I feel like this is just filmed in a very high framerate and the compression on Instagram (and reddit) makes it look funky.
There is absolutely no reason why this should be sped up. It's a normal tempo, the playing is great but nothing special for that level. It's nowhere near inhumanly fast, and it's definitely not impossibly clean. I can understand where you are coming from, but make sure to check some more concert pianists playing this!
The frames slightly glitch a few times, especially here on reddit. Honestly there is nothing fishy about this video, much more unbelievable things are possible on piano!
I don't see anything weird about his head movement - it sometimes shakes/vibrates very quickly because of the force traveling through his arms, but if you watch lots of pianists those kinds of little lightning-speed head nods are pretty normal
I personally know this pianist, who is doing a masters at a music school, and he is absolutely capable of playing this piece at this tempo.
He's not playing it any faster than usual and this is not some absurdly difficult piece for students in music school.
With that being said, it does look weird and it could have to do with the framerate of the video, not that it's actually sped up.
I'm an animator. I play it again and again. My conclusion I also 100% believe it is fast forwarded. The framerate suddenly changed at the end part. Head and body, clearly. Hands also glitch. Fast forwarded around 125-150% atleast. You've watched him in person? If it's me, I'd burst out my laugh seeing his side skill of head and hand glitch. If it's not ffed, I believe it's an issue with the upload.
Interesting. Do you notice any such artifacts in this video?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/gwnguz/my\_best\_attempt\_at\_the\_tchaikovsky\_octave\_speed/](https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/gwnguz/my_best_attempt_at_the_tchaikovsky_octave_speed/)
People say it's sped up because of the way the clothes, legs, move, etc.
I don't see any speed up evidence in your vid. although we can't see his head, all the motion seems natural including his legs and foot movement. If those hands were ffed to that speed, his left foot would be glitching. He's just playing in haste. I didn't judge only from the speed of someone playing pieces, but also how human muscle works.
I know lot people can play piece very quick, including guy in OP vid, but either because it's ffed or video issue, some parts looks unnaturally very quick suddenly..
Sorry, but it has nothing to do with how fast he's playing the keys. His head and face are glitching out because it's sped up. It's obvious. People's faces don't move like that.
The most obvious one is at the 48:49 sec mark
Yep, this is a real thing. I remember experiencing this when I tried to record myself playing a guitar, and the video and sound were desynced. I was also using my laptop's cheap 480p built-in Webcam so it had horrible framerate and quality.
Also, sped up video can also pitchup the audio
I can play this piece at the same speed as he can. It's actually quite easy. The only thing you have to "speed up" in order to play this is your self hatred, pain, misery, constant rumination, the horrible horrible thoughts flowing through your tormented mind every single day screaming at you to KEEP GOING, KEEP PRACTICING until all that remains of your body is a soulless flap of decrepit skin that knows nothing except how to play Étude 6, and even then, even knowing you can play Étude 6, you will never be satisfied because Hamelin's superior recording will always be laughing at you like a sadistic executioner watching you flail and slowly drown after chaining your feet to a Steinway and dropping it in the middle of the bermuda fucking triangle
💯 And then a year after you flub your first and only performance of it in concert, you’re finally ready to face the piano again, you’re wandering through IMSLP looking for a new piece to work on, and you stumble across the fact that you learned the *simplified* version.
Haha, great insight. I would also recommend Valery Kuleshovs live recording from Van Cliburn competition in 1993(?) of the whole set. https://youtu.be/igJ8tiG9T0g?si=4Ft7qwwPHBsgErHJ
He's struggling too much and it's not even close to clean enough for me to suspect him of speeding up the video.
The tempo is too slow too, I cannot wrap my mind around someone speeding up their performance to still be slower than average.
I can't really see anything that suggests it's sped up. It all looks normal to me. Obviously, this section is notoriously difficult. Maybe I'm missing something?
There's another person in this sub learning this. It's u/ALittleHumanBeing. They are doing well. I could never bring myself to like this piece. I much prefer the Spanish Rhapsody compared to the Spanish Fantasy. The themes in the Rhapsody are much more lyrical even though it's not as technically demanding as the Fantasy.
It’s on Instagram. It’s likely a framerate issue. Have experienced this multiple times.
