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 :)