Community : Man sets piano music free : Half Moon Bay Review, California

Community : Man sets piano music free : Half Moon Bay Review, California: "Man sets piano music free
Artist, musician deconstructs pianos to get at more music inside
By Stacy Trevenon [ stacy@hmbreview.com ]
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 - 02:42:48 pm PST
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Mauro Ffortissimo calls himself a “piano liberator.”

More precisely, the native Argentinian, a 24-year Coastsider and co-founder of the Enso gallery in Half Moon Bay, has made an art out of taking apart the complex construction that makes up a piano in order to play the music he can find in the parts that remain.

Another reason he deconstructs pianos is to make art out of the innards of a piano."

I am absolutely certain, that several of my piano students would absolutely LOVE to take the piano apart, so practicing does not need to continue. But that then would not get you through your piano exams, would it?

But you see, the difference is, art is re-assembling, re-arranging, making a public statement, exhibiting and sharing the created effect. The audience looks on and reacts emotionally.

On the contrary, a piano technician just takes a piano apart and does not make a public statement of the different pieces.

If I can spin this concept further: playing scales: if you just play notes (even with correct fingering and fairly even), if you only "report correct notes" with your playing, it is still not ART!! It's another bad rendition of the "CHORE OF SCALES"

But we are working so hard to play scales, making them sound BEAUTIFUL and artistically, melodically and musically pleasing. Then we are preparing the path to using the very same scales in more advanced pieces and a good portion of the hard work learning these pieces is already completed, with well learned scales.

Good luck
Eva