Vlog

Here is my Vlog, in which I talk about my inspiration, research, etc.!
Arielle G. Vlog from A G on Vimeo.

Back to the Bass-ics

This week I started learning how to play Fur Elise. So far my right hand is pretty good, and my left hand is okay if I think about it hard enough, but when played together, that is a DISASTER! Fur Elise is German for "for Elise". I, as the musician, would assume that this piece, most likely a love song, should be played sweetly, gently, beautifully, maybe even played with the right notes... At the moment, however, my playing of Fur Elise would scare away whomever I am playing it for instead of portray my love.
 I was curious about the true meaning, purpose, etc., of the song, so, like all curious young thinkers should do, I did some research! I learned that there are many theories as to whom the Elise is for whom the piece is written. Some researchers believe that Elise was really Therese Malfatti, a woman with whom Beethoven (the composer of Fur Elise) was in love. Beethoven supposedly proposed to this woman, but was rejected. In that case, my version of playing this song (very badly, if you didn't catch that earlier) is probably not that different from how Beethoven imagined it being played due to how he was feeling at the time it was written...Other researchers believe that the song is written for Elisabeth Röckel, an famous opera singer. The two musicians are documented to have met and become good friends a few years before Fur Elise was written. It is also documented that  Elisabeth Röckel went by Elise, which matches the title of the piece For Elise. Finally, even more researchers think that Elise was used as a general term for sweetheart during Beethoven's time period, and that the song was just written for a random, unspecific love in Beethoven's life.
When I started playing this song, I was surprised at both how good I was and how bad I was. I thought I was pretty good because I could read the music, and pretty much sight read the song (it might help that I already know how the song goes but...). I thought I was pretty bad because my playing of this song was absolutely terrible! Just to put this into comparison, I would probably have rotten fruits and vegetables thrown at my head if I performed this piece anywhere! However, I am overall happy with my progress, especially my leap from playing silly childish songs to playing this "real song"!
When I started learning Fur Elise, I had to learn new notes that weren't in the childish songs I played before. I also had to relearn  where my fingers go for each note for this specific song. Even though it is boring and tedious to go through these same aspects again, I think it will really pay off and help improve my playing in the future! I can't wait to keep practicing, and have a beautiful performance of Fur Elise ready for my TED Talk!
Sources:
Fur Elise." Fur Elise (For Elise). N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://www.forelise.com/about>.

Some Major Progress

This week I got very far along in my learn to play piano book. As you can see in the video below of me playing the piano, I have learned to play seven more songs. In fact, I am relatively close to the end of my book! Anne R. told me that I could borrow some of her beginner piano books when I finish the book that I currently have. Even though it seems like I am making a lot of progress, in real life, I have only played all of the songs I have learned so far in one octave. And there are seven octaves total on the piano...and most songs don't just happen among the same seven notes of the one octave I learned! I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself to be a real piano player, who can play real songs. The good news is that this project is helping me to take a step towards becoming a real piano player, and if all goes according to plan, I should be able to play a real song (Fur Elise, which is my "goal song") by the end of this project! My friend Sun K. plays piano and she showed me how to place my fingers correctly for some scales. It really helped to have a real live person show me how to put my fingers instead of just look at pictures from sources on the internet and from my learn to play piano book.

Piano Playing for Week 3 Blog from A G on Vimeo.

Like I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the fingerings still really confuse me. It is hard for me to get adjusted to them, but I guess that is expected since I am learning piano for real for the first time. I was really wondering about why it matters where you place your fingers. I asked my mother (who plays piano) and she said that where you place you fingers helps you play the notes the easiest/most comfortable way. But if the where you place your fingers is supposed to be the easiest/most comfortable way and that way is not the easiest/most comfortable way for me, does it really matter with which finger I play each note? One thing I noticed is that my stronger fingers, such as my pointer finger, play notes louder and stronger than my weaker fingers, such as my pinky finger. My thoughts on why the fingerings matter is that maybe the composer wanted to accent or emphasize certain notes, so it would make sense to assign those notes to the stronger fingers, while the weaker fingers could play the notes that the composer wanted to be played softer. After all, dynamics are the main reason why the piano was invented!

