A walk among keys and strings
Last Wednesday I made a musical walk through time.
Today I bring it to this community as a contribution to the Tattoodjay initiative.
With my husband and daughter we went to enjoy a concert. It was held at 11 am at the Oratorio San Felipe Neri, in Old Havana. Strange day and time for this kind of events, but it was the Graduation Concert of the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) of the daughter of a friend of ours, in the specialty of Piano.
In the audience we were only a group of friends, family and the professors who were part of the jury.
The introductory piece was composed by her husband, a young man of exceptional talent.
The piece in question had the characteristic that inside the piano some of the strings were placed screws and nuts that gave a very peculiar sound. At the end of the performance, the pianist removed these elements and explained to the jury the cause of the sound, the whole program would be played with extended techniques. Perhaps at this point the expert judgment of @mipiano could shed wisdom on this particular, I just repeat what I heard 😉.
She further explained, for those of us present who don't know about it, that these techniques also include playing directly inside the soundboard, plucking, rubbing or striking the strings; percussing all over the body of the piano with hands or other objects...this is what she would be doing during her concert.
So we kept listening to one piece after another. The pianist would take her hands off the keyboard, pluck the strings, strike the wood. The sound was enveloping. Through the chosen program we traveled in time. We went back and forth from one era to another. From classical to popular. From sad to happy. It was a roller coaster of sounds and emotions.
There was a part of the concert that was played entirely on the strings of the piano's soundboard, while her dad was stepping on the pedal. A very nice gesture of the artist to have invited her father on stage to be part of that special moment in her life. This way of playing gave the chosen piece a melancholic, deep, almost agonizing sound. During the 3 minutes that the theme lasted, I remained motionless, surprised with what I was listening to. It was something unknown to me that way of playing the piano and I found it beautiful and very powerful.
Unfortunately my connectivity does not allow me to publish the video, but I will leave you, although without much quality, some images of the moment.
After an hour of emotional concert, the jury gave her a score of 5 points with congratulations for the performance and curation. The selected program, according to the president of the jury, were very difficult and the extended techniques had been perfectly executed.
The young pianist was happy and we were all happy for her. I feel very grateful for the invitation and for having been part of this event.
The images and text are my own. I used DeepL for the translation because Spanish is my native language.
What a great experience, your friends must be very proud of their daughter.
Thank you very much. Her parents are very happy and proud. In fact, all of us who know her are, it is the end of a long road of years of study.
First time in my life that I've ever seen a piano played like this... applause for her! I imagine the music was very interesting and novel.
For us it was also the first time, in fact I didn't even know that these techniques were also applied to the piano. The concert was very beautiful and interesting. The chosen program was something unusual. To see Dani, who seems so fragile, play those pieces with the strength she did, was amazing.
The piano (like any instrument played with passion) is the strength of that musician, it is his life and his inner richness converted into notes.
So that's what Dani shows: strength, vitality. 😉
Just as you say. That's the way she expresses herself because she's also a very shy girl.
I love concerts held in a church. Last year I think I went to 3 such concerts and it was amazing. This concert must have been amazing.
It was really a peculiar and beautiful concert. The interpreter was amazing. That concert hall has very good acoustics, typical of this kind of constructions. The ambience of the place also helps everything to flow as it should. Thanks Erikah 🤗
Hey, @mdrguez
I will come back to your post, to write a few words more about this later, I am with a migraine so need to cut to the minimum my screen time. But loved these photos and the concert, thank you for the mention. I will be back here 🤗
What a shame to hear you say that you are with migraine again 😔. Have a rest so you get well soon.
Thanks Mipiano 🤗.
Thank you :)
So, I am here. This was a very nice concert, I congratulate your friends and their daughter for this achievement, all the best in her pianistic career.
In contemporary music there are compositions that have to be played in this way, when you use the strings and play with the fingers on them, or use different items, like rubbers, or any other small object that can make a different effect. Usually, the sustain pedal has to be used for achieving different sounds and experiment with it, as when you press it, it removes the dampers from the strings. The notes then ring out for longer as their vibrations is not interumpted.
Thanks once again for the tag, this was a very nice concert you visited and I hope your daughter also liked it 😇
Hi Mipiano, hope you are better with your migraine. Thanks for enriching the post with your knowledge and your clear explanation.
We enjoyed the concert very much. We had already been to others with Olivia, but never to one performed with those techniques. It was new for all of us and very rewarding.
Thanks once again for stopping by and leaving your comment even though you felt bad 🤗.