the piano help thread! :D

[daj]

This is a thread thing to ask for technical advice! ^^
(and it was totally approved, yayy)


(hey, gotta have a picture if you want your thread to look decent, yknow~)

"technical advice"??

- Physical stuff, like posture, fingering, techniques etc.
- Also includes the mental side of things, like handling recording anxiety, handling boredom in practice, quick-study methods, all of that
- Emotional things, I guess: if you're going to quit, or if practice is driving you nuts, or...you get. xD


Or, if you're stuck with a particular passage in a particular sheet, feel free to quote it here! If you're lucky, the original arranger might give you a helping hand~

Also, none of us are professionals here, I believe - you will not be getting advice from experts/specialists in the piano, but you should be able to gather enough opinions and ideas to formulate your own approach. I like to think I'm quite experienced on the instrument, especially when it comes to learning easy-to-moderate-level pieces with maximum speed and minimum effort. Doesn't make me a pro, but I could help clear up the fog ahead of you just a little ^^

all are invited! ^^

Also, this is not just my thread haha - you can respond to any question if you think it contributes positively to the asker. As long as you have some advice to share and there are topic/questions that need to be answered, feel free to chip in! The more opinions there are, the better the learning process.

That said, try to stay civil I suppose. Criticism can get ugly xD


On my end, along with answering the questions you guys have, from time to time, I'll try to do live demonstration videos to answer certain queries. ^^ Here's an example, for a guy who asked about playing the "National Park" cadenza on my channel:

Spoiler

[close]

Hope this helps everyone somehow, and ask away!

[swimswamit]

I'm gonna use this so much o.o

So first dumb question! If there is a note with a sharp but no key for that note (i.e. The treble E note right here:   ) do you always jump up to the exact next key, F in this case?

Thanks!

[WaluigiTime64]

Yes, that's correct. E# is the same as F. It's just written like that for certain situations. Similarly, Cb is B. After that there's double sharps and double flats but those probably won't be necessary right now lol. Have fun.

[daj]

So first dumb question! If there is a note with a sharp but no key for that note (i.e. The treble E note right here:   ) do you always jump up to the exact next key, F in this case?

Mmhmm! Exactly what Waluigi said

As a side note, if you'd like to understand the rationale behind this, and for anyone interested in the harmony stuff behind the scenes: E# exists because it wants to resolve (i.e. melodically progress) to F#. Similarly, Cb exists because it wants to resolve down to Bb. These seemingly extrarreneous sharps/flats and the whole double-sharp/flat thing - these show melodic resolving tendencies. So if you see an E# on the score you can almost certainly expect an F# right after it, possibly decorated with notes in between ^^

[swimswamit]

Yes, that's correct. E# is the same as F. It's just written like that for certain situations. Similarly, Cb is B. After that there's double sharps and double flats but those probably won't be necessary right now lol. Have fun.

thanks! That has confused me for a while. That's over my head daj, but I think I understand.

[braix]

So for your arrangement of national park, I've gotten the ascending portion of the cadenza down comfortably, but I can't figure out fingerings for the descending portion straight after.
Halp?

[Sebastian]

Now this is a topic that I like. Maybe we could get this pinned in the help topic?

[daj]

Now this is a topic that I like. Maybe we could get this pinned in the help topic?

ahh seb i love you haha you know i do ^^

~

So for your arrangement of national park, I've gotten the ascending portion of the cadenza down comfortably, but I can't figure out fingerings for the descending portion straight after.
Halp?

First of all, thank you for learning my National Park haha, I hope it'll be a meaningful enough journey learning that sheet xD

As for the descending part of the cadenza - the fingerings I used are 3-2-| 1-2-3, where the line denotes a split between the right hand and the left hand. The whole flourish downwards is played on one pedal. You're not expected to play that passage with full legato on one hand...that's just evil. :p Hopefully you weren't trying to do that.

In general, for these cadenzas, as long as you can find a fingering that is comfortable and can sound convincing (when played confidently and with pedal)...you've nailed it. Cadenzas are where, in the moment of performance, you use the maximum amount of cheating power you've got to make an impression even if you don't know what the fuck is going on, so to achieve this condition you need to be comfortable ^^

If you'd like, I can dig out my old sheets of National Park and scan them for your reference! And hope this helped a little~

[braix]

If you'd like, I can dig out my old sheets of National Park and scan them for your reference! And hope this helped a little~

That would be amazing

[daj]

That would be amazing

REJECTED.

(also excuse the general messiness ahaha, i did spend quite a bit of myself learning this one xD)

[swimswamit]

Anyone have a recommendation for a sheet I could learn that's good for a new pianist but will help me progress some? I've kind of in a rut right now. I've been trying mimiga town but I can't get the left hand yet for the 2nd part and would like something to try on the side.

Am a Pokemon and zelda fan (only really enjoy the older zelda music wind waker and before), super mario galaxy is great too but I think all of those are probably too hard.

>suggests songs for easy playlist
>forgets about it
I'll just use one of those!

[daj]

Anyone have a recommendation for a sheet I could learn that's good for a new pianist but will help me progress some? I've kind of in a rut right now. I've been trying mimiga town but I can't get the left hand yet for the 2nd part and would like something to try on the side.

Am a Pokemon and zelda fan (only really enjoy the older zelda music wind waker and before), super mario galaxy is great too but I think all of those are probably too hard.

