I forgot to explain the mysterious 5th blue book that I didn't open to play. I realized in the middle of editing that I have played through Haydn Sonata No. 20 in C minor as recent as last year, so I had to cut it out 😅
you also forgot to sight read "Faerie's aire and death waltz" :> p.s. i found, that you never look at keyboard while sight-reading. How does it possible?
Please! For the love of Bob! Am I invisible?! Chopin "Raindrop" Prelude Op.28 No.15! I will upload a video of myself...idk, doing something embarrassing (I know not much of a tradeoff)! If you finally just play iiiit *sobbing*.
Tiffany, it takes a gutsy gal to air your dirty laundry, so to speak, on TH-cam. Most performers want the public to see (hear) only the finished product, not how they got there. But you are willing to suffer the awkwardness of allowing your followers to see you struggle a bit in the beginning stages of learning a new piece of music. You have given great insight to those who might think that what you do during a performance simply “falls out of your pocket,” as it were. I have the greatest respect and admiration not only for your talent, but for your openness and sincerity as well. All the best.
Ahh I wish there was a way to pin your comment because I appreciate it so much! The whole point of these talking videos is to show that I'm a living person before and beyond the finished music video. Thank you for recognizing what I do!
Ok Gerald Romanow, I appreciate your comment but I'll say Tiffany "struggles" with sight-reading; we need inverted commas there :) ! Beautiful playing, from the first attempt. Of course only an idiot woudl imagine that a pianist opens a book of partitions and plays the way we see them perform on stage. That does not exist. Players of her calibre can be "bad at sight-reading" as she humbly declares, but have a gift and work hard on that gift. Chapeau bas for your work Tiffany.
Tiffany, thank you for being so honest. This makes me feel want to practice and get better and learn more songs. A lot of prodigy make me feel that I am hopeless and should just give up learning or something. But your video and advice is very real to me and make me want to practice and get better. So thank you so much for posting this.
Impressed not only with your technical sight-reading skills but also with the emotion you are able to infuse into your playing, especially with a piece you are completely unfamiliar with! Lovely, thank you so much for sharing :-)
Actually I was flattered with your attempt with Scriabin, I was thinking "is she really gonna sight-read that?". Of course it's quite impossible to sight-read it perfectly, but actually you immediately understood what was going on with the melody and understood the right tempo. Nice video, and as everyone said, no, you're aren't bad at sight-reading...at all!
It's so depressing when you see people who can sight read these pieces at a level that would take you at least a month or even more of practise to achieve. amazing. edit: now that I watched more of the video... I really liked the bach part! :D Makes you feel more human.
Indeed, let us partake in satisfaction in knowing that someone can still make mistakes, but in the end it wilk never really hide the fact that you can't even sight read elementary grade pieces, I'm gonna just cry on my piano
I actually wonder how many years of playing & how many of hours of practice per day along with the quality of teaching is required to the sight read like Tiffany. It really is so amazing for those of us who have no clue as to how a player can actually see all those notes on both stave at the same time. Wow.
Wow, thank you so much for playing the Wild Rose from MacDowell! This was so perfect on the first take - it's almost unbelievable for me how this is possible. There are quite a lot of videos with this piece on youtube - but your version is by far the best of them! And I'm really impressed how you sightreaded the beginning of Scriabin's op 42 no5 - one of his hardest pieces.
Hi Tiffany....I want to say your first piece, MacDowell "To a Wild Rose", was played to perfection! Just the right tempo. Over here in the UK it's a well known piece (at least I think it is). I so enjoyed hearing it on this video, and it was really lovely. Thank you.
How about that! If you have found a recording of someone on the Naxos label playing the piece at a different tempo who could possibly argue? Well, Alfred Brendel for one! I have a recording of Brendel speaking at some length about the adherence to metronome markings. He holds that it is wrong to view them as an absolute and rigid direction as to tempo. Musical judgment is paramount. Indeed he gives examples to prove his point, and I can think of many other examples myself. In this case, although Tiffany was playing the piece at sight, I think her instinctive musical sense dictated the tempo she chose, and I think it was the right one. I would add that clearly Tiffany's abilities are such that if someone had told her at the outset to play the piece much faster she could easily have managed to do so.
You played it well....I was kinda shocked that you were not aware of him as a composer....i mean, he's not a BIG name, but he's not super obscure....Van Cliburn was a big champion of his work
@@ckmate23 Yeah, I was shocked too. Then I thought that probably says more about changes (in fashion?) in places like Julliard. It's difficult to imagine a student at Julliard in the fifties or sixties never having heard of MacDowell -- after all, he was (and is) the most important romantic era American composer. But if someone can attend now and never hear of him, well that says a lot about how far out of favor he is. I'm not a young guy, and it doesn't seem that long ago that his second piano concerto had at least a minor spot in the general repertoire. Kinda sad, i guess, but not unexpected.
@@monkberrymoon3999 - I've been playing piano since 1993... and I've honestly never heard of MacDowell. I don't even know the piece, "To a wild rose". For what it's worth, I'm in the UK.
@@squodge Yeah, I think that's completely normal. An American in the 1970s, however, would have come across MacDowell -- especially students (as you can guess, he was a big composer of miniatures). My only point was that even an American school like Julliard doesn't bother with him any more.
