Hi Phil, So beautifully played as always, bless you. May i ask which Roland it is you are using here as a controller for Pianoteq? And why? Thank you Phil for your lovely music, Warmest regards, Chris
Thank you! It's the Fantom 8 workstation synth and I just like it as a studio centrepiece. It has the PHA50 action with hi-res velocity too like my old RD2000 which I sold. But it feels a little smoother under the fingers to me.
The same action is also in the FP-90X which has Roland's latest modeling engine (but only one of two piano models). I find the PHA50 to be the best piano action which is still portable by one person. Kawai's Grand Feel actions are even better but I don't consider them really portable anymore. I wouldn't want to carry an MP11SE alone. Plus the Grand Feel 2 has durability issues which were fixed in Gen. 3 which so far is only available in Kawai's latest home pianos. The PHA50 is heavy, but still portable. It has the longest key stick of all competitors (except the Grand Feels) and durability is not an issue (due to an additional pin which stabilizes the keys).
Hi! I have a question how do you approach suggested finger numbers on the sheet music? Do you follow them or you create on your own based on your comfortability? I am curious if a fluent musician do the same as non-fluent musician does when it comes to following a suggested fingering on a musical passage. Me as a non fluent musician, I follow those suggested finger numbers to play with legato and to avoid hand injury.
I don't prescribe fingering, as I'm sure you already know. I play with a relaxed natural sense of the keyboard map and would never use fixed fingering to avoid the tightness (and potential injury) that comes with playing from muscle memory. In a piece like this one, like many romantic piano pieces, the pedal is important for legato more than fingers. A sense of melodic line and storytelling is vital too, of course.
Why not combine the best of both worlds? I teach my students to stick to the prescribed fingers. But the fingers are up for discussion and I show alternatives and let them decide which fits their hands best. Once we found their (!) best way to play the piece, they stick to the fingers and train the muscle memory. It's not about stoically sticking to a certain system. It's about understanding how the different systems work, WHY they do certain things (taking efficiency and ergonomics into consideration) and then chosing whatever variant works best for you in a specific situation. So I don't simply teach them HOW to do certain techniques but also WHY you use them, what the advantages and disadvantages may be and what alternatives may exist. That way, the can come up with their own prescribed fingers after a while which suit their hands best. That way, I don't see any downsides to muscle memory. I still can play multiple pieces from 20 years ago simply by muscle memory when I have long forgotten the notes.
I teach musical fluency because that's the way I play. I don't play from muscle memory. When I tried it, I found that it blocked my fluency and made my playing sound poor, so I'd be a hypocrite to teach precriptive fingering. There's no dogma in this, just honesty and integrity! We're all free to teach or play in whatever way works for us.
@@PhilBestMusic I completely agree. If it works for you, it's the right way to play. I'm not stoic with prescribed fingers, I just found it works best for me. Muscle memory then comes naturally, it's not like I'm trying to force it. The same goes for my teaching. I find prescribed fingers work for most students so I use them but I let my students come up with their own precribed fingers that work best for them. If a student doesn't like prescribed fingers, fine. I will still teach them the different ways to ergonomically use their fingers (pretty much which techniques exist, what their advantages and disadvantages are and what kind of techniques to avoid) to give them as many options as possible to play fluently without running out of fingers.
You misunderstand what I mean by fluent musicianship, which gives us access to very specific and rare musical skills that would be blocked by playing from muscle memory.
A perfect example of "Telling a story" just by timing !
Thanks !!!!
I'm glad you liked it - thank you. Storytelling with timing and dynamics too, of course!
Hi Phil,
So beautifully played as always, bless you.
May i ask which Roland it is you are using here as a controller for Pianoteq? And why?
Thank you Phil for your lovely music,
Warmest regards,
Chris
Thank you! It's the Fantom 8 workstation synth and I just like it as a studio centrepiece. It has the PHA50 action with hi-res velocity too like my old RD2000 which I sold. But it feels a little smoother under the fingers to me.
@@PhilBestMusic thank you Phil
The same action is also in the FP-90X which has Roland's latest modeling engine (but only one of two piano models). I find the PHA50 to be the best piano action which is still portable by one person. Kawai's Grand Feel actions are even better but I don't consider them really portable anymore. I wouldn't want to carry an MP11SE alone. Plus the Grand Feel 2 has durability issues which were fixed in Gen. 3 which so far is only available in Kawai's latest home pianos.
The PHA50 is heavy, but still portable. It has the longest key stick of all competitors (except the Grand Feels) and durability is not an issue (due to an additional pin which stabilizes the keys).
Great ! this is steinway preset right ?
Thanks! No it's a historic piano in the Scloss Kremsegg collection - a J. Frenzel.
Hi! I have a question
how do you approach suggested finger numbers on the sheet music?
Do you follow them or you create on your own based on your comfortability?
I am curious if a fluent musician do the same as non-fluent musician does when it comes to following a suggested fingering on a musical passage.
Me as a non fluent musician, I follow those suggested finger numbers to play with legato and to avoid hand injury.
I don't prescribe fingering, as I'm sure you already know. I play with a relaxed natural sense of the keyboard map and would never use fixed fingering to avoid the tightness (and potential injury) that comes with playing from muscle memory. In a piece like this one, like many romantic piano pieces, the pedal is important for legato more than fingers. A sense of melodic line and storytelling is vital too, of course.
Why not combine the best of both worlds?
I teach my students to stick to the prescribed fingers. But the fingers are up for discussion and I show alternatives and let them decide which fits their hands best. Once we found their (!) best way to play the piece, they stick to the fingers and train the muscle memory.
It's not about stoically sticking to a certain system. It's about understanding how the different systems work, WHY they do certain things (taking efficiency and ergonomics into consideration) and then chosing whatever variant works best for you in a specific situation.
So I don't simply teach them HOW to do certain techniques but also WHY you use them, what the advantages and disadvantages may be and what alternatives may exist. That way, the can come up with their own prescribed fingers after a while which suit their hands best. That way, I don't see any downsides to muscle memory. I still can play multiple pieces from 20 years ago simply by muscle memory when I have long forgotten the notes.
I teach musical fluency because that's the way I play. I don't play from muscle memory. When I tried it, I found that it blocked my fluency and made my playing sound poor, so I'd be a hypocrite to teach precriptive fingering. There's no dogma in this, just honesty and integrity! We're all free to teach or play in whatever way works for us.
@@PhilBestMusic I completely agree. If it works for you, it's the right way to play. I'm not stoic with prescribed fingers, I just found it works best for me. Muscle memory then comes naturally, it's not like I'm trying to force it. The same goes for my teaching. I find prescribed fingers work for most students so I use them but I let my students come up with their own precribed fingers that work best for them. If a student doesn't like prescribed fingers, fine. I will still teach them the different ways to ergonomically use their fingers (pretty much which techniques exist, what their advantages and disadvantages are and what kind of techniques to avoid) to give them as many options as possible to play fluently without running out of fingers.
You misunderstand what I mean by fluent musicianship, which gives us access to very specific and rare musical skills that would be blocked by playing from muscle memory.