MovieChat Forums > La La Land (2016) Discussion > I know Ryan practiced piano but is he pl...

I know Ryan practiced piano but is he playing the other keyboards?

posted 7 years ago by garymf
5 replies | jump to latest

I've read how he practiced for 3 months etc.

My understanding is he "played" the pieces but what we hear is not him but a professional pianist. He basically was "synching" to the soundtrack. Not taking anything away, that was still an amazing feat.

But what about the synths when he was in the 80s band? And especially when he was in the John Legend band? was he playing those other keyboard parts?

Also, I had never seen the synth he uses for the solo; it looked like a flat keyboard or controller with no actual keys just touch screen. What was that?

[–] Sabrina (52) 5 years ago

I have the Blu ray and in Special features, they tell the story that they hired professional players but were impressed by Ryan playing so they used him in all the scenes. They also said that they particularly panned the camera showing him playing. His teacher is also interviewed saying that there was no time fir Ryan to learn the notes, so he just repeated her playing until he learned it. Anyway, I find that amazing. I think that is believable as I once learned to play a piano song just watching my friend playing it for 5 minutes. It was not a complex piece. It had soe sort altered repetitive motive. I was just able to repeat it right away. And for some time it was the only "both hands" piano piece I knew. I can still play it after a long, long time. At that time I didn't have any piano at my home, and no piano teacher ever.

[–] maul (1530) 5 years ago

He didn't play the main pieces, they were played by Randy Kerber. I wish this incorrect information would stop being posted.

“Sure enough, in the last few days he switched gears and did a ton of work on the physicality and attitude of his performances. One of the first scenes in the shooting schedule was his first big piano solo in the club, and I’ll never forget the astonished silence which settled on the room at the end of his first take. It was kind of miraculous. What he played was a very musically intelligent approximation of the difficult sections, with perhaps a few wrong notes here and there, but the basic melodies he had totally down. So even though the piano parts you hear in the film are played by Randy, the visual representation, every single pianistic hand gesture, was Ryan’s. It’s an astonishing achievement that when you watch the movie, you don’t for a second question that Ryan’s character plays the parts.”

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/inside-track-la-la-land

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

FYI the technique of playing a synthesizer is almost identical to that of playing as piano, there are just a few extra buttons and switches to twiddle. Same for playing a grand pipe organ, or a harp.

Because I was a passable pianist when i was young, and back in those days I once visited the home of a harpist. I'd never touched a harp before, and when the harpist invited me to fool with it, I sat down and played a piano piece on the harp. The basic technique was similar enough that it was easy.

[–] Ace_Spade (9336) 4 years ago

His synth in The Messengers' solo section, I think is this thing:

https://roli.com/products/seaboard

[–] DracTarashV2 (4474) 4 years ago

That futuristic-looking synth? Beyond cool. It’s real and it’s called a Seaboard Grand.

As for Gosling playing them, he apparently did.