To a wild rose is a grade 5 piece. I learnt it. Took me about 2 months. She played it perfectly by sight reading it. I'm amazed by it. Well done! Sounds more beautiful
Yes. I had this in a summer adult piano class about 20 years ago. Same 2 months for me, and she played it much better than I ever did on the first time through! But I'm just a home hack hobbyist, and she has devoted her considerable talent and her life to her artistry. Much respect to the dedication and discipline and plain hard work it takes to get to this level.
To a wild rose is not grade 5 anymore. I think it is about grade 4 but it's still amazing that she can sight read it! It took me 3 weeks to get it right! Edit: I spelt something wrong 😂
Hi Tiffany, as a Juilliard graduate, it was great to revisit the library and practice rooms! I remember taking a keyboard class with a very demanding teacher there. She usually got people upset and it often ended in tears because she could be so mean. You obeyed one of her tough rules and broke another: 1 when sightreading, never look at your hands (you did great with that) 2 never stop the rhythm under any circumstance. She said playing wrong notes was preferable to wrong rhythms. She didn’t care how slowly we went, and how many wrong notes we played and we had to count aloud. If someone stopped to correct a wrong note, she went ballistic! I use her method to this day and she was right. I often have students play on one note only with the correct rhythms. It helps a lot. By the way, MacDowell was a great American Romantic composer and his Second Concerto was once standard repertoire. Andre Watts and Van Cliburn both recorded it. Worth investigating. The form resembles Saint-Saëns No. 2. He also wrote four large sonatas. Well done!
Actually you would be better off learning to analyse the structure, practicing scales in every key, complex arpeggios in every key, and concentrating hard on absorbing phrase structures and dynamics on the fly. But yes practice will help but I dont think many professional pianists practice sight reading that much, it's more worthwhile practicing to perfect something.
This is true! Most of us skip sight reading practice yet we want to reach a comfortable level of sight reading skills. There are plenty of sight reading books out there, it is not shameful to start over and play simple piece with at least 6-10 measure for beginner sight reading from czerny, beyer, g.scharfer, faber and faber, cornelius gurlit, a.e muller, notebook for anna magdallena, first lesson from bach, and other books. No effort = No progress.
Thanks for the effort on the Scriabin Etude.....I hope you would learn this.....I think you find it very rewarding, it's a fantastic piece and a real audience pleaser!!!
unpopular opinion: it was not perfect yet (just being honest), but if she executes it this well on first try, she should master it and perform as encore repertoire
I had a pompous Uncle criticize me for being a music major. He was a simpleton business major that could never hold a job. It takes sooo much work complete a music major! Especially Juilliard! Good on you. You are an extreme talent. I wish you all the success in the world.
seulgi's bangs I’ve actually heard that’s a major part of sightreading a piece. It helps you to not get lost and you can focus on more if you aren’t constantly looking up and down
i was like that too just last year. I had to read note per note, counting from one of my reference points. Took F O R E V E R. finally spent a week drilling on the site: sightreading.training and I got a little better. Then something clicked about recognizing the patterns in perfect triads and inversions and it feels like I am going 1000% faster (it also helps to know that the first 3 ledger lines above the treble and below the bass spell A-C-E)
To a Wild Rose is a lovely piece -- I played it in a competition when I was a little kid. And you don't need to apologize. By letting people see that even an accomplished pianist like yourself can struggle a little with sight reading, you give courage to others who may struggle with it and want to give up. That takes both courage and humility. Good job! Thanks...
i chose ravel😍 i'm overjoyed you played it. sounded good im currently struggling with it although I'm an amateur makes things more harder. Also be more confident with your videos there are people who still watch and like it regardless of whatever flaws you think it has
I’ve been following your vlogs for many months and just recently came across this particular one ‘out of the blue’ and found it very interesting to see your honesty shine forth. It’s to your absolute credit that you are willing to share your ‘perceived’ weaknesses, that in fact proves to be your ‘strengths’ as a specially gifted person and so it’s not surprising to me why you attract so many subscribers. Not many such talented people would be so willing to be as open. Thanks, we are all captivated by your willingness to share your abilities and reach out to us.
It's a relatively easy piece but she played it like a master at the first time that she did. On the other hand, she, who has played in public since about the age of four, said that she had never heard of its composer Edward MacDowell. She needs to know that he is a major American composer.
Very educational. Thanks for sharing this. I don't consider it embarrassing. I like that you speak and are very natural and humble because you are an excellent pianist.
You are much better than you say. Well done for playing those pieces for us. Your cheery way of approaching a difficult skill makes me want to learn more thanks again Jim.
Thanks for doing this piece on sight reading. Believe it or not, you actually gave helpful information on how to approach different composers depending on the music. To a Wild Rose was played beautifully. My teacher taught it to me when I was 9. It was within a collection of music from different composers. When you mentioned the title, fond memories came. Well done on the Scriabin! I was looking at that page of notes-wow.
Thanks for sharing. You are at a level that 99.9 per cent of the audience (including me) dare dream of. It is extremely brave and very helpful to show where it is difficult for you. It erodes a popular myth that you or any other fabulous musician is super human or possesses a god given talent. In reality it’s hours and hours and hours of hard work and every musician, no matter how good, can readily produce a 1000 word essay on areas they can improve. It’s endless for everyone. And no, I can’t sight read anything like that. Thanks again for sharing.
