Rachmaninoff – Little Red Riding Hood [video] | Hacker News Reader

Rachmaninoff – Little Red Riding Hood [video]

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98 pointsjacquesm60 comments

Here's the real one, like Rachmaninoff would have played it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUb6Jsnepe4

Nice, but how close does piano roll reproduce actual Rachmaninoff's performance?

Pretty close: https://senar.ru/works/rachmaninoff-etude-tableau-op39-no6

That is an actual original performance recorded in 1925.

One of my favourite CD-sets I'd ever bought back in the day was the complete Rachmaninoff recordings. He's an amazing composer and great performer, but I'd shy away from saying any recording of his works is the "real one". The man was obsessed with paper and sheet music, which is a medium and art form in and of itself. The way what you've written gets picked up by others is just as real, and the performer's decisions are part of what draws a lot of people to this music.

Thanks for the link, really enjoyed it.

Whoa! Super cool, and masterfully played. I would love to get some more details on the tech involved though - how was the visualization created? How much of it is added to the video in post-processing and how much is real-time (it seemed like the actual lights on the piano keys was real-time but the Guitar-hero style scrolling lights were post-processing)?

Me too, I'd love a behind the scenes explaining the setup a little. I dug around, but didn't find anything.

The guitar-hero thing looks a lot like Synthesia[1], so could very well be that, but the lightup keys look like they're done using LED's.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthesia

Thank you! I've been looking for this for ages.

They attach an RGB strip slightly above the keys on top of the keyboard (or for a grand piano/upright, they attach it probably somewhere on the key case).

Rousseau has been teaching a lot of other pianists how to do the same setup, so you can kind of see how its done in this other great piano youtuber, funguypiano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyQj7T6uLII

Then you obviously need some sort of bird's eye camera so that you can synchronize it with Synthesia.

Then you go into After Effects and add all the pretty colors and particle effects.

Sometimes they get fancy and add some RGB programming so that colors are changed on a beat by beat basis.

Thanks for this!! Much appreciated.

Added: Thoms Mucenieks has a similar setup, which his recent 1M sub video makes it pretty obvious how its setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qWg6Y-Ildc

Why is this post prefixed with I - Jacques Mattheij (op) is not Rousseau (the video with 3.5 million views)

So you will not get an answer.

We assume the headlines are supplied by the original content creator, unless it's an Ask HN or Show HN.

When I see "Watch Out Google, YouTubers are unionizing" I don't think that's pseudolus saying that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20696702

That was the original title of the video, lifted from elsewhere, I had absolutely no intention of passing this off as my own.

Yamaha (and probably others) sell pianos with light up displays and keys to help people learn to play piano. Probably most snobs will tell you it’s a terrible way to learn and you’re not going to sound any good playing the piano like guitar hero. It’s a $5k toy to try to get someone interested in thinking about learning to play.

$5k? Try $150. jb hifi in Australia sells a Casio that does this for AU$200.

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/casio/casio-lk135/900135/

A much more interesting way to visualise music is to follow the score, such what Gerubach is doing on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/gerubach/videos

"much more interesting" ?

I much prefer watching the performance, myself. If you can read music, the Gerubach videos aren't adding much over just looking at a score while hearing a recording.

It was mesmerizing to watch his fingers dance across the keyboard. Much better than following the notes on a score.

I find this to be a nice mix of the two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljGMhDSSGFU

wow, love this! thank for introducing it.. the more recent visualizations are becoming more expressive and elegant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoVg8nPsdYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69EWYg453QQ

Technical notes: http://www.musanim.com/ProductionNotes/synchronization.html

I like Flowkey's setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weDZgwLbsq4

I recently asked them about being able to toggle the real-time fingerings video off, and I got a neutral response but hopefully they add it soon.

Nice, thanks, these are great! It actually helps understand some bits of the sheet music, too!

This seems like a potentially useful teaching / learning tool for piano teachers. I'd be interested in seeing other things like AR for teaching instruments/music.

You can't learn piano this way past the most beginner level stuff. Sight reading actual sheet music is MUCH easier because of how close the notes appear on this visualization, you won't be able to tell what's what from far away. Also, pieces like this are much easier to just memorize before actually bringing them up to speed, and then you won't need to look at what the notes are anyway since you're just relying on muscle memory.

