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My daughter Bethany playing Clair De Lune from memory.
She found this a real challenge without the sheet, she assures me there are some areas to work on going forward.

https://youtu.be/pUKqTue9-vs

Thank you for looking at this post.

Regards

Tim

Very well done for memorising and playing this piece. It is a piece that I have played myself on a number of occasions although there was no way I could do it without the score.

Many years ago I had a crisis of playing and concluded I couldn't play piano and gave up attending an adult college class for intermediate pianists. Over the next six months I just played this piece until it sounded pretty good (to my ears at least) thus enabling me to become somewhat more confident. I then found a private teacher whom I have been with ever since.

It is always a pleasure to hear and see Bethany play. She is playing Clair de Lune like a star pianist. Yes, impressionistic music is quite difficult to memorize. I also liked her interpretation of the up-tempo Handel Fantasia. The videos you are posting are very professional, and Bethany is always very well dressed up for the concert. It is so sad to see many amateur pianists on Youtube find it okay to play classical music in an untidy room, wearing ugly clothes… In those cases I would prefer to get an audio file only.

Concerning Yamaha grands, they can be very good instruments, indeed, so you definitely made the right choice. One of the best grands I have played so far was a Yamaha in the entrance hall of Haus der Musik in Vienna. It was locked (for good reasons) but they opened it for me upon request.

Once again, apologies for taking a while for me to reply.
Work has been full on we've been chasing around after music related pursuits.

Chris,
Thank you once again for taking a listen and replying. It is tough piece to play from memory. Bethany, memorises most of what she plays as performing is where she wants to make her career, and as she points out to me often, the prominent pianists we watch at recitals all play without the score.

It is good to read that you have become more confident with your playing and it sounds like you have found a way forward which is working for you. It can be daunting playing in front of an audience. I've never played piano out but I have guitar many times and I know Bethany has had to get her head in the right place over time so she can perform without the whole experience hampering her playing. It can be a harsh environment with one person very exposed when playing as a soloist.

Pianist685,

Thank you very much for your reply. Your feedback is much appreciated. Bethany takes on board all comments regarding her playing and values the fact that someone has taken time to respond. Knowing that people enjoy hearing her play is great for keeping her focused and any critique helps her find where she can improve. Considering her young age I am proud of the fact she always sees it as someone offering something for her to consider which could help her progress.

Bethany and I both have a huge respect for classical music and I am very pleased to read that our efforts to show that by being tidy and well presented in our video recordings is noticeable. We review it whenever funds allow and if you view our subsequent recordings you will see and hear that we have hopefully improved in all areas of how we record our videos.

We are very happy with the Yamaha piano, we have had a lot of work done on the instrument and it plays very well now. Not that it had anything wrong or was worn, just a case of getting it as good as it can be.

Always a pleasure to read your replies.

Regards

Tim