Your sight reading is so awesome! I really enjoy the truthfulness of risking yourself to sightread on video. You also show how much we can learn and improve. Makes me motivated to keep practicing. Thanks!
Her: Ooh! Mendelssohn. Me: Awesome, I hope it’s songs without words. Her: op 30. Me: Yes! I hope it’s number 1 or 6. Her: *Plays op 30 no. 1* Me: Well that went better than expected.
Congratulations to you for presenting such an honest video on sight reading. This will really help people because it is genuine. What you could have done was practised all the hardest pieces like mad and pretended you were sight reading them, but you didn' t! You are obviously a " real" person as well as a superb musician.
Tiffany just wanted to thank you and tell you how much I appreciate your hard work and effort into sharing you private space and love of music with aspiring younger musicians like me! I wanted to suggest a series you could start where you can dedicate videos to brilliant female composers that were neglected at the era and shed light on their complex compositions! I would LOVE to hear some more recordings of Fanny Mendelssohn's sonata in G minor (It's one of my favorite pieces of all time!) and of course some Clara Schumman! Just a suggestion I'm sure lots of people would appreciate :) Thank you!
Glad I'm not the only one who feels like they struggle to sight read as soon as a bunch of accidentals show up! Great video, Tiffany, and thank you so much for the content you've been putting out! I really really enjoy it.
Hearing that someone might not have heard of someone like MacDowell by the time they are well into a place like Julliard suddenly makes me feel like I can actually relate to them and it's very relieving (not in a competitive way though). In my mind I tend to place musicians who make it into prestigious conservatories on a pedestal that's too high cuz I'm honestly a bit too insecure about myself as a pianist. I don't mean to speak downward towards Tiffany at all, but it's very relieving to be reminded that we are all learning and experiencing new things and making mistakes etc in the practice room in the same boat whether we are Argerich, Kissin, Poon, or Blackburn.
You can't find much better pianists that Juilliard faculty, yet I have been studying in the adult division at Juilliard for 4 years and have often been surprised by 20th century composers and pieces the instructors haven't known. Examples: Dohnanyi rhapsodies and Winterreigen, Griffes Fantasy Pieces & Barcarolle, Villa-Lobos Floral Suite, a scherzo by Borodin, Grainger's Handel in the Strand, and more. However, once we got started on any of these the quality of instruction was astonishing - as if they had known these pieces inside out from childhood.
I did this when I was young... but maybe try to cover your hands with the lid or cover (I don't know what it's called) if your keyboard or piano has it, while reading or looking at the music sheet. It can be the sliding ones, but that's kinda hard. I've tried that and I couldn't lift my hand when I'm supposed to. This is just a fun thing to try.
@Antario, Here are some ideas: 1. Never forbid yourself to look at hands and keys. Doesn't serve any aim. For kidding ends, take a shawl or so. 2. Try to play a scale you know very well in contrary movement, that's from central C with both thumbs, lh. down, rh. up at once. First couple of times only one octave, slowly but perfectly and relaxed, outward, then outward and back to the middle. You leave the pedal consequently unused. Choose it sounding p, mf, f, mf, p, totally smooth, equalized. Do it staccato too, p,mf,f,mf,p, slowly and elastically jumping, relaxing after each touch. 3. Next day two octaves, outward and inward. The fourth day, not earlier, three octaves. Sixth day, if possible, three octaves but departing from two different C's. See that you'll need eight C's. 4. The seventh day gather the new experiences and own discoveries in this, and describe them (as if) in a short message to a best friend. *:*:* (5 - 8) *:* 9. Congratulations to your growing in getting the overview on what your hands are doing in different corners of the manual. With all control of the dynamics, movements, and articulation. Without crossing eyes. Without forbidding yourself to look at keys or fingers. And, remaining important for this exercise ideas, without using the pedal - being permitted only on Sundays. For the triads. * * *
Hi Tiffany, you are talented. I am a beginner to 'play with electronic keyboard'. I saw some youtubers (pianists) they spent time to analyse thr musical pieces to understand it more. However, you just had a quick look then play it out. That proves your sight-reading is good and quick. I appreciate and admire that while focusing to read the notes, you do'nt have to keep an eye on your hands. The keyboard seems to be part of your body that combine together.
Wonderful Tiffany! It gives encouragment to the struggling student to know that someone of your caliber struggles sometimes. There is much insight to be gained here for the casual listener and students. Thankyou for doing this. Good selection of pieces.
I hope all your family and friends are very proud of you. You play beautifully but you have had to study and practise for many many hours. That is dedication and passion for your art. Best wishes from the UK.
Wow. The short first song you played with absolute perfection. Your dedication to study, practice and sharing are incredible. My sight reading is quite poor, not a product of my Mom who was a good sight reader and played piano and pump organ in the 20's and 30's for silent films. You are a true inspiration.
Okay low key jealous of your sight-reading ability. It looks like you were playing pieces you had practiced before. That first piece To a Wild Rose. I played that for my piano grade 5 exam and you sight-read that as if you have been practicing for ages. How did you get so good at sight reading. Cause I'm the type of person that hates sight reading as I feel overwhelmed and unprepared as I've never played the piece before. I feel as though I'm expected to play it perfect without ever seeing it before. I wish I could be better as sight reading.