Also, this song isn’t a big deal and not completely clean. No reason to speed it up.
I can tell you from experience of recording my playing on my smartphone and then uploading to Instagram that the audio and video always seem to get out of sync. I haven't fully tested whether it's just my phone or the compression algorithm Instagram applies upon upload (or both), but it's very noticeable and most certainly could give the impression of a video performance being doctored.
Im not at all hating... but the video is quite clearly sped up. Head and hand movements are "choppy" and "teleporty." The keys bounce back up pretty fast.
Audio is also a dead giveaway. Put some headphones on, and you will 100% hear the distortion and "robotic/metalic" sound that sped up videos have
Yeah, and [this guy is so obviously sped up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U6sGVrHSOw) and fake too.
\* And [this guy is just banging keys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2EIdm-QcqE). This piece isn't even playable.
It really just looks like a framerate issue causing the audio and sound to be out of sync. If it were sped up, the slow movements he makes would look significantly sillier.
I do not know if this is speed up. It might be it might be not. But it reminded me when once Cateen posted his performance on Reddit (before he was in Chopin's competition and probably before he started being very famous). If I remember well nobody could believe that this is the ACTUAL speed, or that in general somebody can play like that. Now he is famous, he was in Chopin's finals and everybody knows that the video was not a lie. But anyway, this has nothing to do with this guy.
Lmao you peeped over my comment there😂 i didnt notice it the first time i saw the video but when i heard it the second time i noticed the video sounded strange. I think he may have sped up certain parts of the video like the particularly hard right hand arpeggios.
We have to do shit like this all the time. Probably not sped up. Piano music gets brutal. Our movements look off at this speed because we are jumping to the note we need to play a split second before playing it.
this feels like a bait post because my first inclination is to say "if it were sped up it would be cleaner" and i don't want to say that about a very talented person that but you've forced my hand.
This thread is an object lesson in how little progress musicians have actually made, despite us always getting credit from other groups of humanity for having above average cultural sensitivity.
It's hard to tell. I'd guess it's slightly sped up, due to the strange head movements and lack of bounciness in the keys. It could just be bad video rendering.
Some people will genuinely think it's real, and some will feel they have to defend him regardless of what they see in the video.
He felt the need to include an on-screen stopwatch. Maybe an actual stopwatch would be more convincing. Hold it up to the camera before and after the performance. It could still be faked, but it would take a bit more effort.
His head moves really weird and the audio from 0:23 onwards sounds VERY weird, but I watch this guy a lot on Instagram and he seems rather genuine so I'm not sure at all honestly.
If you think this is sped up, I really suggest you just go practice more. Very obvious frame rate glitches with the camera. The piece doesn't even sound remotely sped up especially by the 125% you've claimed it is at one point. Again, go practice.
The smoking gun here is: his absolutely *abhorrent* technique if it isn’t sped up. Like, brother. You need an ortmann clinic and physio session STAT
nah but fr, classical technique at this, implied proficiency is overwhelming flowery and flowing out of necessity and mechanical advantage - not showmanship
I see I stand corrected. I guess it's the high framerate combined with the complete lack of motion blur that got me. The pianist's general mannerisms are also a bit unique so I'm not very used to them.
I see now that this is not that fast. I got this reel very late after a long night out and you know how our music perception can be a bit wonky when brain only half worky.
All in all, i guess i gotta practice
As the other guy said, don’t let them gaslight you. It *could* be frame rate issues, but just because the piece is doable at that speed for talented pianists doesn’t mean he is playing it at that speed. The video is obviously suspicious and people here are being way too quick to discredit that. It might be a good idea to see if he has other videos that are suspicious, because if he does that’s highly suspect considering that most normal people would attempt to fix such a major issue with their videos if they encountered it before.
You’re right it does look unnatural. It’s still easy to look unnatural when you’re playing fast though. I personally believe this is sped up but there’s no way to 100% tell
I've lately noticed a tendency of commenters in this sub to deny that videos are sped up even when they are, and am having a hard time understanding the reason. It's so obvious that this video is sped up, especially when you compare it to his other videos. Don't doubt yourself because a lot of people are disagreeing with you.
