Q. Hmm. That should have got your attention. The main reason for this question is to see how badly you can pay out on Yiruma and people that post questions like this on YA. If i knew how to give points i'd give some out to the best answer, but seeing how i don't, there's not much point, really.
Do your WORST!! :)
-Ranga
A. At first, my childish side thought "oh, good - a chance for a rant". Then I thought that some Yiruma lovers might actually read the responses to your question and so I thought it would be of more use to try to explain WHY questions about "River Flows Up Your Bum", "Bela Lugosi's Lullaby" and "Kiss the Rain, get a wet face" provoke the reactions they do.
1) For the last 3-4 months questions about these pieces have been posted in the classical music section up to 5-6 times every single day (I can't remember a day when at least one question wasn't posted). Such ignorance and laziness is deplorable. Very few questions are unique and most have been posted time and time again. A quick dip into Y!A's lovely search bar would reveal the hundreds of questions and answers on this subject. In any event, Yiruma does not write classical music and his pieces are not works of classical music. It is instrumental pop. Just because music is played on a piano, it does not mean it qualifies as classical music.
2) Make no mistake - the vast majority of regular contributors in the classical music section have nothing against non-classical music. I know I am not alone in enjoying jazz, rock, pop and film music as well as classical. However, in ANY genre, these pieces would be meaningless pap. The music is so bad and so basic that a moderately gifted child could probably accidentally produce something like Yiruma simply by playing arpeggios, consonant chords and various other 'pretty' sounds (for it is the 'prettiness' that seems to appeal to the teenage girls). It is that compositional cynicism by these musical frauds that makes our blood boil so.
3) As music, these pieces show no originality, no sincerity, no harmonic progression or tension/release, no rhythmic interest and no melodic interest. They are simple series of chords and arpeggios designed to sound 'nice'. Hardly great music deserving of respect! Nice to make a quick buck out of the gullible, the stupid and the hormonally challenged!
I think many of us yearn for the day with the infestation of "Twilight" and fraudulent, worthless 'composers' such as Yiruma, Yanni and Ein-Audi (thank you, Dr John!) no longer curse our section.
One can dream, can't one?
What is my piano level?
Q. I am 8 years into self-teaching myself the piano. I'm curious, what piano level would I be considered?
FYI A few pieces I can play well include:
One Summer's Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ni1sVCgEk
Wedding Dress http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7M9UAPHmIM
Chopin's Nocturne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvxS_bJ0yOU
Maple Leaf Rag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B04--XmZiE
Yiruma's Kiss the Rain and River Flows in You
Moonlight Sonata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6txOvK-mAk
By piano level I mean piano grade, not literally the level. Sorry if I was unclear
No they are not videos of me playing, they're videos of the pieces I can play
uh no that's not me playing maple leaf rag...
A. For having been "self-taught" for 8 years you do pretty well. I have some questions regarding your other skills and abilities at the piano (after 8 years.)
IS THAT YOU playing the Maple Leaf Rag? Sometimes just "zipping-through" the piece is really not the issue, demonstrating "technique" strictly for technique's sake. A "rag" is a type of piece developed in the early 1900's music, championed by Scott Joplin, characterized as having syncopated, off-the-beat-accents-in-unusual places, therefore its true name "Rag-ged-Time" music. Intended to be played MUCH slower, rag-time music then takes on a whole different shape and style.
Seeing no other videos with YOU playing, it would be difficult to render an accurate assessment without knowing, do you also: read music? play from memory all major and minor scales hands together 2 octaves? play from memory all major and minor chords, inversions, and "color" chords?
These are the types of skills most "accomplished" pianists (and musicians on other instruments/voice,) have developed. While you seem to have a good grasp on memorization, I would suggest contacting a reputable teacher and seeking their opinion. While there's a wealth of written information out there about performing, studying seriously with a competent teacher can really put you "so much farther down that road, faster." Surely, on a scale of 1-8 you are a grade 2++ but hearing only one piece, (if that's you on MLR,) it's difficult to be fair. Keep working. Seek a competent teacher. Good Luck! (Next time, let's see some video OF YOU!)
2/23 UPDATE: OK, so if that's not you playing MLR or in any of the other vid's it is impossible
to tell what "level" you're at without knowing your skills/abilities/technique at tempo,
accuracy, interpretation, reading, and style. Please post some examples of yourself!
My other thoughts about performance, study, and style remain.... Keep working! Good Luck!
Yiruma question (I promise I'm in the right forum!)?
Q. So I love the classical forum and answer questions all the time. And people always ask questions about Yiruma (especially "River Flows in You" and "Kiss the Rain") so I thought to myself, "I ought to go and see what this is all about."
So I listened to these two songs and holy crap! Was anyone else so terribly astounded that all this fuss is over something as AWFUL as what I heard? Not to mention insulted, nearly heart-broken that so many people consider this classical music? It's an outrage!
Any bored 14-year-old girl can make this stuff up on the spot. The meaningless drivel I listened to was so uninteresting, and so boring that I nearly lost faith in my very own generation (not too far-fetched given that in a classical music forum every other question is "Plz whr can i download yiruma for free of course?")
So for the fans reading this, I hope you realize that that music is so un-extraordinary, so basic and so pedestrian that you've got to settle down and explore some real music. For the classical musicians, am I alone here, or can you agree?
A. Bravo, Simba! If you are a regular 'viewer' of Y!A classical music then you will have noticed (although I am very discreet about it!) that I am often very dismissive to those that wander in here asking ridiculous questions about Yiruma, Yanni, Maksim, Einaudi and their terrible ilk.
As you have now experienced for yourself, the 'music' of these people is simplistic in the extreme, often comprises little more than 'pretty' scales, chords and arpeggios and lacks harmonic tension almost completely. These charlatans get away with peddling this muzak only because there are enough stupid people in the world to buy their albums and keep them in their comfortable lifestyles. I think that Yiruma is dating miss South Korea is quite apt - the epitome of 'image over substance'.
I get so frustrated because there are literally thousands of wonderful pieces of music - whether they be classical or from any other musical genre - and that so many people are taken-in but this meaningless musical drivel astounds and exasperates me. What frustrates me just as much is that many people seem to think (and they have stated it in this forum!) that any piece of of music (or 'song' as so many wrongly insist on calling it) played on a piano must be 'classical'. This suggests an intellect only a tiny way above a garden gnome.
I know I should probably 'let it go' - which I would if I and the other serious contributors to this forum weren't constantly subjected by brainless people to moronic questions about such worthless pap.
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Title : River Flows in You Twilight Yiruma Classical?
Description : Q. Hmm. That should have got your attention. The main reason for this question is to see how badly you can pay out on Yiruma and people tha...