THANK YOU! This piece is NOT written in swing, and, though the rubato sometimes allows this, this is the only version I've seen so far that isn't in obnoxiously heavy swing.
@uiop60 so if a piece does not say swing.. does that mean you never swing it? Are there instances where it is not marked swing when you should swing it?
@Simon0 Usually in the beginning tempo marking it will indicate that two eighth notes should be played as two triplets tied and a third, or dotted eighth-sixteenth. This piece has no such marking.
@uiop60 i am an advanced pianist but i still have a basic question. When there are no pedal markings in a piece.. is it up to the performer whether they want to use pedal or not? I am pretty sure the answer is yes. Thought i would ask you as you seem knowledgable. So no markings.. then up to performer whether they want to use pedal?
You're both a little bit right. It's not good to DRASTICALLY change speed, but no good interpreter is gonna do that. If you just played it at the same speed all the way through, it would be really boring... for me anyway. But you can still make slight tempo changes while still maintaining the original tempo. Soes that even make sense? I don't think so... :P
thanks! i wish you much luck and many many challenges for you to grow with - seek the best masters, so that someday you might help the young realize their potential - learning is communal memory-
dude you sound like you're going to die with the rhythm at the beginning...
i like your dynamics for most of the piece, but i would suggest practicing the whole piece on a straight meter for practice. Im not hating i just want you to get really good at this and good luck!!! keep it up
the piece has DYNAMICS, not a metronome, at its heart. it's not a race nor an unchanging beat - the whole piece is, among other things all at once, a study in motion and emotion-perhaps one might say the notion of motion in emotion- the pianist is neither right nor wrong in his tempo-this one is in fact playing very well with the changing 'time signature' AND the sense of why it changes -this is not mechanical arbitrarianism, but heartfelt - this is pre drum-machine
@ioloindeseo so your saying that its appropriate to change beat whenever you feel like it? It's classical, and even if it is Gershwin i feel like he would rather somebody be able to play it with at least a controlled variation in speed and not just random changes in time. Don't get all high and mighty about shit when i was just providing him with some constructive criticism.
you call your comment 'constructive crit'??? you dropped a compliment after you trashed his playing - but YOU have no vague idea yet worth listening to. you seem very young and you seem to exhibit poor reading and interpretation skills - when you improve, let me know and we might have a useful conversation: until then, you seem pretty full of yourself, and poop- and that's (probably) not how you'd like others to think of you
@SupaDupaFunTime spend time thinking about what 'andante con moto e poco rubato' means - as well as what 'artistic interpretation' is - also - look at the age of this guy when he did it- i am not being condescending to him nor did i mean to be patronizing to you - what you suggest is in fact so basic that this player probably did that while you were wasting your time on 'Merkin Idle' and p'ing your diaper or something - are you an ACCOMPLISHED musician? NO! That is obvious from your comments
@SupaDupaFunTime - so while you can say 'don't think I'm hating...blah blah blah', nobody can say anything to you as a critique, and you have to go all personal - mature of you, isn't it? grow up, not too soon, but don't lag so much either -
beautiful interpretation! i just heard Boris Bereskovsky play this live as an encore here in Brussels. he played it a bit faster but very delicately like you have played, thank you!
dude you play great! i really haven't read the second prelude, i know the first and is really fun to play it, but those chords in this second prelude, makes my hand to give some jumps! )=
try to keep the eigthth notes more even in the beginning, you can be as creative as you want later in the song (well, up to a certain extent) but in the very beginning you're just introducing the song, so to get the audience used to it give it to them plain and simple.
The pianist is obligated to observe every marking the composer provided, and this one doesn't. The rubato marking doesn't mean making eighth notes dotted eights/sixteenths,
@Productionsism I am 13 and what i did in the very beginning I didnt roll it but instead i played it with both hands and then after the first three muesures i just played the bottom note (the c#) it sounds just as good(:
@MrTwilightfan10164 for anyone that's playing this song or even trying to learn this or any of gershwin's songs at 13: props to you, keep at it. haha and i though i was young i'm 15
Wow that was really beautiful and different, and I loved all the rubato. Also, you have really big hands!! The first chord in that piece is such a stretch - I have to split it.
I've been listening to a lot of Gershwin #2 on youtube, and the most interesting thing is how very very slowly everyone plays this. You're at about 60, average; but you have the metronome marking at the top of the page, 88 = quarter. That's a very different character. Middle section, marked 'a tempo,' after a big break, you're suddenly up to 100 and staccato: why staccato?
