🔴LIVE! 3/27 VSTs, Composition, Microgroupings in Practice, and Q&A!

Hey hey, and welcome! We are going to kick today's stream off with a short discussion of onboard keyboard sounds vs VSTs as requested by Antonio, then we will take a listen to a new Nocturne by Rhodsey, followed by a bit of a discussion on how to incorporate "microgroups" in practice for John, and then an open Q&A! I don't anticipate these first three segments to be quite as long as when we do masterclass video submissions, so I'm hoping to get to the open Q&A about 1 hour into the stream!
▶️▶️ If you'd like to submit your own video performance for a masterclass in future episodes, upload your video to Dropbox or Google Drive and send me a link at [e-mail]
▶️ Visit Charles on his performance channel: / charlesszczepanek
▶️ Visit Charles' Website: www.charlesszc...
Charles Szczepanek is an international prize-winning pianist, has collaborated with GRAMMY Award winners, and has taught music for over 20 years to everyone from his next-door neighbor to finalists on NBC's America's Got Talent. Through Pianist Academy, he now brings that wealth of knowledge to you: the beginner, the intermediate, the professional, or the fellow music teacher.
#PianoPractice
#pianolessons
#piano
#musiclessons
#PianistAcademy
#CharlesSzczepanek

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

Thanks for your answer and another wonderful master class. The Pollini homage was awesome. The technical mastery with which pianists like him Richter or Arrau played even the most challenging repertoire is still stunning.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Yes, stunning!

[@serwoolsley]

1:30:41 it's working!! thanks!!! i kinda already knew what i needed to get it working, i lacked focus to actually do it lol, the wrist tip is amazing, once i sat down and did this for a while, slept on it and now it's working much better!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Wonderful!!

[@CaptainCaveman782]

Hey all late to the party. I'm in Asia so watching live isn't convenient. Its John here asking about the Chopin piece. Great advice. Being trying it just now before commenting. Starting to sink in! Glad to see I was playing the arpeggio right at least and not full legato. Also the pause at the top makes perfect sense, I was rushing to keep up with the metronome Also the opening playing was insightful too. I just realised my waltz LH dynamic is also a bit robotic. Still needs work!

[@aBachwardsfellow]

Another awesome session! Sorry I couldn't join the live ... 13:50 Nord Grand (on-board sound) 18:16 Dexibell Vivo S10 (on-board sound) 22:08 Kawai NV10 (on-board sound) 25:41 Yamaha N1X (on-board sound) In a room full of people talking and eating, the NV10 and N1X both sound "great", and they don't have to be tuned. To my ears, they all sound digital ... I easily prefer my Yamaha U1 over them all (bought used in 1974 for $1,000 -- holds it's tuning like a rock). I also have a Yamaha P125 which I use for "perfunctory" practice (technical, learning, also some organ practice, particularly at 'off-hours') and find it's quite survivable since I have no expectation of it sounding "good"; I'd flip to a VST if needed (and also to use with a Hauptewerk organ sample). Rhodsey's composition is very interesting -- quite expansive; a bit more "forthright" than what I'd usually think of as a Nocturne. It has more of a "Polanaise" feel due to the markedly strong rhythmic feel. //// Re American vs British rhythmic notation -- British rhythmic values are based on earlier (13th - 17th century) mensural notation (see wiki article): American-English British-English ---------------------------- --------------------- Double Whole Note Breve Whole Semibreve Half Minim Quarter Crotchet Eighth Quaver Sixteenth Semiquaver

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

I'm Italian but must be objective, the Dexibell didn't impress me. The Nord sounds great but, assuming I was crazy enough to blow 6K on a digital, that red slob is not something I'd want to sit in my living room LOL.

[@PianistAcademy1]

😂 red is my favorite color, so I love it ha!

[@bunnyhollowcrafts]

Coming in a day late ... I realize sound is vital ... but so is the touch of really great acoustic piano. I can't imagine that one could play as well on a digital instrument.

[@aBachwardsfellow]

The "luxury" (or, desired necessity) is to have an "ideal" instrument of your own that you're able to use consistently. I think that one of the challenges of a pianist is to get the same *music* from a (potentially wide) array of instruments -- sometimes having to slightly alter the interpretation/performance to accomodate the particulars of the instrument (and/or room). I recall many hours of practice in college practice rooms on quite an "assortment" of instruments, and the recital grand on the stage (which had a notoriously heavier action than anything in the practice rooms). But -- hopefully -- everyone has had the experience of playing on at least one special instrument which sings and practially plays itself -- a perfect union of action, stringing, voicing, and tone which can only ever be approximated digitally. No set of keys and speakers will ever completely replicate the touch/response of several hundred strings struck by individual, uniquely-prepared felt hammers and suspended over a wooden soundboard -- imho ... :-)

[@PianistAcademy1]

Yes, and also touch is such a personal facet of "favorite" instrument choice. Even comparing concert grands by different manufactures, they can all feel quite different from one another, while all still being stellar. If you heard my story on the stream about actually tricking a friend of mine (listening through my new EP she thought I had recorded on a lovely piano in a hall, but in reality I recorded it in my studio at home, on my digital, through the Garritan CFX VST), I'd argue that on the high end digitals, you get enough of a grand piano action today that it's very possible to play as well on a digital as you will on your "local" Steinway D. On the entry level models though, it's a night and day difference.

