Friday, January 29, 2016

Quiet


Piano- an adjective meaning subdued, quiet, or soft

This is a week of rehearsals for the piano recital coming up tomorrow. Our venue is a large church chapel made to be acoustically beautiful and responsive. So responsive that I am reminding my young pianists to find the quietest sound possible so that their playing can stay light and bright instead of heavy and bombastic.


                                              There is a pedal for that

Most pianos have a quiet pedal which moves the whole keyboard over a centimeter so that the hammers do not hit all the strings, creating a more subdued sound. We are trying that pedal to see if it will help us keep sounds from becoming harsh.


There is nothing more piercing than a few notes played gently and painfully soft. Our ears strain to hear yet feel each vibration to the very soul. 

God created sounds that play our hearts

14 comments:

  1. So insightful. I love how spiritual music can be. God is glorified through music! Stopping over from FMF where I am your neighbor.

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    1. Thank-you for visiting. I enjoyed your post, too.

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  2. I thought of music when I saw the prompt too! It's true, a few soft notes can be amazingly powerful. I hope your rehearsals and recital go well.

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    1. Thank-you, Carly. I am playing a piece for the recital which has the most sublime moving notes and I hope to play them painfully quiet.

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  3. I learned so much from this post. Blessings as you all prepare for the recital this weekend. Visiting from FMF where I'm in the #7 spot,

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  4. Thank-you Tara. I appreciate your blessing.

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  5. Replies
    1. Those were taken by Diane Schuller of British Columbia. She gave me permission to use them on my blog. She has a wonderful site called http://www.dianeschuller.com/2016/02/01/postcards-from-here-2/

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  6. Such a great metaphor of how we are to be in our words and actions. It isn't beautiful, even if we are right, if we are loud and brash.

    Thanks for this gentle encouragement!
    Blessings,
    Selena

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    1. I just stopped by to visit your post on quiet and really enjoyed it.

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  7. I love the sounds of the piano, well, music in general. Music that is played with expression and the moving of the volume from piano to forte and beyond. It fills my being. Something I need to consider more with my words. Lovely post and photo's Gabriele.

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  8. i like this gabrielle:) reminds me of recital days in my past. i didn't memorize music well. no matter how well i knew my music, when i was in front of an audience, i usually forgot something! awful! so scary. worse than jumping off a cliff!

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    1. Worse than jumping off a cliff? I find I am having several conversations after the recital quieting those fears in my students. Thanks for coming over.

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