Honestly, when I checked up the sheet for "Mimiga Town", I laughed a bit. It's one of those sheets I'll look at and instantly give up. xD Too much counting, and it's not exactly feel-able.

~

If you're a Pokemon and Zelda fan, here's some stuff I've got, and if you'd like to keep it as un-intricate as possible:

"Song of Healing" from Majora's Mask
Definitely. It's got a beautiful melody, and you don't even need to pedal to make it sound good. As long as you enjoy the melody and can count 3/4, I think you can nail this sheet and enjoy it

"Story" from Minish Cap
Another beautiful tune, and the left hand part will be tough at first, but the "bass note + chord" figuration is quite common in piano works, so it's very useful to work early. ^^ Plus, you can take your time and this will still sound amazing.

Any Ocarina Tune from OoT :p
They're all quite nice to play! Plus, you could perform then in a series, which is cool

"Pokemon League" from Pokemon DPPt
I think this is an amazing sheet to pick up once you've mastered a few previous ones. It's technically quite simple, but musically challenging. If it's tough, cut notes from the chords and cut grace notes - it'll still sound quite okay. And hey, you probably know this tune <3

"An Unwavering Heart" from Pokemon BW
It's quite challenging musically, and you need to plan the way you play the middle voices a bit, but it is absolutely beautiful once you nail it. Taught me a bunch of techniques like double chord spreads and "ghosting" notes, so it's really got a fair bit of musical depth. Notes are not that straightforward but fun to learn - probably won't hurt to cut the middle voice in the second section too ^^

"Title Screen" from OoT
Deku's arrangement is absolutely on-point and super awesome when you get it, but you need to pedal quite well and do some left-hand leaps. It's quite manageable at a slower and freer tempo though

Hope that's enough suggestions to get you started! When you say you're a beginner, I'm assuming you mean you've played less than ten or so sheets, so I suggested the sheets that weren't that intricate over the ones that were actually easier to play in terms of hitting the notes. All the best for your learning! ^^

[swimswamit]

Honestly, when I checked up the sheet for "Mimiga Town", I laughed a bit. It's one of those sheets I'll look at and instantly give up. xD Too much counting, and it's not exactly feel-able.

~

If you're a Pokemon and Zelda fan, here's some stuff I've got, and if you'd like to keep it as un-intricate as possible:

"Song of Healing" from Majora's Mask
Definitely. It's got a beautiful melody, and you don't even need to pedal to make it sound good. As long as you enjoy the melody and can count 3/4, I think you can nail this sheet and enjoy it

"Story" from Minish Cap
Another beautiful tune, and the left hand part will be tough at first, but the "bass note + chord" figuration is quite common in piano works, so it's very useful to work early. ^^ Plus, you can take your time and this will still sound amazing.

Any Ocarina Tune from OoT :p
They're all quite nice to play! Plus, you could perform then in a series, which is cool

"Pokemon League" from Pokemon DPPt
I think this is an amazing sheet to pick up once you've mastered a few previous ones. It's technically quite simple, but musically challenging. If it's tough, cut notes from the chords and cut grace notes - it'll still sound quite okay. And hey, you probably know this tune <3

"An Unwavering Heart" from Pokemon BW
It's quite challenging musically, and you need to plan the way you play the middle voices a bit, but it is absolutely beautiful once you nail it. Taught me a bunch of techniques like double chord spreads and "ghosting" notes, so it's really got a fair bit of musical depth. Notes are not that straightforward but fun to learn - probably won't hurt to cut the middle voice in the second section too ^^

"Title Screen" from OoT
Deku's arrangement is absolutely on-point and super awesome when you get it, but you need to pedal quite well and do some left-hand leaps. It's quite manageable at a slower and freer tempo though

Hope that's enough suggestions to get you started! When you say you're a beginner, I'm assuming you mean you've played less than ten or so sheets, so I suggested the sheets that weren't that intricate over the ones that were actually easier to play in terms of hitting the notes. All the best for your learning! ^^

haha, I thought I was the only one with that mimiga town sheet. You were right about less than 10 sheets or so, I've only fully completed 5-6, most I can only do half. Thanks for the suggestions, somehow the song of healing completely slipped my mind!

These are some great recommendations, the OOT title screen is probably my favorite song in the game, and i'm interested in hearing minish cap since i've never listened to any of it.
Thanks!
To-do list: get a pedal!

Before I saw your reply I went to the easy list and picked out snowman and kakariko village, so I'll be hitting those too. Will probably have some questions, if not i'll just give a little update or maybe record something just for some feedback (or for fun).

[swimswamit]

How difficult is Littleroot Town? Just finished kakariko and was thinking of trying it.

[daj]

How difficult is Littleroot Town? Just finished kakariko and was thinking of trying it.

Mm...it's quite tough. I'd suggest holding it off for a while - but if you'd like, I've got a "beginner's" version arrangement of this track somewhere in the cloud, I can share that with you

Technically, there's some pretty challenging figures you need to execute: the toughest of which is the cross-hand jumps which have to be done within an eighth note/quaver. Then, musically, there's lots of subtle details that give the track its essence - the grace notes to chords, middle voice weaving in the second section, huge unpredictable jumps in the left hand...stuff I wouldn't consider within the reach of people who'd just started out like yourself ^^;

It is really humbling, though, to hear that you're interested in trying this sheet of mine out. Thanks for that, hehe ^^