Do you think its possible to play classical piano without proper technique?!
Question: I learned technique and music theory for 4 years when I was younger. I haven't continued to get lessons, but I will pick up pieces and try to play them. I'm not trying to play the most difficult songs out there, but they must be somewhat challenging. Is it possible to practice and learn without further training? i.e. Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin
Answers: I learned technique and music theory for 4 years when I was younger. I haven't continued to get lessons, but I will pick up pieces and try to play them. I'm not trying to play the most difficult songs out there, but they must be somewhat challenging. Is it possible to practice and learn without further training? i.e. Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin
Sometimes musicality and technique go hand in hand (maybe even always). So you need proper technique. But it also varies. I mean if you had shown Horowitz's technique before he became famous to a teacher, he/she would have said 'what the heck is that?' So try learning with a teacher.
I can but it makes it a lot harder - eventually you should pick up better technique naturally without realising it
Possible... yes, of course it is. The definition of proper technique varies from teacher to teacher. Having great technique makes the process, already a difficult one, easier. Alfred Brendel, one of the world's greats, had relatively few formal lessons. The teachers job is far broader than just telling you how and when to press keys. Inspiration and showing how to deal with the difficulties when they arise are perhaps more important. They can also help you decide which pieces to work on so that you make the best use of your time. You can waste a great deal of time working on pieces that you are not ready for. Even if you don't have regular formal lessons - it is a really good idea to have someone who "understands" to turn to when progress gets tough.
Well, of course it is possible ... but would you be happy with the results? I mean, I can't even understand entertaining such a thought.
It is like saying, is it possible to sit down at a clean table if you only gave your tablecloth a lick and a promise, rather than a good scrub...
Why ever would you try?
Part of the fun is in getting there ..... and in addition, the results are ever so much better
I always liked practising, just like I like making a strawberry cream cake ....just as I like working with strawberries, I love my scales and my 5-finger exercises, just as I like making the cake, I love memorizing, just as I like making the whipped cream, I like working out the interpretation...just as I like serving my cake, I love performing .......it is a gift of your love........you don't want to offer anyone something that is not nice, do you? If you can at all manage not to do that?
I never understand people who think practising is drudgery .....if you don't enjoy doing something why do it at all? ..... there is no way to be a good musician without loving every step of it .... every good musician I know has utter respect for the entire process.....
translate it to another field: ballet ....how on earth can you dance well if you don't like your exercises: your work at the "barre"? Are you skipping your plies (knee bends) and saying that you want to do great jetes (jumps), but you don't want to bother to make sure your plies are good and your legs strong enough to land safely? It just does not make sense...
I fail to understand this "something for nothing" attitude people might have .... I can understand not liking practising and in fact at one time I did not like it at all because I did not know how to go about it ...but fortunately I found a piano teacher who was an absolute prince and taught so carefully ....he listened carefully, he was so attentive, so interested in what he was doing and how you were doing with your music that his enthusiasm, love and care were catching...
you just *had* to *come down" with a case of *musicianship* ... alas, I only worked with him one season, but it has always stuck with me!
One day, in his inimitable way, when he was lighting a cigarette, he demonstrated his attitude. See, he said ~ holding his cigarette holder in one hand and his cigarette in the other ~ when you want to put the cigarette into the holder, you put it right in just so ....not to the left, not to the right, but just perfectly.
He continued, "All your music must be just like that! Every note you play, everything you do, every consideration you make must be just so." And he made good on his promise. He would listen to my scales with the devotion of a deer looking after her fawn.....if I made even the smallest slip, he would have me start the entire thing all over again....and he would see me through it to the end, until I got it just right.
He was a jewel. I miss him
You can learn anything you want if you put your mind to it. I play the piano and although I have some classical training in my background, I started by learning on my own. It definetly does help to have a professor. To take lessons. You can understand better your movements. It's almost as if you understand the piano better and it becomes your best friend. But there are many friends that I have who've learned on their own and can play AMAZINGLY. It all depends on you. Do you think you need lessons? Or is your technique best for you. Good luck!
Definitely. Look at Mozart, no one taught him how to play, a child prodigy. Beethoven, started to become deaf later in his career, practically a genius on the piano. Chopin, where do I begin? And Franz Schubert, another musical genius. It depends on how you play the instrument. Which ever way feels comfortable for you.
The thing about classical music (i.e. Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart) is that it's very transparent and flaws in technique are very exposed. Romantic music (Chopin, Schubert, Brahms) is less so, but to the sensitive ear a lack of technique is still apparent.
With any of it, of course, it's possible to play the notes, but to actually make music, technique is your best friend. If you don't want to take lessons, I would at least recommend Hanon's "The Virtuoso Pianist" which will help you a great deal in developing technique. Also recommended is Seymour Bernstein's book "With your own two hands". Very good book.
I suppose that if you are only playing "for your own pleasure", as people say, then OK. I'm not sure why you'd want to , but OK. However, if you do begin to play more challenging pieces, you risk doing physical damage (tendinitis, carpel tunnel syndrome, etc.). Compare it to learning yoga. Maybe you have some experience, but there are some things you shouldn't attempt on your own.
You mentioned Schubert, Beethoven and Chopin. I'm not sure why, because they all wrote pieces of varying difficulty. Hmm.