Fantasy


Ravel's Piano Concerto for Left Hand Concerto in D Major (The Beautiful Cadenza Part) performed by Leon Fleisher


Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no 4 first movement performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy

Beethoven's Bright Side

Composed in a "sunny mode key", A-flat MAJOR. Enjoy the cantabile of the theme in the first movement. The third is my favorite form- Fugue. It is very touching. Performed by pianist Sviatoslav Richter.

I. Moderato cantabile Live recording


II. Allegro molto- Adagio ma non troppo - Arioso dolente


III. Fuga. Allegro ma non troppo - L'istesso tempo dell'arioso - L'istesso tempo della Fuga, poi di nuovo vivente