That Mendelssohn Op. 30 No. 1 is actually one of my favorite pieces and instrumental to why I wanted to learn the piano. It was so amazing seeing you do this! I hope you would be willing to do this again.
Thank you Tiffany. I loved your rendition of the Chopin Concerto in E minor. Perhaps you can give us some needed tips about learning concertos, and about putting the second piano (orchestra) together with the first piano. Thank you very much.
Wow! That first piece by Macdowell was so sweet. I've never heard that piece before so i'm pretty excited to go learn it now. Thank you to whomever recommended that, and lovely playing :).
I forgot to explain the mysterious 5th blue book that I didn't open to play. I realized in the middle of editing that I have played through Haydn Sonata No. 20 in C minor as recent as last year, so I had to cut it out 😅
you also forgot to sight read "Faerie's aire and death waltz" :>
p.s. i found, that you never look at keyboard while sight-reading. How does it possible?
Please! For the love of Bob! Am I invisible?! Chopin "Raindrop" Prelude Op.28 No.15! I will upload a video of myself...idk, doing something embarrassing (I know not much of a tradeoff)! If you finally just play iiiit *sobbing*.
Love Haydn Sonatas!!
habits, im actually learning sight reading and from the beginning of learning you have to don't look back the keyboard while playing
Make a video about the ability of your ear... Please :D
If you’re “bad” at sight reading then there will no words to describe how bad I am
Me too!
Count me too.
It's relative. Think she means bad, compared to some of her peers, (other professionals).
Truly! The sight reading portion of the KPE is terrible. I’m so bad at sight reading, not even close to being as good as her “bad”.
Oh no, you guys will be shocked if you compare her sight-reading with me practicing for 3 months.
Tiffany, it takes a gutsy gal to air your dirty laundry, so to speak, on TH-cam. Most performers want the public to see (hear) only the finished product, not how they got there. But you are willing to suffer the awkwardness of allowing your followers to see you struggle a bit in the beginning stages of learning a new piece of music. You have given great insight to those who might think that what you do during a performance simply “falls out of your pocket,” as it were. I have the greatest respect and admiration not only for your talent, but for your openness and sincerity as well. All the best.
Ahh I wish there was a way to pin your comment because I appreciate it so much! The whole point of these talking videos is to show that I'm a living person before and beyond the finished music video. Thank you for recognizing what I do!
Gerald Romanow I second this
Ok Gerald Romanow, I appreciate your comment but I'll say Tiffany "struggles" with sight-reading; we need inverted commas there :) ! Beautiful playing, from the first attempt. Of course only an idiot woudl imagine that a pianist opens a book of partitions and plays the way we see them perform on stage. That does not exist. Players of her calibre can be "bad at sight-reading" as she humbly declares, but have a gift and work hard on that gift. Chapeau bas for your work Tiffany.
Yah but her dirty laundry is so clean compared to mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tiffany, thank you for being so honest. This makes me feel want to practice and get better and learn more songs. A lot of prodigy make me feel that I am hopeless and should just give up learning or something. But your video and advice is very real to me and make me want to practice and get better. So thank you so much for posting this.
Your sight reading is my refined product🙄
Figa Zumbi right!! it takes me months to reach the level she's at by simply sight reading it!!
True struggle
I felt so disappointed while watching this you can hear how light and bright her touch is it’s amazing
Impressed not only with your technical sight-reading skills but also with the emotion you are able to infuse into your playing, especially with a piece you are completely unfamiliar with! Lovely, thank you so much for sharing :-)
That's why I love Mendelssohn. It's often not too hard and one can start putting in emotion quite early. :)
Totally agree
I’m crazy about that Julliard library... 💜💜💜
me too, it's like heaven :)
And practice room with grand pianos. Omg..a perfect world.
Erik Satie ❤️❤️
Erik Satie? Yourself a composer and what a composer! Died with two grands stacked upon each other. You of all? Would you play other composer's music?
Yeah, I'd love to be there!
Meanwhile, me, struggling to find where the middle C is.
Lmao
Same!
🙄
How can you not find the middle C? 😂
Prinshi Ahirwar I think he means while looking away from the keyboard
I'd be satisfied if i ever reached this level of sight reading :D
You can do it! And be better than me :D
Thank you for the reply :) May i request you to sight read or just play some Sibelius?
Music Of Jan
You’ll get there one day:) Practice!
Actually I was flattered with your attempt with Scriabin, I was thinking "is she really gonna sight-read that?". Of course it's quite impossible to sight-read it perfectly, but actually you immediately understood what was going on with the melody and understood the right tempo. Nice video, and as everyone said, no, you're aren't bad at sight-reading...at all!
It's so depressing when you see people who can sight read these pieces at a level that would take you at least a month or even more of practise to achieve.
amazing.
edit: now that I watched more of the video... I really liked the bach part! :D Makes you feel more human.
Noooo don't be depressed!! Haha I'm sure the latter parts of the video made you feel better :p
Indeed, let us partake in satisfaction in knowing that someone can still make mistakes, but in the end it wilk never really hide the fact that you can't even sight read elementary grade pieces, I'm gonna just cry on my piano
Practice practice practice! That's all it is :)))
I actually wonder how many years of playing & how many of hours of practice per day along with the quality of teaching is required to the sight read like Tiffany. It really is so amazing for those of us who have no clue as to how a player can actually see all those notes on both stave at the same time. Wow.
