Lessons with Lang Lang

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Part 1

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Part 2
The is the next segment of the lesson, as promised. The emphasis in this part (and later parts) is articulation and character. Lang Lang recommends slower practice. For those just joining in, this is the third movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23 in A major. Please see part 1 for a full description! There will be at least two more segments to follow after this.

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Part 3
This segment continues part 3 of 5 of the lesson on Mozart's Piano Concerto 23, third movement. These segments should be of special interest to people interested in the artistic process. Especially insight to that process from a genius like Lang Lang. Here, Lang Lang talks more about character, phrasing, articulation and conducting. He reminds Anna to change fingers on repeated notes, which she sometimes forgets to do. Lang Lang also says that it's easy to play Mozart like exercises, but this is not the right way! He also gives Anna the take home assignment to listen to opera.

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Part 4
Part 4 of 5 in this video sequence. In this segment Lang Lang talks about putting the intention into your hand, articulation, and making the first beat sing without accenting. Lang Lang encourages Anna to practice slowly and to follow the lines to make the notes sing. Lang Lang helps her with breathes in a couple places. He demonstrates the proper way to play alberti bass at 4:20, which is stunning -the best I've ever seen, and encourages Anna to listen to and use the bass line more for support. Finally, at 7:00, Lang Lang helps Anna make a connection between two phrases. Connecting phrases was one of the major ideas from this lesson and 7:00 demonstrates this as well as any place I've ever seen. Anna struggled with this concept for a couple minutes until she got the idea of what he was talking about. Unfortunately, it had become so habitual that the same problem came back again! After watching again and more practice, she has finally gotten the idea.

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Part 5
This segment concludes the piano lesson with Lang Lang. Lang Lang recommends listening closely to great recordings for ideas and inspiration. Thanks everyone for watching and your encouragement!