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eponymous_roseI've spent most of today studying for my music history exam - and then it occurred to me that I haven't blogged about this place yet.
Free public domain music scores. It's brilliant.
Even if you've got very little interest in classical music, reading a score while you're listening can be a pretty amazing experience. :D
Free public domain music scores. It's brilliant.
Even if you've got very little interest in classical music, reading a score while you're listening can be a pretty amazing experience. :D
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Date: 2007-07-23 04:29 pm (UTC)Absolutely nothing beats free sheet music of this calibre. I love geeking out over this site!
D'you play piano, then? Because I also love geeking out over certain pieces of music with people who actually know what I'm talking about. :D
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Date: 2007-07-23 11:34 pm (UTC)D'you play piano, then? Because I also love geeking out over certain pieces of music with people who actually know what I'm talking about. :D
Ha! Do I play piano? Every day. XD (Though that should not be confused with "practicing". *cough*) I've just started with the grade 9 RCM books this summer- I'm a late beginner, about 4 years going now, which explains why I'm not at least halfway through grade 9 and taking history/harmony yet. :p
Debussy is my favourite composer at this point, even though half of the enjoyment is staring (or listening) enviously at the performer. Suite Bergamasque is my obvious favourite of his works, though I also like various selections from Children's Corner or his more obscure pieces.
Chopin has his moments though. Or that's just my teacher's heavy bias reflecting on me. XD
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Date: 2007-07-24 02:00 am (UTC)Huzzah for meeting a fellow piano enthusiast! *dances* It's very awesome that you've made such excellent progress despite starting late (after all, I've just started learning the violin! Your story gives me much hope and inspiration!). It took me a full ten years to get my grade 10 RCM (and I'm still working on the silly grade 4 history - never got around to scheduling the exam until this summer! *wince*)
Debussy! Debussy!
I played "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" from the Children's Corner for my grade 10 RCM (amusingly enough, it was the only piece in that exam where my memory didn't fail me *shudders*). It remains one of my favourite pieces, and I keep it on hand for an encore at concerts because it makes me look more talented than I actually am. *beams*
I love Chopin to death, too - the first thing I did when I finished my RCM was play through all his Nocturnes. I recommend them to any player with smallish hands - you learn the fine arts of rolling chords and jumping several octaves with your left hand without having to look down. :D They helped a lot with my deathly fear of cluttered key signatures, too!
I'm a bit of a sucker for Beethoven - to play more than to listen. The Pathetique Sonata will just wrench emotion out of even the most unemotional performer! I play it as a pick-me-up, oddly enough. *grin*
And Schubert! Schubert's piano sonatas are sadly neglected in the professional repertoire, but they're some of my favourite music to play, evah.
And I loves me some Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations, too!
Oh, and Mozart, of course!
And, for something a little more modern, Harry Somers!
Okay. Um. *stops babbling*
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Date: 2007-07-28 01:52 am (UTC)Tai for the piano enthusiast- everyone I know in piano isn't exactly enthusiastic about it, and is amazed I play of my own volition. XD
Ah the violin- good luck with that! ha...We have a couple (very out of tune) violins stashed in the basement somewhere. I've tried it before, but I'm always afraid of dropping it :p I play mainly piano and clarinet, and wish to learn trumpet but currently don't have time (or patience).
Debussy! "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum"!
Haha, my piano teacher found a whole stack of urtexts- Chopin, Debussy, Mozart...- at Costco once- I think it was about $10 for the Debussy: the entire Children's Corner, "La plus que lente", "L'isle joyeuse", "Danse bohemienne", "Arabesques", "Valse romantique"...okay, I think I'll stop listing. About 24 pieces in total. My teacher was...very very happy. XD
So of course I've taken a look at "Docteur Gradus Ad Parnassum" (I sightread everything within reach, me) and love it, but I still have a ways to go before I can actually play it XD
I'm with you on Beethoven- his and Hayden's sonatinas/sonatas are the ones I usually go for first in the RCM books. But it's always much more fun to play than to listen...though here I shall contradict myself and make exceptions for Debussy and Shostakovich. =)
I tend to gravitate toward more 20th century repertoire, so I can't say I'm very familiar with Schubert outside of the pieces within RCM. I've probably encountered Somers before...*frowns*
I'm with you on everything though. I'll play almost anything XD
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Date: 2007-07-28 03:02 am (UTC)I've only ever really played the piano (though I can still play a few pieces on the recorder and actually remember a few ukelele chords from elementary school), so I was a bit nervous about starting from scratch with the violin. But, y'know, it's actually not particularly frustrating. I love the little stuff.