Listen to Gershwin's recording from his radio show, see what his idea was (almost 120 to the quarter, to start!)
if you feel that way, this guy succeded at playing the piece right. its suppose to be very legato, but still keep the jazzy feeling, which is why they swing the eights. if you play it faster, it sound weird, and without the swing, it takes away the feeling
yea, i think this guy is playing it right. hes not swining some parts that i would have but sounds pretty good. its not meant to be fast, it is suppose to be slow and stretched as if you are dragging. You should have that sentimental and old feeling when playing
who cares if the notes arn't supposed to be swung! I played a concert arrangement of this in college, and our instructor told us to swing it. it just sounds better. if not swung, in my opinion, it sounds bad. i like it swung.
in my opinion it's better not to swing it, at least until the B section wich has lots of blue-notes and bluesy phrases. if you swung the whole thing it could become very tin-pan-alley-like. don't you think?
I like your interpretation...but the rhythm is messed up in some parts and you also played it sorta slower than usual. But other than that you did preety good. ^^
In my opinion, if you played with less drama in general, then the times that you do add more expression will make a bigger impact. Also, if you listen to a recording of Gershwin himself, you will hear that he doesn't swing the rhythm, so it's not about "interpretation" - that's how it was written.
I don't think I would say that. I mean, when you play a piece, you will add different things that the composer never originally added, be it dynamics, tone, or rhythm. I would say it is an interpretation, because no one will play it exactly like Gershwin played it. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Anyways, good job, Ravel87! I also enjoyed Prelude N. 3. That's my favorite song in the world.
Gershwin's entire life (short, yes) was devoted to creating music people had never heard before. His attitude toward this rendition would be one of excitement that people want to play is pieces, just like he wouldbe after seeing a 5 year old play a one-fingered Rhapsody in Blue. "Morestalldrive" and co., you obviously don't understand Gershwin, much less music, so go find yourself and come back ready to appreciate good interpreters.
Notes are right but rhythm is all wrong. Should me straight quavers. I've been playing this peice for years and I always think of a smoky bar. Should be more 'bluesy'. The middle section is wat to stocatto as well. Didn't like it at all. Sorry
Screw what these others are telling you about not swinging it or playing it too slow. Your interpretation is fine. A bit different, but the important thing is that it sticks out and stirs up the emotions.
The point of music is not to argue over how to turn notes on the page into sound. It's to express yourself as an artist and to share that expression with others. I think you've accomplished that quite nicely.
A fine player. I appreciate your Scriabin D# Min etude, too. As a former professor said, "We're all works in progress." But that doesn't mean that it isn't good already... I trust that all will agree.
Huh. I've never heard it swung before... I'm not sure if Gershwin wanted it that way... although it is somewhat interesting-- I'm just not sure that's the way it should be.
ENCHANTING. From deep in the soul, just as Gershwin would have wanted it. I have never heard this Prelude played from the heart correctly, until NOW. Middle part feels like an old Minstrel Band bopped in and bopped out. SO FINE!
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
the tempo is completely wrong. Sounds not right, too bluesy. make the tempo better and it would be okay. In third section the tempo is completely awful. Much too bluesy, you're a disgrace to Gershwin
Hey 87, it's all encouragement not discouragement. I've been teaching for 42 years and was jusr sharing with you what i've always told my students about this particular piece! You play very well. Keep up the goood work.....hey elwatto, good luck with your recital!!
i agree with song byrd, i have a recording of gershwin playing it himself and he plays with the straight 8th notes.. a tad quicker too.. really interesting interpretation though, enjoyed it. that wasnt a criticism, just a personal preference with this piece.
Also when you get to the left hand solo, it should not be played so staccato; it is the main melody at that point and if anything should be much more legato
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very nice job :D!!!
nicoletje111 4 months ago
Check out my version of this composition in videoresponses. Thanks.
Hyperthyrax 5 months ago
THANK YOU! This piece is NOT written in swing, and, though the rubato sometimes allows this, this is the only version I've seen so far that isn't in obnoxiously heavy swing.
uiop60 5 months ago
@uiop60 so if a piece does not say swing.. does that mean you never swing it? Are there instances where it is not marked swing when you should swing it?
Simon0 1 month ago
@Simon0 Usually in the beginning tempo marking it will indicate that two eighth notes should be played as two triplets tied and a third, or dotted eighth-sixteenth. This piece has no such marking.
uiop60 1 month ago
@uiop60 i am an advanced pianist but i still have a basic question. When there are no pedal markings in a piece.. is it up to the performer whether they want to use pedal or not? I am pretty sure the answer is yes. Thought i would ask you as you seem knowledgable. So no markings.. then up to performer whether they want to use pedal?
