I asked 5 concert pianists to play a Chopin Nocturne WITHOUT musicality 

It's hard to make it bad when you are learning for years to make it good :D

If you wanna hear "unmusical" Chopin, just listen to a midi version reading off the sheet music. Midi doesn't sound terrible for all music, but it definitely does for Chopin

It's funny... I often play this exact piece when showing my students the difference between musicality and no musicality. One thing I think these fine musicians missed is that their left hands are still soft in the unmusical version, and their pedalings are also too clear. The melodies still come out instead of sounding like a muddy mess of notes. Like they can't untrain themselves :p But I especially use this piece to demonstrate how important a soft accompaniment is.

"Unmusical" is playing exactly what's written. "Musical" is adding contextual interpretation to each note in the piece. It's similar to telling a story. Speak monotone and you'll lose the audience. Speak with a bit of enthusiasm and you'll capture the audience. The same story is being told, but one way better conveys emotion.

Almost without exception, the “musical” version has the pianist breathing with the phrasing. It’s an under appreciated aspect of good music, even with non-wind instruments!

All the "unmusical" versions here sound way more musical than my most musical attempt...😄😄 Btw: would have loved to hear Seymour Bernstein in this compilation 🙂

The biggest eye-opener for me was when I was learning some of the Bach inventions. When I had finally learned and could play through one of them it still sounded so bland and incoherent, really just like a big mess of notes. But when my teacher played it for me it was like an entirely different piece, suddenly so full of life and energy, and you could tell that it was a piece carefully crafted with precision down to the last note. It really showed me how magical music can be, and just how different the exact same notes can sound like from two different people. Later as I got more confident in the inventions I could finally bring some life into them with my own playing 😁

Yike Yang really nailed the "unmusical version" in that it didn't accidentally make it "bad". His "unmusical" version was still very beautiful, and professional. Just not... musical!

"Chopin is the greatest of them all, for with the piano alone he discovered everything." - Claude Debussy

The young lady at the beginning is so SWEET! That lovely smile!

This piece is actually quite difficult to play un-musically. I think some pieces just set the performer up and that's a testament to the composer.

As Garrick Ohlsson said on this very channel: "Chopin even when played bad still sound kinda nice, if you don't listen too hard."

Let's admit that Tony's "un musical" was the best interpretation. He chose a beautiful sound (thus already "musical") and all the rest made sense inside a coherent atmosphere. Sometimes less is more.

Basically : *Unmusical* = Straight face and bagging the notes hard. *Musical* = Face expressions, heavy breathing and softer touch

The way Aristo talks about the occasional necessity of playing the text as written, removing any interpretation, reminds me of how the early stages of my training as a visual artist were learning to "draw on the right side of the brain," or draw exactly what one sees in front of them, rather than what one thinks an object of that type looks like. These days I try to stylize my art, which involves more intentionality and judgement calls on what to emphasize and what to leave out; where I can substitute colors and where I can simplify, etc.

Chopin's music naturally oozes with such musicality and heart that it is truly difficult to play it without any of that.

I love how many of these pianists are so good that they kind of fail in playing it "unmusically". Like, right away the first pianist, she really tries, yet constantly some of her wonderful musicality slips through, even though she tries to pretend it's not there. Tiny rubato here, well placed change in dynamics there... Hilarious :-) And a Testament to these players actual musicality. Once this level of musicality has rooted itself inside your muscle memory, it's really hard to shake it off. And that's a wonderful thing. Thank you for the nice and funny video

I have a confession to make. I used to love listening to Bach and Mozart on 1990s midi because it was so pure.

Tony Yike Yang seemed to have a hard time playing it unmusically! I had been waiting for someone to play it with some dynamic nuance, and he did that even in the first version. In the second version he brought out some inner voices that added some hints of contrapuntal juice that none of the others hinted at, as well some variation in tempo (not just rubato) that added some urgency to the melodic line. In some ways his "piggish" version was even better! I suspect he was trying to push the interpretation beyond the bounds of good taste, but couldn't quite bring himself to go that far. His second was the only performance that I wanted to continue, so that I could enjoy what else he might have to say in the rest of the nocturne. I'll watch out for this kid.

