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

[zinnea]

There's so much possible variance here that you can pretty much do what you want. The only thing that would be unrealistic would be his ability to play it "perfectly". However, he could be anywhere from awful to "eh, not so bad" quite plausibly.

[kickair8p]

Thanks!

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[dragonimp]

Just from my own experience of being a not-so-genius guitar player, my muscles remember much better than my brain. I learned to play in high school and college and my hands didn't change size much from then to when I picked it back up years later (I'm 33 now, so not as much of a time gap as your character) so I can't say if that would throw him off or not. When I tried to think through what a D chord or an F chord was I came up blank, but as soon as I started playing the familiar songs my fingers went to the right places.

[kickair8p]

Thanks!

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[ojuzu]

If he sits down and goes 'oh, I should try to play [piece name]' and tries, it's possible he might just get a total blank on how to start even if he remembers the rest of it quite well, if the opening chords aren't particularly distinctive. If he remembers the sound of the piece as a whole very well, though, he could probably get through it with a few stumbles here and there at points where the main melody changes. He probably wouldn't be terrible, but definitely not concert-level on the first go.

[kickair8p]

Thanks!

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[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.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Hand size would probably be an issue. As someone who has played keyboard instruments pretty much constantly for the last 25 years, whenever I stumble upon something that I last played when my hands weren't grown fully yet, I will generally be a bit confused, even though the piece itself is very easy for me now. For quite a while, the largest interval I could possibly play in one hand was an octave, so whenever I saw one of those, I just went to maximum grip size. Now, with my hand having become both bigger and more flexible, going to maximum grip size upon seeing an octave will result in wrong notes, as I can get one and a half keys more under my hand.

[kickair8p]

Thanks!

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