Musical Ramblings: Piano Society -- A Great Place for Pianists to Meet

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Piano Society -- A Great Place for Pianists to Meet

I would like to invite all of the pianists here to visit the Web Forum "Piano Society". This is a group of people who enjoy playing piano and doing it well. The group is international so you can enjoy learning about the musical experiences of people from Europe, South America, and other regions around the world as well as North Americans.

There is a very substantial library of recordings made by members over the years. Besides the standard repertoire, there is a lot available by composers of whom you may not have heard, but be thankful that you now have.

The forum contains a section to submit your own recordings for comments by members (both good and bad) that may also be placed in the library. There is a section for composers to submit their compositions for comments, as well as sections for various other aspects of piano music. A newer section has been added for you to upload "Works in Progress" for comments that may help in your process of learning a new piece. You will need to register to comment in these forums and to be able to submit your work.

Unlike boards like "Piano Street", standards for having recordings placed in the library are rather high (still keeping in mind that most of the performers are good amateurs) and must be approved by the moderators, they just can't simply be uploaded to the library. The music is primarily "classical", meaning music that Some of the older recordings may not be up to the standards expected today (the site has been around since about 2006).

If you are serious about piano, piano playing, and meeting other pianists from around the world, check this site out. Here is the link again (it is also in the "Links Section" to the right):

Piano Society

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Welcome to "Musical Ramblings"

Welcome to "Musical Ramblings". As the title suggests, this blog is primarily about music -- music performance, music education, music theory, music history, music appreciation, etc. Although it is primarily about music, it will certainly involve other arts as well thoughts on science, general culture, society, general history, and even a little politics and religion (although the latter two will certainly be as they pertain to music and the arts), for music has never been isolated from the times in which it was created and performed. I hope that the thoughts and ideas presented here provoke thoughtful consideration and discussion, whether or not you agree with any particular idea.

As you will soon discover, I often think outside the box, and in the past few years, my thoughts are often even more radical (some may say crazy), going against the norm and the way I was taught about music in the 1960's and 1970's. A lot of time has passed since then. New research in performance practices, the lives of composers, music theory, and music education has made us rethink many of the old ideas about music. Also, technology has given us entirely new ways to create, perform, teach, and present music. Music of every kind is available and affordable to everyone.

I have always been one who questions the status quo, particularly concerning traditions that are just practiced because "we have always done it that way", the ones that are just meaningless habits with no known connection to the beginning of the practice. I have loved studying music theory from the beginning of my piano lessons 50 years ago until today -- I am a bit of a music theory nerd -- but from the time of my college music theory and form and analysis classes, I wondered how so many things could be taught as "rules" when most of the music from which the "rules" were made could me made to fit those rules only with the greatest difficulty. Most often professors would chock it up to "composer's license". The great composers were allowed to do anything that they wanted. They were so great that they were above the "law". Of course, that did not make sense since music theory should (in practice at least) come after a body of music has been written.

Then I discovered Heinrich Schenker and his thoughts on musical analysis. I actually first discovered a single book written in German with charts of his study of a Beethoven sonata while I was in college 40 years ago.. The chart fascinated me, but when I asked my theory professor about it, I got the impression that Schenker was considered to be a bit of a musical crack-pot. About 10 years ago, I found an English translation of his book on harmony. Other than the first section which was a bit more mystical than scientific about the major and minor modes, once we got into his thoughts on how composers created their music, his writing made more sense than the traditional analysis method of naming every harmony in relationship to the current tonic. Of course today, Schenker's ideas are embedded in so many college theory texts.

All of that aside, I invite you to join in and we will see where this takes us. This blog is moderated. I ask that everyone at least keep an open mind, whether or not you agree with an idea. Discuss, present your case to the contrary if necessary and please keep your language civil.