Eternal Harvest #1
Long time no post! I hit a slump for the past several weeks (IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE) and frankly didn’t really play much piano- like I played piano but I didn’t really practice, you know? I just played mindlessly for the sake of playing, and didn’t focus on any one piece much. But I picked this one up a couple weeks ago while sightplaying through my book and wanted to post an update on it. It’s originally from FFIX, which I’ve never played, but for some reason I was really familiar with this tune.. plus, it’s autumn, and I have no idea if the og game’s track is actually correlated to a harvest at all, but CLOSE ENOUGH!! I also tried a slightly different style of video editing so I hope it’s okay!!
Detailed Breakdown
I’ve played through all the notes in the piece at least a few times by this point, and have spent the bulk of my time on the first couple of sections. I initially was super intimidated by the written tempo, but it’s actually doable, I think? My articulation still SUCKS and I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to pedal the whole time, but it sounds pretty dry on an upright without pedal maybe I can improve enough to let go of that handicap lol (doubtful).
The opening phrase is a bunch of octave “echoes”, with a flourish into the driven and consistent rhythm baseline that marks the entire piece around 0:08. Honestly, my synchronization sucks a lot between my hands for things like octave phrases, so it’s something I need to keep working on. The key for most of this piece is crisp articulation (as crisp as it can be with constant pedaling, anyway) and playing briskly, with agility. And, of course, making sure the constant eighth note rhythm is locked in between both hands (the piece is in 12/8). I definitely get the feeling that this first phrase is light on its feet, like a rabbit sprinting across a field.. there used to be some challenges in this section, but honestly I overcame most of them already with practice. The final crossover in the LH at 0:49 is still tricky right before launching into the next section, but it’s not impossible. I made it look so easy on camera, wtf LOL
This is an unexpectedly bombastic but ever welcome section at 0:50. It sounded super lame when I was practicing it slowly before, but it’s so gratifying to hear the syncopation in the LH octaves kick in at faster tempos. There are still a LOT of challenges in this section for me and it’s definitely one of the trickier parts of the piece. One is the RH descending pattern at the start of the phrase at 0:56. The first time is usually fine, but the repeat always gets me tripped up for some reason. It’s the exact same thing, so I don’t get it! I do end up exerting a lot of physical strength for this section, though, which I’m pretty sure means I’m doing something wrong. Trying to relax as I play.. also need to relax in general.. but, I’m really happy with how far this section has come along already! I honestly didn’t have any faith in myself for this part and playing at tempo lol. The LH arpeggios near the end at 1:05 are also pretty tricky! I actually changed the fingering for the second arpeggio the day of recording; I used to cross over 5 1 2 since it’s a ninth, but I tried stretching 5 2 a bit and it worked! With varying results. Just need to practice, and I nailed it on camera here, so it’s definitely doable.
At 1:15, we walk into the next phrase, which is really similar to the first phrase, just in a different key. And it’s shorter. The RH at 1:26 is tricky since there’s quite a bit of controlled movement within a small space, both physically and timing-wise. Then we slow down and cruise into the more rubato section at 1:45.
Same melody, but a different flavor! This is my favorite part of the piece to listen to- it’s also got a bit of a jazzy touch, I think. We also “improvise” a bit off of the main melody, which is great on the ears at this point of the piece. The phrase from 2:40 is supposed to accelerate and also crescendo gradually, but I haven’t actually learned the notes properly yet, so my goal here was just to get through the notes. The LH fingering is a little challenging in this key because I need to double my 5 (pinky) but alternate between 3 and 4 for the middle notes, depending on the chord. During the buildup, the LH gets pretty funky and dissonant(?), though we do eventually resolve at 3:07 very nicely back to the original key and the first phrase. This actually throws me to a dal segno, which I haven’t seen in.. a hot minute. Honestly, I think the last time I saw one of these was back in orchestra lol. It’s neat to see how a piano arrangement makes use of one, though.
I play through the first phrase ad verbatim, and then we have a different ending to the phrase at 3:23, which is a very dramatic transition into the final repetition of the melody!! It’ll sound better at tempo, I promise. It’s the same key, though both hands are much more involved for this iteration. The RH has chords and voicing to worry about, while LH has constant ninth arpeggios.. I’m crossing over for the Bb arpeggio for now, though it’s not easy at faster tempos, and I’m not sure it’s even feasible for written tempo. But, it’s the most realistic fingering for my hand, so I’ll work hard. We have the biggest chords of the entire piece at 4:05 to build us up to the finale (after a couple of very beautiful broken chords).
The finishing phrase is a callback to the opening flourish, though it’s extended and therefore compromises my technique-less hands greatly. It’ll sound really cool at tempo once both hands can grind out the scale faster and crescendo immensely before the final bass chord. Phew!
Current Thoughts
I don’t want to say this piece is particularly easy, since the tempo marking definitely presents a challenge, but it’s also.. not too bad so far? I’m not confident I’ll be able to play the final iteration of the melody at tempo, so I might need to slow down a bit to add leeway for all the octaves and arpeggios, but at the very least, I hope I can convey the pomp and circumstance of the finale appropriately, no matter how I have to tweak my interpretation.
I think this piece is easy to play messily, and would be hard to truly master, though I guess the same could be said for just about every other piece out there. But for this one, it’s not particularly hard to play the notes as written, but the challenge really lies in creating that perfectly synchronized link between both hands, while also delivering with sufficient musicality.
As for my other projects, I’ve decided to just let bygones be bygones as much as I can. I think one contributor to my slump was the stress I inadvertently gave myself for trying to get a good take of each piece and feeling “behind” and therefore kind of punishing myself (don’t be alarmed, this is just who I am as a person).. so I’m trying to be content with the knowledge that I was able to play these pieces well with a certain level of comfort and familiarity, even if I wasn’t able to capture anything on camera. Maybe I’ll revisit some of them sometime in the future, but I want to just move on and focus on fewer things at a time to prevent another slump from hitting too soon.