Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata" Master Class: Seymour Bernstein teaches piano technique

you go to a doctor it says something's going on with an inner organ oh the doctor said you have to go for an MRI we performed an MRI on that first measure we went inside of it to conclude everything that's really going on [Music] [Music] laughs Seymour what should I play for you well I'll tell you what I'm concerned about hand position do you have a hand are you aware of a hand position when you touch the piano for example you know the opening of The Moonlight Sonata but without playing could you touch the first notes and see what your hand position now are you making an effort to do something no I just put my hands down the first way they fell and how do you know when to how to start just gonna breathe into it sink in you take a breath I think so I should I saw that but your whole body went up and down should I try it should the whole body go up and down I don't think so I think what should happen is that you know Archimedes said it all I've already have this in one of your tone-based videos if I had a lever long enough I could lift the Earth so if the finger is this long right move it up and down you'll have a certain control now if you do it from your wrist play it from your wrist um and now play from your elbow and suppose that you played it put your hand on the keyboard suppose I do this to you look at your eye look at it with your eye the whole arm this is this the second Center of strength in the body you know with the first centers the buttocks yeah I just punched myself it holds up your spine you see so now we're talking about where the emphasis comes from it's the preliminary impetus is going to come from your shoulder socket put your hands on the piano and go to sleep you're at rest now Now activate your upper arm and play the first note that's that's correct so now just in case you didn't realize this you lowered the key slower than you usually would if you were playing Forte so the preliminary stroke is actually the tone itself I'm I'm not going to play pianissimo at the beginning you know why why because I want to play the last e the softest the legacy of that measure so when you look at a Beethoven penisimo you don't immediately think everything is pianissimo oh well no not only Beethoven the first Dynamic at the beginning of a piece what does it mean it doesn't mean that that first note is going to be that dynamic for example here's a piece that says Forte for under the first note so the Chopin B minor Sonata Howard are we going to start for it you're going to do this it's going to be terrible so put the pedal down see I'm going to swell to the F sharp it means this is what it means in general the opening of this piece is allowed does it mean every note is loud no the indication here it says the entire piece is to be played with the soft petal but this is an exception right but you'll never see that that's very rare so let's say for example let's say that Beethoven put um pianissimo under the first G sharp it doesn't mean every note's going to be pianism it means in general this piece is going to be very soft [Music] do you find it like most pianists very difficult to play soft music on the piano it's I always find it harder than loud music we all do we all do so you're going to play that first G sharp mezzo piano and save room for that e right few things are more important to your life than learning how to play the Moonlight Sonata and if you want to see more of what Seymour has to say about it I highly recommend you start a free trial with tone-based piano today and check out his full lesson on the first movement while you're there you can compare Seymour's lesson with John O'Connor's course on the whole Sonata and check out a technique master class with me and Robert durso on the third movement and that's just a small fraction of videos from a small fraction of the mini grain artist on tonebase you can learn from right now with new courses released every week and now let's see more see more [Music] so now this was what you just did was a wonderful mezzo piano the preliminary most stroke what you what you played what you showed was this foreign now if you wanted to play louder the preliminary stroke would look like this and if you wanted to play really loud it would look like this right the preliminary stroke is the sound itself so I need to find a way to embody mezzo piano in the stroke that tells you that whatever the preliminary stroke is the sound is going to be predictable shall I try of course no I want you to produce a pianissimo sound okay soft pedal yes see that's right now I didn't like it that's so piano can I try again no piano and now you left the keyboard now this is for all the pianists watching here you are never to leave the keyboard when we're talking about playing Softly so now don't go up with your stomach or your buttocks just with your upper arm no I haven't the the wrists yes yes you need a larger swing or else the hammer isn't going to get the energy perfect the opening note now is forta what are you gonna do predictable so how many times have you seen pianos really fabulous ones come out on the stage think of a recital they put their hand on their piano and they Harpoon the first note they go and it's usually never quite right this is predictable correct now look here what we look what we're faced with this entire piece is going to be soft well I can keep my foot on the sofa pedal for the whole piece it's all right although to tell you the truth as this piece progresses into these move these arpeggiated figures into here see charity tells us even though there is no Dynamics there Beethoven made a crescendo isn't that good information that's right if it wasn't for tyranny we wouldn't know half of what Beethoven meant no we weren't we're not going to go in there we're just dealing with this first measure