Abdiel Vázquez on why the piano is a jealous instrument, and why Baroque music lets you misbehave
The pianist and conductor on practice time, silence, Baroque experiments and finding your own path.
Abdiel Vázquez is a Mexican pianist and conductor and a Steinway Artist, featured with the Jalisco Philharmonic on the Latin Grammy-nominated album Mariachitlán. He is Music Director of Teatro Grattacielo and founder of the Philharmonic Orchestra La Súper in his hometown of Monterrey.
Here are thirteen of his best tips, from his Piano Star Masterclass on how to diversify as a musician on Piano League.
1. The piano is a jealous instrument
The piano is a very jealous instrument. It doesn’t forgive you if you stop practicing for one day or for two days. She will let you know.
Abdiel Vázquez
2. You have the most time when you’re young
The most important thing that I wish I knew is how valuable time is, and especially how valuable time is when you’re young. When you still live with your family, when you still go to school, and you think you don’t have any time because you have homework or you have things to learn, that’s when you have the most time, really.
Abdiel Vázquez
3. Let Baroque music make you misbehave
Even though you know how you’re gonna play it and you know what you want to do, when you’re on your own practicing, use this music to find different things, to sort of misbehave a little bit. Sometimes try it with pedal, sometimes try it loud, sometimes try it soft. Why? Because it’s a good way to also start finding yourself, how the music speaks to you.
Abdiel Vázquez
4. Practice the jump before the note
We’re not gonna do it entirely in tempo. What we’re gonna practice is how to get from one place to another. So you’re gonna do this, then move the hand very fast to the next place, but don’t play yet. Wait until it’s on top of the right notes, and then play.
Abdiel Vázquez
5. Walk on like an actor
Whatever you’re gonna play, you’re about to play, just as if you were an actor on the stage, because you’re gonna be on the stage. So everything about you has to show us exactly what you’re gonna play. So if it’s something very serious, you have to see that seriousness in your face, and then you start.
Abdiel Vázquez
6. Picture first, then sound
You have to see a vivid image and then try to create a sound that matches that image. So every time you’re practicing, your goal, besides getting the notes, of course, and finding the right tone and the rhythm and the tempo, is trying to find that sound that matches that image that you have. The most important thing is first to create that image in your head.
Abdiel Vázquez
7. Practice in absolute silence
You also have to practice. You have to really take time in silence, in absolute silence. Turn the phone off, put it away, and just be alone with the music.
Abdiel Vázquez
8. Learn how long you need, then don’t rush it
Get to know yourself: how your brain works, how your fingers work, how much time do you need when you have a concert, how much time do you need if you need to learn your repertoire, if you need to bring repertoire back. And once you get to know yourself, then be forgiving of yourself. Accept that if you need two weeks to prepare something, you need two weeks. Don’t try to rush it.
Abdiel Vázquez
9. Try a repeat as an echo
We have the piano, and the piano allows us to, for example, find different dynamics, like colors. Some things, you have a thing that repeats, you can do it one time loud, one time soft, like an echo. And sometimes it might even be possible to put a little pedal sometimes, and always with caution.
Abdiel Vázquez
10. Look up what the title means
So I search it, Google or Wikipedia. I see at the top it’s written in French something, so I try to look for that, just to get my imagination going. Because once my imagination starts working, then the music starts working.
Abdiel Vázquez
11. Sing out loud when you practice
When you practice, sing even more, like very loudly. Always singing. Always sing.
Abdiel Vázquez
12. There is no single path
For me, the main lesson that I would like to share with people is that there’s not one single path, and there’s not even two paths or three paths. There’s an infinity of paths, and we all have to find our own.
Abdiel Vázquez
13. Keep a path that isn’t about prizes
If you’re an artist, you should also have this side to yourself where you know where you’re at as an artist, your own personal growth, your own personal path, personal journey, that is not related to prizes, to concerts, to followers, to reviews. Nothing. Just your own path as a musician.
Abdiel Vázquez
Quotes are lightly edited for length and clarity. They come from Abdiel Vázquez’s 2020 Piano Star Masterclass on how to diversify as a musician. You can watch the full masterclass on the Piano League YouTube channel.
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