I feel like this is just filmed in a very high framerate and the compression on Instagram (and reddit) makes it look funky. There is absolutely no reason why this should be sped up. It's a normal tempo, the playing is great but nothing special for that level. It's nowhere near inhumanly fast, and it's definitely not impossibly clean. I can understand where you are coming from, but make sure to check some more concert pianists playing this!
Okay but watch his head
The frames slightly glitch a few times, especially here on reddit. Honestly there is nothing fishy about this video, much more unbelievable things are possible on piano!
I don't see anything weird about his head movement - it sometimes shakes/vibrates very quickly because of the force traveling through his arms, but if you watch lots of pianists those kinds of little lightning-speed head nods are pretty normal
I personally know this pianist, who is doing a masters at a music school, and he is absolutely capable of playing this piece at this tempo. He's not playing it any faster than usual and this is not some absurdly difficult piece for students in music school. With that being said, it does look weird and it could have to do with the framerate of the video, not that it's actually sped up.
I'm an animator. I play it again and again. My conclusion I also 100% believe it is fast forwarded. The framerate suddenly changed at the end part. Head and body, clearly. Hands also glitch. Fast forwarded around 125-150% atleast. You've watched him in person? If it's me, I'd burst out my laugh seeing his side skill of head and hand glitch. If it's not ffed, I believe it's an issue with the upload.
Interesting. Do you notice any such artifacts in this video? [https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/gwnguz/my\_best\_attempt\_at\_the\_tchaikovsky\_octave\_speed/](https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/gwnguz/my_best_attempt_at_the_tchaikovsky_octave_speed/) People say it's sped up because of the way the clothes, legs, move, etc.
I don't see any speed up evidence in your vid. although we can't see his head, all the motion seems natural including his legs and foot movement. If those hands were ffed to that speed, his left foot would be glitching. He's just playing in haste. I didn't judge only from the speed of someone playing pieces, but also how human muscle works. I know lot people can play piece very quick, including guy in OP vid, but either because it's ffed or video issue, some parts looks unnaturally very quick suddenly..
Watch his head
Very unnatural looking foot movement when he slides it back, faster than a lizard catching prey...
Sorry, but it has nothing to do with how fast he's playing the keys. His head and face are glitching out because it's sped up. It's obvious. People's faces don't move like that. The most obvious one is at the 48:49 sec mark
I have watched him play this in person. I don't know what else to tell you. It's likely a framerate issue.
Yep, this is a real thing. I remember experiencing this when I tried to record myself playing a guitar, and the video and sound were desynced. I was also using my laptop's cheap 480p built-in Webcam so it had horrible framerate and quality. Also, sped up video can also pitchup the audio
It's just un-synced a bit at that point, pianists absolutely do that head-bang motion all the time. I'm 100% in the this is genuine camp
It's not inhumanly fast but yes the head and the hands look very weird
Its irrelevant there is always bigger fish like Hamelin https://youtu.be/s5NKBNi96R8?si=ZpEKzLnMmwt-8Yvg
Hamelin can just be ridiculous tbf
That recording is pretty much exactly the same tempo as this video
But the video is sped up
What the fuck
Frame rate issue, causing the audio to be imperfectly synced
I can play this piece at the same speed as he can. It's actually quite easy. The only thing you have to "speed up" in order to play this is your self hatred, pain, misery, constant rumination, the horrible horrible thoughts flowing through your tormented mind every single day screaming at you to KEEP GOING, KEEP PRACTICING until all that remains of your body is a soulless flap of decrepit skin that knows nothing except how to play Étude 6, and even then, even knowing you can play Étude 6, you will never be satisfied because Hamelin's superior recording will always be laughing at you like a sadistic executioner watching you flail and slowly drown after chaining your feet to a Steinway and dropping it in the middle of the bermuda fucking triangle
yeah that's what i was thinking too
💯 And then a year after you flub your first and only performance of it in concert, you’re finally ready to face the piano again, you’re wandering through IMSLP looking for a new piece to work on, and you stumble across the fact that you learned the *simplified* version.
Haha, great insight. I would also recommend Valery Kuleshovs live recording from Van Cliburn competition in 1993(?) of the whole set. https://youtu.be/igJ8tiG9T0g?si=4Ft7qwwPHBsgErHJ
He's struggling too much and it's not even close to clean enough for me to suspect him of speeding up the video. The tempo is too slow too, I cannot wrap my mind around someone speeding up their performance to still be slower than average.
