A friend sent me a video on a Youtube Channel by “Rousseau”. My friend expressed enthusiasm and I couldn't reply for a few days because I was too irritated. I have realised it's partly because I'm jealous of Rousseau's fame and number of hits. A few of my students have told me that they like the videos and I've shared a few myself. The one above is a 5 minute Waltz of Amelie which could be quite relaxing to listen to while you read this blog.

Considering the phenomenon of piano videos with disembodied hands got me thinking about current tech and culture.

THE POSITIVE

As a multidisciplinary artist, I am often happiest working with colours and shapes (of which the equivalents can be found in sound too). So, I can understand the appeal of seeing colourful bars appear, paint-like blobs of sound appear and sploosh and evaporate upwards. In this video I used videos and photos of flowers from a friends’ garden to help convey the dream-like magical nature of the piece, as if it is a wander in a beautiful garden.

THE SIDE

Most of the videos I post on YouTube are from the side. This is because most of my experience of performing or watching classical piano is from the side. I grew up listening to my dad's records, then tapes and later CDs. At recitals, my mum would ensure that we booked seats on the left to see the pianist's hands.

From the side, you can see not just the vertical movement of the musician's hands, but also a sense of movement and energy from the player towards the piano. You see an arm joined to the hand at the very least, if not the whole body. In the video below where I am playing Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in D, people told me they liked my expressive playing. I think that this is possible because you can see my face and the movement from my back, shoulders and upper body.

Piano-playing is a whole-body activity for muscle coordination, breathe and expression. Are there headless singers and headless violinists? Headless orchestras?

PLAYING BY ROTE

Rote learning (for those who don't know) is when you learn to play by copying the movements of a teacher. When you do this, your brain computes the movement and copies – so the process can bypass the hassle of reading a score.

I have noticed recent pro-rote arguments alongside notation study, (eg from The Curious Piano Teachers). However, the relative convenience of copying without the extra mental effort of learning and processing stave notation tends to create problems beyond the first few grades. Fellow teachers have bemoaned on taking transfer students who had got to Grade 2 but had been taught by rote only teachers.

However, it could be argued that playing by rote could also involve watching the following for

The whole body, especially the upper body for musical intentions, breath, movement and posture.
The whole arm for the wavelike motion from the shoulder through the upper arm
Elbow, forearm, wrist, hand, fingers and fingertips for various technical and expressive positions, movements, ways of moving and ways to contact/ touch the piano.

CONVENIENCE

Unlike some other instrument which played held to the face and/ or body, the piano is one which can be filmed without having the face or the rest of the body involved. As exemplified by Lockdown dressing (e.g. wearing pyjamas and slippers to a work meeting because they won't be visible in the Zoom chat) this is very convenient. Why dress up smart, put makeup on, do your hair etc when you don't have to?

In this video, I’m going with an effective look I discovered (hat, sunglasses, black jacket and a reverse t shirt - to hide the t shirt design!) but I am probably wearing jogging bottoms maybe even shorts. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone! To further convey the idea of the idea of the be-wigged Baroque composer and football, I added the emojis using an iphone app called Clips. I created the Bach using two cloud emojis and an emoji with sunglasses.

SHYNESS

I have made quite a lot of videos where you can't see my face – and sometimes, I did this more for my own experiments (documenting musical ideas and sharing as part of the creative process). Here is an improvisation called “Flight of the Crystal Heart” where I used a special trick to get the visual effect. (I could explain this in another blog). The story continues in the other videos in the same playlist even if the visuals aren’t as interesting.

As they might need to spend such a long time practising difficult solo pieces, it makes sense that pianists are shy, introverted creatures. I was thinking today that piano teachers were somewhat spider-like – hiding in the dusty corners until Festival time... but that's another story.

IMAGINATION

If you've ever seen Disney's Fantasia (1940), you might remember Oskar Fischinger's animation of Bach's Toccata and Fugue. (I only just found out that Fischinger quit because the Studio added the realistic scenes!) As well as the abstract patterns in this section, the film and others like it inspired me to imagine scenes, characters and stories when listening to classical music, which did a lot to liven up the live concerts and recitals I was taken to by my parents.

I think that seeing professionals connect animated visuals with music, and also making my own drawn responses to music helped me be the artist I am today. Here’s a jazz inspired piano solo called, “Baby Dragon” in which the visuals take you on a sensual, roller-coaster excitement-filled journey!

Perhaps Rousseau and other visualiser videos offer students and other interested viewers a taste of colour, the wonder of seeing music appear on key impact, and a pang of impermanence as the delicious slices or splashes of colour disappear into the darkness.

Do we need space to imagine?

Just as imagination filled the space for my boredom, it's been said that boredom can fuel creativity. If we are too busy, we won't have time to stare into space (or the fire as people used to) and imagine things. Hopefully, the experiences of the “fire” or “teasers” offered by Rousseau and the like could inspire students to imagine scenes and characters. Here’s a very dazzling one where the hands look like electric currents are running through them. A far cry from the realistic / beige wood hues of the concert hall and much more like a rock / pop stadium or even just a cheap lighting rig.. Colours help us dream and imagine.

As I research, upskill and revise existing skills such as video-editing, audio-editing and so on YouTube, I value it as an online study resource. And the great thing about it is that there is a huge range of choice - you can watch several videos from different artists playing the same song/piece filmed from different angles, with different atmospheres and impact – and the combined experience of watching / listening to various versions can help us develop our playing/ ideas.

Finally, here’s a performance by one of my students. Enjoy!

The Weird & Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse is my new comic book about mental health, grief and growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Find out more here.

Home

Why I hate/love Rousseau Piano Videos