Half diminished chord

I am playing BY A MEADOW BROOK from Edward MacDowell and here I found an example of half diminished chord.

We often hear about diminished seventh chord (Dim 7th). The note structure is very easy to remember - the interval between each notes are three semitones apart.
Example: C Eb Gb A makes a Cdim7th chord. And what's interesting about Dim7th chord is they are enharmonic chord for each of the chord member. So: Cdim7th is equal to (have the same chord member as) Eb, Gb and A diminished 7th chord. Which is why we only have three diminished 7th chord (so to speak :)

Right now let's move on to Dim7th twin brother. Here is the half diminished chord or halfdim for short. To make it easy to remember: halfdim chord has an almost similar interval with Dim7th chord except for the fourth note. The fourth note interval must be four semitones apart instead of three.
Example: C Eb Gb Bb makes a C halfdim chord.

Isn't that cool??!!! 😂😂😁
Happy practicing!

Impressionistic Art

So, I have been given a new piece from 20th Century. One of the stream of 20th century piece is impressionissm.

Music in older era (barouqe and classical) have no title to the song. They simply use Sonata, Rondo, Fugue, or Prelude and give numbers to it. They don't really name the song. It's practically similar to the painting from those age. Usually they have strong line and bold object. Just like in classical music we have bold melody line - mostly are pretty singable.

However impressionist painter will give you an impression of things or the atmosphere that they try to capture in their art work. They don't simply paint a flower. They want everything in the canvas communicate a certain feeling, or to give impression to the onlookers.

Based on that we can say the same with impressionist composer. The piece normally won't have bold melody line. The bass and the treble will work together to give you an impression of what the composer is trying to communicate. Claude Debussy is one of the most famous impressionist composer. He purposely put no title in some of his impressionist piece so we can play it according to our imagination. (Well he did put titles at the end of those piece just to help out of we ran out of imaginative impression :p )

The piece that I am going to learn called "By the meadow Brook". I can almost smell meadow and a sound of a running water in the little creek. And that's exactly what the impressionist composer wants to communicate. They are not after the water, or the bird, or the meadow, or the lilies, they want to capture the feeling of those things altogether. Beautiful!

Try to search in the google of impressionist art and you'll see what I mean.

Happy practicing!!

Sonata form

Sonata has a form.
1. EXPOSITION, including first theme, transition, second theme, and coda.
2. DEVELOPMENT. This part is like a solo part in modern music. This is where the composer show off his composing ability. That's why this part is normally complicated, jumping from one chord to another.
3. RECAPITULATION. Here is the summary of the song. We will go back to the first theme, transition, second theme, and coda.

Attitude

When you read music even if its just a sight reading make sure you play it with the right attitude. Most of the time I find myself just reading the music without paying attention to the dynamics or the little details like slure or rest sign.

Even when you just read music casually you must play it with the attitude to present the music nicely as if you are on stage.

Everything starts from a simple habit. Make it a habit to read and play music with an attitude, do it properly :)

Piano Sickness

I just got my piano tuned by professional tuner and I am so glad I did. My piano sounded so terrible, it gets worse everyday and I have contacted my last tuner but didn't get through until I found this one on the internet. 

To cut the story short, he opened my beloved piano and was surprised because the temperature of the inside was too hot. I explained to him that my room could be extremely hot at noon because it's at the highest level of the house so it gets direct sunlight everyday. Then he decided to open the bottom part where the heater is located and he told me that the heater is not of good quality that's why it did not do the job well rather it ruin my piano (huhuhuu).

The job of the heater in piano is to manage the temperature inside the piano so it won't get too hot nor too cold. My last piano tuner advised me that it's ok to turn on the heater all day while it is true IF the heater is of good quality (about $50). My heater came free with the piano so what can I expect?! 

Anyway, secondly piano heater is only necessary if you put your piano on the first level of the house/building because it can prevent the water from the soil to dampened your piano. Since I out mine on the third level, heater is totally unnecessary. 