it's hard enough I've barely gotten past the first note there's so much information to consider so now put your hands on the keys and I want you to play the first measure and stop but there is a there is there is a requisite do you see the time signatures yes it means that instead of feeling one two three four we're going to feel one two and without even thinking I said too softer then then the pulse we're going to feel two pulses that way would you like to play the first movement first measure [Music] um foreign [Music] like what I just what didn't you like well first of all my second beat was rather pronounced and that certainly shouldn't be and then no it should be softer and then within my three note pattern I feel like there wasn't any Contour I I disagree with you oh you liked it the three notes got each everyone softer and softer which was most unusual because most pianists can't do that so we're gonna find out why that happens and maybe I could even do it more I didn't notice I was doing it [Music] foreign I don't feel like I'm playing in two well you're not doing that anymore it's the first note was too soft to play the first note a little louder now less no you did it with the left hand but not with the right hand yes now let's but really hard isn't it how am I supposed to show two instead of four if it's this quiet I mean here's one why was the second G sharp so soft because it's the second B it's a weak beat of the measure no it's the second G sharp is not the half part it's a weak beat yeah well no it's the third beat that's going to be the weak beat but this is an even weaker one because it's the and of one and to know it no no no oh okay it's one and two oh so all of the first one and is if you do the other one and two we're gonna get seasick by the time we get to the end of this yeah so that's more here you go [Music] okay now what is the left hand doing what is that Baseline what is that b well I like to call it a passing tone well it is it's a passing too yeah it's going to just it's going to filter out of that long C sharp would you just play the left hand for me oh now are you listening to the C sharp dying or not I like to think so but now I'm listening to you well most pianists out there that are listening to us they were going to play that C sharp and they could have a tuna fish sandwich and The Petal is going to hold that they're not listening to it at all I'm more of a chicken salad sandwich so I have a question about that because if I just listen to the decay and it's this slow three is my next sound meant to be exactly the dynamic that it has decayed to or can it be a little loud I'm suggesting that since the B is a passing tone it's going to pick up the dying filter of the C sharp meaning softer okay so let's try that first two bars no just the left hand alone no you left the keyboard naughty [Music] no you weren't ready at all to play the B I agree play the CC you see how difficult this is now let go no no no don't lift your wrists there you go there you go now you're in control now listen step aside I have to show you something would you like one of these no okay to play a series of chords how am I going to manage that I don't know that looks scary to me terribly scary it's not going to be scary at all if you play the first chord and you have to contract your muscles you know to play vorte right what should I be doing now tuna fish huh tuna fish ha ha ha [Music] just you should be moving the hand I'm sure it has mayonnaise under it you should be moving hands to the new cord now look watch what I'm going to do you'll be very surprised foreign pick up my left hand and don't drop me I'm in neutral again you are if you don't go to neutral that's how you get endangered with your muscles you get injured see if you stay contracted you could try it and you're going to practice for two and four hours a day you're going to get tendonitis that is for sure that's how pianist enter them this is for all the pianists living listening to this program up to Across the planet turn to neutral at every moment that you can so now I'm going to turn to neutral and what am I going to do in the neutral state I'm going to prepare the next chord now I have to sway prepare the next chord now I'm gonna play it in time see so I prepared every chord I played the chord got into neutral prepared the next chord and so forth so I saw I'm afraid to tell you on one of the tone-based programs I saw somebody who's going to demonstrate the whole compendium of physical movements at the piano and she started like this [Music] I turned it right off because that's it absolutely against what I just suggested there was no preparation for the next chord and it's not that you don't play up Strokes at the piano plenty of Strokes there are down strokes and upstrokes but this is what I figured out because I watched a lot of pianists they mostly do this by the way you know I was an only pupil of Alexander brilovsky and he used to make fun of women especially he said they look like flying birds all the time like this he was making fun I said well men do that too Metra he said I suppose this so really so all right so now look here the reason why pianists end up playing upstrokes like this because somewhere along the line someone told them that if you do this [Music] percussion percussion on the key bed I'm going to get rid of the percussion and you'll never get a real roaring sound ever it'll just be polite for you here is a polite for it to here's a roaring sound [Music] if I wanted I should be able to do it it's night and day or and cows so now come back to the piano [Music] waiting to wait a second wait a second I don't hear any difference in Dynamics between your right hand and the left okay thank you [Music] okay [Music] move the left hand now no you didn't I didn't do this engage it from the upper arm you know both hands are gonna do this now you know what I'm doing I'm worrying