In addition to playing the piano, I also did a bit of research about the history of the piano. I actually found out some pretty interesting things. The piano is based off of the harp. In the olden days, they had the harp, but they could not control the dynamics of it. They needed to invent an instrument on which they could control the volume, so they could put expression into their music and performances. Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori fixed this problem by inventing the piano in his harp shop in Italy in 1709. One of Cristofori's original pianos, from 1720, is currently on display in Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (see picture below).

Overall, I feel like I have made a lot of progress this week, and I can't wait to keep improving!

Sources:
 "History of the Piano." Pianonet. National Piano Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://pianonet.com/all-about-pianos/history-of-the-piano/>.
"How to Place Your Fingers Properly on Piano Keys." WikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.wikihow.com/Place-Your-Fingers-Properly-on-Piano-Keys>.

My Key to Success!

This week I learned three songs from my learn to play piano book. (Watch the video below!) So far, the songs are pretty easy for me to learn. But this may be because I played these three songs when I was really little and tried to learn how to play the piano...I learned in the brain unit for enrichment that the connections made as a young child are very important and can help you to learn something more easily in the future. As I have just learned, this is true, and because I tried to play the piano when I was very young, the piano isn't as hard for me to learn now! This is a very exciting realization because maybe there is some hope that I can learn the piano quickly and well...and maybe even be a piano prodigy some day!




Piano Playing for Week 2 Blog from A G on Vimeo.
Speaking of piano prodigies, I did some research about Christina and Michelle Naughton. They are twenty four-year-old identical twins who have been playing piano since they were four! Although they originally started out as solo pianists, now they are duet pianists. They play their songs together. Sometimes, they play on separate pianos, but they also often play together on the same piano. In fact, I saw them perform at the Kimmel Center a few weeks ago (that is how I know about them) and they played one song where their arms were all crossed over each other! It was so cool! I do not think that I would have enough patience to be able to practice with someone like that, especially not a sibling! Also, after watching some videos of the twins, I noticed that with all the swaying, emotion, etc. that they put into their music, if I were doing that, I would probably bump heads with my partner! There was a question/answer part of the concert that I went to, and someone asked the twins how long they practice each day. They replied that they practice for hours each day, varying slightly on the availability of  a piano when they go on tours. They also mentioned that when they started playing the piano when they were four, they practiced only for ten minutes each day, because it was important to have consistent practice to form strong connections in their brains, but it was unrealistic for a four year old to be sitting at a piano for hours each day. They also didn't become duet pianists until they were in college; they played singly until then. Here is a link to a video of the twins playing; it's amazing! http://youtu.be/R9qBu7TVOHg (I am sorry that it is a link to youtube, but I could not find a video of the twins on Vimeo or anywhere else that is not blocked on the school computers...)

I am still having difficulties with the numbers representing different fingers, and I also often have my left hand one key too far to the left, because in the book I have, it has both thumbs on the middle C, but that is uncomfortable for me because for the songs that I have started looking at for next week with two hands, I do not know where to put my second thumb so it is not in the way of the first thumb! I think that to overcome this difficulty, I will just have to continue to practice. 

Sources I used:
"Christina and Michelle Naughton Biography Pdf Free Ebook Download from Www.chambermusicdetroit.org." EbookBrowse.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013. <http://ebookbrowse.com/christina-and-michelle-naughton-biography-pdf-d404980105>.

Christians, Lindsay. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pianists!" Madison.com. 77 Square, 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 01 Mar. 2013. <http://host.madison.com/entertainment/music/the-sisterhood-of-the-traveling-pianists/article_c75ae01e-c443-5b78-ae16-28239f307eb1.html>.

Malpass, Monica. "Take Note: Twin Piano Prodigies." 6abc.com. Action News, 9 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6698434>.