MRC It's absolutely clear to me that Sokolov is playing on the beat.
You have the ears for this which I am only starting to form.
MRC Training yourself to really listen to what is being played is the work of a lifetime.
Absolutely. I have grown over the years in some areas, and still developing in another. It then also happens that one day you notice things on the radio that you never notice before, as if the musicians are suddenly all doing this particular thing. They always were, but you didn't have the ears for it.
MRC When we're learning to play an instrument, we're preoccupied with "how". We concentrate on the mechanics, and probably much less on the fine details of the sounds we are producing.
Here's where I grew "backward" from most. When I first had a keyboard (organ) and then a piano, there were not lessons and no models, but my parents did play a lot of classical music on the record player. I had solfege from school, and somehow "heard" the notes from the page and played what I heard. That sonata was one of them. I did not know that things like mechanics or technique existed. I just somehow produced the sounds I heard in my head. That appoggiatura, my ear pictured it as a grace note as played in my first fast recording. So here:
MRC Decide which version you are practicing, and see if you can already, in your head, distinguish between on and before the beat. Then play it: did it sound like your imagined version?
If you heard my recording with the "before", "middle" and "after" section, you'll know that I did succeed at the end. The pre-hearing, which is my default, did not work. For one thing, the version that I had played for years back then, drowned it out. For another, my ear wasn't ready for that yet. What I did was to clap my thighs with my hands. I had already learned that when two things land at the same time, you'll hear a single "plop". If one is before the other, you'll hear "paplop", or "p'plop". I'm still weak in hearing which one is first - it's like a "time dyslexia" - like cat vs tac. The physical sensation, however, and knowing that the 2nd RH note was "after" - that brought me round the corner.
A main point I was trying to make was about hearing. If as a student you are doing these exercises, will you be able to hear that they are accurate or inaccurate? In the example of the appogiatura, which is a finer distinction, I could not. I was wondering if Tony had thoughts about this aspect of it. In the meantime I really appreciate your input, @MRC .