It is very difficult to play Chopin "unmusically" if you are a skilled pianist. One of the key facets of Romantic piano music is how the melody is expressed. Key elements include the use of rubato, effective pedalling, and thoughtful and expressive use of dynamics. In this excerpt in particular, the most "romantic" place arguable is the high D towards the end. For me, the suspense (slightly delayed preparation), which is characterised by rubato, a delicate touch and a cantabile tone, together with precise pedalling, all contribute to a "musical" performance. If I was to play it "unmusically", then I would not let the melody sing, try to strike each right-hand note the same with no variation in tone or colour. I would bash out the left-hand chords, making them ragged, untidy and overwhelming the melody. I would also refrain from any use of pedalling and accept any breaks in the line wherever they fell (whether natural or not) whilst trying not to produce a musical line. Inappropriate use of dynamics. But I should imagine, when you're at the piano your instinct is to play musically even if you think it isn't! Some of the so-called "unmusical" renditions were actually musical!

Aurelia's first rendition was funny. The second, goosebumps by beat 2 for me. She is special

Historically, Chopin's idea of rubato meant left hand in time, but the right hand having a disconnect between it and the left hand; this is actually written out as groups of 13, 9, 17 notes, or whatever. When he wanted a speed-up or slowing-down, he would indicate it. Some of the "unmusical" versions were probably closer to the real Chopin style than the "musical" versions. I think a slower performance is also required to make it a real "andante", and you wouldn't have to slow down for the ornaments or groups of faster notes. At the usual tempo at which it is played, it almost sounds like a slow waltz.

Tony sounds like someone who could give 1000 interpretations of a single piece

What a pleasant surprise to see Aristo Sham, his playing is fluent and dynamic as usual, but I do think he plays fast pieces even more spectacularly. Yike has musicality in his fingertips! Loved Aurelia so much as well!!

Musicality: With heartfelt expression and emotion, true to the composer's intent for the piece. That is, dynamics, correct tempo, natural interpretation from the heart...❤️

Aurelia played her musical version similar to Vadim Chaimovich's 200 million plus view version on youtube. Beautiful.

I like what Seymour Bernstein said. it was something like “you can feel music all you want, the piano won’t know it.” Outward expressions and gestures don’t necessarily make anything more musical. Sometimes, I believe that it can be a distraction to both the performer and the audience.

Tony had such a great dynamic control

They all sound quite ‘musical’ to me. 😂 Anyway, great to see Dmitro here!

Go to any 2nd-year piano recital and you can REALLY hear an unmusical version of virtually any piece. These fine musicians were actually unable to get out of their own skin and ignore their years of musical training.

Imho Aurelia had the most beautiful singing tone and phrases in her "musical" version.

In most reviews I've read, "unmusical" referred to literalistic, mechanical performances -- as in the unmusical examples here. But occassionally, "unmusical" was used to mean the exact opposite: mannered, exaggerated, over-the-top performances (in the reviewer's view, anyway). These two uses are not necessarily contradictory. You could say that 'musical' refers to a sort of golden mean: not too much, not too little. Defined this way, it makes sense that straying too far in either direction would be deemed 'unmusical'.

Tony played this so beautifully. All his versions were great - but especially his musical version!

What's cool is they all seem to move their bodies more while playing with musicality. They put their whole being into it.

Thank you for the interesting experiment! The musicians obviously struggled, attempting to play "unmusically" 😄

This is great - love how you dig at something new and interesting

I find this interesting. As a teacher myself for 50 plus years ( piano guitar vocals ) At it's most base level - it's about rhythm. Of course you can bring dynamics 'color' (what exactly does that mean?) and other things into it but, in the main, it's about rhythm. If you play with an exact copy of the notes with precision metronomic timing from the score you will have no 'musicality'. That's it. The first role of getting things musical is how you address the rhythmical aspect of a piece / song. If there is zero amendment to the rhythm = then there is no musicality. Adjust this and you are already a good way down the road to acquiring 'musicality'. Of course how and how much you do this is up for debate, given that certain composers need this in their music maybe more than others. I often hear that pianists are too 'free' with their 'musicality' BUT if you take the score too literally, rhythmically, then you end up with technically brilliant but 'lifeless' performance in my opinion. I'd like to see and hear this done again BUT - with Bach's music! Bach is often performed too rigidly, too precise, too fast, even though the music and conventions of that time push the music to being that way naturally. It often sounds too metronomic for me. Bach did not have a dynamic instrument in the piano so much of his 'expression' has to be achieved with rhythmic subtlety and movement, which I find often lacking nowadays. Only an opinion. Interestingly and with some 'paradox' ! in teaching I definitely advocate learning a piece 'metronomically' before working out expression or real 'musical' input. That method does encourage the student to really understand the 'nuts and bolts' of a piece and learn the notes properly - again in my opinion

its wild how each person's interpretation shows how exactly they feel about the piece when they play. Fantastic showcase! They play it a lot differently to me, and that's great, the unique feelings we all experience when we play are what make human performance so great

I like Tony's performance the most, especially at the start, at 11:57. that's also my favorite phrase of this piece

Aristo's interview was so insightful and smart. Talking about the practicalities of it sometimes being a necessary step was really interesting to hear

I really like #5Tony’s first version over his second version, and also over all the other four players’ versions in this video. Sometimes it is not musical or unmusical; instead just something simple and suited to my emotion at a particular moment.

