Beautiful way to play favorites by Beethoven.

[vladimirdounin]

My performing and teaching work is based on an accurate indication of Note Strength. Without playing, just by looking at any score for the first time, any of my student or choir member (my other work - chorus master in opera companies) can say about each note - whether it should be played louder or softer in relation to the previous and the following note, and by how much.
This is an extremely important knowledge, because the right or wrong stressing and softening of notes makes the only difference between the best and the worst pianist in the world. All of us can play the same notes on the same beat, and speed (despite of mass obsession) eventually does not matter (listen to Horowitz).
We just follow some simple and easy "Dynamics Rules" and it saves a lot of time and energy in both teaching and learning. Using the rules, within a very short time anyone can learn to play a piece (which s/he is able to play, of course) as the best professionals play. All my students of any level inevitably receive excellent marks ("for exceptional musicality") at exams and competitions, as soon as they have learned 25-30 basic rules. Quite often, merely following these rules improves technique dramatically. (This happened recently to my student in the 2nd Scherzo by Chopin. She amazed adjudicators with "ultra fine finger work" in the C# minor episode, although at the beginning she could not play the 2nd voice at all). A majority of these rules are well known and followed by all good musicians, but the problem is that these rules have never been published altogether in one book, and they are still scattered in many sources. Therefore it is very important and useful to exchange our knowledge with other musicians.
I am gathering and testing these rules for more than 40 years. (The test for a rule is considered "passed" if nobody can show me the music in which this rule is not applicable.) Unfortunately, after I moved to America, I could not find here anybody with whom I can discuss my concerns regarding dynamics, phrasing, and articulation, etc. People around me say that they have never heard about any musical rules or laws. Instead, they just "self-express themselves in the way they want and feel" (could you imagine them doing it in the music of Bach or Mozart?). Judging from my experience as an adjudicator, this "self-expression" instead of knowledge of the basics of music is a real problem for teaching nowadays. Sometimes I even hear the proud words: "I think in phrases in music and I teach to think in phrases. I do not care what they are made of". Would you like to learn English from a teacher who "thinks in phrases" because he does not accept the existence of the meaning of individual words? If you are serious, would you rely on the phrasebook instead of the dictionary?
Proper stressing/softening of notes in music is as important as the proper stressing of words in any language. Nobody can understand even the most common words if they are pronounced with the wrong stresses, e.g. TorontO, AmerIca, sonatA, etc. Similarly, no one will understand or enjoy the music played with the wrong stresses. Music is just one of human’s languages, and for any language, the same rules apply.
The Scientific Acoustic Research Laboratory of Moscow Conservatory does not work at this time, and I do not know which Western software can be used to display or print (in Disklavier 124 degrees scale) the Note Strength (volume) of each particular note. This is a very effective and convenient way to discover "artistic secrets" of your favourite pianists, if visual information about timing and strength of each note in their recording is available. (Fortunately, almost everything in the Piano Repertoire is recorded today digitally by "Disklavier" and played by the best performers, so we have a lot to choose from).
I will be very glad to hear from or about somebody who knows "what musical phrases are made of" and wants to share or exchange with me useful rules or can suggest the best ways to perform. I will appreciate the information regarding software as well.

Today my concern is in the very first bars of "Moonlight sonata" and "Fur Elise" by Beethoven.
Which notes of the melody G# G#G# G#G#G# A G#F# B E should be stressed, i.e. played stronger than regular ones?
(Stressed notes can be marked with "+" or "++ "or "+++", the more pluses, the louder).
Which ones should be softened (marks can be "-", "- -" , or "---") ?
Which notes are just regular (not stressed, not softened, then no mark needed or mark "0" can be used)? The differences between + and ++, between - and --, and between 0 and + equal 1 degree. (One degree is THE SMALLEST difference in volume that we can detect between two notes).
For example, G#, G#--, G#++ , G#+, G#, G+++ A, G#++, F#++, B, E+++ ( I hope that nobody plays like this, of course).

Likewise, do the same to "Fur Elise". E-D#-E-D#-E-B-D-C-A C-E-A-B E-G#-B-C

I will appreciate any opinion expressed. Vladimir.

[arthur]

Hi Vladimir,

As you will see from my seperate question in the General section on 'Concert tuning'I use some laptop software to tune. I found your query on the strength of the note of great interest as I can view the note as a frequency display but never considered the strength in general playing, I belive I can view strengths in the height of the note.

I cannot play the piano and am only just learning to read music notation but if you let me know 4 sequential notes (i.e. C4++ D4#-- etc) which depend on strength of playing I will take a look at them.

Regards

Arthur