Huzzah for meeting a fellow compulsive sight-reader! :D If there's a book of music anywhere in the house, even if it's way beyond my abilities, I'll try it out. So much fun.
Re: playing vs. listening - I find Mozart much more fun to listen to than to play (he's my favourite composer), Debussy much more fun to listen to than to sight-read (though once I've practiced a bit, I enjoy it immensely), and Chopin way more fun to play than to listen to.
Schubert is about a 50-50 split for me, actually. His melodies are so dang amazing that I wind up humming them at every possible opportunity. And he hates static bass lines (so where most people will do the 5-1-3-1 left-hand fingering stuff ad nauseum, he'll go nuts and start transposing right from the start), which makes his stuff way too much fun to play.
Yes, I've been plucking away at "The Wanderer Fantasy" (hmm... that sounds familiar, somehow :D). It's absolutely demented and extremely schmaltzy, but I love it. :D
I think Somers' first appearance in RCM is in the... grade 10 repertoire? "Strangeness of Heart", anyway. It's an amazing piece once you get the timing, and completely cured me of my fear of triplets over duplets.
...I really just spent five hours today in a practice room, playing piano. And now I want to play some more. It's an addiction. :D
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Date: 2007-08-01 11:44 pm (UTC)All the books of music in our house are scattered around the piano bench XD But I'll try anything as well- like trying to read a couple lines of "L'isle joyeuse" before watching a clip of it on YouTube...*shakes head* I know those are thirty-second notes, but that's crazy! :p
Sightreading Debussy can be a bit of a pain (as witnessed above), but I always have the enticing reward of an almost up to speed piece at the end- the beauty! XD I'm a bit iffy on Mozart; love him sometimes when listening, hate him others when playing (never mind that I play on regardless. :p) Ditto on the Chopin note though.
And he hates static bass lines (so where most people will do the 5-1-3-1 left-hand fingering stuff ad nauseum, he'll go nuts and start transposing right from the start), which makes his stuff way too much fun to play.
Ah, but that's why I like Debussy- there are Alberti base lines and whatnot, but the chords and harmonies that he uses never fails to fascinate me. And the crunchy chords are like...nutty granola, instead of flaky bone shards/marrow in rice. (The metaphor is from experience.)
"The Wanderer Fantasy"...aha! I knew I heard that title somewhere before. Grade 10 piece, then? I remember melodies better than their respective titles :p
Triplets over duplets. *shudders* The one thing keeping me from attacking "Arabesques" with both hands. The joy...
*sigh* If I had a practice room with a grand piano and a clarinet (or simply just more music), I'd definitely practice around five hours a day. XD As it is, I sit at the piano before breakfast, after breakfast and sometimes at midnight. Lent my grade 5-7 RCM books to my friend for the year though, so all the music I have is grade 8, 9 and a few random pop songs from the 60s and 90s. *sighs*
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Date: 2007-08-03 04:19 am (UTC)Best way to practice triplets over duplets that you can do anytime - start tapping out a ONE-two-three-ONE-two-three rhythm on your knee with one hand, then a ONE-two-ONE-two with the other. The trick, of course, is to make sure the ONEs always come up at the same time - the rest can usually be fudged at a high enough speed. I've found it generally works out well to think of the finished product as a sort of ONE-two-dle-three-ONE-two-dle-three thing. Um. Yes. Not particularly helpful. That's me! *beams*
Ooh, I wish I had a grand piano to practice on! Sometimes I go to the mall and look sad at the Yamaha store and they let me play on the grand. For a few minutes. Then they realize I don't have sixty thousand dollars on hand and politely shoo me away. Heehee.
I forget - have I babbled to you about the wonder that is www.imslp.org recently? Because that's a nice alternative to having to buy sheet music, if you've got a good printer! There's some good stuff there, too.
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Date: 2007-08-03 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-18 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-18 12:51 am (UTC)Yep, you have! Not that I mind hearing about it again. As soon as we have a good supply of printer cartridges, well...*cackles*
As for the triplets over duplets, I keep finding that the duplets turn into a dotted rhythm. *sighs and keeps practicing* Gives me mind the weirdest feeling...