Piano Recitals
A few pieces I’ve put on YouTube.
Beethoven’s Fur Elise
I’ve been playing Beethoven again. I *do* have other piano books, I swear, but he’s just so fun to play. Here’s the super-famous Fur Elise, which I’ve known forevah. Youtube will probably give you related videos of little 5-year-olds playing it. *sheepish* But I love it! And it’s still quite challenging to me musically.
Since it is *me* playing, there is, of course, a giant wrong note in it. Plz ignore. Kthx.
Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
Here’s me playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. This one’s tricky because…
1.) Much of it is supah soft. It requires more control than I have!
2.) It requires my fingers to be constantly extended to the octave position, which reveals my little crooked pinky. (No mocking the pinky! I mean it!) When I was growing up, teachers speculated whether the crooked pinky helped or hurt my playing. I guess it didn’t matter; it’s not like I could straighten it.
3.) The memory work was horrendous. Yet the same subtle harmonic changes that make memorization difficult make the piece extra interesting. Every phrase goes somewhere unexpected, even while maintaining familiarity in the rhythm and phrasing.
There’s a whopper of a wrong note. As usual. We’ll just call that my “signature.”
Rachmaninoff Prelude Op. 32 No. 12
Here’s me playing Rachmaninoff. This is my favorite of the preludes because it’s dark and meandering. As usual, there are a couple of wrong notes. Plz ignore them.
Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 7
As promised, here’s my latest piano project. It’s Chopin’s Etude Op.10 No.7. It’s an odd piece, but I fell in love with Chopin’s harmonic choices and the really cool lines that seem to come out of nowhere.
*commence ramble of insecurity* So, this piece is challenging technically because you have to keep bouncing your thumb to hit the same note twice the whole time. It makes my arms tired. :p It should prolly be faster, too, but damned if I could speed it up any more. Oh, and there’s a giant mistake. You’ll hear it. I would have gone on trying to get a better take, but my poor arm refused to play it anymore tonight, and I gave myself a deadline. *end ramble of insecurity*
Without further ado, here’s one of Chopin’s strangest little etudes.
Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata Op. 31 No. 2, 3rd movement
I totally love this piece now that I’ve spent so much time with it. I think I’ll keep playing it forevah.