Simon0 1 month ago
@uiop60 oh shut up classipuff
jonjones20143 1 month ago
loved it, very distinctive version and very brave interpretation.
originalfunkyfry 5 months ago
I also played this one! Check above!
olopcall 7 months ago
hey, good work on the dynamics :D
TheMarinousky 9 months ago
i apologize for trashing this guy's site with a response to someone who knows very little
ioloindeseo 10 months ago
@ioloindeseo dude come on... i can read this too and i just finished writing a response to you admitting you were right.
SupaDupaFunTime 10 months ago
@SupaDupaFunTime
You're both a little bit right. It's not good to DRASTICALLY change speed, but no good interpreter is gonna do that. If you just played it at the same speed all the way through, it would be really boring... for me anyway. But you can still make slight tempo changes while still maintaining the original tempo. Soes that even make sense? I don't think so... :P
Ragtime44Films 8 months ago
thanks! i wish you much luck and many many challenges for you to grow with - seek the best masters, so that someday you might help the young realize their potential - learning is communal memory-
ioloindeseo 10 months ago
dude you sound like you're going to die with the rhythm at the beginning...
i like your dynamics for most of the piece, but i would suggest practicing the whole piece on a straight meter for practice. Im not hating i just want you to get really good at this and good luck!!! keep it up
SupaDupaFunTime 10 months ago
@SupaDupaFunTime
the piece has DYNAMICS, not a metronome, at its heart. it's not a race nor an unchanging beat - the whole piece is, among other things all at once, a study in motion and emotion-perhaps one might say the notion of motion in emotion- the pianist is neither right nor wrong in his tempo-this one is in fact playing very well with the changing 'time signature' AND the sense of why it changes -this is not mechanical arbitrarianism, but heartfelt - this is pre drum-machine
truth in art
ioloindeseo 10 months ago
@ioloindeseo so your saying that its appropriate to change beat whenever you feel like it? It's classical, and even if it is Gershwin i feel like he would rather somebody be able to play it with at least a controlled variation in speed and not just random changes in time. Don't get all high and mighty about shit when i was just providing him with some constructive criticism.
SupaDupaFunTime 10 months ago
you call your comment 'constructive crit'??? you dropped a compliment after you trashed his playing - but YOU have no vague idea yet worth listening to. you seem very young and you seem to exhibit poor reading and interpretation skills - when you improve, let me know and we might have a useful conversation: until then, you seem pretty full of yourself, and poop- and that's (probably) not how you'd like others to think of you
ioloindeseo 10 months ago
@SupaDupaFunTime spend time thinking about what 'andante con moto e poco rubato' means - as well as what 'artistic interpretation' is - also - look at the age of this guy when he did it- i am not being condescending to him nor did i mean to be patronizing to you - what you suggest is in fact so basic that this player probably did that while you were wasting your time on 'Merkin Idle' and p'ing your diaper or something - are you an ACCOMPLISHED musician? NO! That is obvious from your comments
ioloindeseo 10 months ago
@SupaDupaFunTime - so while you can say 'don't think I'm hating...blah blah blah', nobody can say anything to you as a critique, and you have to go all personal - mature of you, isn't it? grow up, not too soon, but don't lag so much either -
;>)
ioloindeseo 10 months ago
@ioloindeseo touche sir... touche
sorry i was in a shitty mood right there ahahaha i apologize for getting to that point... thanks for catching me trollin
SupaDupaFunTime 10 months ago
Comment removed
orcchid70 10 months ago
beautiful interpretation! i just heard Boris Bereskovsky play this live as an encore here in Brussels. he played it a bit faster but very delicately like you have played, thank you!
orcchid70 10 months ago
Nice interpretation -- inspiring!
ddgitz 11 months ago
Excellent playing!!! You know, you kinda look like gershiwn.
C3P0meetsData 1 year ago
I love this song! We are playing it for band :) Nice job
punkymonkeylive 1 year ago
sounds amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this piece so much...
I just sound so silly whenever I attempt to play it because I have to roll the first chord >_<
I wish my hands were bigger!
immeghanlol 1 year ago
Well done Missstaaaaaa.
DontForgetMeXo 1 year ago
really nice job!
theartsychica593 1 year ago
dude you play great! i really haven't read the second prelude, i know the first and is really fun to play it, but those chords in this second prelude, makes my hand to give some jumps! )=
Jamez5cz 1 year ago
damn small hands i cant reach the first diad!
bsubassbaby2 1 year ago
try to keep the eigthth notes more even in the beginning, you can be as creative as you want later in the song (well, up to a certain extent) but in the very beginning you're just introducing the song, so to get the audience used to it give it to them plain and simple.
olkomat1 1 year ago
Sexyy :) try number 3
aznt1x33 1 year ago
Songs in C sharp minor are hard. Seriously.
sirhonestharry 1 year ago
Nice.
