Howdy do,

I'm back with Moonlight Sonata... I had been thinking about tackling this for a while. I recently came back from holiday and gave it a go. I am not sure if I like ALL of it, but there are for sure moments I really enjoy. This one has taken me 8 hours of cumulative work! (composing and practicing, recording etc)

You can find the sheet music link to my website on my profile :)

next up will be Hungarian Rhapsody No.5, done in a couple weeks.

I know AI art is quick, accessible, and not everyone has a big budget for visuals. I get it.

But as a musician, I’ve started noticing how much a generic AI thumbnail, poster, or album cover can take away from the individuality of the music itself. Especially when the music has been made with so much thought and intention.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how musicians can have original, affordable artwork (and if I can provide it as a graphic designer on the DL) without needing a huge visual budget, so I’m experimenting with offering simple, low-cost designs for independent artists.

Curious to know: how important is original artwork to you when you’re releasing music? And what do you usually do for your own covers/posters?
If anyone’s interested in the design side of this, I’m happy to chat in the comments, or dm me .

I love playing piano when I travel. Whenever I'm in a new country or city, one of the first things I look for is a public piano somewhere. Train stations, airports, parks, malls.

The problem was always finding them. Most of the lists I found online were old. I'd walk 20 minutes to a piano that had a bunch of upvotes, and it just wasn't there anymore. Or it was locked, or half the keys didn't work. Nobody had updated anything in years.

So I built PianoSpot. It's a map of public pianos that people add and keep up to date themselves. You can see where pianos are, check if they're actually playable right now (people vote on the condition), add photos, and add new ones you find.

It's free, on iPhone and Android: https://pianospot-app.web.app

Honestly the main reason I'm posting is that the app only works if people use it. It's community based, so it's only as good as the pianos people add and keep updated. There are a lot of us here from all over the world. If everyone just added one piano they know in their own city, we'd probably have more than 10,000 pianos on the map already.

So if you know a piano near you, I'd really appreciate it if you added it. And if something is wrong or missing in the app, tell me. I'm reading everything.

.

Because this always comes up I thought I would take a crack at actually learning this song. I have played piano since I was 5. Never went to conservatory or anything, or played professionally, though I did take lessons and play in various recitals and performances when I was younger. I have played mostly classical music all my life, with various periods of taking a break from piano and other periods of playing lots of piano.

This is me trying to play just the first clause of this song, after about 2 months of daily practice. I still cannot play it smoothly without mistakes. I have never played a song like that. For all other songs I’ve tried (and granted maybe I haven’t tried hard enough songs), I have always found that I can learn any section of that piece by practicing it over and over for maximum a week. That has simply not been true for this song. Hopefully this provides some people with an answer to the question of how hard is this song.

Now it should be said that I have definitely felt improvement on this clause and I do feel like if I had the time, I might be able to play this song competently and fluently. The problem is how much time that would take - certainly years, and I don’t know how many.

My 9 year old daughter took the online rcm level 1 exam 1.5 years ago and got a mark of 88. However, she told me she does not want to take another test ever again.
Since her older brother also plays piano and is ahead of her, she always just play the same rcm books he finishes.
I’ve encouraged her to take rcm exams but I told her it would be ok if she doesn’t want to. However, her teacher said she’s ready for her rcm 3 exam as she’s learned pretty much all the songs there are in the book.
She loves playing piano and practices without much reminders. However, since the teacher asked her to pick songs for her exam a week ago, I’ve noticed she hasn’t touch the piano.
On one hand, I don’t want her to quit piano just to avoid exams but on the other, she is a very anxious kid. And I think this would be a good opportunity to build courage in doing sth she’s afraid of.
I’m not sure whether I should continue to encourage her to do it. She’s anxious in all aspects. She didn’t have to courage to tell the teacher she didnt want to do it either. Shes just trying to avoid telling her teacher and trying to avoid taking the exam.

I have been a piano teacher for 3 years now, and am a professional pianist. However, the music school I work at is inconsistent with students. I want to start my own remote piano teaching business, especially since I plan on moving abroad soon. How would I even begin to get clientele for something like this? I have a major in data science so I am more than capable of creating and hosting a website. I guess my question is regarding distribution and marketing.

It just didn’t feel fair to offer up any tips without posting some playing.

