Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

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Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Tenaba »

Hi again, I'm still trying to learn piano. I've looked for a beginner piece, and also found some sheet music for it. However, I can't read sheet music effectively, so even reading it in the first place took some time. The sheet music I used to read this is also part of the video. This was done with Kdenlive. The piano that you're hearing is the Steinway D Model from Pianoteq.

You can find it here on Youtube

If you can, then please let me know how I can make the performance more accurate in the future!

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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Rainmak3r »

Tenaba wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 12:14 am Hi again, I'm still trying to learn piano. I've looked for a beginner piece, and also found some sheet music for it. However, I can't read sheet music effectively, so even reading it in the first place took some time. The sheet music I used to read this is also part of the video. This was done with Kdenlive. The piano that you're hearing is the Steinway D Model from Pianoteq.

You can find it here on Youtube

If you can, then please let me know how I can make the performance more accurate in the future!
I can't help you make the performance more accurate, as it sounds quite accurate to me already: I'm just here to tell you again how jealous I am :lol:
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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by jeanette_c »

Hey hey @Tenaba , I can't read sheet music at all, and most certainly not from a video. :) That said, your performance sounds fine. You could try to experiement more with dynamics. It may just be an unfavourable velocity curve setting in PianoTeq or your keyboard. Just a thought. These things come the more assured you are and the more comfortable you feel with a piece. I am impressed with your learning curve here!
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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Tenaba »

Rainmak3r wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 9:52 am I can't help you make the performance more accurate, as it sounds quite accurate to me already: I'm just here to tell you again how jealous I am :lol:
Thanks! Hope to get good enough that more people can say that lol.
jeanette_c wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:37 pm Hey hey @Tenaba , I can't read sheet music at all, and most certainly not from a video. :) That said, your performance sounds fine. You could try to experiement more with dynamics. It may just be an unfavourable velocity curve setting in PianoTeq or your keyboard. Just a thought. These things come the more assured you are and the more comfortable you feel with a piece. I am impressed with your learning curve here!
Yes, "compress" the velocity in Pianoteq as I have trouble hitting the higher velocities on the keyboard I'm using. Meanwhile, I find it difficult to play softly on time (it seems my hands think soft means slow). So I'm thinking it'll mostly take more practice for me to widen the dynamics. And as you noted, comfort may play a part as well. Thank you for your input!

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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by oscillator »

You are really determined and that gives me inspiration in itself!

I have given up on being even a mediocre musician/instrumentalist, and just stayed with composing/"making" music. But I can see how this is fun, and you are really getting better all the time.

Thanks for sharing!

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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by merlyn »

It's accurate in that it's all the right notes. I don't know if accuracy is the goal. As Edvard Greig said "Only 10% of the music is on the page." I think the goal is to make music with what's on the page, which you've done.

In terms of "did you play what's there?", you haven't stuck to the dynamics that are there. It starts off piano, and there are 'hairpins' telling us to crescendo and decrescendo. I thought that generally you could play the left hand chords more softly. It's called a pianoforte -- a 'softloud' :D and I think dynamics are part of it. The piano has a different tone when it's played softly. It's less bright and you can use this to shade the music.

These are fine details. If I hadn't seen the score I would have thought it was a nice piece played well.
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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Tenaba »

oscillator wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:25 am You are really determined and that gives me inspiration in itself!

I have given up on being even a mediocre musician/instrumentalist, and just stayed with composing/"making" music. But I can see how this is fun, and you are really getting better all the time.

Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for listening. I think it's much more important to compose/make music, regardless of musicianship.
merlyn wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 12:37 pm It's accurate in that it's all the right notes. I don't know if accuracy is the goal. As Edvard Greig said "Only 10% of the music is on the page." I think the goal is to make music with what's on the page, which you've done.

In terms of "did you play what's there?", you haven't stuck to the dynamics that are there. It starts off piano, and there are 'hairpins' telling us to crescendo and decrescendo. I thought that generally you could play the left hand chords more softly. It's called a pianoforte -- a 'softloud' :D and I think dynamics are part of it. The piano has a different tone when it's played softly. It's less bright and you can use this to shade the music.

These are fine details. If I hadn't seen the score I would have thought it was a nice piece played well.
Thank you for the help. I still have to work on widening my dynamic range. My hands barely seem capable of playing any velocities other than "normal" and "slightly louder than normal" so far. I will keep in mind the left hand chords, that seems like something I can work on soon.

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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by merlyn »

If you don't mind me dissecting it ... The thing is it's easily fixed -- you just have to play it again. I don't consider myself much of a piano player, but I can sight read this. This etude is teaching fingering -- one finger per key, and bar three has a phrase where the index finger crosses over the thumb. Also, of course, it's an etude in playing piano (softly).

You start too hard, and are emphasising the first note of each phrase, I think too much. On the repeat of the first section the first note is far too hard. I see why you did that. After the rest in the last bar of the first section you come back in strongly to state the rhythm/beat. You don't have to do that. The music will do that.
Tenaba wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:47 pm My hands barely seem capable of playing any velocities other than "normal" and "slightly louder than normal" so far.
'Normal' would be mf and 'slightly louder than normal' would be f. I think your hands are capable of playing softly and in time. You just have to tell your brain that. You could practice hairpins. Play a C major chord four to the bar. Start f and get softer over the bar. In the next bar go from p to f. I find it can help to really imagine what you're going to play. Hear it before you play it, and your hands will do what you're hearing. I think it's something that will eventually click with you.

