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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Here I am at the 11th hour - but at least not a week late as usual.
So, here is singing the melody
https://youtube.com/shorts/hBeKdJwm24E?si=vkkhtsZGnbTtcg-E
and singing bass line
https://youtube.com/shorts/yLneta2ORAM?si=Y_SczeL-nOgCVWXw
and my analysis
I think this has been a great challenge!
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Angela Fogg Beautiful singing, Angela! You have a great voice!
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Angela Fogg Lovely singing, Angela!
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https://youtu.be/fGu3vD5sNio?si=-z5XNXh4stWQoXc9
Here’s my hands-together video. I also recorded one with me singing the bass line but I am censoring it (haha).
Singing the phrases and marking the cadences in Week 1 really helped me to get clear on the musical lines and where things begin and end. I am hearing this more clearly in my own playing. The refinement journey continues. Thanks for this two week exploration, Jarred and friends!
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Tammy Nice playing as always Tammy! Enjoyed your tempo and how you bring out the melody.
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Tammy Beautiful flow and phrasing, Tammy! I love your playing,
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Tammy oh... wow.
Eh.. I go and practice...
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Dagmar
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Tammy Such a rich tone and lovely phrasing. I especially liked the teeny, tiny pause before the very last note…a kind of final sigh of farewell.
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Tammy you improved timing and tone colour significantly. Bass line is clearer and more resonant. Keep using bass tone colour in second phrase (0:20-35), this needs more upward sweep and forward motion from a strong harmonic colour in the bass. The tenor could have a more ravishing phrase sweep: make the prelude sing more lyrically and let the lyrical intention connect with your phrasing. Just some food for thought in the future!
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Tammy Beautiful! I like how flowing and lyrical your lines are right from the beginning. Also love the rubato you put in as you reached the peak D (mm21). That's so lovely!
Some suggestions - that peak D note seems special to me. Maybe it could use a bit more highlight> In Chopin's writing, there's already the rhythmic different (mm19-20), and this peak D rhythm is definitely different from the previous measure. So i'd be tempted to try someway to highlight this D somehow - eg. i) try either stretching that first 16th note (aka singer taking a deeper breath before reaching the top D), or, iii) staying a bit longer on that 2nd 16th note where on the D, or (iii) maybe dynamically louder on that D, or different color to shine it a bit more.
Such a nice playing all in all! Love your playing!
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Tammy Well done bringing out the melodies! I love it when my ear can switch a little from focus on the tenor to the soprano. Very nice breathing phrasing!
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Tammy Sounds great, Tammy! I love your tempo and the beautiful rubato.
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The best version I can do for now.
What you can't see is my brain's CPU running at 100%
So much to think of. Now I need more practice to gain better note security, so that I can listen better to both hands. And then apply what I've learned on the second part of the piece. But I know already, that this is much better than it would have been without the course!1) In one sentence, what did you learn from this TWI?
Singing out loud, not only in my head, makes a difference.2) What skill do you need to practice daily to improve your lyricism in Chopin playing?
Listen to bass independently3) How easily (or not) was it to practice singing/solfege? What did you learn from it?
So tough. I needed to practice the singing assignments for some hours and still had to cheat on the bass part. But I am proud that I went from just guessing notes to being able to sing the right notes in harmony.
I especially learned that the bass in Chopin has more importance than I tought and has a direction and kind of melody, not just some fancy "let's add harmony".4) Which new practice methods began with frustration or struggle, but need to be used regularly until they are habits?
Singing. Singing. Singing. Especially harmony. So frustrating at first.5) How important are harmony and colour to lyrical playing in Chopin?
Far more important than I thought. Not only the voice independence-part, but also the harmonic analysis lead me to a slightly different interpretation than what I first had in mind/intuition.
7) What new understanding(s) did you gain about Chopin's music?
That he's not just filling the melody with some random harmony acccompaniment notes. In fact, that the LH is not "accompaniment", but of more importance.8) Do you have a new set of questions or topics to approach in your lessons?
I need to practice to address the left hand more independently. I did the singing and got the essence, but don't feel like I can already DO it.
9) How has your listening changed?
I can hear the bass better now! I listened to several recordings of my piece, and heard some pianists nicely shape the left hand, others treating it as accompaniment. I realized that I found the first ones more interesting and expressive.10) How has your score reading changed?
