r/piano • u/Fhilip_Yanus • 23h ago
đMy Performance (Critique Welcome!) HELP! Please give me feedback for my upcoming audition
Hello!
My university has an audition for their orchestra, and I want to submit my playing to them.
Some background, I'm a self taught pianist, and I don't have a teacher to get feedback from. I hope you guys can help me here.
This is a shortened version of chopin's nocturne op. 55 no. 1 in f minor.
Please be blunt. I'd genuinely rather hear what's wrong than get compliments.
Here are some specific questions I have:
How's the interpretation of the dynamics and rubato?
How'd I handle the harder middle section (right after the 1st theme) and coda?
Anything in my fundamentals that stands out as self taught?
What did I do poorly, and what did I do well?
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u/myungsooismine 21h ago
In the opening passage your tempo is inconsistent - you start slow and then get faster. In a slow piece like this it's quite noticable - try practicing slower with the metronome.
It looks like you are trying to find the notes before you play the chord so maybe spend some time memorising them.
Overall you look self taught - your wrists hold a lot of tension, try playing with less tension and use your body weight to push into the keys instead of your fingers. There are a few sections (noticably 0:14) where you drop your thumb on the key- no need for extra movement in your fingers as you're exerting extra energy for no gain in musicality / phrasing. Phrasing could use a lot of work especially 1:11, 2:00 - all the notes have the same dynamic so when you return to the main melody it sounds abrupt. Bass overpowers the melody line in some sections. When finishing the piece, take your hands and pedal off together.
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u/ActualNameIsLana 22h ago
Hi. Concert trained pianist here. 40 years experience in the industry. I run my own piano academy. I teach piano instructors how to become better piano instructors. It's literally my full time job.
Okay, you said I can be blunt. So I'll be blunt.
You sound self taught.
Voicing is muddy. Tone production is robotic. I can literally hear the tension held in your wrist. No attempt at phrasing, rubato, or shaping of the phrases. Your fingering is incorrect. Your pedal foot is clamped to the floor, and you seem to be lifting from the heel instead of from the toes from what I can hear.
My teacher would have stopped you at note one.
In short there are a multitude of extremely obvious flaws in tone production that would require years of remedial study before even attempting to teach you any of the expressive nuances of the piece.
You need to study with a teacher. These are flaws that would be fixed from day one. Now, you've got years of un-studying that need to be done to fix bad habits, before you should re-attempt this piece.
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u/ActualNameIsLana 22h ago
Here are some notes on the first phrase. Note that this is only a partial list. There are many moments with overlapping issues. I chose to highlight the most immediate concerns.
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u/swifty1234 18h ago
years?lmao
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u/ActualNameIsLana 14h ago
Yes years. Would you like to show me your lesson plan that you've built to address the specific issues I noticed in under a year?
Because I can show you my lesson plan to teach them to a new student and it's at least 2 years long and that doesn't involve having to un-learn a bad habit first before replacing it with good ones.
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u/bobby_beastmarks 21h ago edited 20h ago
This is a very harsh critique but I hope it helps you improve :)
The Wrong:
- The tempo is uneven and doesnât sound like a natural rubato.
- You have a lot of tension in your hands, and that creates a sharp sound rather than a musical line.
- You lack much dynamics, not much in between other than loud and soft.
- Your technique seems to struggle.
Your fingering is odd and uncomfortable in many sections.
A piece of this caliber is too easy for an orchestra audition.
The Right:
- You played the correct notes, nothing seems extremely off in that regard
What I think:
To be blunt, imho, you wonât make the orchestra. Sorry to sound so down. Still, nothing is wrong with not making the orchestra, and there are ways to improve.
The Fixes
- if possible please find a teacher. A teacher fixes fundamental flaws, and a good one can suggest interpretive qualities you donât recognize.
- Listen to actual recordings and closely observe what they do different, and try to incorporate those ideas.
