Int'l Amateur Piano Competition - Semifinal

Today the semifinal round of the 2009 Int'l Amateur Piano Competition was held at Koiwa Urban Plaza, Tokyo. Though I did not take part in this year, went to see and listen to the performances of the participants, many of them are either friends of mine or at least I got to know through various events since last year.
Per A division, any piece by J.S. Bach is mandatory, plus a piece of participant's choice is played. It appears that the primary criterion is how your play Bach, which I believe to be quite reasonable given the fact that any of his requires solid fundamentals, the very essence of how you create the sound, your takt, precision, because simply placing the notes as they are given does not appeal at all, and correctly playing J.S. Bach pieces test your mental strengths as well especially in the pressure-cooker situation on the stage of a competition.
There were many performances that I really enjoyed, and from every one of them I learned a lot, which was not possible if I participated in the competition myself. In hindsight, probably my decision not to participate was to the point, I guess. Above all, it was a great motivator.

Spare 5 mins every day for planning practice

As with most, or probably all, or non-professional pianists, it must be a common issue to find time for, and to make most of, i.e. make it most effective and efficient, practice time.
For that purpose, I make it a rule to spare at least five minutes to plan the practice for the day, often write down the most critical points to focus on, and/or issues to overcome, many of which are small details, e.g. try alternative fingerings for bars xx to xx for a particular piece.
When it comes to piano, as with many other pursuits, progress should be very slow. Therefore it is important to make steady progress each day of practice, however small it may be. Making the focal points clear is meant to ensure that small progress.
I also have a checklist consisting of approximately 100 items to check if I play right at any time, ranging from hand forms, breathing, posture to "sound landscape" in my brain. Since there are so many to think about and do right simultaneously, it requires patience and intelligence to make them "natural" to me, oftentimes requiring me to "unlearn" old bad habits, which is more challenging than learning new things.
One of the biggest "old bad habits" that I have come to unlearn just recently is to flex my wrists and forearms, learning at the same time to concentrate my full attention to fingertips placing them closer to the keys.

accept your mediocrity

when it comes to music, there is no such thing as goal, perfection, or anything that is ultimate.
as a non-professional without years of formal training (though i started something close to it last year) and without brilliant talent, what you shoud do first and foremost is to accept that you and your performance (if it could be called one) is nothing more than mediocre.

pondering on legato, legatissimo, and non legato

I thought it's worthwhile giving it much thought about what is otherwise taken lightly but should not be.
Given the structure and principles of piano as an instrument, legato is something requires not only good control of fingers and wrists (and for that matter arms), but also good coordination and feedback with listeninng to the sounde created.
If you want good legato (bad legato means uncontrolled non legato or contaminated sound with overwrapped notes), you need to keep you wrists calm (not fixed but flexible though), keep your fingertips as close as possible to the keys, and keep keys pressed as long as just enough so that two consecutive notes sound connected to each other. This "just enough" is easier said than done. Never too short, never too long. It's a split second difference. The difference would be much smaller when it comes to legatissimo. The same thing holds for non legato. It is hard to describe it quantitatively. We need to learn by doing, i.e., playing and listening, and listening and playing.

correct mindset for piano playing

have found that many of the mistakes have a common root cause: my mindset for piano playing, be that in practice and that on the stage as well, particularly the latter..
what did i have in mind, consciously or unconsciously, when i was at the stage? if that primarily to prove myself, was that working for the better or worse? if worse, was that a wrong motive to have? if in itself it was not, how could i take advantage of that? need to nail down on it. The strong hypothesis is twofolds: (1) lack or shotage of understanding what exactly i should / want to do, and (2) attempting to do way more than i can do. if this is correct, the countermeasures would be extremely simple; to squarely face my weaknesses (and strengths) and mobilize my full brain potential to do the right things at every moment of practice with full concentration on well thought-out practice plan. There is no trick or shortcut. No room for wishful thinking. Never overestimate or underestimate your ability. Never be distracted by what others do. Never ever force things. Just be yourself, be natural and fluid.

