Mastering Rubato: How To Sound Like a Pro - Josh Wright Piano TV 

Josh Wright is always right

Mozart and Chopin actually were pretty famous for playing Rubato only in the right hand while the left hand continued perfectly in time. They always gave the stolen time back after a few seconds and left and right hand met again in perfect synchronization. Sadly nobody plays this original style of Rubato anymore. I wonder why.

Excellent as always Josh. Whenever I actually watch a video of yours I end up feeling like I've learned yet another thing about this instrument. Keep doing what you're doing, really appreciate the quality content.

I am playing the piano since 10 years already as an ambitious hobby pianist....and I still get a lot from videos...thank you for your work! it's really amazing! Beside from that you are super sympathic person and it's calm listening to you :)

Thank you very much! You're very passionate with what you do and that positively affects how you teach

Thanks! It really gives a piece some personality of your own! I've never heard of Rubato until here and I am sure to apply it further in my performances. Thanks again!

Hi I've just discovered u on here after searching for rubato ! I had my grade 5 piano exam on Friday and the examiner said I had a natural feeling for rubato and to be honest I didn't know what rubato was, I will continue to watch your videos! I think I know what it is now, until I get my exam result I'm starting Chopin nocturnes, he suggested that I would love them as I already had the sheets for it too :)

Again - a very valuable lesson. Thank you, Josh Wright.

Wonderful advice in this video. It makes me think about I want to achieve in my pieces. Thanks for this. And by the way, the scenery where you live is breathtaking!

Extremely valuable explaination, Mr Josh. Thanks so much!

I learn so much from you, sir, and I don't even know you. thank you!🙏

Beatutiful snowy mountains!

when i only saw the title popped up on my phone i was thinking, real pianists don't try to sound like a pro, they try to create their own music! but then I watched your whole video and now understand why you posted this kind of video. such video will be very helpful for those who need more technical skills. I really enjoyed watching this video! I would like to see your playing too, sometimes. thank you for the good video :) !!

Awesome intro josh, would love to see more about your environment etc

Great Josh, I like the food and tree analogies.

I love your cake/sauce analogy! For me the questions of whether, where and how much rubato comes down to questions like: Does it create "bumps" in the overall flow of the music, or does it enhance the flow? Does it make the whole piece easier or more difficult to "comprehend" for the listener? What is the effect on the bigger (musical) picture? The lassan of Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody is a great example where these questions apply. I commonly hear rubato used quite liberally. Yet I personally prefer rubato to be used sparingly for the sake of maintaining the overall slow marching rhythm throughout the piece. For me, maintaining the slow marching character binds the lassan into a single consistent "musical unit" instead of sounding like a train of several separate short sections (in the case of more rubato).

Thanks man this was helpful.

I needed this so bad , thank you so much

Amazing pianist 👏👏👏

Thank you!

Very useful tnx 🌷🙏 could you please make a video about grace notes?

Very famous teacher that you had...luck you!!!!

Great video as always. Any chance for a Beethoven Concerto No. 5 instruction video? Those double triplets are so difficult...

That's beautiful. What is the name of the Chopin piece you were playing?

As you can see by my picture, I'm an organist. But, I still love listening to piano works that are played well. For many years, I have listened to several pianists that I have really liked. Rudolf Serkin had always been one of my favorites since I was in my late teens. But, I'm fascinated by listening to Lang Lang, too. The passion and expression that he puts into his playing, and watching his facial expressions allows me to see the feeling that his puts into his performances. I watch his face, and it makes me wonder what he's thinking and feeling. I'm curious to find out your thoughts on these people. Aside from those two masters, I also enjoyed Victor Borge. Of course his comedic routines where hilarious; but he was also a great pianist when he played something serious. For example, I heard him in concert in Chicago back in the 1980s; and, toward the end, he played Lizst's "Un Sospiro." I was so captivated by that piece, that I went to the record store and bought a couple performances of it played by different artists, and neither one could compare to the way Borge played at his concert that I attended. Thanks!

Hello Josh, I am a new adult learner. Would the ProPractice series be a good start point for someone like me?

op. 69 no. 2 in b minor

Didn't Chopin said that the rhythm should be kept steady within the rubato? And why not composers write in accelerandos, etc.?

As a rule of thumb in Romantic music I believe one will play the beginnings of phrases with more vitality and play the (very) ends of phrases ritardando. Punctuation will often require a breath between phrases as if they were being sung. Listen to Bach chorales: there really are extra tempi between phrases which the music needs and a robotic rendition would make the music pedestrian if not incomprehensible. But there’s more to agogics than this - much more. Rubinstein is recommended in the video; look also at Krystian Zimerman at the piano, and Leonard Bernstein even in front of an orchestra, for musicians who really know what they are doing. If you want to play Chopin’s Polonaises, Adam Harasiewicz should be the benchmark!

hry gr8 video whats the name of the song you played?

Please tell me what is this waltz?

un tiempo "robado" es algo muy sutil, ... que nadie se de cuenta... ja ja! ... pero al final el ladrón devuelve lo "robado"

Barry Harris likes to say there's no chords, just movement... I think n jazz, these concepts can be applied to harmony and melody too, but in a group setting you actually have to drop the degree of freedom afforded to classical musicians with respect to tempo, in order to coordinate the other stuff. I think there's a common theme underlying - it's all about managing intensity - for example higher pitched notes are more intense, and usually the balance is maintained by controlling dynamics, which can also modulate harmonic content (too much and it's dissonance, but if you set it up right you can get away with things). Intensity builds up tension, but also releases it, and music is all about tension and release, and the different degrees of freedom, the different elements of music can work sometimes to simultaneously build and release tension in layers

Hi everyone this is josh from josh wright piano

What is the name of the waltz at 1:27?

Hey Josh, when I am playing alone, I feel like I can get this one right, but as soon as I am in front of people (even my teacher) I turn into this flat and boring monster with no refinement at all -__- ... And it is a bit annoying because it is like I am turning into the "guy who is quite good when listened to at the door but AVERAGE when entering the room" if you know what I mean. And of course when I try to pull the "I SWEAR I CAN DO THIS AT HOME MASTER" to my teacher it's a nono :)

Rubato was Latino word Rub in music terms, which Latino word Rub translated into english word was Rob.

What piano is that?

I remember some recording where someone put way too much rubato in the C sharp minor waltz, to the point where it sounded like a polka. Ugh. Definitely too much sauce, or, spice, there.

Not enough rubato is like a lot of synthesized speech. Flat, and what expression is there, seems unnatural. Too much rubato is like over-acting, which also comes off as unnatural and unconvincing.

Rubato works well in almost everything Chopin composed whereas I don't see as much room for it in earlier composers like Mozart and Bach. Rubato seems more common in the romantic era and onwards where styles became more impressionistic and less mathematically precise. Am I onto something, or just not hearing the rubato in early pre-Romantic composers?

I need to go eat now

Borrowed beats to return beats back about tempo rubato we can also understand.

Less is more. Rubato should be almost not noticeable. Like (normal) breathing, it should vary slightly at times but always return to the beat of the heart. Especially with dance music like waltzes, rubato should not be so extreme that the people waltzing get thrown off the beat. Nobody should have to think about where the music is.

I seems to me that the best way to play is to play all exactly as it is written in the scores. If Chopin didn't mark particular measures with "rubato" - you shouldn't play rubato. Unless you consider yourself to be better composer than Chopin.