Radio Candela

• 5 Methods To Help Your Piano Sight Reading
  If the amount of time it takes you to learn to play piano music makes you want to quit piano altogether, read on for a list of tips and techniques that you can learn which can make sight reading music for the piano much easier and more enjoyable.
• Are Piano Warm Up Exercises Essential?
  From your first experience with the piano, you have been told over and over again that you have to exercise proper warmups with exercises and scales before you can even think about starting proper piano practice.
• Efficiency At The Piano: 5 Practice Tips
  There are as many ways to come to practicing the piano as there are pianists, so consider these five practice tips a starting point for your own explorations.
• Should you continue practicing piano scales?
  In order to adequately educate yourself on the piano, its recommended that you should practice scales and other things that teach you the mechanics of playing. However, there are plenty of people who look down on those exercises, seeming to think that, because they are intrinsically boring, they might not be necessary, and don’t teach you how to play the songs you want.
• Those Curious Piano Pedals
  Unlike the keys which are quite easy to figure out, the pedals have an air of mystery about them for many people, especially beginners.

Mozart’s “Variations in C Major, K265,” is based on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman,” a French children’s song better known to English speakers as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” He takes this simple, open melody and turns it through a series of brief variations that walk through many diverse styles from the classical period of music history. The familiarity of its tune combined with Mozart’s artistry makes it an exceptional classical composition that is easily accessible for any audience.

The variations begin with a clear and simple expression of the melody, reminiscent of the lullabies many might have heard in childhood mixed with a touch of witty classical ornamentation to welcome the listener into Mozart’s world. The piece then launches with joy into the unmistakable musical voice of Mozart in an energetic trilling variation on the theme followed by playful arpeggios that transform the music into a playful kind of dance.

In the third variation, scored more openly than the two that preceded it, a series of staccato notes move the melody into a clever game of hopping and skipping that is soon joined by a jocund rumbling run through the open fields of the melody in the left hand below. At last, the game quietly transitions into a minor mode, giving the impression of a melody that suddenly wandered into a dark forest. Then, under the careful eye of a master composer, the music tenderly explores passages of quiet mystery before the simple joy of the melody in a major mode rises once more, again returning the listener to a bright and sunlit meadow.

As the conclusion of the piece approaches, “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” takes on the delicate pathos of an opera aria, including the clever and expressive ornamentation for which Mozart is so well known. In the last few moments, a mad rush of running notes ensues, bringing the piece to a resounding conclusion.

Mozart’s Twinkle, Twinkle Variations in C Major, K 265 are the perfect introduction to the variation form, composed with both the familiarity of a well-known melody and the unrivaled musical craftsmanship of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

• What is at the Heart of Chopin’s Piano Music?
  No matter where you go around the globe, people will be listening to and admiring Frédéric Chopin’s piano music. There is something at the heart of this composer that makes his pieces speak with great force to almost anybody.
• Why Everyone Enjoys Piano Music
  Regardless of the kind of music you like, the piano is able to bring more appreciation and comprehension of music into your life. Piano music has long been an important part of the creation and proliferation of the western style of music.
• Piano Music – More Than Just Notes
  When writing piano sheet music you have numerous options of how to progress even at the level of writing basic notes. When you start to add instructions or articulation the options expand even further.