Practice note-Los Requiebros

1. Goal: continuity or smooth transition of motif development thru variations
2. Issues to overcome: logical construction of liberal organization of the piece; expansion between fingers with flexibility without compromising beauty of notes
3. Practice tips:
* bias on left hand esp. for leading the music flow
* volume balance among voices

Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing

Not until just recently, I found the great value of the work by Josef Lhevinne, "Basic Principles of Pianoforte Playing".
Not only the author is an outstanding performer and instructor, and not only for its thoroughness yet conciseness, but also the insights that are unique and tested over time, and above all, the delivery of the thoughts I found very creative and effective.
If we practice these thoughts in their true intended meanings to the fullest, no doubt our performances will reach the height where we performers and the audience as well could truly appreciate the art of piano playing.
Key thoughts that I particularly found valuable are:

1. What "touch" is to loosen all but absolutely necessary muscles to enable the most artistics fingertips to work themselves, without any obstacles or hitches, to create the beauty of sounds.
2. The "touch" is not to strike or drop the fingertips on the keys but to capture the keys.
3. Tha last note of a passage should be paid careful attention so that the passsage ends delicately, with a reversed (at the beginning of the passage), smooth motion.
4. The left hand dexterity is the one distinguishes the great performance from the mediocre ones. It should not be a drag. Thus, you should be able to play the left hand part solidly and independently with equal mastery with the right hand part.
5. Stop for a while to look back on your performance and think carefully if you have something to express, assert, and deliver to the audience.

Practice note - Granados, Los Requiebros from Goyescas

1. Goal: outburst of passion voiced in well-controlled and structured manner with ever-changing harmony
2. Issues to overcome: flexible and controlled left hand with flexible thumb for melody line in tenor en dehors; virtuosic passgaes by the right hand balanced in harmony with the left hand
3. Practice tips: separate voices; eight bars at a time, very slowly and carefully repeat until played comfortably

appeared in piano journal

The Apr 2009 issue of one of the piano journals in Japan (though hardly amajor one) contains the article on The 2nd Beten Piano Competition held last year.
My name with photo and a brief praise on my performance was up to my pleasant surprise! It says about my performance, Scriabin Piano Sonata op.70, that the trills sounded like bells and the stereophonic construction was articulated, which sounds very encouraging.

your body is part of instrument

A few days ago it occurred to me that, I could play the piano more easily and beautifully at the same time if I focused my feel mind on feeling my entire body transformed into a part of instrument, not peripheral but critical one, close to it being assimilated into the sounds I created. Having thought about the whys, it greatly helped listening to the sounds while relaxing the muscles that should not be tense, the very basics of instrument playing, or music performance. Need to hone this sense in order to achieve ever better coordination of the whole employed.

when not to set a target

For businesses or any activity, there should be a targets or targets set to achieve.
What about piano playing, for those who do it for living and those who do it for pleasure (amateur)? If a target to be set, what would it be? Thinking differently about this questions, should a target be set in the first place?
It is easy to say a target can be winning a competition, but would that be a "good" tagret to aim at? It can lead to make means an end, which we should carefully avoid.
Instead, what about "expressing yourself by exploiting the instrument's potential to the fullest"? Would that serve as a "good" target for us amateurs? I do not think so, because it might be acceptable (or maybe the ideal) goal for any piano lovers, chances are slim that it would be a target that we can clearly visualize and focus our daily thinking and exercises toward achieving it (in this sense it is not "good" as a target) because it is too conceptual as "what" and "how" to achieve it greatly varies by for whom it means.
Appropriate target setting is possible only if there is a set path for attaining that goal that can be defined by humanly efforts.

Lens

This world is much brighter than you perceive it to be.
I'm no believer in any religion. However, not a pessimistic realist, either.
Having read "Message of a Master" for the first time in several years since I accidentally came across this short but extremely insightful, powerful, and intricately articulated work, it came to my mind again that I should clear the clouds I brought all over my mind to be overly realistic to a pessimistic degree.

competition evaluation criteria

PTNA, national piano teachers' association of Japan, clearly provides the evaluation criteria for annual competition on its evaluation sheet, as 12 viewpoints below:

1. accurate touch
2. beautiful tones
3. precise rhythm and beat
4. appropriate tempo
5. balance of melodies and accompaniments
6. memorization
7: range and changes in dynamics
8. emotional expression
9. construction
10. pedalling
11. concentration on the stage
12. appropriate stage manner

requirements of a Master

One of the (rare) modern works that I value, "Laws of Mastering" collates five points that qualifies a Master and those who are not clearly and concisely.
Below are those five points with my interpretations:
1. Persistent yet is able to sustain concentration ... can demonstrate these otherwise conflicting qualities simultaneously

2. Manifests distingushed, unique abilities ... even without any intention to show them off, they stand out naturally, scintillatingly

3. Has very clear focal points ... it is often said that "God resides in details" but a Master

4. Dimensions are different in viewing others ... a Master does not normally outspeak his or her assessment of others

5. Able to accurately recognize oneself ... has full understanding of both strengths and shortcomings of oneself, no underestimate, no overestimate, no pessimism, no optimism; hard look at what really are about oneself