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Recently, a "young piano teacher" sent me recordings of 20+ songs along with the question: why do they sound boring, although all the notes and rhythm are perfectly correct?

In all these recordings, I found only ONE the same mistake that almost all pianists make today. But this mistake, as usual, is made in each measure of each song.

Having received my answer this young teacher recorded the same songs without this error. Now they sound much better.

In order to make this error more noticeable, I put the corrected version FIRST here, and the initial version - the SECOND.

I invite everyone to notice this error and suggest a way to correct it.

I ask everyone who can, to indicate to me at least one record available for listening on the Internet, on which the pianist does not make this mistake.

Thank you in advance for the web address and for listening to my recordings!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWH-mJMmano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vFgrdaa1i4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL00B8TQMBQ

Bach. BbMinor I volume.mp3 PN» - BachBbMinor I volume.mp3 PN
https://yadi.sk/d/EFMWBia-Ey99sA

Bach. Little Prelude in D Major BWV 936 PN.mp3» - Bach Little Prelude in D Major BWV 936 PN.mp3 https://yadi.sk/d/_DCYyRBzxHgi7Q

Bortnyansky. Crucified And Buried.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/Hs852AM3hWorLA

Bach. Musette in D Major.mp3 PN
https://yadi.sk/d/QEfaIr6enGtWyg


Bach. Minuet in D Minor.mp3 PN» - Bach Minuet in D Minor.mp3 PN
https://yadi.sk/d/dDTcl5_dz2dgcw


Handel. Gavotte in G Major.mp3 PN» - Handel Gavotte in G Major.mp3 PN
https://yadi.sk/d/50Qh1zxGYt-PWA

Rameau Menuet en rondeau.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/QVmEAtesngDhEg
https://yadi.sk/d/QVmEAtesngDhEg


Diabelli. Sonatina in F Major op.168, no.1 PN.mp3 PN» - Diabelli Sonatina in F Major op.168, no.1 PN.mp3 PN
https://yadi.sk/d/HAPglAGwwOxBhg


Mozart. Menuetto I in C Major.mp3 PN» -
https://yadi.sk/d/PFc8huf0zWj2HA

Twinkle,Twinkle
https://yadi.sk/d/ZFkUSWX8AFZC2g

Petzold. Minuet in G Major mp3 PN
https://yadi.sk/d/fZheygap1Kl-dw

Schubert. Ecossaise D 299 No 8 .mp3PN» - Schubert Ecossaise D 299 No 8 .mp3PN
https://yadi.sk/d/OYD3Zfy_rAeyng


Heller. Fluttering Leaves PN.mp3» - Heller Fluttering Leaves PN.mp3
https://yadi.sk/d/yGwbIS0zszNOEQ



Nakada. The Song of Twilight PN.mp3» - Nakada The Song of Twilight PN.mp3
https://yadi.sk/d/H-R7rGWvBtJ-_A



Norton. Play It Again PN.mp3» - Norton Play It Again PN.mp3
https://yadi.sk/d/2Rjav1BAvkK8WA

«Peterson Jazz Exercise no 2 PN.mp3» -
https://yadi.sk/d/OgrYUk6TkN1ACw


Weill Mack The Knife.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/4llz5S7yhsdRdg




Jingle Bells PN.mp3» -
https://yadi.sk/d/n9mr3IdeHhcmZw

Happy Birthday To Yoy PNC.mp3» -
https://yadi.sk/d/viDllwBGzTWY0w

Old McDonald.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/5Y_CEIb2YPefOQ

Love Story PN.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/WC9j5WS0rD9_vg

Long,Long Ago PN.mp3» -
https://yadi.sk/d/x1EzhaR7DiRWgg

My Way.mp3PN.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/nh3LI7fqIbjZ_Q

Varlamov. Scarlet Sarafan PN.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/EGe-qLMu6lyeGQ

Moscow evenings PN.mp3 -
https://yadi.sk/d/1nsKqacal4SOcw

Sorry but there are just too many recordings here to know 'what is what' and I am probably not a good enough pianist and musician to discern differences in interpretation or potential mistakes. I am interested to know however why people call pieces of music songs when there were never any words to be sung.

You do not need to listen to all 25 songs, of course. You can choose just something of your interest: for example, only Old McDonald and Happy Birthday To You or only Bach's and other Baroque works, or only jazzy pieces. It is entirely up to you.

Each piece is recorded TWICE. The first time - it is the version that I personally prefer, the second version - standard way to play that is (unfortunately) taught in ALL music schools. Many musicians believe that this is the only possible way to perform. I oppose this point of view by my post "20+"

I am not a native English speaker. In my (Russian) language music without lyrics is called a "piece", not a"song". Some experts in English protest against the usage of the word "song" for instrumental piece. However, the majority of people around me call every short musical work "song" and protest my attempts to call it piece. So, I am not sure about it.
Especially, when I recorded several real songs (like "My Way") as well in this post.

Thanks for your message. I will have another listen tomorrow. I am more comfortable listening to Youtube recordings rather than web sites I have never heard of.

Sorry about the reference to songs. I did recognise that there were some songs in your list. Even a person speaking on the BBC tonight described Fur Elise as a song !

Hello vladimirdounin,
I have listened to three of the recordings this evening, all three being music to songs. With one of these I had a simplified score at hand and this was the first I listened to, Paul Anka's My Way.

Speaking as a trained scientist who plays piano a little, I found the second recording more to my taste because I thought it best represented the phrasing of the lyrics without disregarding the strong beats of each measure. In the first recording the first beat of each measure seemed to overpower the natural phrasing I would expect with the words. So it looks like with this example I came up with the wrong answer.

The other two examples 'Happy Birthday' and 'Jingles Bells' I thought the musical phrasing of the first play through was the better of the two.

Stresses in lyrics and in music of the song USUALLY do not coincide. They should be different. Otherwise singing turns into speaking like it usually happens, for example, when children sing "Jingle Bells". They sing only first vowel in the bar and then just speak all the rest syllables of the word = sing the first note in each bar and then speaking instead of singing.

I recorded SPECIALLY for you another song and put it in a separate post. I will appreciate your comments and I am curious: which version of it you will like more?

If you tell me your ethnical background - I will make recording of your folksong as example of right and wrong stresses.