I dedicate this performance to Keymaster

[RockmaninoffParticipant 1641]

For the wonderful mod Keymaster’s inexhaustible and uplifting insights, and for building this website, I hope this can in some small way be regarded as a thank-you from me to him.

Overall, I’m pretty proud of the performance, though my phone camera and microphone leave a lot to be desired.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1pHEZQzQ-uZSGdWWDJfd3YwY3c/view?usp=sharing

". . . elle, suivant l’usage des femmes et des chats qui ne viennent pas quand on les appelle et qui viennent quand on ne les appelle pas, s’arrêta devant moi et m’adressa la parole"—Prosper Mérimée

[KeymasterKeymaster]

Well, s~~~. I’m more touched by that than you could ever know, because Chopin is my favorite (especially the preludes), but I also performed to that music once in another life. Perhaps I will tell you about it some day.

( Those trills & flurries are a bitch, aren’t they.
But your fingering was very clever. )

Very moved by this. Thank you.

And PS. The creator gave you great hands and fingers born for the 88 keys.

If you keep doing what you've always done... you're gonna keep getting what you always got.

[Anonymous 24]

Well done Rock. Very impressive.

[RockmaninoffParticipant 1641]

I’m glad you liked it, Key! I was thinking about rerecording, because I botched one or two sections, but that came out better than any other time I’ve practiced it, so I decided to keep it.

Keymaster wrote:

because Chopin is my favorite

You told me that in an earlier thread, and I hadn’t, at the time, known any Chopin (other than the name and that he composed for the piano). So I looked up the preludes, and when I heard that one, it was so beautiful, it actually physically hurt and I knew I had to learn it.

Keymaster wrote:

( Those trills & flurries are a bitch, aren’t they.
But your fingering was very clever. )

Thanks! Yes, surprisingly enough, those are the hardest parts of that piece.

Keymaster wrote:

And PS. The creator gave you great hands and fingers born for the 88 keys.

I’ve been told that I have very womanly fingers. I’m glad I at last found a manly use for them.

". . . elle, suivant l’usage des femmes et des chats qui ne viennent pas quand on les appelle et qui viennent quand on ne les appelle pas, s’arrêta devant moi et m’adressa la parole"—Prosper Mérimée

[KeymasterKeymaster]

Rockmaninoff wrote:

I’m glad you liked it

Liked it? You couldn’t have picked a better piece.

Rockmaninoff wrote:

You told me that in an earlier thread, and I hadn’t, at the time, known any Chopin

You mean you learned this only SINCE THEN??? That’s amazing!
If you played it from memory too, then there is no God.

Rockmaninoff wrote:

Thanks! Yes, surprisingly enough, those are the hardest parts of that piece.

I know it. They have to be as-fast-as-you can without breaking pace.

Really and truly Bravo.

I won’t forget it and will remember to thank you in my own way when the time is right.

If you keep doing what you've always done... you're gonna keep getting what you always got.

[HitmanParticipant]

that was inspirational.
you are clearly talented Rockmaninoff.
and your hands don’t look womanly at all..
i couldn’t play that if my life depended on it !
iv’e always admired musicians.
thanks for the share man !

[Anonymous 54]

Nice touch! Beautifuly excecuted ! You have the hands of a surgeon.People who dont play dont realize the amount of intellect it took to play that!

[AttonParticipant]

Nice work there

A MGTOW is a man who is not a woman's bitch!

[RockmaninoffParticipant 1641]

Keymaster wrote:

You mean you learned this only SINCE THEN??? That’s amazing!

I can get quite discouraged when playing piano, since it takes SO LONG to learn just one short little prelude, as you probably know. So your comment cheered me up a bit, if, admittedly, only in the schadenfreude sense, that it doesn’t take me as long as I thought.

Keymaster wrote:

If you played it from memory too, then there is no God.

Yup, from memory.

Learned a good chunk of it when I was home from school during winter break, and had nothing to do but play piano, so that might have helped.

It’s just an issue of finding the first note (not hard when you have the score), play it, find the second note from that, then recursively iterate that process over and over and over (for three months, apparently) till the whole piece (as you’ve seen) is in muscle memory, refining here and there on successive practices.

". . . elle, suivant l’usage des femmes et des chats qui ne viennent pas quand on les appelle et qui viennent quand on ne les appelle pas, s’arrêta devant moi et m’adressa la parole"—Prosper Mérimée

[MattNYCParticipant 2329]

Classy. Well done.

[BlacqueJacqueShellacqueParticipant 6890]

Did anyone else drop tears? Rockmaninoff, what a gift! Both the gift the Lord bestowed you with and also the one you have given KeyMaster. Everyone in my family plays and instrument but me. I have the utmost appreciation for your special talent. Thank you for sharing this with all of us! Richard Halley is clapping beside me. Peace my friend, and thanks again.

[RockmaninoffParticipant 1641]

BlacqueJacqueShellacque wrote:

I have the utmost appreciation for your special talent.

Thank you! Though I don’t really like the word “talent”; it implies something immanent in the soul. I don’t really believe I have any talent; anything that I can do on the piano is the direct result of my spending 1-2 hours a day on that instrument, going over passages over and over again till they’re, if not perfect, at least satisfactory.

I’m convinced that, with most of the pieces that are part of my repertoire, I can’t actually “play” them, but rather I have the ability to make them sound convincing enough that someone who doesn’t know the piece would think it sounds good.

The prelude I posted is one of those exceptions; I do actually think I can play that one.

". . . elle, suivant l’usage des femmes et des chats qui ne viennent pas quand on les appelle et qui viennent quand on ne les appelle pas, s’arrêta devant moi et m’adressa la parole"—Prosper Mérimée

[Bestieboy666Participant 2358]

Wow. Very soothing & relaxing, while browsing the forum. Replayed a few times.

Women are so bad, if they changed the law so I kept the house, I still wouldn't marry one. I'd rather be homeless.

[Author]

Posts