Prodigal Piano Prodigy Returns?

[kickair8p]

A twelve-year-old genius pianist (not really a prodigy, sorry) described as "a fine clinical player" gives up piano (to become a scientist) and doesn't touch it again until his mid-thirties. The very first time he puts hands to keys and tries to play something (which he remembers accurately), what happens? Is it humanly possible to do it as

Comments

[7veilsphaedra]

Not perfect. The piano relies on flexibility, strength, coordination, speed (or controlled hesitation) and musical interpretation. I notice how stiff I get if I don't practice for a period of 4-5 months. The power isn't so hard to re-capture and the interpretation is often better and more subtle (life experience is very good for that), but the other skills suffer. They will, however, come back with a bit of practice: a couple of weeks, a month ... it depends on the musician's focus and dedication. But to sit down a play a concerto from scratch, not likely. Mind, this person might be able to pull off one of the lighter pieces from his old repetoire. So, instead of Beethoven's Hammerklavier, for example, he/she might go for Debussey's Claire de Lune.

[kickair8p]

Thanks! Hope you don't mind, but I'd like to hit you up for more details:

Not perfectly, but how bad? Would someone uninterested in classical music (say, a Johnny Cash fan) consider it horrible or just a little off?

Stiffness -- what if the character spend most of his time on a computer keyboard, would that help?

I'm leaning toward the character having been a Bach fan -- any lighter pieces you can recommend?

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[7veilsphaedra]

J. S. Bach is an excellent choice since there is a huge breadth of skill level, from works composed for 'village church organists' to Royal Court musicians. Because he wasn't around when the pianoforte was invented, however, there is less emphasis on the percussive style (softness to loudness) of 'emotional expression' that comes through with Beethoven or Chopin. Bach bridges the transition from the end of the Renaissance/Baroque periods, when the emphasis was placed upon the discovery and mastery of musical tonality, to the Classical period when structure became highly formalized. Mozart and Beethoven represented the height of the Classical era, and the point when the formal structures started to break down, during Romanticism

[7veilsphaedra]

(Sorry, that's a well-tempered Clavier.) There's no edit function.

[7veilsphaedra]

Here is Glenn Gould playing English Suite No. 4:

[kickair8p]

That's one of the easier Bach works? ::boggle-boggle-boggle!:: Okay, what do you think is the easiest?

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[7veilsphaedra]

Well, that particular version is being interpreted by one of the most accomplished musicians of the 20th-Century, but yes, the English Suites, particularly No. 4, are considered relatively easy because the rhythm is very tock-tock-tock and harmonic structure is so orderly and easy to discern, easy to pick out, especially for someone with a strong critical mind. With some of the Fugues, Bach pushes the structure into atonality and the pieces portend tonal and rhythmic discoveries that wouldn't 'touch ground' until three centuries later. This is why he is so popular with jazz musicians like the Swingle Singers or the Jacques Loussier Trio.

The difficulty of his work depends on the translation, but really elementary level stuff would include Minuet in G from the Anna Magdalena Handbook:

Or some versions of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring: