by Tania Gleaves on February 19, 2010
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Beethoven music always intrigued you? Want to play Beethoven piano masterpieces?
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Beethoven piano music is known to anyone who has ever taken piano lessons. Ludwig von Beethoven changed the world of music with his compositions for orchestra and piano.
Born in 1770, the German composer first learned music from his father, who was exacting and hard.
Rumor has it that sometimes Beethoven’s dad would come home after a long night of drinking with his friend and get Beethoven up, forcing him to practice the piano the rest of the night! (That’s no way to raise kids or learn piano!)
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Anyway, Beethoven obviously learned what his dad wanted him to learn, because when he was only 16, he had a chance to play for the famous composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was one of the first that got to know Beethoven piano music and predicted that the young German would “astonish the world” with his talent.
Mozart was certainly right!
Beethoven really lived a tragic life, though. His hearing began to fail while he was still in his twenties. It must have been heartbreaking to be losing his hearing when he had such an obvious passion for music.
The result was that he became depressed and morose in personality as he grew older, and even contemplated taking his own life.
In order to communicate with people, Beethoven kept books in which he and his acquaintances wrote down their conversations. These records are still used to help musicians get a feel for how the composer intended for his music to be played.
“Ode to Joy”
One piece of Beethoven piano music that has been loved by many down through the years is his “Ode to Joy”. This song is from the final movement of his beautiful ninth symphony.
The tune has been familiar for a century or more as a Christian hymn entitled “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”. The words of the hymn were written by Henry van Dyke.
Then in the peace and love days of the early Seventies, the Spanish singer, Miguel Rios, released a version called “Song of Joy” that spoke of a coming day of harmony and peace among all of mankind. It’s certainly a shame that almost 40 years later, we don’t seem to be much closer to seeing that day. Let the dream live on, though!
The song, “Ode to Joy”, is often included in beginner piano courses, because it is a fairly simple tune.
It’s also useful because it is so familiar. A beginner should know how the tune should sound so they can hear if they are playing it right.
Well known songs need to be included in the lessons, instead of just random notes thrown together for practice purposes. It will make the lessons more enjoyable for the learner, and make you sound like you know what you are doing early in your piano course.
Classical music will never really go out of style. The rhythm and meter of a song like “Ode to Joy” has a timeless beauty and appeal. It truly is one of the most beloved Beethoven piano music compositions of all.
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by Tania Gleaves on February 3, 2010
Think Chopin music is a little too intimidating? Want to learn how to play them effortlessly?
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Frederic François Chopin (1810-1849) is one of the most popular piano composers of all time who earned the prestigious title of “genius” as a teen. His music included a wide variety of emotions and skills that ranged from waltzes and nocturnes to ballads and etudes. As a Poland native, he was born and raised by father and mother in Zelazowa Wola, but he began to emerge as a prodigy at only six years old when he began piano lessons. At this same tender age, Frederic started composing music before he could even write, and two years later, he played the piano for the public at a charity concert for the first time.
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As a young composer, his own rondo was published at the age of 15 and at 17, he was acknowledged as Warsaw’s leading pianist. But his unique style really began to emerge two years later, when he performed in Vienna. Vienna fell under Russian military rule in 1830 so Chopin traveled to Paris where he remained for his entire life. Here, the still young wonder supported himself by giving lessons, performing at concerts, and selling his compositions.
Life in Paris was good for Chopin as he managed to befriend other musicians, poets, and Polish exiles and even develop a failing romance with Baroness Dudevant (a.k.a novelist George Sand, 1847). In between such a busy social life, he found time to write:
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50 mazurkas (music composed for dancing the mazurka)
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26 preludes (music that precedes a fugue or introduces an act in an opera)
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24 etudes (short compositions for a solo instrument)
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19 nocturnes (lyrical piece of music for the piano)
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15 waltzes (music composed in triple time for waltzing)
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11 polonaises
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4 ballads (narrative songs with a recurrent refrain)
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3 sonatas (musical compositions of three or four movements of contrasting forms)
You may have heard some of Chopin’s compositions as the background music for some of the nation’s most well-known dramatic films. Some of the most popular titles are:
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‘Nocturne in E Flat Major’, Op. 9, No. 2
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Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 1
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Mazurka in A Flat Major, Op. 24, No. 3
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Fantaisie-Impromptu in C Sharp Minor, Op. 66 (Posthumous)
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Waltz in D Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, -Minute
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Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12, -Revolutionary
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Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9, No. 3
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Waltz in A Flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1
Tuberculosis took him at the age of 39 on Oct. 17, 1849 but his influence continues to reign centuries later. The music of Chopin can be heard in classrooms, collegiate bands, and professional symphonies around the world. But his biggest contributions to the today’s students of classical music are his ground-breaking finger use, pedal use, and keyboard use — all of which greatly influenced the musicians that followed him and the musicians that continue to enjoy him at the present.
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