It’s amazing how much the body involvement is more important when they play musically, particularly number 3.

Each of them played the piece so beautifully, quite musically and each in their own flavor.

Very interesting. I'm just a piano beginner (at 50). One of them said that "musicality" is often (mis)understood as overdoing things. And that's what some of the "musical" version proved to me. The "unmusical" versions of #5 (followed by #2) were the most pure and touching versions I have heard so far, so to me they were the most musical...

Aristo is so good he played even the unmusical version more musically than most pianists

To me, being musical on the piano means to first gaining full control over the sound envisioned, then having a very deep sense of the expressions with all their nuances, and an encompassing idea of the whole piece in mind. If there is no deeper idea and subtle feeling, there can be no musical expression. Especially with Chopin, there is a tendency to overdo, losing the beauty of simplicity, to do too much of rubato, to be unbalanced in the dynamics, to not "sing" the piece, and to show off... The interpreter ideally completely forgets himself/herself when playing for the sake of real beauty.

Need violin version of this content. 👏

this is incredibly interesting, i love to hear differences of opinion about interpretation it’s fascinating to get inside a pianists mind in this way.

A very interesting video! Especially with the first 2, the non-musical version was nice, but when they started to play the musical version I instantly got chills!

I think it's telling that, when playing the 'musical' version, they were all much more animated and the emotional involvement was clear on their faces. They remained robotic and devoid of any syncopation in the unmusical version.

Wow! Really amazing...thanks for sharing!

Fun and insightful! I was guilty of just playing the notes for the longest time - this is exactly the skill that I'm trying to bring up to speed right now

This goes to prove that your personality and creativity can be displayed through your playing.

Great experiment! This piece in particular is difficult to play in both ways. The most touching and striking interpretation was the "pig" and the most acceptable musical version of the Hong Kong guy. Thanks for the video, great tool for piano lessons!

this is hilarious , but also very insightful . Each of these beautiful gifted young people has given me something really useful to think about . Great idea , thanks for posting it .

WOW! What a difference I can hear and feel. Thanks for this lesson...helps me discern the level of skill vs the level of talent in playing the piano.

When you speak in a foreign language, it's stuttering, hesitant, difficult to combine gesture and emphasis with getting the words right. But speaking your own language, one does those things without thinking. Same for reading. Same for musicality.

It’s so interesting to me that pianists struggled to play “unmusically.” They were all such great musicians that it was very difficult for them to play without musicality.

Jeez, first girl when she played "musical" Version I got chills. Maybe because of rough comparison or maybe cause it was really good

Indeed, let's have the unspeakable conversation. Shout out to you guys for digging into the most tricky yet relevant aspect of music making.

It's interesting, nearly all of them equate musicality with rubato. But truly, a good musician should be able to play musically even in tempo. I would argue some of the versions here with lots of rubato are actually less musical than their first version, because the rubato can sound unnatural if it doesn't fit the melodic line, harmonic line, or affect. Musicality for a piece like this means playing with a particular tone quality, shape, balance, voicing, pedaling, natural and intentional rubato, and in line with the affect of the phrase.

To me, to play without musicality would be to play mechanically, like a computer might play a basic MIDI file. To play with musicality however would be to FEEL the music and play with passion. You have to give it life through your mood and expression, play with rubato and dynamics in a way that doesn't betray the melody but brings it out in some unique way that makes it shine.

To me, musicality is when the player can feel the emotion the piece conveys and is able to express that.

Oh, to have had a piano teacher that was so good to teach real musicality! I am more musical many years later. I believe it is when I am transported into the world of the piece. It's in the hand movements, the body, the emotion that flows from the fingers to the keys. I've seen many great teachers here on YT doing a wonderful job on getting the pianist to understand what the musicality is while teaching the piece. I believe as a young person I was like the second guy. You know, it's getting the mechanics first, then the musicality comes after that! Fun to watch this!

I totally agree with Dmytro in regard with "going beyond the border of good taste". Sadly too many pro. stage pianists go way beyond that "border" when they are performing in front of an audience... Balance is key.