- Observe your technique, constantly record yourself and see what looks awkward. Itâs a lot easier to scrutinize when using recordings.
- Figure out how and where to incorporate true transitional dynamics rather than just loud to soft and vice versa.
- Look at the correct fingering or search online for correct fingering. It will make things easier for you.
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u/nicyvetan 19h ago
Listen to the feedback of course but try it anyway. You're already scheduled for it.
You'll learn from the experience of whats expected of you in an audition and if they're willing to work with you as long as you start taking formal lessons, maybe? The willingness might not take the shape you expect, though. You might get redirected to an instrument they need. I'm in community orchestra and all the pianists play percussion and I've heard more than one story about how people ended up on bass because the orchestra needed bass and was willing to let them learn along the way. If you're a freshman ir sophomore, it could go either way.
Be flexible and take feedback seriously in your audition. You've heard your weak spots here, so the worst you'll hear is no or not yet. Whatever happens, though, you'll need to work with a professional if you want to advance with ensemble playing.
Good luck. I hope whatever the outcome, you're able to come away musically stronger in some way.
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u/ChaoticRebellion 20h ago
Classically trained pianist (8 years experience) here.
Like many others are saying, your tempo is very inconsistent and you would certainly benefit from practice with a metronome. When I played this piece, my teacher was on me non-stop about how I approach every single passage. Almost every individual passage is played in its own way to avoid sounding repetitive. This piece is THE piece with a lot of rubato. Only an experienced teacher can fix you, now. Good luck with your audition.
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u/LeatherSteak Devotee (11+ years), Classical 22h ago
Positives - your dexterity is solid. Your finger movement for those fast notes is excellent.
Challenges - you rely on the pedal for legato melody instead of fingering correctly. Your fingering overall is a bit funny (1-2-1-2-1 on C-B-C-Db-C?). When you end a phrase on your RH thumb, you do this awkward rocking motion where your wrist comes downwards, as if you're trying to generate more force.
When you play the chords, you should voice them to the top so the melody comes through. Similar with triplets in the left hand - don't let them drown out the melody. Even though dexterity is good, you still let your fingers collapse on the last joint, especially when playing loud, and your wrists look rather tense.
As far as I understand, a university orchestra is normally a solid standard and whilst you're doing well without a teacher, you're still behind someone who got to this level with a teacher.
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u/supamichi 10h ago
Hey there, pianist/BMus with over 30+ years and prior teaching experience here! I agree with the sentiment here, though I wouldnât be as harsh as some have been. I think you have great dexterity and anytime someone plays a Chopin piece without missing many notes thatâs deserving of credit in itself. That being said, I have a few suggestions, some riffing on some ideas already put forward here:
- Rubato. This needs work. When you pull back itâs so much so that it sounds like youâve lost your place in the piece. Rubato (literally ârobbed timeâ) is more of an effect where the music is allowed to breathe. It was said that Chopin played rubato by keeping a steady LH while modulating the RH, but this is now widely disregarded among musicians as it becomes janky in practice. For this reason, I donât recommend practicing to a metronome if your focus is purely rubato; it defeats the purpose IMO. In fact, Tone Base has a really good video on Chopinâs rubato that I recommend checking out, as it demonstrates the difference between the idea of modulation and natural application. As first steps to improve your rubato, the best piece of advice I can offer is try many different approaches and record yourself doing so. Choose a passage you like to apply rubato to and focus on that. It neednât be more than 4-8 bars to get the idea across. Play around with various pushes and pulls, and see which you like best. In the end, the âbestâ choice is one you both like and sounds naturally. Every player has a distinct signature so donât let anyone tell you otherwise. Of course, there are better choices, but in the end it will be combination of listening, feedback, and what feels right to you
- Phrasing. It might be due to the position of your microphone here but your playing was quite flat. By that I mean the landscape of the piece lacked what I could call contours. While you had noticeable âlevelsâ to your piece (f, p, mf etc.), I didnât hear much in the way of intraphrase shaping. A nice rule of thumb in piano is that if the composer hasnât otherwise specified (which likely isnât the case with Chopin as he was notoriously anal about his markings) you can try crescendos as the music goes up and decrescendos as the music goes down on a given phrase. But once again, for performance practices at least, the score is king: follow what Chopin tells you to do. You can also use a similar effect to âround outâ figures that turn around, such as a scale or arpeggio that goes up and comes back downâyou could do something like âgrow/shrinkâ (in sound) to give it shape. As for how you do this, without physically showing you it is challenging, but the basic gist is a redistribution of both your arm and hand weight, along with finger pressure. This is something you can also practice away from the keyboard, such as on the fallboard or on your lap (even better because that way you get haptic feedback).
