Piano interpretation

What does it mean or how to interpret in piano ?

 

If we consider the word “interpretation”, in linguistics it means to make sense of a sign or a word. In music, it’s the act or the art by which a musician makes a piece of music audible. The difficulty and most significant goal in classical piano is of course to learn how to interpret a piece. 

The interpretation of a piece means to get closer to a composer and his work; it’s to be able to speak, express and affirm a piece’s sensitivity. Most major composers are interpreted in many different ways. Depending on skill level and difficulty of the piece, the interpretation will help translate a very technical piece in to a simple and elegant piece of music. Other pieces that may seem much less technical can be impossible to understand, to convey, or interpret. It is like trying to solve a terrible, incomprehensible mathematical equation where there is no room for creativity and emotions. The quality of the interpretation will depend, once the technique is mastered, on your listening skills, comprehension and perception of the piece within the world of music. This is what we call musicality.

With everything we have just said, we can imagine that lessons on interpretation are only for the advanced level. But that is not the case. Of course, such lessons are not constructed in the same way for beginners as for advanced students. But learning the dynamics, mastering the weight of your arm, varying the intensity and strength and using the pedal are all part of beginner classes. All of these things will bring a piece alive, energetic and will add a touch of your own sensitivity and musicality. There is nothing worse than to hear a pianist, beginner or not, who doesn’t bring a personal touch to the piece, which remains a technical performance. Of course, interpretation can be learnt. We cannot count solely on personal expression. The piano is an extremely complex instrument that requires extensive knowledge, that are shared, transmitted and taught.

Aulthrough we will learn a lot of technics, piano and notes in our beginner level, we will also start to interpret musical pieces, we will start to lean nuances, which is very impotant to use them when we interpret in piano.. Here is the list of musical pieces for biginner we propose now, click on them to have more details:

Sonatine Adam

Allegro of Latour

Minuetto

Bach's Prelude

Mozart Sonata KV 545 in C Major

Trio from the 3d Sonata of Beethoven

Chopin's Prelude n 4

Bourée of Georg Philipp Telemann

Haendel's Largo

When we play a note on the piano, we can hear that it is a percussion instrument, however it seems to be unfair for an instrument, capable of infinite sounds, to be classed as only a stringed instrument. From a purely technical point of view, a pianist expresses himself on the keyboard, hitting the strings, which in turn vibrate the soundboard that produces a sound. But there are a multitude of dynamics which depend heavily on how those keys are pressed and that any piano with any room responds differently to these dynamics. The piano is an instrument that inspires and that carries. A pianist who interprets a piece is like an actor who recites a text; the audience must hear the sincerity, the passion, and the profoundness that the composer has put in to his work. Piano interpretation is to know the piece in all of its complexity, technique, and to bring one’s own personality to complement this knowledge. The speed and technique of the fingers plays a vital role when playing the piano as it is a complex and subtle task to execute.  However, what makes music sound just right is that it will always give more back to you from what you’ve put in. The fact is that there is no single type of interpretation or sound, but a combination created by interpreter.