Group 3
Welcome to the NEW TWO WEEK INTENSIVE on tonebase!
Improving your Lyricism (feat Chopin)
Post your progress with videos and written commentary on how things are going for you!
- Course Period: June 26 - July 10th
- Class Size: ALL are welcome!
- Optional check-In via Zoom: July 2nd at 11am PT
- ZOOM MEETING Recording!
- https://youtu.be/Fl-ExGT9aZY
Assignment #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQpw6fZBOlE
- Pick a short piece (Mazurka, Nocturne, Prelude) or excerpt of a longer piece (Ballade, Polonaise, Scherzo, Sonata, Concerto). Focus on lyrical/slow sections.
- Learn bass carefully, labelling all chords and cadences.
- SING melodic line. Practice singing until your voice can identify the melody instantly.
- Submit a video: playing the Bass while singing the Soprano.
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Assignment #2
https://youtu.be/ri2UD1z8sKE?si=w36XWzqb_rao3RAu
-Label all breathing points with an apostrophe between phrase markings. Practice deep breaths between significant points or use a regular breath for phrase changes.
-Sing Bass notes of all chords while playing Soprano melody.
-Submit a video: playing hands together (performance).
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I'm a bit late to post, but here's the video for the week 1 assignment.
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Natalie Peh Well done! Worth the wait!
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Angela Fogg thank you, Angela. The assignment was very interesting and quite satisfying to do!
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Natalie Peh Good LH accuracy. Phrasing at 0:39-41 is natural. Observe the rhythm more specifically: this Prelude is a stylized mazurka, therefore dotted rhythms cannot be triplets. Use breath support for high C-sharp at 0:33, take a deep breath and make sure you have enough support to sustain sound as it rises and remains on a high pitch. Nice work so far - next steps are (1) to correct the rhythms and (2) sing in one long line / direction to give this very short piece an auditory sense of two long, elegant phrases.
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Jarred Dunn thanks for the feedback, Jarred. I will work on these points.
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Natalie Peh Beautiful, Natalie! Lovely and sweet singing!
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I’m a bit late to the party too! Here’s my week 1 video
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Hazel Lovely singing of this beautiful Mazurka!
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Hazel Sounds beautiful!
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Hazel That’s very lovely- thank you for posting!
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Hazel nicely sung, with great phrasing!
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Hazel Lovely phrasing and dynamics! I’m working on this one also (not for the TWI, though) and you’ve inspired me to add singing to my practice.
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Hazel LH is well-played, first phrase has lovely vocal sound: your vibrato is appropriate for this mazurka's long tones. Help the sounds be more melancholic: use long vowels and avoid as many onset consonants as you can (in using "LA", try to make the L lazier and the A as long and tender as possible; on triplets or fiatura passages, don't use one "La" for every note, just sing one long "Laaaaaa"). Use enough breath support to achieve the high C at 0:51 - this can take a bit more time due to the voice feeling resistance as it jumps into a much higher register. Great start - think of giving this a lyrical shape now in LH. You'll need to play soprano and sing bass notes for this week's assignment. Great start!
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Hazel Lovely and beautiful!
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Here is my week 2 video trying to sing the bass for a small section of the Mazurka. I had a harder time singing the bass so had to watch/listen to “Do a deer a female deer, Ray a drop of golden sun….” from The Sound of Music to get the sound of the notes in my head
I had to do a couple of takes before even coming close so my voice got hoarse and is breaking a bit. Interesting exercise for sure- helpful in understanding how important the bass is. -
Vidhya Bashyam Great job. I think the Mazurkas are harder to sing due to the chromatic lines and unusual rhythms.
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Hazel Thanks! Good point about Mazurkas!
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Vidhya Bashyam Wonderful job, Vidhya! Well done using the Fixed Do! That song from Sound of Music is so much fun
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Vidhya Bashyam Congratulations! I think singing the bass is always harder for those of us who usually sing upper parts, we just never sing there!
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Vidhya Bashyam nicely done, it sounds great. Such a inspired idea to listen to the Sound of Music for this! I love that musical too!
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Vidhya Bashyam Your “trick” worked! I’m finding these bass intervals so tricky!
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Vidhya Bashyam good placement of first Re, correctly "found" the Sol - work on placement in your voice or perhaps move it up the octave if easier. It's important to feel the bass solidly in the voice, in tune, matching our LH. Playing LH was the right choice to help your ear adjust: your listening is leaning toward a bass-oriented lyricism. How challenging was it for you to make your ears focus on bass while playing the soprano? (speaking of soprano, check all your dotted rhythms - you're playing triplets rather than dotted rhythms in 4 sixteenths: this isn't an ideal habit to form while you're focusing on LH). Next steps: LH alone with singing, relax your mind as you do this and focus on matching the tones; (2) sing chord titles as LH plays bass line (ie. instead of solfege, use "Dominant seventh") and use RH to play chord.
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Jarred Dunn Thanks Jarred! I definitely felt like I lost my rhythm as I was focusing on trying the LH singing. Will work through your suggestions.
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Vidhya Bashyam Despite the difficulties you do it very very well!
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Here is my assignment #2.
I am sorry I cheated, but singing harmony is new to me and I got distracted, especially where bass notes are unexpected. I really had a hard time with this assignment and practised a lot! But this piece fits my grade and is new to me, I can't do multitasking yet, I really tried! So I decided to record the melody and also cheat a bit by playing the bass at the tricky spots where I know I am insecure to sing, so that I can focus on the bass and how it supports the melody.
However I think this was a really good exercise. I notice the harmonies a lot more now and found some spots where I think the bass melody might be worth being heard a little more, and others where I tjink I could back off a little because it gets plain. I also highlighted the spots in the music where my instinct pulled me me to sing something else, as I think those might be startling, interesting spots for the listener, so I should maybe lean into those bass notes a bit more, instead of just take them as simple accompaniment.
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Dagmar yes you're right - you are listening carefully and identified the purpose of this assignment. I suggest using more breath support to help the bass lyricism emerge: your singing shows what the notes are, but try singing them with varying dynamics and changes in tone. Experiment with this for as long as you can stay focused on specific, new, creative ideas for tone colour and harmony. How is your harmonic analysis coming?
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