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'll start! I'm Harriet, and I'm very interested in the "how to practice" part of this. This first assignment will be a good refresher of the solfegg I just spent two years relearning at community college.
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Hi everyone! Looking forward to studying and playing and singing Chopin with you. The first challenge is choosing a piece! There are just too many lyrical dream pieces by Chopin!
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Andrea Buckland Toying with either Nocturne op 27 No 1 in c#minor or op. 48 No 2 in F#-minor. Havenāt played them, but love them dearly. I might just study a sectionā¦
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Hello everyone! I'm very glad to learn about lyrical playing. Maybe I'm going to dust off the famous raindrop prelude (op28 n15), I'll see how "well" can I manage to "sing" it
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Hi everyone! Since I just started learning the 4. Ballade, I will use this intensive to bring out the lyricism of the first half. Looking forward!
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Sindre Skarelven after first attempt I feel like modulating this whole ballade into C-minor
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Sindre Skarelven
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Hello all! Happy to spend the next two weeks in Chopinās lyrical world with everyone! So many beautiful pieces to pick from though- will post my choice shortly.
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Looked through my Chopin āto learn listā and I am going to try Mazurka Op 24 No 1.
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Good morning, dear piano friends! Since Iām already learning the set of Op. 17 Mazurkas, Iāll use #2 for this TWI (if Harriet can please give me a solfĆØge tutorial?).
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Hi All! Looking forward to working on this! Iāll be working with Chopinās Prelude no. 1, since itās something Iām learning right now.
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Tammy ooh, curious how you will sing that
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Harriet Kaplan Thereās a long lyrical tenor line thatās entirely carried by the thumb (and echoed by the soprano/fifth finger). Iāll do my best Adele attempt at itā¦
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Tammy I would very much love to hear Adele sing this (and you)!
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Sindre Skarelven At first I was going to say "like Beyonce" but then I thought hmm, this doesn't sound like her type of music!
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Tammy Yes, maybe you can sing BeyoncƩ-style on some Liszt stuff?
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Tammy Adele all the way!
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Sindre Skarelven Now you mention Liszt, I feel Gnomenreigen could actually be very BeyoncƩ, hahaha!
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Hello everyone. I am Lynn.
Looking forward to doing this with everyone! I am going to take the opportunity to dig deeper into some section of ballade#3 or 4.
I am solfege challenged. All those years of solfege training/exam, they were treated like lyrics to me. I will try singing without solfege.
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Lc Hey, at least you CAN singā¦I was trying to do solfĆØge and my husband actually walked out of his office (which is next to our piano), genuinely concerned, asking me what was wrong with me!
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Gail Starr I can't sing either. Thankfully, I'm home alone this week. So no one except people in this group would be exposed to my poor singing (and everyone could just mute me or stop the video!).
Anyway, I can't sing but really admire those who could. Nonetheless, I think the idea is "think/sing like a singer" with the whole long swooping breath (maybe with some imagined lyrics). And how the breath affects the dynamics and rebates. I certainly won't obsessed over whether I'm hitting the right pitch or not.
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Hi, I am Dagmar. As I am only around grade 5, I will probably go for a Prelude I already learned a while ago: 28.7, because a new piece would take too much time, I think. Or maybe I try just some first bars/phrases from a Nocturne, if that's enough?
And a side question: are there any videos on solfege? I know what it is (and have also heard of movable do and fixed do), but I find it hard to practise it without any material that tells you if you are doing wrong or right...-
Dagmar I could use that also!
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Gail Starr Dagmar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcVyn1m8AdY
Movable do - based on the key of the piece. Do is the Tonic. So is the Dominant.
Fixed Do - C is Do (irregardless of what key). It's basically singing the letter as printed on staff.
Personally, I feel like learning solfege and being fluent is a big 2-month challenge. Basic solfege is okay on simple songs that doesn't change keys. But it's challenging if it starts changing keys, or have a lot of chromaticism (that's when the sharps/flats comes in. Eg.Regular 7th-scale degree=Ti, but Flat 7 is Te. 4th Scale degree Fa, if sharped becomes Fi.
Look at the chart here: https://faculty.sfcc.spokane.edu/InetShare/AutoWebs/dannym/Music%20Fundamentals/Supplemental%20Info/Solfege%20chart.pdf
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Lc thanks
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