I'm gonna get it wrong so I'm doing nothing I'm just being really still and but well this pianist listening to you now they're all suffering the same thing and they're so we're working it out now let me try it again yes prepare no no don't lift your wrists play the left hand now go into neutral and slide on the surface there you go after and wait wait listen to it dying [Music] may I do it again [Music] okay now with starting to get mystical now get rid of this please get rid of it get rid of what what I just did what do you do [Music] yes get rid of it because that's already activating I need to just move and be this is what I want you to do pick up my hand [Music] it's in neutral foreign [Music] see what I did I just scrolled with my phone the surface of the case economy of motion look look you said it perfect that's what we're I was gonna end this whole session by the way spoiler alert uses you see well what is it all amount to economy economy of motion I can say it but can I do it no do it you left the keys again naughty bad boy [Music] no no you're not you're never too depression I was so relaxed that it started sinking well it stopped being so relaxed okay so I have to find The Sweet Spot [Music] can't be better can't be better now you just opened up a can of worms and I have to follow it through oh boy you said I relaxed right can can we use the word relaxation and playing the piano not according to you why not according to me because I've watched some of your videos uh oh and you said you pointed out that we can never be fully relaxed except maybe in death and even then Rigamortis yes it's really true so what is your the act of breathing itself contracts muscles so then what would be the term you would use to describe what we mean by relaxation I'm going to this is what it is playing an instrument is more concerned not what muscles are going to be relaxed but which muscles are activated in order to process perform a certain task on the piano I mean right now I have muscles activated even at rest here so now put your hands in your lap and go into neutral but even here no no don't just don't just go back in your lap now when you lift your hands to the surface of the keys do so slowly in order for your hands to stay like that you have activated the muscles in the in the second major part of the of the strength of the body and your shoulder area see you've contracted these muscles otherwise your your hands which should fall like down like this see so now watch now now and now we're going to activate it now on purpose see this was unconscious right now look I'm consciously going to activate these muscles contract them to lift my hands to the keyboard did you feel something very slight lonely it's there glided see they didn't do this now you're in control of yourself foreign [Music] sorry for a passing tone I think I got a little lost in my own mystical sound that I ended up not now let's follow the B now we're getting we're getting close to the final sound [Music] this is absolutely already I would say superb but it's boring but it's not going to go anywhere because you're leaving out at the most important motion of all what so now when you're playing those three chords those let me play the three notes what motion is this which is is it vertical or horizontal feels circular it wasn't circular it was just doing a down and up down make anything circular [Music] that's already number one of importance there's an undulation of vertical motion of your wrist and what triggers the vertical motion of the wrist show me yes it is it does right do it I'm doing it [Music] okay now anybody who closes their elbow and move put your hands on the piano and let me move your wrists keep your hands on the piano depress the keys depress all the keys and and anyone who does this between the elbow and the fingers they're not going to get anywhere yeah because now the the sound is held this long from your elbow down it has to be this long for the ultimate control now ultimate control [Music] and now you're ready say congratulations to yourself congratulations me you're ready for the final stage I'm ready for the final stage it's going to give you Goose flesh it will give my flesh gooses [Laughter] sorry geese right we're going to add rotation yes into the passage great I feel that's what's Miss but it's been missing right the problem is without rotation it's really not possible to play Super legato and the reason is that when you're playing let's take five fingers like this [Music] but I'm playing Legato so I put the plus depress this note and when I depress this note I have to lift the first one don't I hear that [Music] in the lifting of the note I destroyed the legato the value of rotation is that you don't lift the notes at all they just lift by themselves because [Music] when you tilt this way see the thumb [Music] see how it disappeared I didn't lift it look [Music] see and said they overlap slightly on the piano taking away the the not desirable um articulation of a sound when you lift the key you get a but but sound right so it eliminates that percussis that percussive sound the key just floats up without that sound look here [Music] [Music] hear that [Music] now we don't realize that what we're listening to but when we do this [Music] that's what we're hearing but but but but but but [Music] that's Baroque sound actually it's desirable in the Baroque sound okay so now here we go watch watch me now [Music] I'm gonna hold these three notes and just tilt like this back and forth so it's this slight pronation and supination show me play the three notes and just no no I don't want you to play okay I just want you to play the three notes first [Music] hold them all down and twitch twist [Music] for all students watching this video when you supinate and pronate your elbow never moves because it's only these two bones that twist now you're properly so I mean rotating so then