The first wasn’t bad, trust me read the sheet music!
Wow, thank you so much for playing the Wild Rose from MacDowell! This was so perfect on the first take - it's almost unbelievable for me how this is possible. There are quite a lot of videos with this piece on youtube - but your version is by far the best of them! And I'm really impressed how you sightreaded the beginning of Scriabin's op 42 no5 - one of his hardest pieces.
I was amazed at how well she brought out the feeling of To a Wild Rose on the first go. Really, really nice.
other versions tend to be a little too fast for my liking. Tiffany's tempo here is just perfect!
You are way too modest when you say you are not a good sight reader!
like many things, it's relative..
Yea, you can sight-read 100 times better than me (i.e. I can't do it at all).
You forget that you are one queen of the piano. When you will play Mephisto valzer?
LOL tbh for majority of us, our sr is underlevelled for our technical skill, her skill is just too good
A lot of great pianist aren't good sight readers. Alfred Brendel for one.
And here I am counting the lines to make sure I am reading it right
What a refreshing personality you have. No ego or guile, just a child like innocence that I find so charming.
Says 'terrible at sight reading'...
Sight reads everything perfectly...
11:30 I laughed when you said I'm not even going to continue this 😂😂 it's hard to sight Read Bach's work
I’m sorry i guess :D
Hi Tiffany....I want to say your first piece, MacDowell "To a Wild Rose", was played to perfection! Just the right tempo. Over here in the UK it's a well known piece (at least I think it is). I so enjoyed hearing it on this video, and it was really lovely. Thank you.
How about that! If you have found a recording of someone on the Naxos label playing the piece at a different tempo who could possibly argue? Well, Alfred Brendel for one! I have a recording of Brendel speaking at some length about the adherence to metronome markings. He holds that it is wrong to view them as an absolute and rigid direction as to tempo. Musical judgment is paramount. Indeed he gives examples to prove his point, and I can think of many other examples myself. In this case, although Tiffany was playing the piece at sight, I think her instinctive musical sense dictated the tempo she chose, and I think it was the right one. I would add that clearly Tiffany's abilities are such that if someone had told her at the outset to play the piece much faster she could easily have managed to do so.
You played it well....I was kinda shocked that you were not aware of him as a composer....i mean, he's not a BIG name, but he's not super obscure....Van Cliburn was a big champion of his work
@@ckmate23 Yeah, I was shocked too. Then I thought that probably says more about changes (in fashion?) in places like Julliard. It's difficult to imagine a student at Julliard in the fifties or sixties never having heard of MacDowell -- after all, he was (and is) the most important romantic era American composer. But if someone can attend now and never hear of him, well that says a lot about how far out of favor he is. I'm not a young guy, and it doesn't seem that long ago that his second piano concerto had at least a minor spot in the general repertoire. Kinda sad, i guess, but not unexpected.
@@monkberrymoon3999 - I've been playing piano since 1993... and I've honestly never heard of MacDowell.
I don't even know the piece, "To a wild rose". For what it's worth, I'm in the UK.
@@squodge Yeah, I think that's completely normal. An American in the 1970s, however, would have come across MacDowell -- especially students (as you can guess, he was a big composer of miniatures). My only point was that even an American school like Julliard doesn't bother with him any more.
To a wild rose is a grade 5 piece. I learnt it. Took me about 2 months. She played it perfectly by sight reading it. I'm amazed by it. Well done! Sounds more beautiful
Yes. I had this in a summer adult piano class about 20 years ago. Same 2 months for me, and she played it much better than I ever did on the first time through! But I'm just a home hack hobbyist, and she has devoted her considerable talent and her life to her artistry. Much respect to the dedication and discipline and plain hard work it takes to get to this level.
To a wild rose is not grade 5 anymore. I think it is about grade 4 but it's still amazing that she can sight read it! It took me 3 weeks to get it right!
Edit: I spelt something wrong 😂
That piece is grade 5??
I would think something like grade 1
@@jassskmaster7575 - lol. I'd never heard of the piece, but it didn't sound like a Grade 5 piece, more a Grade 3 piece.
I really want a part 2 of this
Not sure what else I would do though. Any specific questions?
Tiffany Poon How to sight-read rhythms and subdivisions?
I do as well
Tiffany Poon You should try Etude Op. 39 no. 6- Rachmaninoff
Joel Del Rosario "Sight read Rhythms and Subdivisions"
*Takes out score of Brian Ferneyhough's "Lemma Icon Epigram"*
God, it is so great to see somebody so talented and yet so humble. You’re a genius in my eyes.
Hi Tiffany, as a Juilliard graduate, it was great to revisit the library and practice rooms! I remember taking a keyboard class with a very demanding teacher there. She usually got people upset and it often ended in tears because she could be so mean. You obeyed one of her tough rules and broke another:
1 when sightreading, never look at your hands (you did great with that)
2 never stop the rhythm under any circumstance. She said playing wrong notes was preferable to wrong rhythms. She didn’t care how slowly we went, and how many wrong notes we played and we had to count aloud. If someone stopped to correct a wrong note, she went ballistic! I use her method to this day and she was right. I often have students play on one note only with the correct rhythms. It helps a lot.
By the way, MacDowell was a great American Romantic composer and his Second Concerto was once standard repertoire. Andre Watts and Van Cliburn both recorded it. Worth investigating. The form resembles Saint-Saëns No. 2. He also wrote four large sonatas.