I like their "unmusical" version somehow, simple but still beautiful.

musicality is what puts feeling into a piece. there are so many things in musicality but that's what really brings the piece to life and invokes emotions. I played piano for about 8 years, I want to get back into it again. it's magical to bring a piece to life

I love Tony's interpretation 😍

As someone who doesn't understand any of this.... I think Yike Yang's "musical" version was the most beautiful! To be honest, with all the other players I couldn't really hear a difference between the "unmusical" vs "musical" versions. His actually stood out to me! Maybe it's just because I'm uneducated in this type of thing but all the others just sounded plain and "good" both times they played. His has a clear distinction!

The most interesting thing happened to me while I was listening to the two versions. Whenever they played the unmusical version nothing happened to me. But when they played the musical version I got goosebumps. Also very interesting that none of them said they played the unmusical version like a robot - without feeling, and the musical version like a human being - with feeling.

This reminds me of a video I saw over a decade ago. The person demonstrated the changes seen from starting thru several years of learning. Most of what he showed was, more or less covered here. I really enjoyed the last contributor's that's.

It's really interesting to hear the pianists' interpretation of "musically" and "not musically". Very cool video!

Really interesting to see how, especially with Aristo, the difference was more in his body and feeling. It didn’t translate to the actual production as much as I think the pianists might think.

It's tougher than expected to play an unmusical version. You could literally organise a competition for that!

Loved Tony’s.

The artist´s explanations were veryinteresting!

It’s all about phrasing… the piano must “ sing” the way a gifted singer would do …No metronomes need apply! You must know how to apply rubato without descending into schmaltz

IMHO - none of them succeeded in playing it non-musically expect the parts that came out as obvious caricatures. A testament to how naturally musical the five pianists and the piece are! BTW, when is Part 2 of the transcendentals coming?

What an interesting project !inspiring

Very interesting and thought provoking... I play Tárrega's and Sagreras's arrangements of this lovely Nocturne Op. 9-2 on classical guitar which, simply stated, is challenging enough in itself, especially the control of dynamics between different voices. This taught me a great deal about the difference between a literal reading compared to a more dynamic/rubato rendering and all the interpretive subtleties therein. Bravo.

This would have been great to see from the masters, BUT I appreciate your efforts here in uplifting the voices of young pianists. It’s important that they be heard in development of their careers/musicianship. Thank You

its hard to make this nocturne ever sound bad, the melody is too great

All their musical renditions seem to be played so lovingly.

i taught a couple kids piano and it’s easy to tell from like a couple weeks into learning how to play if you have “it”, this musicality. i’ve always been fascinated by it. the trance playing can put you in.. and the kids that didn’t understand that would soon quit

I had a teacher who maintained that Chopin got rather annoyed when people overdid rubato in his music ( unnecessary, goes with the absence of titles). It's a matter of taste and personal feeling.

This was really entertaining. Strange, I liked some of the unmusical versions better. Yang and the spanish pianist

Non-musical: What MIDI does with it. Musical: Varying dynamics and timing to express something.

Chopin is always so pretty even played badly it still sounds decent!!

This happened to make for like some grade 5 Bach piece. I could play all the notes so I thought I had finished learning it. But then I had a CD with the piece and when I heard it I was floored because I could tell it was all the same notes but felt so alien.

Very interesting! Reminds me of when I was in university and was paid to be part of some research being done to study what pianists may have in common that allows them to play musically. I played a couple of Chopin pieces on a piano that recorded touch and all the physical aspects of playing. Then, they analyzed and compared all the pianists. To be honest, I was too busy to follow up on what, if anything, they were able to find from this study.

What an interesting idea for a video! Kudos ... Actually loved the pig rendition btw :)

These pianists are amazing. their non-musical is better than me playing musically

unmusical == mechanical, precisely, musically == with feeling and emotion, fluidly

I was not expecting to see someone from my country Latvia! a pleasant suprise lol

Aristo Sham's playing was great, that smoothness of fingers in his right hand. When I try to play this Nocturne, I play it unmusically. Maybe because I'm trying to learn to play piano myself... Probably that's the reason))

#1 best bad #5 best best

G'day, tonebase Piano! It would also be interesting to have pianists play pieces by different composers in musical and unmusical styles.

i love love seeing music drive peoples faces so damn much

The pig version is amazing 🤩 that pin drop D 🥰

The unmusical sounds like what a music teacher wants to hear, while the musical sounds like what the musical pupil wants to play with all their hearts ❤️