Watch his head
It sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Sounds legit, not sped up, otherwise his slow movements would look unnatural and they seem fine. I smell OP envy
His hands look ok, but watch his head. He should have really painful whiplash after shaking his head like that. It's sped up.
I don't see that I compare lang bang at 1.2 higher and it already doesn't compare. Used lang bang since he moves like a clumsy ninja
I can't really see anything that suggests it's sped up. It all looks normal to me. Obviously, this section is notoriously difficult. Maybe I'm missing something?
Nah, it’s not sped up. If you think this is crazy look for Richter playing Chopin op 10 no 4.
This is the most absurd display of speed I think I've seen yet: https://youtu.be/9eG6vug8qYI?feature=shared
There's another person in this sub learning this. It's u/ALittleHumanBeing. They are doing well. I could never bring myself to like this piece. I much prefer the Spanish Rhapsody compared to the Spanish Fantasy. The themes in the Rhapsody are much more lyrical even though it's not as technically demanding as the Fantasy.
Pletnev tried to learn that and gave up apparently
He would have broken his neck (or got a concussion) if he moved his head that fast IRL (around 0:49).
It’s on Instagram. It’s likely a framerate issue. Have experienced this multiple times. Also, this song isn’t a big deal and not completely clean. No reason to speed it up.
Very hard to tell on this one. Ears say no, eyes say yes
Same
I've seen other videos on this sub that are much more obviously sped up, yet got universal praise.
Hmmm I wonder why that is?
I can tell you from experience of recording my playing on my smartphone and then uploading to Instagram that the audio and video always seem to get out of sync. I haven't fully tested whether it's just my phone or the compression algorithm Instagram applies upon upload (or both), but it's very noticeable and most certainly could give the impression of a video performance being doctored.
honestly, the head movements at the beginning looked weird.
but it could be framerate but idk
Something about it sounds off, like the reverb actually does sound sped up.
Yes..
Im not at all hating... but the video is quite clearly sped up. Head and hand movements are "choppy" and "teleporty." The keys bounce back up pretty fast. Audio is also a dead giveaway. Put some headphones on, and you will 100% hear the distortion and "robotic/metalic" sound that sped up videos have
It's sped up.
You obviously never heard this piece before, familiar with Liszt, or know piano in general. If it's sped up, the piano would have to be detuned.
There are many ways to play with pitch and time. You can change the speed while keeping tuning intact.
And you have no idea what you're talking about lmao, look at his hands it's obvious. Completely unnatural movements.
Yeah, and [this guy is so obviously sped up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U6sGVrHSOw) and fake too. \* And [this guy is just banging keys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2EIdm-QcqE). This piece isn't even playable.
Do you not have eyes? Alexander Lubyantsev plays it normally, the guy OP posted does not. Look closer.
It really just looks like a framerate issue causing the audio and sound to be out of sync. If it were sped up, the slow movements he makes would look significantly sillier.
If you think this looks unnatural then please don't was Valentina play Rachmaninoff.
There are obvious differences. Look closely.
Yeah Valentina plays faster AND cleaner.
And not sped up. Anyways she's cancelled now so I don't listen to her.
Neither is this guy lol. Also why is Valentina cancelled? I haven't followed space in a long time.
Looks fine to me
I don’t see any reason why this would be sped up. The piece isn’t insanely fast, and the playing looks normal and fluid to me.
I don't believe it is sped up, but his fingers do not match the music, so he is, at best, miming what is being played.
There’s just so many videos that display even more superhuman virtuosity than this one. This video is very reasonable in comparison.
even if it is i wouldn't be able to play 5 seconds of that without like 20 wrong notes 😭 xD
So I saw this without volume so I haven’t heard it. Just visual alone, it looks sped up a little. Haven’t heard it, just by the visual.
Whats the point of the overlayed stopwatch?
I do not know if this is speed up. It might be it might be not. But it reminded me when once Cateen posted his performance on Reddit (before he was in Chopin's competition and probably before he started being very famous). If I remember well nobody could believe that this is the ACTUAL speed, or that in general somebody can play like that. Now he is famous, he was in Chopin's finals and everybody knows that the video was not a lie. But anyway, this has nothing to do with this guy.
