Hello, my name is Mario, I am a pianist and I have been playing this magnificent instrument for about 11 years. Having obtained my high school diploma last year, I am now dedicating myself solely to music and this year I intend to enroll in a three-year piano degree program.
I have a particular interest in the 1800s.
Some time ago, a friend of mine, speaking about the importance for those who play this instrument to know it, and therefore be able to communicate with the technician, informed me of the existence of this beautiful website, of which I have already seen the videos by Maestro Paolo Ferrarelli—to whom I offer my compliments for their professionalism and the time spent on their creation—and to Simone Renzi for the development of all this; generally, I find new forums difficult to use in the sense that it takes me a while to get used to them, but this one is very versatile and also has an immediate and tasteful interface.
Furthermore, I intended to ask Maestro Ferrarelli a few questions regarding my instrument, hoping not to be too much of a disturbance, but clearly I will post them in the appropriate category..
P.S. @Simone, there is a missing space above where it says "Post new discussion inPresentations"
A warm greeting to everyone, before anything else.
Music has always been the most important passion of my life. It is to it that I owe my very ability to accept the facts of existence. I wouldn't have even made it from the cradle to the high chair without music. It taught me how to exist in the world, to move physically and mentally in a much less clumsy way. To put it in Savinio's words, music has been my constant antidote against mental stuttering.
I was born into a family with a certain musical vocation: my mother had studied singing and two of her brothers had graduated in piano and violin. As a boy, I loved Puccini very much. Growing up, I moved closer to jazz, appreciating it all, from King Oliver to Ornette Coleman. However, I wasn't particularly gifted for free jazz, which I have always found hard to digest. I loved rural blues immensely—that of Charley Patton and Son House—and the early urban blues of Leroy Carr, all musicians who had a great influence on the style of Robert Johnson, the bluesman who impressed me most. I did not disdain rock and pop either: I liked Tim Hardin, The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, Tim Buckley, King Crimson, reaching as far as Jesus Lizard, Slint, Bitch Magnet, and Calexico.
But I have never stopped listening first and foremost to the music of the great Beethoven, which always fills me with every possible emotion; the moving Schubert and the thrilling Brahms. I must say that Beethoven is the primary protagonist of my musical world: I dedicate the greatest part of the time I spend with music to him, partly because for a few years now I have felt emotionally and mentally close, above all, to Beethoven's art. I discovered this place precisely by always searching for more information about the Maestro: I therefore arrived at Armando Orlandi's magnificent site, and finding myself here was a logical consequence.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you excessively. I am happy to be here.
Welcome, Mario and Otello. Ask me all the questions you want; I will try to answer, I hope, in an exhaustive manner. I remind you that for us pianists it is very important to feel close to our complex instrument. The growth of our artistic abilities will also depend on continuous comparison with its proper functioning and the fine-tuning of the sound. It is my conviction that each of us will eventually reach their own "image of the piano sound," a "whole" in which they recognize themselves and recognize their own style. To say that every pianist can have "their own sound" takes into account the knowledge, achievement, and "defense" of an optimal tuning of the instrument.
Otello, you didn't bore me at all! It is always a great pleasure to meet new enthusiasts; music is worse than a drug, it is impossible to detox. Beethoven was the first composer I became attached to when I began studying the piano; he was the one I felt closest to. I didn't know Armando Orlandi's site, thanks for the advice, needless to say I will dive into it XD
I like composers' biographies; I read many books because I believe a deep knowledge of their contexts as well as their way of life is fundamental. Beyond passion, it has been essential in giving me the opportunity to try to reconstruct their way of conceiving music and their ideas, to enter in a sense into their "world" (even if it seems like a somewhat dreamlike thing); they make us think and see many new perspectives behind which we would otherwise remain in the dark. For several years when I started, I didn't even have Internet, which in my view is a great limitation; it is an incredibly powerful tool at our disposal from which perhaps not everyone yet knows how to reap all the benefits it can give; this forum, for example, might seem strange to you, but when I find a good group of enthusiasts, it is like winning the superenalotto jackpot; being able to exchange a few opinions on my part is much more important than reading any treatise.
Armando's website is the Italian reference point, and perhaps not just an Italian one, for Beethoven. I take this opportunity in this post to congratulate him on the enormous work he has done so far and which he continues to do with energetic passion.