I think I will ask myself more (not only in Chopin, but in general) what the left hand's intention is. Is it simple accompaniment, to enrich the sound, or is it a universe of its own? I might also look closer to phrasing by singing. Although I used to do this already in all of my pieces, I find that loud singing makes things clearer and helps me set new phrases more accurately and with the trust that a short rest is not as long as it might feel.-
Dagmar Great job and thoughtful comments, Dagmar. I hear a real improvement and feel a sense of more solid playing!
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Dagmar Beautiful playing, Dagmar. It has a very personal sensitive sound.
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Dagmar So beautiful Dagmar! The video filter you used matches the nostalgic and thoughtful mood of your playing.
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Dagmar may I mention that having Joplin on the piano while playing a Chopin piece that uses stride piano LH is a nice touch! Your Chopin playing has improved in this TWI, great work. It's more bendable and there's more sway to it. Keep working toward that lyrical bass tone that gives melodies a rising and sweeping gesture. Your answers to my TWI questions are right on point: bass is not "filling the melody with random harmony accompaniment notes" and "I need to practice LH more independently." I'm delighted to hear that you are able to focus on bass when you listen and will keep practicing to learn the LH intention - it is a universe of its own.
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Jarred Dunn Vidhya Bashyam Andrea Buckland Gail Starr
Thank you all! I am really happy, because I can hear what I've learned. And to know what still needs more practice is also wonderful, because I can see the path I need to follow. Plus it seems to be achievable with diligence and time
About the Joplin:
I was slaughtering Maple Leaf Rag recently But yes, Chopin's doing the stride, too, now that you mention it 
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Dagmar WoW! It's nice and flowing. You've made so much progress in a short period of time. I can totally hear your singing voice in your melody, and the bass is definitely more solid too!
Keep going!
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Dagmar Sounds beautiful and lyrical!
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Sindre Skarelven Lc thank you!!
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Dagmar Great playing, Dagmar. The phrasing is very natural and expressive!
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Apologies for the double post, and slow response. My posting privileges were blocked for a while. :(. Thank you to Dagmar Andrea Buckland for the feedback.
I'm reposting this my post earlier to get a bit more feedback (it was buried after my account was unblocked).
Here's my bass singing attempt (https://youtu.be/XE6X-EAITw4) and
both hands. https://youtu.be/allBQjQ8nHw.
Thank you Jared , I learn so much in this TWI!
Biggest take home for me - Don't just "sing in the head" - singing out loud with singer-like long breath is critical. Do the same for bass line and hear those harmonies.
So excited to relearn pieces with this new technique. If i'm brave, i'll try it with as i'm learning new pieces too (seems every so much harder if i dont' already know the notes) .
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Lc I get blocked all the time, too. Support told me it's the automatic word filter that doesn't like words such as "cl.im ax" and they'll try what they can do to train the system better.
(Hope I could avoid getting flagged again
)Have I already mentioned how beautiful your playing is? I so much enjoyed the rendition. For how many years have you been playing? (So that I get a rough idea on how patient I need to be to get there with diligence. Everyone needs role models
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Dagmar I think i was re-editing my post too much, and was getting blocked. I kept noticing typos only after i hit "reply". LOL. I'm sure there're still more typos.
I'm amazed how well you played and how quickly you improve! SO envious! Your profile said you started piano in 2019? WOW!!!
I started as a kid, but didn't have a good teacher. So i never got past learning basic notes. I restarted as an adult passively, and then more seriously just before Covid. It took many years to unlearn bad habits, and slowly build up technical skills that seem so easy for kids to acquire, but seems impossible for me.
I have small hands too. When i stopped(as a teenager), and restarted, I couldn't do octaves. And slowly, after years, I could. It took some patience, but i no longer dread octaves. I had to learn not to bend the last joint in my pinky to obtain a bigger stretch (while maintaining a relaxed hand), and of course, play closer to the edge of the keys (for white keys) helps. Good luck to your piano journey!!
Oh, it seems like you're interested in music theory. So impressed with your analysis! In US, there are many community colleges that teach music theory (even online) for a very low price. A 4-semesters to cover a US college textbook (Eg. The complete Musician by Laitz, or Tonal Harmony). You might find it fun to take some classes, and more analysis/four-part writing together with your classmates.
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