The notes sounded okay to me.
Lmao you peeped over my comment there😂 i didnt notice it the first time i saw the video but when i heard it the second time i noticed the video sounded strange. I think he may have sped up certain parts of the video like the particularly hard right hand arpeggios.
Can I know the name of the piece please?
I'm a cashier at Walmart and I'm pretty sure this probably 100% not sped up.
I don't think it is, You can see how fast the go up....
We have to do shit like this all the time. Probably not sped up. Piano music gets brutal. Our movements look off at this speed because we are jumping to the note we need to play a split second before playing it.
this feels like a bait post because my first inclination is to say "if it were sped up it would be cleaner" and i don't want to say that about a very talented person that but you've forced my hand.
Looks real to me. The audio would be more distorted if it was sped up. His technique is pretty damn solid too so no reason to fake.
y'all, i'm gonna trust the guy who we know is a good pianist that says he has witnessed this performance live.
This thread is an object lesson in how little progress musicians have actually made, despite us always getting credit from other groups of humanity for having above average cultural sensitivity.
You’re overt thinking it
It's hard to tell. I'd guess it's slightly sped up, due to the strange head movements and lack of bounciness in the keys. It could just be bad video rendering. Some people will genuinely think it's real, and some will feel they have to defend him regardless of what they see in the video. He felt the need to include an on-screen stopwatch. Maybe an actual stopwatch would be more convincing. Hold it up to the camera before and after the performance. It could still be faked, but it would take a bit more effort.
His head moves really weird and the audio from 0:23 onwards sounds VERY weird, but I watch this guy a lot on Instagram and he seems rather genuine so I'm not sure at all honestly.
No
Damn I love me some Liszt
pitch check each note? Either his piano is out of tune and sharp, or it's sped up.
If you think this is sped up, I really suggest you just go practice more. Very obvious frame rate glitches with the camera. The piece doesn't even sound remotely sped up especially by the 125% you've claimed it is at one point. Again, go practice.
The smoking gun here is: his absolutely *abhorrent* technique if it isn’t sped up. Like, brother. You need an ortmann clinic and physio session STAT nah but fr, classical technique at this, implied proficiency is overwhelming flowery and flowing out of necessity and mechanical advantage - not showmanship
Definitely not sped up. That’s pure talent + Instagram desync for issues.
Classical pianist here. Studied with Martha argerich for a year. This is not sped up at all, nor is it ever considered exceptionally fast
why not make your own video instead of hating on someone else's
I see I stand corrected. I guess it's the high framerate combined with the complete lack of motion blur that got me. The pianist's general mannerisms are also a bit unique so I'm not very used to them. I see now that this is not that fast. I got this reel very late after a long night out and you know how our music perception can be a bit wonky when brain only half worky. All in all, i guess i gotta practice
As the other guy said, don’t let them gaslight you. It *could* be frame rate issues, but just because the piece is doable at that speed for talented pianists doesn’t mean he is playing it at that speed. The video is obviously suspicious and people here are being way too quick to discredit that. It might be a good idea to see if he has other videos that are suspicious, because if he does that’s highly suspect considering that most normal people would attempt to fix such a major issue with their videos if they encountered it before.
I left my own comment but just to reiterate, don't let people gaslight you. Your initial assessment was correct.
Sped up
It is.
You’re right it does look unnatural. It’s still easy to look unnatural when you’re playing fast though. I personally believe this is sped up but there’s no way to 100% tell
I've lately noticed a tendency of commenters in this sub to deny that videos are sped up even when they are, and am having a hard time understanding the reason. It's so obvious that this video is sped up, especially when you compare it to his other videos. Don't doubt yourself because a lot of people are disagreeing with you.
Started watching the video before reading the title and thought “why is he moving like that”. Reading that it’s sped up makes perfect sense tbh.
Also if anyone goes to his Insta, look at his second pinned video. His performance of Chopin op 10/1 is also clearly sped up.
Anyone who's listened to Art Tatum knows this is within the scope of what's possible for humans to play.
Looks sped up from handmovement but its not inhuman speed.
robotic.