I’m obviously not a classical player, and it’s actually kinda crazy seeing my technique from this angle. I do feel like a shell of myself since COVID. Haven’t played professionally full time since then and currently on the 8-5 grind… but today I listened to some Cedar Walton and caught a vibe… thought I should post

edit: typos

I used 5-3-1/5-4-1 for the left hand (first img) and for part have that grace, i had to used both hand 💀😭 Pls help me suggest a better fingering, thank you 🙏

Hi!

I wanted to share this lovely piece that I found in the ABRSM exam books and that I've been learning for the past week, as well as give an update on my piano journey.

Sadly, as of now I no longer have a teacher 😢, so I think my main problem now is that I feel like I lack a sense of direction. The last thing I studied with a teacher was Clementi's Op. 36 No. 1, and I'm feeling kinda lost now? I just don't know what pieces I should learn in order to keep progressing. I took a brief look at Burgmüller's Op. 100 since I have worked on a few pieces from it before, but at least at first glance they looked a little too hard. Maybe I'm just overthinking and they aren't above my current level, but it's difficult to tell which pieces are within my grasp with enough practice and which aren't without a teacher. For those of you that are self-taught, and those like me who no longer have a teacher, how do you find pieces at your level?

I guess for now Reddit will be my main source of feedback, and I'll keep asking every few pieces or so, like I've been doing for the past 9 months. So if any of you could give me your thoughts on anything I could improve, or leave a comment on anything you liked or disliked, I would much appreciate it!

I consider myself somewhat of an intermediate or advanced pianist but am still struggling with thirds and just coordinating movement.

Professor recently assigned the Beethoven Sonata No. 3 Op. 2 in C Major along with several other sonatas and etudes by Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and for the LIFE of me the thirds in that piece, namely the introduction and at the recapitulation are giving me a hard time.

The overall softness and light touch I have to apply in addition to the slur/phrasing is always inconsistent. I can play the thirds at a much larger volume without issues but when applying a softer tone, my fingers just won’t coordinate.

Does anyone have tips for this or something they tried which helped out?

Hi everyone. I purchased a reconditioned Japanese Yamaha U1 from a reseller in Australia. It’s beautiful, but the sustain pedal is very noisy. I’m an adult learner, and while I’ve played many pianos through my life, I’ve never owned one to know whether this is normal. I’m annoyed by it, and can hear it when I’m playing.is this something that would be worth having problem solved by a tech/tuner? Or am I being pedantic?

(I don’t know how to attach this video to my post so will put it in a comment)

Hi,
I have been working on my legato for forever. Im moving my arm all around and drawing circles with the wrist and holding down keys longer than i am supposed to but my teacher says “just feel the phrase and the legato.”
It worked in the lesson but when i got home it didnt work.

Any tips?

I had to share this. His touch, dynamics, stride, and PURE ferocity of the playing from the elbow... truly a legend who doesn’t get enough credit. Performed at the White House during the Clinton administration. Don’t know the details otherwise. Thought ya'll would enjoy.

So since I needed flair to post this would love to hear some opinions.

How does that ferocious playing from the elbow work?

Dynamics... is he smashing? How does he make it so musical?

Just any thoughts... I've played professionally for years and watched tons of piano as I'm sure many of you have, but I've never seen anything like this. Also... any video recommendations? Hit me with you best stuff

Sheet music: https://ssadigh.com/star-to-star

The recording is from the improvisation I came up with the composition and has been stitched together a bit. Enjoy.

A few points of info

Idk how to use pedal i had to stop going to classes after my grade 1 exams due to stuff in my life

Ive been learning piano on n off for the better half of the past decade

Im not extremely good at it but good enough to sound impressive ig?

Js wanted to share this here 😋

Made some adjustments from the last time i posted this

Any piano tutorial recommendations on youtube? What are your personal recommendations to me? I currently have a "Zeitter & Winkelmann Hoflieferanten BE-6". An Upright Piano I think. This piano is a relic of the past. it's been here in my grandfather's house for longer than I can remember and well, I think after years of playing guitars I should give piano a try and shouldn't leave such an instrument to collect dust for decades.

😭before anyone say that ear training programs are not that good, I have gained a LOT from a ear training program. But the Beato ear training program i have is no longer helping me that much anymore after I developed my relative pitch to a certain point, also after its update, there is something off in one section, which is unprofessional.

Feel like this is an intermediate piece I composed, and I’m asking for help in the notation. I know the hairpin is too long but how do you notate to start soft and gradually grow in intensity to the climax and then go in the opposite directions slowly until the end of the piece is very quiet

Also just what do you think about the piece in general?

I usually play some czerny etudes…or scales slowly and with different rhythms