For people who study music

[Fiel]

http://www.sendspace.com/file/v9382h

This 21-second snippet is from Michael Pinnella's solo album, Enter by the Twelfth Gate. For those who don't know Pinnella, he is the pianist for the power-prog metal band Symphony X. This snippet comes from "Piano Concerto #1, Movement 2" (1:20 - 1:41).

My question is this: Pinnella in this passage is playing a lot more notes than he has to in order to play the melody. The light melody here is counteracted by the poppy bass player and the high strings section. But why is the piano player playing so many notes when such a simple melody is being played? Does he just want to stand out amidst the rest of the instruments considering that this is his solo album? Is there a certain name for this technique?

[Kurtle]

http://www.sendspace.com/file/v9382h

This 21-second snippet is from Michael Pinnella's solo album, Enter by the Twelfth Gate. For those who don't know Pinella, he is the pianist for the power-prog metal band Symphony X. This snippet comes from "Piano Concerto #1, Movement 2" (1:20 - 1:41).

My question is this: Pinnella in this passage is playing a lot more notes than he has to in order to play the melody. The light melody here is counteracted by the poppy bass player and the high strings section. But why is the piano player playing so many notes when such a simple melody is being played? Does he just want to stand out amidst the rest of the instruments considering that this is his solo album? Is there a certain name for this technique?

To me it sounds like he is playing multiple grace notes to add to the melody. He is also playing rubato in order to prove that he is the soloist. The technique is common in music to emphasize the soloist by allowing them to have free reign over where the beat is and play out of order essentially to have that effect you are speaking of.

[Fiel]

I can definitely hear what you're talking about. I didn't think he was playing rubato, though. I thought he was playing heavy legato. But upon further inspection he is playing off-beat, if only slight (and barely detectable). Good ear.

To me, this is a better example of rubato:

[youtube]vPcnGrie__M[/youtube]

[Kurtle]

Hmm that's a good example of it. I wish that classic/contemporary music would become popular again. If played correctly it can make one feel emotion on their own without having it shoved down their throat by lyrics.

[Retalion]

Simply put, listening to the same theme over and over say, 30 times, would get boring, so people ornament it.

Also, in jazz, solo portions are for the purpose of showing off the virtuosity of the performer. What better way is there to show off virtuosity than to play lots and lots of fast arpegiated notes?

When you play ensemble music, you dont really get the chance to rubato unless the group knows each other very well and knows when the rubato'll come, as that would throw off the complete coordination of the instruments. I certainly dont here rubato here, as it is played to strict time.