ThereseAline 1 year ago
The pianist is obligated to observe every marking the composer provided, and this one doesn't. The rubato marking doesn't mean making eighth notes dotted eights/sixteenths,
sdallenhou 2 years ago
Too much rubato in first and last section.Otherwise, middle is very good,faster as Gershwin liked.
bruguga 2 years ago
my fave part!
dance8music8life 2 years ago
nice but you added a swing beat in the beggining as well as a quicker tempo than intended on the midsection. But overall well done
itsmylesdawg 2 years ago
Wow, I can barely play the first section of that piece.I have to roll that first chord, which makes it way harder...
Productionsism 2 years ago
@Productionsism I am 13 and what i did in the very beginning I didnt roll it but instead i played it with both hands and then after the first three muesures i just played the bottom note (the c#) it sounds just as good(:
MrTwilightfan10164 2 years ago
@MrTwilightfan10164 for anyone that's playing this song or even trying to learn this or any of gershwin's songs at 13: props to you, keep at it. haha and i though i was young i'm 15
olkomat1 1 year ago
@Productionsism
Play it with two hands
LilSportingLife 1 year ago
Wow that was really beautiful and different, and I loved all the rubato. Also, you have really big hands!! The first chord in that piece is such a stretch - I have to split it.
ladysoul100 2 years ago
I appreciate your dynamics! It's so refreshing to hear musical pianists. Keep playing with heart!
jpeacock4 2 years ago
a tad bit sloppy but otherwise good
ifrit26 2 years ago
oh so beautiful! your playing is very emotional, deeper than just the dynamics. just learned this myself, so much fun to play :).
entropyable 2 years ago
Finally, somebody gets the groove/tempo my ear wants to hear. Very nicely done. Five Stars. Keep up the good work.
oldetownerez 2 years ago
I've been listening to a lot of Gershwin #2 on youtube, and the most interesting thing is how very very slowly everyone plays this. You're at about 60, average; but you have the metronome marking at the top of the page, 88 = quarter. That's a very different character. Middle section, marked 'a tempo,' after a big break, you're suddenly up to 100 and staccato: why staccato?
Listen to Gershwin's recording from his radio show, see what his idea was (almost 120 to the quarter, to start!)
rickypix 2 years ago
where is the version of gershwin playing it
19948 2 years ago
wow. You can play this so much better than me, and your technique for this modern song is great!!
itachisatomi12 2 years ago
very nice
thank you very much
i included your performance on my credit redi blog
bravo
jimmymacnj 2 years ago
boo
leighannelizabeth15 2 years ago
i feel thats its played to slowly and wayyy to swung in the eighth notes in the right hand
pinkpolkadots98 2 years ago
if you feel that way, this guy succeded at playing the piece right. its suppose to be very legato, but still keep the jazzy feeling, which is why they swing the eights. if you play it faster, it sound weird, and without the swing, it takes away the feeling
zugrath16 2 years ago
yea, i think this guy is playing it right. hes not swining some parts that i would have but sounds pretty good. its not meant to be fast, it is suppose to be slow and stretched as if you are dragging. You should have that sentimental and old feeling when playing
summerbordom 2 years ago
I've been playing this with swung 8ths in the A sections but straight in the B section. *shrugs*
Nice job Ravel87.
guitarslinger44 2 years ago
who cares if the notes arn't supposed to be swung! I played a concert arrangement of this in college, and our instructor told us to swing it. it just sounds better. if not swung, in my opinion, it sounds bad. i like it swung.
johnnythunder123 2 years ago
in my opinion it's better not to swing it, at least until the B section wich has lots of blue-notes and bluesy phrases. if you swung the whole thing it could become very tin-pan-alley-like. don't you think?
ernestoamstein 2 years ago
I listened to the non-swung and swung versions. I still really like it swung. I don't know why, considering I'd rather play eighths straight.
johnnythunder123 2 years ago
Everyone plays this with swing! Where did that come from??
I enjoy this interpretation, but I've always played this slower and without swing, I'm amazed to see all these people boogie-ing through it
spongekill 2 years ago
A lot of people can't reach the 9 intervals. At least people I know.
comet5002 2 years ago
Great Job!
whereamigoingnow 3 years ago
yeah what's up with the weird rhythm..?? they're not swung are theY?