I also thought bar fourteen is a bit stumbly, and you start the rit before bar fifteen where it says poco rit.
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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Tenaba »

merlyn wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:04 pm If you don't mind me dissecting it ... The thing is it's easily fixed -- you just have to play it again. I don't consider myself much of a piano player, but I can sight read this. This etude is teaching fingering -- one finger per key, and bar three has a phrase where the index finger crosses over the thumb. Also, of course, it's an etude in playing piano (softly).

You start too hard, and are emphasising the first note of each phrase, I think too much. On the repeat of the first section the first note is far too hard. I see why you did that. After the rest in the last bar of the first section you come back in strongly to state the rhythm/beat. You don't have to do that. The music will do that.
Tenaba wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:47 pm My hands barely seem capable of playing any velocities other than "normal" and "slightly louder than normal" so far.
'Normal' would be mf and 'slightly louder than normal' would be f. I think your hands are capable of playing softly and in time. You just have to tell your brain that. You could practice hairpins. Play a C major chord four to the bar. Start f and get softer over the bar. In the next bar go from p to f. I find it can help to really imagine what you're going to play. Hear it before you play it, and your hands will do what you're hearing. I think it's something that will eventually click with you.

I also thought bar fourteen is a bit stumbly, and you start the rit before bar fifteen where it says poco rit.
Don't mind the musical dissection at all, I appreciate the help! The accenting of the starts of phrases is very apparent after listening to it again. I've tried the exercises with C chords through different dynamics, and I think it's going to help as I repeat it over the next few practice sessions. Thanks again.

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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Latent Musician »

If you don't mind I have a few details I would like to share:

try to play the legato more singing, less mechanic. There is no difference between the actual legato notes and the gaps in the legato in your recording whatsoever. Try to make the listener hear where the bows (is that the english word?) end/begin.

Try to play the accords in the left hand with more flexibility. Don't just hammer the notes and be done with it, but try to have a smooth movement in the elbow and cushioning motion in your palm. (5th bar the second time was way better than anything before)

Try to start in the dynamic you had in bar 9. It is super difficult to start soft, but it makes all the difference.

These mini-decrescendos (like in bar 2) are to be understood like an accent. a soft wide accent as the highest point of a phrase. Prepare it the half bar before, enjoy it - savor it, and let go. Just relax back into your lyrical play. Don't get hard but stay smooth.

I would not make crescendos below a short bow (like four eighth?). So bars 5 - 7 I would crescendo from motiv to motiv. Actually making small "decrescendos" in each group but crescending the motiv heads from bow to bow.

bars 13 and 14 are actually a crescendo. Though it is written as three decrescendos. Like before these are accents with lots of energy but little force. the second must be louder than the first, and the third (sf) even more.

rit in 15 is way too much. I would, probably, only rit the first time.

same in the end. too much and too abrupt.
rit means riterdando. This translates as "getting slower" or "becoming slower".
poco means a little
try to brake your car without spilling a glass of water. That is poco rit. You are driving your car against a wall.

Otherwise it sounds nice and practiced. You hold your tempo and rhythm and I believe you actually listen to what you do, which is a VERY important point in practicing.
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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Tenaba »

Latent Musician wrote: Mon Oct 17, 2022 9:23 am If you don't mind I have a few details I would like to share:

try to play the legato more singing, less mechanic. There is no difference between the actual legato notes and the gaps in the legato in your recording whatsoever. Try to make the listener hear where the bows (is that the english word?) end/begin.

Try to play the accords in the left hand with more flexibility. Don't just hammer the notes and be done with it, but try to have a smooth movement in the elbow and cushioning motion in your palm. (5th bar the second time was way better than anything before)

Try to start in the dynamic you had in bar 9. It is super difficult to start soft, but it makes all the difference.

These mini-decrescendos (like in bar 2) are to be understood like an accent. a soft wide accent as the highest point of a phrase. Prepare it the half bar before, enjoy it - savor it, and let go. Just relax back into your lyrical play. Don't get hard but stay smooth.

I would not make crescendos below a short bow (like four eighth?). So bars 5 - 7 I would crescendo from motiv to motiv. Actually making small "decrescendos" in each group but crescending the motiv heads from bow to bow.

bars 13 and 14 are actually a crescendo. Though it is written as three decrescendos. Like before these are accents with lots of energy but little force. the second must be louder than the first, and the third (sf) even more.

rit in 15 is way too much. I would, probably, only rit the first time.

same in the end. too much and too abrupt.
rit means riterdando. This translates as "getting slower" or "becoming slower".
poco means a little
try to brake your car without spilling a glass of water. That is poco rit. You are driving your car against a wall.

Otherwise it sounds nice and practiced. You hold your tempo and rhythm and I believe you actually listen to what you do, which is a VERY important point in practicing.
Hi, and thank you for sharing your feedback. I didn't know the three decrescendos 13-14 forms a crescendo overall. I'm currently still practicing more piano, trying another piece from the same composer. I'll try to keep all this in mind.

Also, welcome to the forum!

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Re: Friedrich Burgmüller - La Candeur, Op. 100 No.1

Post by Latent Musician »

It is actually rather obvious if you think about it:

decresc means "becoming softer" or literally "shrinking"
For something to shrink it has to be big in the first place.
the second one has to be louder than the first one because the harmony is stronger - by going from g to f# in the secant you go from once to twice diminished (sorry. my english eludes me in this. It is my second language…).
The third one has to be the loudest because it has the sf.
Fun Fact: up to about 1820 sf did not mean sforzato but subito forte.
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