I know how to read sheet music but I'm using his video on gymnopedie no 1 to learn how a pro plays. The fingering isn't obvious to me since I'm a beginner and I'm not taking lessons. It actually helps a lot.

Yeah I can see the fingering being useful, although beginner sheet music should have it. I meant the scrolling notes.

Valentina Lisitsa, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFMNhx2-VDE

Doesn't she play the piece way too fast? I know nothing of classical music btw.

You can compare to the man himself, (from another comment in this thread): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUb6Jsnepe4

Rachmaninoff - Prelude in C Sharp Minor (Op. 3 No. 2) by the same guys is one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCtixpIWBto

And of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKKlhYF53w

Prelude in G Sharp Minor (Op. 32, No. 12) has always been my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13UlKWgwdZI

Same! As a teenager I was finishing up my final grade in piano before leaving my (now dearly departed) piano teacher behind and going off to uni. I dedicated a year of my life to learning that piece. In hindsight it was one of the best decisions I've made. I wish I took a year off and learned a few more pieces of his - they're as amazing to play as they are to listen to.

I love playing that piece - from the booming ffff crescendo to the feverish accelerando in the middle, it’s just a blast, and a great one to break the ice and warm up with. I remember learning this prelude, elegie, and liszt’s mephisto waltz, liebestraum and orage one summer when I was 16 or so. They were incredibly cathartic pieces for an angry young man, and played no small part in getting me through a difficult period.

For me, that was like watching a virtuoso video game player (ala missile command)... With a great sound track.

If you're into this music, be sure to also check out other interpretations of this piece, such as one by Lugansky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L6CxUpBZlY&t=1291s

Op is not the player, so "I" in the title is deceptive.

To me this would be more interesting to watch without the distracting (and chintzy) scrolling bars and particle effects which are clearly not part of "added LEDs to my piano". They drag attention away from the actual playing.

I like the scrolling bar notes. They help visualise the structure of the piece. It lets me see patterns that I ordinarily wouldn't have picked up on.

Also quite useful if you're trying to learn the fingering.

Ah sorry, that was the title of the original article I lifted the video from. It did not add much beyond the video so I kept the title (and dropped 5 chars to make it fit the 80 limit). Never thought the 'I' would be attributed to me, that definitely was not the intention.

Here is the original reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/89dg71/i_added_some...

I thought you where the one that drilled the piano and made the electrical connections and software to make it work.

(I hope it's a flat screen or a projection onto the surface, not a million of leds in a million of holes in a real piano.)

I would give my right arm to be able to play piano like that.

Easy solution: close your eyes.

Makes you wonder why Beatmania and games of that ilk don't have a version of the game for the full keyboard. And when you've mastered that 'level', you've actually learned the notes (maybe not much more, but it's something!) for a real piano piece.

I guess there are arcade games like that at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40benG6nSV0

Nice find. That's along the ideas of what I had in mind.

Rock Band 3 offered a keyboard controller, as well as letting you attach a full-sized keyboard to play a "Pro" mode.

Rachmaninoff or "How to terrorize a pianist."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l15PDRSTn7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M30g3In8ao

This is hands down an amazing interpretation (some great voicing in the upper parts in the left hand, and articulation is textbook awesome) and great to see near the top of HN, his channel is worth checking out. This is better than Lugansky and the Rachmaninoff piano rolls.

And now you know what the old paper player piano rolls for "Little Red Riding Hood" look like.

Somewhat related. Maybe you can use these videos to teach your new baby prefect pitch. Check out Rick Beato's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=816VLQNdPMM

Another youtube channel that does the same, but mostly soundtracks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7O9sOUQiBGBxaaAguIwig

Though one might say the visuals are distracting, I found them to be an interesting visualization of the difficulty of the score (even though the performer doesn't move the fingers based on incoming indicators).

Nice. It reminds me of this one of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yojDu3E9jls

Not sure, what exactly was the intent of posting it here and I cannot even say I loved the performance (or the piece, for that matter)... but, man, this channel is great.

most of us can't tell two notes apart, yet most can tell green from yellow. linking music and visual is always a fascinating experience.

I wonder if he's as good at Guitar Hero.

Pop'n Music and Beatmania are closer. Still, you can quite clearly see how much more difficult actual piano is…

I have wasted my life.

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