Week 2: First Steps

Dominic_Cheli
12 days ago
122replies

Week 2: First Steps

You’ve chosen your piece. Now the real work begins.

This week is all about getting into the music without worrying about perfection yet. First impressions matter. The way a piece feels under your hands, the sounds you’re drawn to, the passages that already feel natural (or completely confusing) are all part of the process.

This is the stage where pieces often feel the most fragile. Things are slow, uneven, and uncertain. That’s normal.

For this week, we’d love for you to share:

Early practice clips
First impressions of the piece
Passages you’re struggling with
Musical moments you already love
Questions or discoveries from practice

A few ideas to focus on this week:

Finding a comfortable tempo
Experimenting with sound and tone
Discovering patterns in the music
Identifying one or two “problem spots”
Practicing smaller sections instead of full run-throughs

Looking forward to hearing everyone’s first steps into the music.

- Noel_Nguyen
- 10 days ago
- Reported - view
What I find especially treacherous about muscle memory is that it tends to dominate in practice, only to maliciously abandon you in performance. I call it the great betrayal. Don't fall for it!
- Noel_Nguyen
  
  10 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Another easy way to throw off the muscle memory: rolling the chords! Try it, and experience a good simulation of being on stage, with that muscle memory gone AWOL, and the panic that is supposed to be exciting!
- Unfrozen Barroom Piano Player
  
  Peter_G
  
  10 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  , Such a wise and helpful discussion, I'm following with great interest even though (for a change) I'm not saying much (until now!).
  
  I'm just back from a week of travel resulting in about 10 days away from the piano. I had been working on memory spots before this trip, and I tried to make the most of 2 long train rides by studying the score visually and trying to connect it to my memorization and performance -- a very difficult thing for me.
  
  Back at the piano now, Mark, I'm noticing that I too almost always go BACK to the previous memory spot, and Dustin brilliantly elucidates why that is not a good idea. I'm finding it takes a real mental adjustment for me to move AHEAD instead. I have to make myself more alert to think of what's coming, instead of merely focusing on getting through what's in front of me.
  
  So now I'm trying to force myself to jump forward to the next memory spot at random moments.. And I find that one needs to pick different random moments each time, so as to avoid 'learning' a particular stopping point.
  
  (All of this applies to the B Major Prelude & Fugue WTC2 which I had roughly memorized before leaving and hope to play in Saturday's Community Concert -- my Rach Preludes for this event have picked up some rust but are still generally intact, so I'm going to try to resume "finishing" the Bb Minor ' as part of this workshop. I hope to post my Week 1 version soon, hopefully some time before Week 3. ).
  
  So anyway, thank you gentlemen for sharing your thoughts and expertise here. It's very enlightening.
- Akzent oder Diminuendo? • Hanon/Herz student
  
  Maria_F
  
  10 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  My teacher recommends both playing very, very slowly and rolling chords.
- Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
  
  Gail_Starr
  
  5 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  What a great suggestion. Will do!
- Ken_Radford
- 10 days ago
- Reported - view
I am intrigued with the concept of ‘musical significance”. Every time my piano coaxes tones from me, are they or are they not musically significant? I may have missed the point...
- hot4euterpe
  
  10 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Significant to the structure / form of that particular piece of music.
  
  Edit: Now that I am re-reading in less haste, I am not certain if you were joking and asking or just joking =)
- Ken_Radford
  
  10 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  For some notes to be considered musically significant would imply that other notes are not significant, and if these can be identified maybe I can just not play them :)
- hot4euterpe
- 10 days ago
- Reported - view
My week 2 update so far:

With "Mouvement" this week I have been going over mm. 67-88 which precedes last week's section and collectively makes up the B section. I have also been going over the coda material (mm. 156 to end). It has been progressing well, I just need to find some time to record these which is my goal for this week.
- Mark_Cooper
- 9 days ago
- Reported - view
Week 2 progress

first half page of the allegro IV from Handel’s keyboard suite in F

Right and left hand separately, then hands together ( memorised)

I found this a useful exercise

this is a fugue

you should be able to hear the main subject repeated in the various voices as well as the countersubject

Handel’s keyboard suite in F

First half page

https://youtu.be/qJKXN72snq4?si=SKqVJmp_kbNeRUwM
- hot4euterpe
  
  9 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Bravo Mark! Very nice attention to clarity of articulation and convincing imitation. Very cool to see your individual hand work and how it remains intact when you combine it all. This attention to the parts and their combinations is top tier fugue practice. Sounds great!
- Mark_Cooper
  
  9 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  thank you Dustin!!
  
  I put in a bit of work into this .
  
  I’m trying to apply this separate hands approach to my other exam pieces. What I’ve learned so far is that just because one can play two hands by memory doesn’t necessarily mean you can play separate hands by memory. That requires additional work. My teacher advises me to at least memorise the left hand of at least part of the pieces.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
  
  Michelle_Russell
  
  8 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Super cool! I love the clarity.
- Ken_Radford
  
  8 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Well done Mark. You make it look easy (and I know it is not).
- Mark_Cooper
  
  8 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  thank you Ken!
  
  I thought this might interest you
  
  Keith Jarrett playing this piece , it’s pretty good I think
  
  https://youtu.be/Lbo-yITNMo8?si=VNFReytNCTZyts39
- Ken_Radford
  
  8 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Thanks for sharing Mark. I have marvelled over Keith’s playing for the last 4 decades, and without his inspirational playing I may have given up my quest for piano competency. Have you heard his interpretation of J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier?
- Mark_Cooper
  
  8 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Hi Ken, I didn’t even know he had done a recording of the WTC, but I did hear a CD of him playing the preludes and fugues of Shostakovich
- Ken_Radford
  
  7 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  He is one talented musician. To be able to play classical pieces and to be able to improvise in front of large audiences is nothing short of amazing.
- Mark_Cooper
  
  7 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Rick Beato did a recent interview with him on you tube . Unfortunately he is very disabled from a stroke . I honestly found it difficult to watch , quite upsetting.
- Ken_Radford
  
  7 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Yes, I watched the Rick Beato interview and it made me feel very sad. Mr. Jarrett has surely suffered for his art.
- vbashyam
  
  6 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Well done! I love the hands separate memorization!
- Mark_Cooper
  
  6 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  thanks Vidhya!
  
  I intend to apply this separate hands method to other pieces to really secure the memorisation
- Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
  
  Gail_Starr
  
  5 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Great job with pristine clarity!
- Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
  
  Gail_Starr
  
  5 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  I bought those!
- Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
  
  Gail_Starr
  
  5 days ago
  
  Reported - view
  Heartbreaking
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 9 days ago
- Reported - view
First of my week 2 updates: short practice sections, each measure on repeat (4x) then move to next measure. The goal is to move seamlessly from one measure to the next, which doesn't always work in practice but shows me where I need to work the seam between measures a little more. I do like to close my eyes for the majority of the repeats (after I've played through once), and where I don't play as confidently with eyes closed marks another spot to come back to tomorrow.

https://youtu.be/Rym6qYxCekk