# Beginner Attempts Scriabin's Op.28



## YahmezTV (Feb 23, 2022)

I started to respond to another thread, and as the post got longer, I realized I should probably start my own.

Reading music for me is painfully slow…sight reading in real-time is out of the question.

I went to a choir and orchestra school as a kid. My string teacher hated me, because I’d play everything by ear after one or two listens, but I couldn’t read the music quickly enough to make it worth my while. My piano teachers told my mom she didn't want to teach me anymore. My choir teachers loved me because they only cared that I sang on key and on time.

Reading = slow and difficult; playing by ear = quick and easy. 
No brainer for an impatient kid. 

I’ve been a guitar player for 20+ years. I could handle guitar tabs at first then it just evolved into improv. I've got a sort of photographic memory for sound...call it a phonographic memory...every chord i've ever played is somewhere in my hands.

…At 16, I was jamming with old guys who got their Masters Degree in Jazz before I was born, and they would frequently ask me to stop and slow down and play something again so they could try to analyze and make sense of it from a theoretical standpoint…to me, all of this sounded like a foreign language, and a very clumsy way to attempt to describe what I was playing…I never played it the same way twice anyways, so why bother. 

Fast forward to today and that’s a problem. 

Collaborating with other producers and artists, has made me painfully aware of my ignorance. When other musicians hear me play they assume I must be very theoretically knowledgeable, because I like stanky chords. And they use a lot of musical language that is not in my vocabulary. Repeating a performance or giving them something that THEY want specifically is a challenge...I have to explain to them that I don’t really bother with chord names or names of scales etc, I just make it up and mash them together as I go along. I’ve just got a little trick bag of funny chords that I substitute depending on what preceded them and where I think I’m headed. I can’t really reproduce it the same way each time (I know; typical guitar player)...the conversation is embarrassing for me every time. 

I’m also a little embarrassed that I’ve never been able to play the piano. I’ve been able to fumble around and get what I need from the keyboard as a producer, but I’ve never been able to really make it sing. 

So this this year I decided to really buckle down and try to learn to PLAY the piano; figured i'm bound to learn some theory along the way.

*I picked Scriabin’s Op.28. Yes. I've lost my mind.*

It's simultaneously one of the most beautiful and bombastic pieces of music i've ever heard...*and TONS of stanky chords.*
I figure if i can learn this I should be well on my way to musical literacy: it covers a lot of ground.

I take a strange approach of reverse engineering the sheet music based on my recollection of the piece.
At first i ignore or misplace a lot of the rests in favour of just figuring out which notes, and in which order my fingers are supposed to fall, and getting a general feel for how my hands are supposed to move.

Then I just start slowly mimicking the rhythms of my favourite recordings and do it over and over and over and over.
As I do this, the rhythmic intricacies start to fall in to place and the notation begins to make sense. 
"ahhhhh these notes all just cascade down in 8th notes, starting on the G! BUT you slide this other G in there with the right hand between those two eighth notes! THAT'S what these little feathers mean!" or "Ahhh this is the same as that little constellation of notes in that other bar but it stutters and starts a bit late because of THIS rest." or "OHHH this little group of symbols is just telling me to fuckin atttack the keys starting with the left hand but I bounce my hands back and forth! Gotcha."


Here's my progress on the second theme...you can hear that the first few bars are fairly smooth...I add one bar at a time, and learn it by just leading in from a specific point, practicing the new segment each time, so as it goes on you begin to hear it fall apart, but i try to slowly work through the "phrases" so my hands get accustomed to their new home.

View attachment Trying to learn scriabin.mp3


As I continue I'm sure I'll find that I'm really butchering it more than I know. Every day I uncover another little rhythmic inaccuracy and realize i've been playing it wrong...but every day it gets a little better...IF I take the time to go back and look at the sheet music. I've already trained my hands to be in position I just need to readjust the order of operations. I'm beginning to automatically identify notes way above and below the staff. The rests and rhythmic phrases are beginning to make more sense. 

*It's Working. I'm learning to read music.*

..and it's all so... clever.