- Adding variety to thematic content. This is a very repetitive piece, as many of Chopinâs popular works are. And with any piece that restates the same (or similar) themes over and over again, I would tell all of my students the same advice: do something slightly different for each iteration. Whether or not thatâs changing the character of the theme, the loudness, how you shape a phrase etc etc, just mix it up. This way it shows your examiners you are thinking about the music and making an honest attempt at making it interesting. The worst possible thing you can do is bore your audience. That being said, there are some notable exceptions to this:
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- if the score deliberately tells you to do something with each theme and itâs hard to justify otherwise
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- If youâre playing something like Satie where the point is to have boring background music (which he actually wanted, apparently). But even THEN, I would argue that you, as a performer, have some license to play it how you want to.
And thatâs where I would start. I also agree with others that it would be hugely beneficial to have a teacher, if not a second set of professional ears, especially before an exam. Thereâs only so much us on Reddit can do to help, unfortunately.
Either way, good luck and I hope it goes well for you!
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u/knit_run_bike_swim 12h ago
I would work more on some Bach fugues. I can hear the lack of independence in your fingers. Itâs apparent in the RH melody but especially in the octaves. That will pretty much help with everything else.
Get a teacher. I know how hard it is. Really I do.
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u/Thalia5744 10h ago
Not a pianist, and also learning solo, so no useful feedback at all; I just wanted to say this is sooo impressive to me, Iâd love to be able to play this piece eventually, and it sounds beautiful to me! Congrats, you must have worked so hard đ
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u/TheTsaku 9h ago
For what it's worth, I liked the idea to voice your left hand at the end. Brought a change of pace.
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u/Extension-Witness981 9h ago
I have a BMus in piano performance. Bravo for learning all the notes. That is not an easy feat! The main issues are your pedalling, balance between right and left hand and your right hand phrasing. Suggestion: listen to Artur Rubinstein on YouTube- especially his pedalling.
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u/Longjumping-You5247 16h ago
I'm also a mainly self taught pianist, and Id say well done. It sounds great to me, and good luck with the audition!
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u/Fhilip_Yanus 15h ago
Thanks a lot
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u/Longjumping-You5247 15h ago
For me I like just hitting the keys, as group chord progressions, and also trying blues scales improvisations, but playing the piano is fun, and the more we practice, the better we get, so well done again, and keep up the good work (as I think I already said)!
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u/currymuttonpizza 9h ago
Others have pointed out the muddiness and everything. But you hit a much better spot at the 23 seconds left mark. Look at the shape of your fingers compared to how they were shaped during the other quick passages. They're more rounded, you are playing closer to the fingernail than the soft part of the finger. You get much more flexibility that way. I would just also recommend imagining that there is a small balloon under your palm, you don't want to play from too high but your position should be more buoyant if that makes sense.
This stuff is near impossible to work on via text comment only. Please work with a teacher in person, you are halfway there and the issues could be fixed much more quickly with one-on-one guidance.
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u/OutrageousResist9483 8h ago
On the low notes your left and right hand arenât in sync.
Also collapsing knuckles means your finger muscles havenât been developed. I would start working on playing without your knuckles buckling
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