[@PianistAcademy1]

Bachwardsfellow, yes I absolutely have similar stories myself! I had a few "favorite" practice rooms where the piano and I really connected, but for most of my years, I HATED the pianos in my prof's offices. And they were all well-maintained Steinway Bs, but they all felt like slogging through mud. That's probably why, today, I absolutely love the carbon fiber actions by Mason & Hamlin and WNG. They are lightening fast responsive without feeling "light" or "uncontrollable." Even faster/more precise than the fastest Renner or Yamaha action.

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

@@PianistAcademy1 Josh Wright told a similar story about his wife, a pianist, complimenting him for how well his Steinway sounded in church that day when he had to replace it with the Nord at the last minute.

[@aBachwardsfellow]

​@@PianistAcademy1 I agree -- the technology is closing the gap, and there are now some high-end digital instruments which are reasonably "acceptable" in terms of both action and sound. I personally call it the "perceived touch response" - meaning it goes far beyond the simple down-weight of the keys. The "perceived touch response" is the pianist's perception that "when I press a key down with *THIS* much weight and speed, I get *THIS* sound (and timbre), and when I press a key down with *THIS MUCH MORE* (or less) weight and speed, I get *EXACTLY THIS MUCH* more (or less) sound (and timbre), and the proportional differences are *EXACTLY* right". Given two identical pianos which are identical in every other aspect (action, down weights, stringing scale, strike points, etc.), the piano with harder felts will be perceived to have a lighter touch because of the brighter tone produced by the same effort as the instrument with softer felts. Not only comparing concert grands by different manufactures, even identical grands by the same manufacturer can feel quite different from one another. Tiffany Poon has an interesting video where she is selecting from among six Steinway D's in a Steinway hall for a concert. The differences between the six are quite noticeable. I did hear your story on the stream about your friend being tricked by the EP - LOL! I have a singer friend who has made several recordings using the Garritan CFX VST -- I also thought she had made it in a very high-quality studio -- the piano (and acoustic) sound flawless! Given that the final result is a digital (or even analog -- but in any case) electronic output, it's not surprising that a high-level recording can be made with as good or better control with a VST than in a live recording studio. My thoughts are that it's mainly in the classical and romantic piano repertoire that the distinctly fine nuances of a fine acoustic instrument and room are most likely to be detected (or missed in the absence thereof). In much other music, there's so much going on that the nuances have less (at least proportional) presence. Just my $0.02 :-)

[@Phaseish]