When the piano gets too hot it will create expansion and cause the strings to get loose and no wonder the piano sounds terrible! ><"" Secondly, the expansion can also happen with the sound board which located at the bottom part of the piano. Thank God mine is still ok. 

It cost me a lot to fix this problem. The tuning of my piano is still not up to standard hertz because according to my tuner the string will need time to adjust due to the board expansion problem. Nevertheless it sounds much better now and I kissed my heater goodbye! 

Don't forget to regularly tune your piano. It's kinda like a check up time as well. The sooner you find out the 'sickness' the easier and cheaper to cure it ;) 

Bach Invention

Salah satu tehnik untuk memainkan karya JS Bach adalah dengan permain "Portato" yang artinya permainan semi stacatto. Lagu Bach biasanya terkesan lepas alias tidak legato karena pada jaman pembuatan lagu tersebut Bach menggunakan harpsicord bukan piano seperti sekarang.

Selain portato yang harus diperhatikan juga adalah penjarian di pada tuts piano. Penjarian harus matang dan full, tidak setengah suara.

Score yang dibuat JS Bach biasanya tidak mengandung performance direction karena sang composer memberikan kebebasan penuh kepada orang yang memainkan karyanya dengan gaya mereka sendiri.

Practicing Scales

Untuk latihan scales, baik tangga nada major maupun minor ada beberapa tips yang dapat membantu memudahkan latihan scales:
1. Untuk scales yang banyak not hitam (cth: F# atau C#), yang perlu diingat adalah not putihnya. Sebagai contoh misalnya tangga nada F# major terdiri dari semua not hitam dan dua not putih. Konsentrasi untuk mengingat not putih tersebut, dalam hal ini yaitu B dan F.
2. Cara mudah mengingat scales minor adalah dengan menurunkan setengah nada ketiga dan keenam dari scales major nya. Contoh: A minor - tangga nada A namun nada ketiga dan keenamnya turun setengah yaitu menjadi C dan F.
3. Setiap kali memainkan not hitam, patern jari yang digunakan saat scales turun atau descending biasanya sudah pasti. Untuk grup dua not hitam (C#, D#) gunakan jari tiga dan grup tiga not hitam (F#, G# dan A#) gunakan jari keempat.

Concert

Watch me play Beethoven Sonata Op 79 live in student's concert :)
http://youtu.be/ngRNfWB_wbQ

Tempo

Do you like to practice with fast tempo? there is a rule in piano playing, if you can't play it slow you can't play it fast. Practice with slow tempo can be boring sometimes and it is really testing our patient ;p but the rule stays true. If you can master the slow, chances are big for you to master the fast tempo.

For example, Beethoven Piano Sonata op79 with Presto means about 160bps. If you can master the song with slower tempo let say 130bps, it will be easier to take it from there. But if you are struggling with 130 dont even bother trying to play it in 160 until you can play it well in 130.

My advice: Be patient. Master the slow then steadily increase the tempo :)

Switching

Another style of playing piano.
If you take a good look of this piece its kinda tricky. In the first three lines the rythm are played by the right hand while the left hand switch between low and high octave to play the melody.

For the fourth line, the rythm is back to left hand and now the right hand is going between octaves for melodies.

Allegro means fast. Comodo means relax. When we play this piece there is a big tendency that we'll go panic because we have to switch both hands back and forth, up and down between octaves. Maybe that's why Czerny put 'Comodo' so we have to also notice the way we play.

Relax, take a deep breath.... Fast yet relax. That's the way for Czerny op 849 no 27 ^_^

Penjiwaan / penghayatan lagu

Sebuah lagu diciptakan pasti ada perasaan yang tersembunyi didalamnya. Apakah itu lagu sedih, senang, kaget, gelisah, cinta, rindu, dan masih banyak lagi. Tugas kita sebagai pemain piano yang baik bukan berhenti di memainkan setiap not yang ada dengan tepat, tetapi harus juga berhasil menginterpretasikan atau mengartikan jiwa dari lagu yang kita bawakan.