OoohMyGoosh 3 years ago
very enjoyable, a little too lopsided for my taste though
elwatto123 3 years ago
I like your interpretation...but the rhythm is messed up in some parts and you also played it sorta slower than usual. But other than that you did preety good. ^^
setsunalove111 3 years ago
In my opinion, if you played with less drama in general, then the times that you do add more expression will make a bigger impact. Also, if you listen to a recording of Gershwin himself, you will hear that he doesn't swing the rhythm, so it's not about "interpretation" - that's how it was written.
charleston011 3 years ago
I don't think I would say that. I mean, when you play a piece, you will add different things that the composer never originally added, be it dynamics, tone, or rhythm. I would say it is an interpretation, because no one will play it exactly like Gershwin played it. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Anyways, good job, Ravel87! I also enjoyed Prelude N. 3. That's my favorite song in the world.
FIGSTHEHERO 3 years ago
interesting interpretation. i like it :D
eelynlee 3 years ago
I don't think those notes are meant to be swung.
incrediblub 4 years ago
Gershwin's entire life (short, yes) was devoted to creating music people had never heard before. His attitude toward this rendition would be one of excitement that people want to play is pieces, just like he wouldbe after seeing a 5 year old play a one-fingered Rhapsody in Blue. "Morestalldrive" and co., you obviously don't understand Gershwin, much less music, so go find yourself and come back ready to appreciate good interpreters.
stefantheicewarrior 4 years ago
full of music. well played
tortoise7 4 years ago
Notes are right but rhythm is all wrong. Should me straight quavers. I've been playing this peice for years and I always think of a smoky bar. Should be more 'bluesy'. The middle section is wat to stocatto as well. Didn't like it at all. Sorry
morestalldrive 4 years ago
Screw what these others are telling you about not swinging it or playing it too slow. Your interpretation is fine. A bit different, but the important thing is that it sticks out and stirs up the emotions.
The point of music is not to argue over how to turn notes on the page into sound. It's to express yourself as an artist and to share that expression with others. I think you've accomplished that quite nicely.
reddoghud 4 years ago
Good pianist.
Bad interpretation.
Don't swing it.
Although the tempo is good, it's got way too much rubato.
tmad40blue 4 years ago
A fine player. I appreciate your Scriabin D# Min etude, too. As a former professor said, "We're all works in progress." But that doesn't mean that it isn't good already... I trust that all will agree.
macmarklemore 4 years ago
Huh. I've never heard it swung before... I'm not sure if Gershwin wanted it that way... although it is somewhat interesting-- I'm just not sure that's the way it should be.
TehBrettster 4 years ago
Interesting interpretation!
I think that the first part would be better with less swing and more blues.
nickhead2 4 years ago 2
ENCHANTING. From deep in the soul, just as Gershwin would have wanted it. I have never heard this Prelude played from the heart correctly, until NOW. Middle part feels like an old Minstrel Band bopped in and bopped out. SO FINE!
juliepwall 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
you deserve to die, this is completely awful. You suck!
jasper7792 4 years ago
stop flaming people like that, you noob!
ScreenEyes 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
the tempo is completely wrong. Sounds not right, too bluesy. make the tempo better and it would be okay. In third section the tempo is completely awful. Much too bluesy, you're a disgrace to Gershwin
jasper7792 4 years ago
Kind of messed up early on but pretty good.
ijakeash 4 years ago
lipa!!! you don't understand music Gershwin
Polak6666 4 years ago
Hey 87, it's all encouragement not discouragement. I've been teaching for 42 years and was jusr sharing with you what i've always told my students about this particular piece! You play very well. Keep up the goood work.....hey elwatto, good luck with your recital!!
songbyrdddd 4 years ago
i agree with song byrd, i have a recording of gershwin playing it himself and he plays with the straight 8th notes.. a tad quicker too.. really interesting interpretation though, enjoyed it. that wasnt a criticism, just a personal preference with this piece.
elwatto123 4 years ago
Also when you get to the left hand solo, it should not be played so staccato; it is the main melody at that point and if anything should be much more legato
songbyrdddd 5 years ago
haha i highly agree... im playing all three preludes on may the 5th for a recital...
chadnat 4 years ago
wrong rhythm scheme-- should be played with straight 8th notes not as dotted eighth and sixteenth "blues style"
songbyrdddd 5 years ago
Nice job.
stormdawg 5 years ago
I really love the way you perform this piece, I'm playing it and loving every moment of it.
Orelion 5 years ago
thanks for the kind comments :)
I really love this piece...
Ravel87 5 years ago 3
i like your all video, very enjoy your performance, there is a weird feeling about this piece~ nice ~
FISHTOOT 5 years ago
Best version of that piece I've ever heard. You got the tempo and mood JUST right. Thanks!
Lperro 5 years ago