there you go yeah it's like I'm opening a door what that's how I always I got it yeah you know I got people to do that put an imaginary key in the door and then turn the key look do you ever turn the key like this never never but what if you have a sliding door okay I'm gonna turn the key no do it [Music] this is how the bee is fainting away Into The Ether waves so the the idea was to get that e to be the softest note and now what happened to the key what did you do to the key itself you're not doing it on purpose because the Motions that you made are doing something to that key which low the E we're talking about why is the E sounding soft it didn't even feel like I was playing the E did not just take the E alone just hold it like this oh like that [Music] see the energy is being drawn not to this to the spot and not to this spot but right here the escapement level where you feel the little resistance of the game and it's at that point that I I need to make sure that I have constant rate of and you can after you hear the sound you can continue down but the sound is born at that point it's not going to be born here so it's not at the surface of the key it's not at the bottom of the key there's it's born right in between [Music] now let's watch and see what's your what finger you're using of the e so note some things are not so good already stop stops up see the elbows here too let's stop no touch to prepare prepare left hand watch me now your elbow is free now play [Music] [Music] no none that don't make the Fatal mistake of playing the second triplet So Soft yeah then you're not going to get a love reference you're right you're right that's what that was my fatal error [Music] lift in prepare [Music] gosh when you play the piano you have to keep track of so many things at once [Music] not too loud [Music] now you're you're playing the top note with your fourth finger you can play it with your finger pinky too you know I didn't even think about it try the pinky [Music] rotate [Music] I'm actually finding that I have less control over my thumb for some reason now [Music] yes now look now look here for all the pianists watching there's a war going on shall this one this vertical motion or does this win the rotational mode they work together so your vertical motion is too large so here [Music] rotate yes [Music] now tell me how the fifth finger is depressing that E I tell me everything you can or know it's like right when I get to the right side of my rotation it's just like I'm leaning into that pinky not with your body no it's with my it's with this rotational motion you're supinating yeah I'm not actually doing anything with the pinky besides just balancing my weight slightly into it at the end of the rotation so so the E is going from what left to right stop stop stop yes and it's also going from low to high both together that's a circle now go do it all right uh-huh [Music] but my third stop that's the whole history of the first three notes of the Moonlight Sonata you don't realize what we did you know with this analogous to what you go to a doctor who says something's going on with an inner organ oh the doctor said you have to go for an MRI We performed an MRI on that first measure we went inside of it to conclude everything that's really going on believe it or not what I just took you through that that constitutes one of the primary requirements of playing the piano the way you touch the key in preparation the way you activate the key with your upper arm swing and the fingers are doing everything they're on the keys and the fingers are actually lowering the keys don't mistake now what is going on but a finger alone can't do that we have to have Cooperative actions from the rest of the mechanism in this case we were using rotation to help us right and we have our upper arms swing always there to help us and remember you're always touching the keys before you play so it's really the whole history of piano playing lined up just to play the first measure of the Moonlight Sonata I have one question about that MRI what is my insurance going to cover [Laughter] Seymour at this rate it's going to take us about seven years to get through this piece well and we're not going to go further I know I'm kidding thank you for this universe of a piano lesson in just one bar of music I thought it was very important to let the students know exactly how to make this work because it's one of the most difficult things I know to play so there's one last thing that I want to leave you with but you're already blessed not all pianists are so blessed just touch the first notes without playing so you see your Bridge [Music] you see how that's the highest part see this see my bridge I used to be like this yeah me too and nobody taught me or anything we're we're self-taught so now when pianists are listening now and they don't have this or naturally or from knowledge to pick it up this is what they do they turn put your hands like this say actually we're going to close the fall board take your hand away you know have flat fingers now watch what I'm going to do flat when the fingers are flat the bridge is the highest so now curve the fingers a little a little bit you're never going to play on the fingertips you know you're playing on the pads see this is here you find the pads look see let this collapse that that exaggerates the bridge and now relaxing now curve it a little bit a little bit that's the perfect position for the piano I found my pads and I discovered that myself only when I was about 80. it's true I got a few more years I think to find it myself

Channel: tonebase Piano

Views: 149,620

Keywords: piano, classical piano, tonebase, tonebase Piano, piano lessons, learn piano, beethoven, moonlight sonata, seymour bernstein, ben laude, master class, chopin, piano technique

Id: XFdky4L2LfI

Length: 43min 58sec (2638 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 31 2023