Damn I missed this one because of my dentist app for live and just finished. Thanks again for yourr time and effort doing these king as always. Since we "met" on the a minor waltz master class , lol I hated that Quintuplet so much because all the recording pianists, fly through it because of the marking and because its an E in root positions so its like piano basics 101 lol and you wanna play it that fast and can't. Then you connect it with the thumb tucks, no pedal and its not the same w pedal, prob the hardest part of the waltz haha to be fair maybe the C theme if you play it super fast staccato / prissy because recordings have that stupid fast for a "Beginner" Piece like 140 ish. I know we talked about noir from your c minor nocturne, no love for KEYSCAPE though ?or you think the library is just too much for the $$?? I wrote these downs or "googled tabbed" em so I will check these out, I have been lloving augmeneted piano by arturia, for fun, because you can now purchase plan it with splice, which is great, all the sounds on that are awesome, for Fun production stuff. I have an m2 max/96 rn with a Casio 150 or something idk its weighted , and it does everything I want right now and more. but VSTS have always been the way for many years now,. The stock piano sounds can't even get the intonation right. I have always been curious why you go vst, instead of micing, I am sure you have the tubes for it as I Know you have that lesson you sell. my ear is very sensitive, so the mubmling and breathing on recordings and noise, just tends to bother me and vst emliinates that, but when you were talking about velocity it doesn't get it how i want it completely, are you writting the velocity later on just incase it didn't get it? I have been playing for about 1 1/2 and a year of that has been playing the F minor nocturne / analyzing , too many things in the theory world. this piece because of the computer sounded so Metrenomic lol AI is going to have a hard time with prompt " Play Chopin Rubato" if this shit it comes with on musescore . you told me about that skyz analsysis or w/e and then I got into set theory lol , thats like the kids that do math now, by drawing to add 3 numbers , it's absolutely insane what it shows. Set theory is a whole new world not even for A tonal just to show realatiships in modal mixture. Pretty Forumelic when I think of a nocturne if it was this case Theme A F# Minor / F Hm Theme B A major (It's relative) because it's uplifting the music usually 8/10 lol you use Neopolotian to go back or second dominant chains/ V suspesions to get back to Minor Neighbor Circle of fiths Modulation, "Descending 5th's " w/e you wanna call it Because they are close harmonically. Spriknles of Melodic Minor /Parallel Major. (Maybe) back to theme A II dim , V , I Piccady third arpeggs and done lol . I think that's what you were trying to tell him that In order to get to Db in the circle it's too jaring and far away. to get there without 2, 5, 1's or secondary doms chains, or something. still hella far haha yo those minor 2nds / thirds for that many measures was interesting. and these 16th notes it's like a guitar solo. since you were talking dissonance, it's so beautiful how , Chopin spreads the diminished harmony in the op 55 too in the Third theme. and the contrary motion in the melody, oh so good. def E minor, F minor and C minor top 5. Spread Triad king, (okay I am done now) Great stream have a great week sir!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Great comment! I'll just quickly respond to the bit about VSTs vs micing an acoustic piano and my personal preferences. I have a lovely instrument at home (the Kawai I usually film on for the streams and all of the Pianist Academy videos), and with the new hammers I put on it last year it's really got a fantastic sound. I use it to record all of my teaching tutorials, and any performances for this particular channel... AND... I also use it for professional recording work if I want a "small room" and "medium sized piano" tone. So, all of my new original compositions I'm working on for a full length album to be released next year are all and will all be recorded on my acoustic with some great mics and preamps. But, if I'm playing something more massively arranged and I *need* that 9' concert grand tone and the space of a concert grand being in a large room, I'll gravitate toward using a VST instead. With how often I'm making recordings, it would be incredibly expensive over the course of a year to book a hall with a piano, have it tuned a few times during the recording session, and then edit all of the stuff back in the studio. Plus... if I wanted to film all of that, it would be next to impossible for me to do it on my own, and if I'd hire a crew, again... super expensive. Each day I did that would end up costing around $5,000... do that 6-10 times per year and holy wow, that's a LOT of expense. If at some point I get signed to Sony Classics or similar, then sure, I'll go through that expense to make the product as absolute top-notch as possible, with the idea that the work will very likely more than pay off with the marketing from a label like that. But as a mainly indie artist who releases some work with a small-ish label, it's really hit and miss which work of mine will generate a substantial income. If I can get 90-95% of a "classical" finished product via a VST, and have it truly be competitive next to Lang Lang and Yuja, then I'm very VERY happy to do it at home and save $30k or more! My dream that I'm working toward is to have a studio at home with a fantastic concert grand and in a big enough room that I could fake being in a hall, record on an acoustic, and still do it all from home. Every $30k I don't spend by going out to a venue for projects is a substantial amount I can save toward making that dream a reality!

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

@@PianistAcademy1 a pianist I follow (don't be jealous Charles) Annique Gottier, told how she went about booking a studio with a (100 year old) Steinway to record her Chopin CD. To stay on budget, she had to record all the etudes in a very short time, and her hands were BLASTED. She had to take short breaks and endure the pain. I would imagine that, while still great, her performances weren't as good musically as if she was relaxed taking time and enjoying the playing in the comfort of her home studio. Real life is full of comundrums. Spending 15 days at Abbey Road on a Steinway D is for a few. But if you record your Chopin CD at home on a Nord + VSL who's gonna buy it?

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@antoniomaccagnan7200 Ah yes, Annique. Lovely channel! I watch some here and there. One big difference is that her home Boston doesn't sound anywhere near as good my Kawai... and her audio production skills on her own also aren't close to what I do. I've heard recordings of some friends of mine who have rented out Skywalker Sound and also even Abbey Road... and what I'm able to do with a VST still outperforms them (even my Kawai in my small room at home outperforms them), because the quality of the engineer you work with is incredibly important when you book those big studios. If people think you've recorded in a beautiful space because that's what their ears tell them... does it matter if you haven't? ;-)

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@antoniomaccagnan7200 Also... I'm writing and composing throughout the year, so I don't have a program that I can work up and practice like crazy so I can go in and bang it out in a day in a beautiful space. I'm literally recording a single new piece each month over a few hours here and there. If I waited to record, I'd have little to no new content for my other channel for 12+ months at a time!

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

@@PianistAcademy1 Yes, absolutely. You are a discerning producer, beside being a pianist (and a teacher and a composer, etc) whereas Annique is a pianist who just records videos at home. What I meant is precisely what you say. An excellent end result depends on a number of factors the fruitor can hardly imagine. If you have the knowledge and the creativity you can do amazing thing while optimizing your resources. The problem, in music as in everything else in life, is perception. Because most of the people cannot truly discern how things were done. They go for the 'image' of quality since they don't know any better. This is particularly true for classical music though, 'cause in other genres the use of digital studio technology is widely accepted.