Finally an Awesome Piano Guys music Video!

Hello everybody, as you might have noticed, the group Piano Guys have released another video, and it is awesome. For a while, they were stagnating and performing pieces of mediocre emotional quality, but this one is just awesome. They incorporate Chopin's Prelude in C minor very well. The prelude is a very famous one, and it also influenced Rachmaninoff to a great extent ( he was inspired by it).

Enjoy!

Chopin Preludes

I have recently discovered the allure of Chopin Preludes. They are simple, yet astonishingly beautiful. Most of them are also fairly easy to learn, making them good pieces to play at receptions and cafes. I already learned two, and am planning to learn more. If you play piano, you should try them out!

New Age Music

New Age. New Age, New Age, New Age. I never really liked it too much. I always thought it sounded the same, even if the composers were different. I mean, occasionally I took a fancy to a particular piece and then learned it, but my general impression of new age was that it was a cliche simplification of romantic music. Recently, however, I have begun to view it in a different light. Some New Age piano music that I found on Pandora was really beautiful. Also, my recent improvisations have begun to have certain New Age qualities, such as the characteristic I VI VII chord progression, the minor V instead of the major, and the polyphonic interactions between both hands. Of course, I still consider my improvisation to be mostly in classical or movie-soundtrack style, but I think that learning some New Age techniques has been beneficial to my experience. I will definitely continue to expose myself to New Age music.

New Piano!

Greetings all, I am back from Dallas. And do you know the first thing we did after we came back? That's right -- we got a real piano. It was very cheap because we got it from an estate sale (in fact, moving the piano cost the same as the piano itself). It is a Baldwin Howard from the 40s, in pretty good condition (only a few keys are off tune). It is not my dream piano, but it is still VERY good.

Before a few days ago, I always played on a good electric Roland, and I still plan to use it when I need to play piano outside of my house. But this piano is real, and it feels real. One of the only problems is that it is hard to do trills on the Baldwin because the keys do not spring back up fast enough. But, that's ok.

So there it is!

Off to Dallas!

Hello everyone,

I apologize in advance for not posting anything in the next few days. I will be seeing my brother off at Dallas, so I won't be able to post anything. Sorry!

Meanwhile, here's two awesome piano pictures:

Etudes

Chopin's Etudes are extraordinarily difficult pieces. They require not only meticulous technique, but also patience and emotion. Did you know that originally etudes were pieces composed solely for the purpose to practice technique? That's right. They practically weren't even pieces, but rather exercises. Chopin made them become the magnificent pieces that they are. Here are my favorite etudes (all performed by Kissin, since he's probably my favorite pianist when it comes to technical and difficult pieces):

I love the beginning of this piece. The theme reappears again, and I find the contrast almost comical.

I already posted this piece earlier. It is amazing, and though perhaps easier than some other etudes, it is still extremely difficult.

This is Chopin's favorite etude. It is nicknamed "Tristesse" because of the sad and solemn melodies.

I play this waltz!

I learned this waltz mostly on my own (it wasn't assigned to me by my piano teacher). I play it often at my cafe performances.

I actually don't like Kissin's interpretation of some parts of this piece (a little too dry in the beginning, in my opinion). I really like his interpretation of the B major section, though.