Very often people tell me as they skim through a score “I don’t really need to practise this bit because it’s easy”. I also hear “I totally messed that bit up, and yet it’s so simple!”. While the notes themselves may be readable at sight and present no apparent technical difficulties, I don’t believe there is any such thing as an easy piece – when it comes to performance. We soon realise this when we take this so-called easy piece into a performance situation and suddenly it is not such plain sailing. All the same prerequisites of performance apply to this piece as to the next piece – communicating the musical message, playing with rhythmical awareness, quality of sound and phrasing, and good tonal balance between the hands.
Let’s look at an example from Mozart’s C minor Concerto, K.491 – a small phrase from the Larghetto (solo piano part is on the upper systems):
Any self-respecting relative beginner would be able to read the notes of this passage, they are simplicity itself. And yet to create the right sound and mood with just these few notes, to feel the phrase gradually gaining in intensity until it flowers in the last bar without overdoing it – these things are far from easy and take quite a bit of judgment and control. In the hands of a great artist this passage sounds sublime, as it should.
During the Mozart year in 2006 I played a solo programme consisting of some sonatas, variations and a selection of baby pieces (assorted Klavierstücke, some of which are suitable for elementary players). I did this not only to give the programme a bit of lightness, but also to show that these small pieces are little gems in themselves. The idea came to me from hearing a cassette recording from an LP of Daniel Barenboim playing these pieces, the poise and rhythmical vitality he brought to these little structures blew me away. I wish the recording were still available, but I can’t find it anywhere.
In this recording of Bach’s G minor Minuet from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, listen to how Rosalyn Tureck brings a variety of touches to her very carefully considered and organised performance. There is so much to appreciate here!
If you want to listen to more vintage Tureck, here she is shedding light on some of the other smaller pieces of Bach that beginners play. I love what she does with the G major Minuet and the March in E flat.
My advice is apply the same care and consideration to so-called easy pieces (or easy parts of pieces) as you would a difficult piece you might struggle to master. Work out a good fingering, consider a range of dynamics and a variety of touches, make some pedal choices and aim to deliver a musically satisfying performance. Just because a piece is simple does not make it is easy to bring off, and a simple piece may be of great artistic merit.
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Graham.
I’m back!!
I sent a reply to your video/article on arpeggios in September of last year – and as I read my reply from that time I realize I no longer dread argpeggios!!
This inspired me to purchase your first e book and have just begun reading it.
It’s just what I need – I love that I can hear your voice and approach in the text, that this personalization is not edited out.
I have recently found Practice Perfect, Teach Like A Champion content quite applicable to piano…this is an approach used in US education.
Thanks again for taking on educating us on how to practice.
Kris
Kris, thank you very much for your comments and feedback! Nothing to fear about arpeggios, not even E flat minor…
How good to be reminded of what to listen for in your own playing! It all applies to warm-up exercises as well as compositions and makes that segment of practice more fun!
http://www.amazon.com/Mendelssohn-Klavierstücke-1-Andante-cantabile/dp/B000VHOEJU.
Was this the Barenboim album?
When I was studying classical guitar in the 80’s I was fortunate enough to have a great teacher who also alerted me to the rewards, for both audience and player, that could be had from adding some of the easier gems of the repertoire to a concert programme . Love what Tureck was able to find in those little Bach gems we all know so well. I think she was thoroughly enjoying herself too!
Thank you Graham.
I wish so much I had been given this bit of advice earlier. In my own practice, I discovered – pretty much by accident – that “easy” pieces can be used to practice something that cannot be achieved with more challenging pieces.
With “easy” pieces, I can practice until the piece becomes musical. I don’t just play the right notes at the right time. I can take care of rhythm, phrasing, touch, etc. There comes a point when piano is not just making the sounds it’s supposed to, the piano feels like it’s singing. This is very rewarding, and impossible to achieve with pieces that are “at level”.
This is a very good point, thanks for raising it, Pascal. I like the idea of using a piece that is shorter or well within one’s technical grasp from the point of view of polishing or refining a specific quality.