techniccal in grand piano/upright mod

[johnmar78]

Hi there,
I am new here, let me give you a quick run down of myself...
I haveen been playing the paino more than 30 yeras and 6 yeras trained in conservatorriom in NSW(australia)-sydney.

I do give recitals for charity runs and so on. and recently did a concert for father Jerzy's silver Jubilee.

!5 years ago I added 16g-30g of weights on back of the keys(to a point). The aim for that is to strenthenning finger agility and power when comes to the stage performing(on full size grand).
I never looked back and I also used on my children...and it worked.

I would like hear any feed backs and bad critics from YOU, or share the same experience that some one has done the similar experiment.
eg trained on heavy touch piano and perform on light touch piano.

Thanks

[PJF]

At any given moment, I'm working on 12-16 pieces, with no more than 8 technically challenging ones. I try to learn 36 pieces per year, from the simple to the virtuosic. By careful energy management, I can usually meet my goals without injury or strain. This is what works best for me:

If I had a say in it, all pianos would have very light actions. That way we could concentrate on making music without having to deal with the issue of weight. Playing on a heavy action only becomes a problem if it is too heavy for your personal strength level. I would be extremely careful, the joints in the fingers are delicate and easy to injure permanently. Just keep in mind the weight of a concert grand and never exceed it. Any heavier than that, the risk of injury grows exponentially.

I was a marathon runner and triathelete until I broke my foot three years ago. I'm fluent in kinesiology and biomechanics. I apply those principles to my playing. I've had a great deal of success.

That said, I have two pianos. One is a full size grand, a 6"1' Kawai RX3 with a concert grand action installed, (it was only $700 extra). My other piano is a 4"11' Kawai Baby Grand with a lightened action. I do the majority of practice on the light piano, and musical performance and aural practice on the 6"1' Kawai. Once I've done all the work to enable a good performance, I move the new piece to the heavy piano, (not artificially heavy, just concert grand weight).



If I want to build speed, I first play a long loop of the piece at a moderate tempo, concentrating on continuity. If there is a specific technical pattern that troubles me, I play it in a continous loop, at medium tempo for 20-30 mins. I repeat that procedure three times a week for three weeks. If I've practiced diligently, increasing the speed is the easiest part. By that point, I play hands separately at full speed or faster, if I can maintain control.

After two speed sessions per week for three weeks, interspersed with moderate-speed performances hands-together, I'm ready for a full speed performance. It's just like training to run the 5K or the mile. If I'm learning a very long, fast piece, I train more along the lines of a half-marathon, a little slower and for longer (about 16 weeks of moderate speed followed by 8 weeks of gradually building speed.)

I always taper in the 10 days before a recital. From 10-7 days before, I cut my practice time in half and increase the overall speed. From 7-4 days, I do not play. On the third day, I play my recital on the concert grand I'll be performing on. The last two days I try to relax and get good sleep, concentrating on rest. Two hours before, I warm up by walking and playing pieces that use similar technical patterns as what I'll be playing. For example, Chopin Etude No5 in G flat is an excellent warmup for Chopin Etude Opus25 No11. In both pieces, the right hand uses forearm rotation with legato and the left hand is staccato. The general motions are the same. I use this element of cross-training to avoid the monotony of playing the same pieces every day while maintaining coordination of common patterns. It really works.

[johnmar78]

Pete,
very impressed with your 36 piece a year. I suppose this is yopur carrer.
i do concert on charity basis but by all means with high standard-as I can.
The problem is I have another full time job-chemist and I do lots of part time turion on pianos. These days I work on the piece that I like to hear(self centred) but dnt learn that I dnt like to play on. Meanwhile, I am working on schezo bb mimor-op31. I spent 20 minutes a day-focused.

So over all, 3 reportore a year-you probably laughed.... any way. If I had another chance in life. May be I do full time recital where as money is not important.
What you think. I am working on my children these days-piano instead.

[PJF]

Pete,
very impressed with your 36 piece a year. I suppose this is yopur carrer.
I do concert on charity basis but by all means with high standard-as I can.
The problem is I have another full time job-chemist and I do lots of part time turion on pianos. These days I work on the piece that I like to hear(self centred) but dnt learn that I dnt like to play on. Meanwhile, I am working on schezo bb mimor-op31. I spent 20 minutes a day-focused.

So over all, 3 reportore a year-you probably laughed.... any way. If I had another chance in life. May be I do full time recital where as money is not important.
What you think. I am working on my children these days-piano instead.

Yes, piano is my top priority. I could have never attained my current level while having a normal day-job. I'm very lucky to be able to make a decent living as an accompanist and teacher. I have very few students, right now only three, but it balances the budget. That way, I only have to work about 18 hours a week or so. The rest of my "free" time is used to practice.

I never criticize another pianist's goals or current level, that's a personal decision. Chopin's B minor scherzo is a fantastically challenging piece, congratulations for even daring to play it!

By playing for charity recitals, you're doing the most wonderful thing a pianist can do, improving others' quality of life through your talent. It's anything but selfish!

I build my schedule around the piano. This would be an insane proposal for someone with other priorities like a family or a normal job.

We all have different callings, your calling might be to instill a love of the piano in your children or to help the less fortunate, each is a profoundly important task.

P.S. I can't ever recall voluntarily working on a piece I didn't like. If you enjoy what you're playing, you'll play it well.

[johnmar78]

thanks Pete,

I probably made my children(since they are gifted too-lucky me) to be a concert pianest-if they want to be. I used to have 50 plus students when running full time. But I moved to sydney and starts my other profession, so now had only 5 students -thats enough.

Meanwhile, I am half way throu op31-I do section by section for memorization, how about yours?? I did this with all my works(20 reportoires) ALL CHOPIN.

I will not go on other section untill I fully memorized it.