Please grow up
1 Like
Well that’s telling him 
I have repeated this sentence many many times in many many discussions already, but the word “technique” comes from the Greek word ‘techne’, originally meaning just ‘art’.
I am against a very narrow definition of “technique” if you only use it to convey a sense of “dexterity”, “velocity” or a talent to play a certain piece as fast, clean and even as possible.
I am more & more convinced that there is/should be always a link with musical interpretation. If you want to outgrow a purely physical/motoric fascination in playing da 88, you should try to begin to realize that true technique resides in the brain, not in the fingers. It must become mental or even spiritual. This way, technique is also closely related to sound, to the art of pedaling, to touch & articulation, dynamic contrasts etc. etc.
1 Like
I am pozzibly a bit too hammerd to explain why, but I think you juz expainled why I iz a fan of da ZIFF and da DOC equally 
1 Like
I partly disagree. Yes technique includes all of this, but the mechanism element of pianism isn’t something to look down upon or demean.
You don’t have to ‘outgrow’ a fascination with motoric limits and achievements.
Music is an art, motoric achievements are more akin to sport.
People dedicate their lives to sport, they live and breathe it.
There will always be both a sporting element as well as an artistic element to pianism.
But where I agree is - why listen to a performance that solely displays sporting achievement when you can listen to a performance that displays this achievement PLUS awesome expressive art?
Another big reason sport is so enjoyable is the objective nature of competition - there IS and CAN be a clearly defined best and worst. In art…it’s subjective and so blurred by a multitude of co-factors.
1 Like
Too get a bit more poetic, being a polite clazzical 88 dizzcuZion and all, and comparing dem with girls so az to be da non-violent totally PC mofo…
Ziff = da free love beautiful 1960s hippie mofette beautifully throwing da love all ovah da place
Doc = da virgin mofette dat juztify God and hormonez with da anal
both gensui dat I appreciate 
2 Likes
I think that when it comes to fine artistic piano playing on the highest level, in the end all comparisons with sports are doomed to be failure. That is because speed in itself doesn’t mean much, it shouldn’t become an objective. I don’t look down upon the development of a “virtuoso apparatus” for a classical pianist - and no doubt for a young developing pianist there IS an element of sportiveness and competetiveness as well, but IMO this should always go hand in hand with artistic development, with intellect, profundity and human qualities. Try to separate it and it becomes just empty entertainment.
I’m not talking about separating it at the endpoint of a musical interpretation.
I’m talking about separating it during the process of study. This is necessary to develop it as a tool in the arsenal of an artist.
And I’m also not talking about utilizing flashes of rarefied mechanical abilities all over the place without taste - I’m talking about implementing it during cadenza-like passages and the like.
Not to distort the musical fabric of an interpretation just to show off mechanism - but to use it in spots where flashes of dazzling colour by means of velocity are actually of expressive value.
1 Like
I compare da 88 to sportz…BIG TIME. Da objective resultz sports dont really interest me though.
Usain Bolt = 
or zumthin. Cool ztory.
Tru I forgot wut I wuz saying exactly…pretty sure there are a couple of posters here that understand my Doc/Fedor comparision
1 Like
oh yeah! da inspiration iz da comparison fo me…da edge of yo zeat momentz kan be comprable
Yeah with this I agree me thinks. Getting a bit less clear in da head rite now after several sakes…
1 Like
Less clear in da head iz what we ztriving fo wut diz convo by now homie
I love this unique forum, I really do. Never a boring moment. 
1 Like
You are arguing against speed for speed’s sake in a forum entitled the Speed Demon Community 
Takes balls and credit is due
1 Like
Hahaha REZPEC. I LOVE speed at da 88, but only…in combination with etc. etc. etc.
1 Like
If we gonna talk about zpeed we should talk about michael phelpz and USA imo
1 Like
Some of these athletes are gensui tho. Michael Phelps got in trouble for a pic of a bong RIP. Dat mofo(ette?) Kardashian got away with killing some lady in a car accident because of her tranny gensui
I hear what both of you are saying actually. I love a dazzling display of tech as much as anyone here (more, I sometimes get the feeling), but only when it’s part of a musically satisfying experience - which is what Erwin is talking about. Thing is that to do something which really sounds impressive at the piano you need more than just mechanical speed.
I’ve stayed silent here since I’ve made my points earlier already, but while I’m at it - for raw speed & horsepower I’m not aware of anything that approaches Cziffra. But if you start putting requirements in I can think of several pianists who’ve done things I’m positive Cziffra wouldn’t be able to. Reminds me of what one of the Liszt pupils said about Liszt when talking about tech incidentally - that Liszt shone in everything, but for this specific branch Rosenthal was a little better, and for that particular thing Godowsky was more developed, and this element here Hofmann did a little better, etc. There’s no single pianist who’s been best at everything. Though the demoralizing thing with his article is that he would have compared prime God etc to a Liszt in his 60s…
1 Like
Alwayz nice to hear from another DOC fan
Haha 
1 Like