Memainkan lagu dengan judul "song of the gondolier" harus berbeda dengan lagu "catch me!" Dari judulnya dan sejarah tentang lagu tersebut kita tau maksud dari si composer. Memainkan lagu dapat di ibaratkan seperti melukis atau memasak. Kita harus mengekspresikan sesuatu supaya lagu itu terkesan hidup (lively).
Lagu tapi ekspresi jiwa sama seperti masakan kurang bumbu atau lukisan anak TK yang belum paham akan degradasi warna. Seorang pelukis bisa menggunakan warna biru yang bermacam-macam, biru tua, muda, cyan, dan banyak lagi! Itulah kekayaan yang harus kita miliki ketika menjiwai sebuah lagu.

Mulai sekarang setiap sebelum memainkan lagu, tanyakan dulu pada diri sendiri bagaimana seharusnya lagu ini diekspresikan. Kemudian artikan itu dengan ekspresimu sendiri tanpa mengurangi arti lagu yang sesungguhnya :)

Songs without souls are boring

Staccato

Untuk memainkan lagu dengan staccato panjang, pastikan teknik jarinya sesuai. Long run staccato itu sangat tricky jadi kalo teknik jari nya salah bakal susah untuk memainkan lagunya apalagi kebanyakan lagu long-run stacato biasanya punya tempo cepat.

Yang harus diperhatikan
1. Memainkannya harus ringan
2. Pergerakan nya jangan terlalu berlebihan; simple movement, cukup dari pergelangan tangan (wrist)
3. Perhatikan jari nya, jangan di tarik2 kebelakang (slippery) saat pergantian jari untuk not yang sama

Contoh lagu untuk latihan staccato: Czerny op 849 no 12

Terms 1

Risoluto - bold
Vivace, Vivo - quick and lively
Giocoso - merry, happily
Dolce - sweet, tenderly
Leggiero - light and delicate
Diminuendo - becoming gradually softer

Instant!

There's no such thing as instant making skill in piano playing.
You need to constantly put in 101% effort to learn skillful piano playing.
Not only the skill or techniques but also the performance attitude.

God! I wish I'm a good piano player now. I wish I could sight read as good as my teacher.

#wishful :)

But hey, of course hard works pay off at the end. So don't lose heart if you are not as good as you want now. Keep doing your best, even do more than what is required by your teacher. Surprise them, surprise yourself!

"Big motivation can compensate for having small talent" - R. Warren

Signs

Look carefully at every signs given. They are there for a purpose.

F - Forte - Loud
P - Piano - Soft

Playing piano, reading scores is not just about the notes but the dynamics of the song which can 'easily' be produced if you simply follow those signs given.

Expression

Watch how you play! Playing piano is not just about good techniques but also your expression.
People see the way you play and enjoy it along with the melody that you produce. Its one entity not separate items.
Take a deep breath....
Enjoy the music. Enjoy every single notes. Feel it, feel the music and let it out.
Expressionless performance is boring except if you are playing for a radio :p It's not good enough even to bring you good result in the exam!
Take it as you, your playing, your music, your interpretation. Make it yours. Play it with all of you present. Not just the mind but also the soul :)

Velocity - Burgmuller

Another piece to strengthen fingering technique :)

Piece like this is not hard at all. The notes are simply going up and down all the way. However once you miss the finger rotation and position, that could be the end of the song a.k.a stuck :p

up and down... up and down....
Let's move it little fingers!

Cherny

Main lagu-lagu nya Cherny gampang-gampang susah. Kebanyakan lagunya ceria dan ringan, tapi teknik penjariannya harus tepat kalo engga bisa-bisa stuck ditengah jalan!

Tempo, penjarian - watch out!
Come on fingers, you can do it!! :D

Violin Charm

Upon waiting for my piano class I listened to a beautiful voice from the other room.

Violin. Beautiful.
Alunan suara yang keluar dari sebuah biola itu bisa menyayat hati bangeet :(
Kalo inget lagi melodi biola itu rasanya hati jadi galau huhuhuhuuu
Energi melodi nya, gesekan senar biolanya, mantaappppp

So beautiful <3