For the classical music geeks/sheet-music fanatics in the audience

[eponymous_rose]

I'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

Comments

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Music libraries are excellent - I'm just starting to discover mine after two years, though, which is a bit embarrassing.

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

[northern_magic]

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.

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*

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Re: "The Wanderer Fantasy" as a Grade 10 piece - would that it were! :D It's generally seen to be one of the most difficult pieces in piano repertoire. As a result, I'm pathetically bad at it. But it's so much fun to play!

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.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm enormously dense today. Forgot which post I was commenting on. Heehee.

[northern_magic]

Takes me a bit to get back into gear too. :p

[northern_magic]

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.

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...