Well done!
How to get good at sightreading:
Sightread pieces for hours EVERYDAY!!
There's no shortcut to it.
Actually you would be better off learning to analyse the structure, practicing scales in every key, complex arpeggios in every key, and concentrating hard on absorbing phrase structures and dynamics on the fly. But yes practice will help but I dont think many professional pianists practice sight reading that much, it's more worthwhile practicing to perfect something.
This is true! Most of us skip sight reading practice yet we want to reach a comfortable level of sight reading skills. There are plenty of sight reading books out there, it is not shameful to start over and play simple piece with at least 6-10 measure for beginner sight reading from czerny, beyer, g.scharfer, faber and faber, cornelius gurlit, a.e muller, notebook for anna magdallena, first lesson from bach, and other books. No effort = No progress.
Thanks for the effort on the Scriabin Etude.....I hope you would learn this.....I think you find it very rewarding, it's a fantastic piece and a real audience pleaser!!!
It is almost as if MacDowell wrote that piece for someone special, and it just found you.
unpopular opinion: it was not perfect yet (just being honest), but if she executes it this well on first try, she should master it and perform as encore repertoire
I hope she preforms McDowell's "keltic" sonata.
I had a pompous Uncle criticize me for being a music major. He was a simpleton business major that could never hold a job. It takes sooo much work complete a music major! Especially Juilliard! Good on you. You are an extreme talent. I wish you all the success in the world.
@@goldiel2435 Science/Eng Major >>>>> Business Major >>>>>> Music Major >>>>>> Arts Major
But do you have a job?
was your uncle willy loman
@@zeropr0ductions631 - No. But that is a great reference!
SAY WHAAAAT YOU'RE NOT EVEN LOOKING AT THE KEYS WHILE SIGHTREADING OMG OMG YOU'RE SO TALENTED AAAAAAHHHHH
seulgi's bangs I’ve actually heard that’s a major part of sightreading a piece. It helps you to not get lost and you can focus on more if you aren’t constantly looking up and down
Yes she is .
Once you get to a certain level it’s just second nature
She's not talented, she's an incredibly focused and hard worker. Her passion, focus and hard work are way more impressive than talent
@@conorshields6538 she's talented too.
3 years I've been playing piano now and it takes me an hour to read a single page 😭😂
Never give up!!!
Tiffany Poon hehe I never quit 😎✌🏼
i was like that too just last year. I had to read note per note, counting from one of my reference points. Took F O R E V E R. finally spent a week drilling on the site: sightreading.training and I got a little better. Then something clicked about recognizing the patterns in perfect triads and inversions and it feels like I am going 1000% faster (it also helps to know that the first 3 ledger lines above the treble and below the bass spell A-C-E)
Android Kenobi thanks for this! I’ll give it a whirl 😎🙏🏼
The Tempest
Tiffany: 1 week
Me: (I’m a 10 year old) 4 months
Ode to Joy
Tiffany: 1/2 minute
Me: 10 minutes
Tiffany ur sooo good how
To a Wild Rose is a lovely piece -- I played it in a competition when I was a little kid. And you don't need to apologize. By letting people see that even an accomplished pianist like yourself can struggle a little with sight reading, you give courage to others who may struggle with it and want to give up. That takes both courage and humility. Good job! Thanks...
This video concept is new. I don't think anyone else is doing it. Great video.
That first piece was supposed to be faster but your version was waaaaaayyyyy so much more better for me.
it's incredible to me you can play so naturally to pieces you haven't even heard before, let alone practiced. really well done!
i chose ravel😍 i'm overjoyed you played it. sounded good im currently struggling with it although I'm an amateur makes things more harder. Also be more confident with your videos there are people who still watch and like it regardless of whatever flaws you think it has
Your brain works fast!
I’ve been following your vlogs for many months and just recently came across this particular one ‘out of the blue’ and found it very interesting to see your honesty shine forth. It’s to your absolute credit that you are willing to share your ‘perceived’ weaknesses, that in fact proves to be your ‘strengths’ as a specially gifted person and so it’s not surprising to me why you attract so many subscribers. Not many such talented people would be so willing to be as open. Thanks, we are all captivated by your willingness to share your abilities and reach out to us.
Madam, you are brilliant... I've never heard a more beautiful "Irish Rose" in my life and I've heard thousands!
It's a relatively easy piece but she played it like a master at the first time that she did. On the other hand, she, who has played in public since about the age of four, said that she had never heard of its composer Edward MacDowell. She needs to know that he is a major American composer.
Very educational. Thanks for sharing this. I don't consider it embarrassing. I like that you speak and are very natural and humble because you are an excellent pianist.
I love ravels pavane its so pretty
You are much better than you say. Well done for playing those pieces for us. Your cheery way of approaching a difficult skill makes me want to learn more thanks again Jim.
The Scriabin etude( 42 no. 5) is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written. I need you to play it!!!
An easier one to read would be etude 42 no. 2 and its beatiful too
it's a complete understatement when you say you're bad at sight-reading. I really love what you convey through the way you play the piano...
Thanks for doing this piece on sight reading. Believe it or not, you actually gave helpful information on how to approach different composers depending on the music. To a Wild Rose was played beautifully. My teacher taught it to me when I was 9. It was within a collection of music from different composers. When you mentioned the title, fond memories came. Well done on the Scriabin! I was looking at that page of notes-wow.
