What's Right & Wrong in Piano Playing

In this video I explain why you shouldn't trust me 100%, and why piano teaching approaches seem to be conflicting sometimes.

Improve your technique with 10 most vibrant Czerny Etudes from op.299, and Six Burgmüller Etudes from op.109:

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[MsJwolfe]

My perspective is music is a personal creative experience. Once the mechanics of a piece is mastered, it is time to unleash your soul and inject your own interpretation of a composer's direction. I agree with your viewpoint and was delighted to hear your analysis.

[myklkay]

I love what Daniel Barenboim said to David Kadouch during his mastercalss :

"do not apologize. I'm not trying to compare what you're trying to do with what I think it goes. I'm trying to make sure that may be I can help you to achieve more what you want yourself"

To me, this is what a teacher should be.

[Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

Starting from 6:10, I really like the inside-stories you bring into your videos. Amateur pianists like me can also experience these doubts or contradictions sometimes, but aren't confident enough in their experience to question or even disobey some suggestions, so it's good to know that sometimes those contradictions are real.

[DavidMiller-bpet]

I follow you, an uber teacher and player; I use all the modes and moves that I need to do what I need, for my interpretive purposes. I see great players using all kinds of different modes, so I figure it's good enough for me. I look to myself now, to work out the passages with the most comfortable and efficient ways for my hands, constitution and personality. I see very little that is either right or wrong in anything, in and of themselves, but my question is always about how to I achieve the goals that I want. My approach is eclectic, I find what works for "my" technique and interpretation and pursue that. I am far enough along the piano road to be able to judge myself and and figure ways to solve my own challenges. Everybody is different.

There is a player who I regard as a phenomenal talent and brilliant player who does everything I do, in what I have come to, except one thing: She breaks at the wrist, that is flat, arms slope down nicely but when at the wrist, she flattens out and cranks up the hand very intentionally; I have mentioned it and we have talked about it. She is convinced that this is way the she needs to play. And her results are out of this world, a monster improvisor; she regards a lot of settled pieces as someone else's music and embellishes in turns and fits that are simply astonishing, not just musically but technically. I cannot play efficiently with a wrist that flat except for wide chords and a few other places. So, differnent strokes for different folks. I don't care to please the establishment; let the establishment fight among themselves. If I like it, that's good enough for me, not that I'm not competitive with myself for improvement and more expressive degrees of interpretation.

I have been a life long singer, academy style Uni trained; I have slogged through a lot of those wars, contests and all, as a baritone. A lot of the stuff is political and simple bias without good cause. We had an old guy, Professor Emeritus, when I was a young student. Dr A. Old School German, would shuffle up and down the halls, teaching a little history here and there. His prophetic truth slogan claimed "There has been no good music written since 1900!!!" He was very liberal with this claim. My very fine theory teacher was a devotee of "contemporary"music and tried to take that prophetic oracle with a grain of salt, like many blowhard politicians. I have seen this stuff go down for decades and find it very counterproductive. I was discouraged in my vocal career trajectory by many of these pundits; rigid traditional thinking has done untold damage, mentally, emotionally even physically. Denis talks about the 2 phenomenal player/teachers who diagreed violently with each other. That is the story right there.

I once heard a sales mentor on positive thinking rue, "There has never been an award given to a critic for criticism of others."

Amen, great talk Denis. No right or wrong, good or bad, rather what is efficient and helpful for ones' purposes. We miss out on too much due to confusing and dogmatic "absolute truth" telling. No such thing in my book.

End of sermon.

[cesardiezv]

I concur with you that many people have too strong opinions on how to interpret some pieces or composers. Those conflicts arise in almost every academic field. I love the pedal in Bach, the fact that it didn't exist back then doesn't mean he wouldn't have ever used it. In orchestral music, there is the 'historically correct' movement that, for instance, would take out vibrato from a Mahler symphony, but I like it with vibrato so much more.

[Franu]

Interesting, clever and useful as always. Some norwegian painter was rejected from an exhibition by a jury. Next year he sended drawings and paintings made by his child which were accepted. As John Cleese says in prolonging of the BBC´s comments of his pilot to Fawlty Towers: "People who just has to value others products has ab-so-lute-ly no idea about anything of what they are talking about.."
I will soon buy some lessons from you.

[peterfennema]

You are such an inspiration and one day I hope to sign up for a lesson with you. This video demonstrates how complex piano playing is in that there is no one right answer to any challenge. What's unacceptable? As Ruth Laredo once said in an interview, "If it hurts, stop doing it!."

[wyoclassicalpianist]

Yes, I always thought that there was a simple, clear answer for everything. As I continue to grow, I experience my teacher not always saying exactly how things are to be done. Now I realize my teacher cannot hold my hand through every challenge. I like how you mentioned the Bach pedal controversy; my teacher has always taught to use no pedal. I follow my teacher's method, although I think that Bach can still sound good with a little bit of pedal.

[brandonmacey]

wonderful video, very much agree, there are so many wonderful ways to play, thank goodness for all great and unique masters of piano

[PatientAsian]

Man, this hits home - I studied for a grand total of 1 month when I was a kid - my teacher was an old, inflexible (in more ways than one, I'm sure) woman who had a child sitting next to her, listening and learning the pieces by ear.
She kept forcing me to "read the damn sheet music" or "you MUST do so-and-so", providing no explanation, to which I'd play dumb and simply ask her to play the passage again.
After the month was over I had enough and stopped.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd have had a less strict teacher with more patience - all she left me with was a strong distaste for musical elitism.

But, 20 years later, I've continued to play to this day!

[homamellersh]

Thank you Denis very interesting lecture .

[rodrigogb]

Thanks so much, Denis ! Wise indeed !

[marcfink]

Having played bortkiewicz‘ second piano sonata (composed during the 2nd world war) for my pedagogy masters in zurich, i was pleasantly surprised that you too wish to popularize his music. Maybe with your immense skill you could deliver an amazing recording if his wonderful first piano concerto??

[kpunkt.klaviermusik]

If Bach's c minor Prelude is played on an organ in a big church there is so much more reverb than when you play it with full pedal down in a small concert salon.

[armstrong]

I would love to hear and buy any recordings by Zhdanov of Rachmaninofs 24 Preludes and 17 Etudes Tableaux. Countless subtle nuances are on another level.Kisins teacher always tried to awaken Yevgenys inner talent and creativity, rather than impose her own interpretive ideas.

[ananthd]

I wonder if you have some more advice on how you handle conflicting advice, for example from your two teachers when you were a teenager. Obviously, you will have to disagree with one and they might be mad. Then, do you come up with two different interpretations to please both teachers, or do the teachers eventually aquiesce?

[rockmathias]

Wonderful video. Thank you creating the series. In other’s performances, what I’ve come to detest is SUPER FAST playing. So you can play fast, that I can see. But where is the musicality if the blasting fast is not appropriate. Why? To get thru the piece in as little time as possible?

[e.marievalgarsson]

Thank you for this excellent advice. Now I don’t have to feel guilty about interpreting a piece of music as I feel it intuitively. It’s “music to my ears!”😂

[DavidMiller-bpet]

PS: This presupposes that one has clearly defined what one's goals and purposes are. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Big stuff.

[smileydts]

I'm more of a music lover than pianist, but I'm surprised how many pianists seem to think "it's my way or the highway". In a profession where everyone is largely playing the same pieces, the diversity of interpretation is about the only reason they have jobs!