Here's a clip of the Bombastic Bit if anyones curious how thats going...I'm still pretty confused about the timing... ESPECIALLY during the climax, but I'll figure it out.

And Here's a *six hour VOD* of me playing the same 6 bars of music; trying to figure it out...like I said, I've lost my mind.

Any tips, tricks or advice is welcome and very much appreciated!


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## OHjorth (Feb 24, 2022)

When it comes to Scriabin my impression is that he is one of those composers where pianists have a lot of opinions about how it should be played but at the same time accept other pianists interpretations to a larger degree than for say Chopin, Liszt or Rachmaninov. Pianists tend to look more into themselves when playing Scriabin and not so anxiously on the expectations of their surroundings. Might be a personality trait of those who like Scriabin . I've heard a broad diversity when it comes to both general tempo and phrasing, especially live. While I wouldn't recommend to play intentionally wrong, I still encourage you to express the energy you think is appropriate to reflect your feelings.

I would not choose Scriabin to learn how to sight read though. When learning to sight read you don't want to spend a lot of time on the same section (which is something you will have to do when playing Scriabin most of the time with the exception of a few early preludes), and it's actually a bad idea to try to learn a piece at all when specifically learning to sight read. It's better to just pick up a book with Mozart sonatas and just play it from beginning to end. Perhaps taking an extra look at the fingering to make sure that it suits you before you buy the book. Then you pick up the next book and eventually you will get better at it. To do this as an adult can be a time consuming task though, so time might be better spent on other areas of musical and artistic development.

Good luck :D


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## YahmezTV (Feb 24, 2022)

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply! Sound advice all around and I appreciate it!



OHjorth said:


> When it comes to Scriabin my impression is that he is one of those composers where pianists have a lot of opinions about how it should be played but at the same time accept other pianists interpretations to a larger degree than for say Chopin, Liszt or Rachmaninov. Pianists tend to look more into themselves when playing Scriabin and not so anxiously on the expectations of their surroundings. Might be a personality trait of those who like Scriabin . I've heard a broad diversity when it comes to both general tempo and phrasing, especially live. While I wouldn't recommend to play intentionally wrong, I still encourage you to express the energy you think is appropriate to reflect your feelings.


I’m discovering this… I’ve reached out to several pianist friends for help in explaining tricky passages (and even basic notation conventions like double sharps and other hieroglyphs lol). They all seem to spend a long time looking at it and they all give different answers regarding the less straightforward measures. 


OHjorth said:


> I would not choose Scriabin to learn how to sight read though. When learning to sight read you don't want to spend a lot of time on the same section (which is something you will have to do when playing Scriabin most of the time with the exception of a few early preludes), and it's actually a bad idea to try to learn a piece at all when specifically learning to sight read. It's better to just pick up a book with Mozart sonatas and just play it from beginning to end. Perhaps taking an extra look at the fingering to make sure that it suits you before you buy the book. Then you pick up the next book and eventually you will get better at it.


I understand entirely what you mean when you say this is a poor piece to choose if I’m trying to learn to site read. My first goal wasn’t necessarily to get faster, (although thats been a side effect). I specifically chose this piece because I hoped the polyrhythms might force me to coordinate my hands and establish muscle memory that I can call on if I see similar patterns again… also I figured it would be very difficult to fake the notes, or assume the timing, (though Ive always done this and so I end up faking it anyway). 

My goal was to expose myself to a lot of rhythmic variation and this was about the most frightening thing I could think of. 

Its partly that, but mostly - I just love this piece and that alone motivates me to practice. I feel like a kid again. 


OHjorth said:


> To do this as an adult can be a time consuming task though, so time might be better spent on other areas of musical and artistic development.


This is the sad truth…I’m not a young man anymore. 
I know I can’t sustain this kind of time investment in the long term…and realistically, I’m not learning anything that helps me communicate better with other musicians. Unless they want me to JUST play Op.28 lol. 

But mannn…what a tune. 

I’m gonna keep goin’ at whatever pace life allows, and hope Missus Yahmez doesn’t get too sick of hearing it lol. 

Thanks again!


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