It was particularly brave of you to play that Scriabin piece. I loved your comment "too much stuff in the middle."
Fun fact: I clicked on the video because I instantly recognized the Scriabin Etude Op. 42 No. 5 Music. So yes, I’m glad I watched it!
Thanks for sharing. You are at a level that 99.9 per cent of the audience (including me) dare dream of. It is extremely brave and very helpful to show where it is difficult for you. It erodes a popular myth that you or any other fabulous musician is super human or possesses a god given talent. In reality it’s hours and hours and hours of hard work and every musician, no matter how good, can readily produce a 1000 word essay on areas they can improve. It’s endless for everyone. And no, I can’t sight read anything like that. Thanks again for sharing.
The Ravel piece had a lot of ambivalence, it was really refreshing! Congrats on your playing too, it is excellent!
To a wild rose was always one of my favorite pieces to play. It was simple and beautiful. Thank you Tiffany!
I would say if it's something you know, just play it. Don't worry about sight reading it. I love hearing you play.
Your sight reading is so awesome! I really enjoy the truthfulness of risking yourself to sightread on video. You also show how much we can learn and improve. Makes me motivated to keep practicing. Thanks!
I think the Mendelssohn piece you sight-read was really in the rhythm! Really impressed by how you can sight-read without the metronome beat :D
"To a wild rose" is my first song after 10 years of not touching piano.. it's such a lovely song that I immediately fell in love with the piano again
My goodness. I love to play this piece by McDowell's To A Wild Rose. It's so calming and peaceful.
The MacDowell was beautiful and exactly the right tempo. Thank you so much
That's why you are in Julliard !
Thanks!
Her: Ooh! Mendelssohn.
Me: Awesome, I hope it’s songs without words.
Her: op 30.
Me: Yes! I hope it’s number 1 or 6.
Her: *Plays op 30 no. 1*
Me: Well that went better than expected.
Congratulations to you for presenting such an honest video on sight reading. This will really help people because it is genuine. What you could have done was practised all the hardest pieces like mad and pretended you were sight reading them, but you didn' t! You are obviously a " real" person as well as a superb musician.
You are an excellent pianist.
This is so cool how you play all the requested pieces. Watching from New Zealand.
Tiffany: I not good at sight reading
Also Tiffany: Sight reads like a pro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
It’s coming from the sight reading pro so that’s saying a lot.
Tiffany- Just watching your fingers going to those keys and hearing the good tone from those notes is an inspiration.
tiffany, thank you for this video =) i feel encouraged to know that it is not just me who finds it hard to sight read bach etc.
Love your videos! So much talent and humility. Beautiful.
Tiffany just wanted to thank you and tell you how much I appreciate your hard work and effort into sharing you private space and love of music with aspiring younger musicians like me! I wanted to suggest a series you could start where you can dedicate videos to brilliant female composers that were neglected at the era and shed light on their complex compositions! I would LOVE to hear some more recordings of Fanny Mendelssohn's sonata in G minor (It's one of my favorite pieces of all time!) and of course some Clara Schumman! Just a suggestion I'm sure lots of people would appreciate :) Thank you!
Glad I'm not the only one who feels like they struggle to sight read as soon as a bunch of accidentals show up! Great video, Tiffany, and thank you so much for the content you've been putting out! I really really enjoy it.
"Not good at sight reading" eh...
What a joke.
Her playing was amazing! And what is not good to her, to me is expert level XD
Tiffany, You are a breath of fresh air. Thanks for being who you are and for sharing your amazing musical talent.
This definitely made me want to subscribe immediately
You sightread very well, and your appreciation and enthusiasm for music is contagious!! :)
You are just so adorable.
That first piece was beautifully done. It's very courageous to put yourself out there and let people see the struggle of learning a new piece. Bravo!
Hearing that someone might not have heard of someone like MacDowell by the time they are well into a place like Julliard suddenly makes me feel like I can actually relate to them and it's very relieving (not in a competitive way though). In my mind I tend to place musicians who make it into prestigious conservatories on a pedestal that's too high cuz I'm honestly a bit too insecure about myself as a pianist. I don't mean to speak downward towards Tiffany at all, but it's very relieving to be reminded that we are all learning and experiencing new things and making mistakes etc in the practice room in the same boat whether we are Argerich, Kissin, Poon, or Blackburn.
Blackburn11: Amen, and very graciously stated.
You can't find much better pianists that Juilliard faculty, yet I have been studying in the adult division at Juilliard for 4 years and have often been surprised by 20th century composers and pieces the instructors haven't known. Examples: Dohnanyi rhapsodies and Winterreigen, Griffes Fantasy Pieces & Barcarolle, Villa-Lobos Floral Suite, a scherzo by Borodin, Grainger's Handel in the Strand, and more. However, once we got started on any of these the quality of instruction was astonishing - as if they had known these pieces inside out from childhood.
Wonderful Tiffany. Thank you for bringing us such beauty in our lives. God bless you!
How about a tutorial on how to not look at your hands while sight reading 😀
DanPocketMiner practice will do
it's like touch typing on a computer keyboard. you just practise.
