🔴LIVE! 4/24 Composition and Clementi

Hey hey, and welcome! First up today we we hear from Bethany, playing a new original composition! After that we will take a listen to Alan (congrats on your first submission to a live stream!) playing Clementi's Op. 36 No. 3, first movement! Stick around because after that, the stream will open up for full live Q&A!
▶️▶️ 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.
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[@zeevanatashazazhinne3136]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏for Alan! Thanks for inviting me over and congrats on your first livestream submission! Excellent feedback Charles!

[@bethanywakim6175]

Thanks so much again for the feedback on my work. I learn something new every time, and it’s really a privilege to hear your perspective as a professional composer-pianist. It’s so helpful to think about things in ways I haven’t before; I’ve gained a lot of confidence! When you were giving various technique advice in the latter half of the livestream, I was having flashbacks to my lessons as a teenager; she explained things so similarly. And I sometimes asked her to play Mendelssohn 19 no 1 at the end of lessons… so it was a nice surprise to hear it here, and looking forward to the recording!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Forgive the missed notes in that super special moment near the end of 19/1!!

[@bethanywakim6175]

@@PianistAcademy1 how dare you mess it up 😂 kidding, kidding. But actually you nailed my favorite spot which is a little before there - end of m 35 into 36, where the melody stays on the E for a beat, instead of descending as it previously did.

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@bethanywakim6175 😂

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

You got talent, Bethany.

[@bunnyhollowcrafts]

@bethanywakim6175... very beautiful piece and played just lovely. Can I ask HOW YOU CREATED THE SCORE? An app, on computer? How?

[@bethanywakim6175]

Thanks so much, I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the piece! I use Musescore, which is a free open source notation software. If you end up trying it out, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions - I’ve been using it since 2018 and I’m really familiar with it.

[@ZSpark62]

I wasn't able to catch this stream but it has been very helpful as always. Question - When talking about playing forte, I hear a lot about using arm weight. I can understand this when playing certain types of phrases that are a bit on the slower side, but this seems difficult to do when playing a quick phrase, making it hard to achieve on the notes after the first as I don't feel like I have time to use arm weight and gravity to get more sound. Any tips? Hope I worded this in a way that makes sense.

[@PianistAcademy1]

One of your best bets in transferring arm weight after the initial "attack" is through forearm rotation. We can't have very much "up/down" motion in our playing almost anywhere as, like you said, it's too slow. It's usually not working in a direction we need it to. But we can use pronation and supination (the two directions of rotation) to help direct that energy in a better way. The only time I *truly* think about arm weight is in playing slower moving chords, especially in Beethoven and maybe Chopin, to achieve more warmth of tone. But to be completely honest, almost none of my own teachers ever preached it to me. Almost all of them were from a school of thought that emphasized sharpness of attack through almost "whipping" the arm, wrist, and finger in coordination to provide massive volume with very little effort. The result is a brighter sound, but also a very nimble technique.

[@bunnyhollowcrafts]

Wish I could have seen this yesterday. Question Charles ... why do they write music in left or right hand that is unreachable with one hand? I have run into that in some advance pieces and chose to just leave it out; not thinking I could actually hit those notes with the other hand. This was a great class!

[@PianistAcademy1]

Give me an example! Piece and measure number? I'll take a look!

[@bunnyhollowcrafts]

It is Vincent by Ferrente & Teicher. It’s a D7 chord with base being a low D to F# nearest middle C. Totally unreachable for my hands. Right hand is CAC starting with 5th C on keyboard.

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@bunnyhollowcrafts Feel free to reharmonize or revoice chords like that if you can't reach them. A great many pianists today can't reach a 10th, but you'll find a whole lot of music from the great composers that spans further than an octave, and yes they could reach it, probably easily. I even wrote an 11th in my Pure Imagination arrangement 🤣 There's no harm in changing the voicing or omitting a note to continue on playing. There might be some choices better than others, but the only time you really *cannot* change the score is if you are competing professionally.

[@bunnyhollowcrafts]

@@PianistAcademy1 Thank you so much for you time!

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

Lovely chat (although I have my reserves about your sweater) BUT you didn't answer my question about Richter.

[@PianistAcademy1]

😂 I’ve gotten a LOT of compliments about that sweater, Antonio 😂

[@PianistAcademy1]

I quite enjoy Richter. Never got to hear him play, but I usually find his recordings in line with how I like to hear music. His technique is impeccable.

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

@@PianistAcademy1 If you were given the chance to hear one pianist live (dead or alive) whom you have never heard before, who would that be?

[@PianistAcademy1]

@@antoniomaccagnan7200 That is a TOUGH question. If it could be anyone from any period... it'd probably be Liszt himself. If it must be from the 20th century... perhaps Rachmaninoff or Rubenstein... or maybe John Ogden playing the Liszt Sonata... or Cliburn... it's so hard to pick just one!

[@antoniomaccagnan7200]

@@PianistAcademy1 What piano would you bring to Liszt to play on?