I did this when I was young... but maybe try to cover your hands with the lid or cover (I don't know what it's called) if your keyboard or piano has it, while reading or looking at the music sheet. It can be the sliding ones, but that's kinda hard. I've tried that and I couldn't lift my hand when I'm supposed to. This is just a fun thing to try.
@Antario,
Here are some ideas: 1. Never forbid yourself to look at hands and keys. Doesn't serve any aim. For kidding ends, take a shawl or so.
2. Try to play a scale you know very well in contrary movement, that's from central C with both thumbs, lh. down, rh. up at once. First couple of times only one octave, slowly but perfectly and relaxed, outward, then outward and back to the middle. You leave the pedal consequently unused.
Choose it sounding p, mf, f, mf, p, totally smooth, equalized. Do it staccato too, p,mf,f,mf,p, slowly and elastically jumping, relaxing after each touch.
3. Next day two octaves, outward and inward. The fourth day, not earlier, three octaves. Sixth day, if possible, three octaves but departing from two different C's. See that you'll need eight C's.
4. The seventh day gather the new experiences and own discoveries in this, and describe them (as if) in a short message to a best friend.
*:*:* (5 - 8) *:*
9. Congratulations to your growing in getting the overview on what your hands are doing in different corners of the manual. With all control of the dynamics, movements, and articulation. Without crossing eyes. Without forbidding yourself to look at keys or fingers. And, remaining important for this exercise ideas, without using the pedal - being permitted only on Sundays. For the triads.
* * *
It's muscle memory hahaha lots of practice
Hi Tiffany, you are talented. I am a beginner to 'play with electronic keyboard'. I saw some youtubers (pianists) they spent time to analyse thr musical pieces to understand it more. However, you just had a quick look then play it out. That proves your sight-reading is good and quick.
I appreciate and admire that while focusing to read the notes, you do'nt have to keep an eye on your hands. The keyboard seems to be part of your body that combine together.
"It might not sound good because, again, I'm not very good at sight-reading."
**Proceeds to sight-read with brilliant, spellbinding accuracy**
Tiffany Poon, you are a breath of fresh air. Thank you for sharing so generously with us. :)
Omg i wanna go to that libraryyy 😭🙌🙌
Wonderful Tiffany! It gives encouragment to the struggling student to know that someone of your caliber struggles sometimes. There is much insight to be gained here for the casual listener and students. Thankyou for doing this. Good selection of pieces.
Her sight reading sounds infinitely better than me after having practiced hundreds of times.
I hope all your family and friends are very proud of you. You play beautifully but you have had to study and practise for many many hours. That is dedication and passion for your art. Best wishes from the UK.
😨😒😒 man, saying you are not very good at sight reading is like a billionaire saying she isn’t really that rich. Hrmph! 🍔🍔😍🤯😴
Bruce Nguyen hahahaaaaa true fax
Yeah... my self esteem is gone now
Calm down there on the emojis
Humble bragging
@Francis S.
Idk they have a burger profile pic so probably something to do with that
Wow. The short first song you played with absolute perfection. Your dedication to study, practice and sharing are incredible. My sight reading is quite poor, not a product of my Mom who was a good sight reader and played piano and pump organ in the 20's and 30's for silent films. You are a true inspiration.
Tiffany : "I'm not good at sight reading"
Tiffany : *plays better that I would with 500h of practice*
Excellent lesson. Brilliant. I love this channel and she is a genius.
I always wanted a brilliant piano playing friend. Now I have found one. It's you!
This is why i like you more than any other pianist...your humility and honesty ❤️
Music is so good for the soul :)
Such a beautiful piano. Thank you for this vlog. I look forward to seeing more with this Spirio! Safe travels.
She’s so uwuingly humble it’s crazy, like how tf XD
I wish I could take away my ability to read.
Thank you Tiffany this was like sitting in the same room with you watching and listening :)
Okay low key jealous of your sight-reading ability. It looks like you were playing pieces you had practiced before. That first piece To a Wild Rose. I played that for my piano grade 5 exam and you sight-read that as if you have been practicing for ages. How did you get so good at sight reading. Cause I'm the type of person that hates sight reading as I feel overwhelmed and unprepared as I've never played the piece before. I feel as though I'm expected to play it perfect without ever seeing it before. I wish I could be better as sight reading.
That Mendelssohn Op. 30 No. 1 is actually one of my favorite pieces and instrumental to why I wanted to learn the piano. It was so amazing seeing you do this! I hope you would be willing to do this again.
Thank you Tiffany. I loved your rendition of the Chopin Concerto in E minor. Perhaps you can give us some needed tips about learning concertos, and about putting the second piano (orchestra) together with the first piano. Thank you very much.
Edward Macdowell is one of my favourite American composers, you rock for including this!
Wow! That first piece by Macdowell was so sweet. I've never heard that piece before so i'm pretty excited to go learn it now. Thank you to whomever recommended that, and lovely playing :).
loved this video ❤️
Even if you just stand in there looking at the piano doing nothing you already look amazing... love to watch you playing!!!
“I’m not very good at sight reading”
* sight reads perfectly
Your hands' instincts regarding speed on the Macdowell (pronounced Mac-DA-w'l) was actually spot on!
You should try Rautavaara's Etudes, they sound quite virtuosic, yet they are quite Sight-readable
They're incredibly difficult! Thirds and the Fourths are my favorites.
He was an excellent composer.