Week 4: Final Submissions!
WELCOME TO THE LATEST COMMUNITY CHALLENGE!
For this challenge "A Fresh Start" the goal is to pick a BRAND-NEW piece to work on this month.
This is the time to finally open that score that you have been thinking about and get to work!
WHAT ARE WE DOING IN WEEK 4?
1. Let's share our final progress this week - post a video of a selection, part, or entire piece to showcase your progress this month!
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The link to my submission for this exercise is below. I am a bit overwhelmed after seeing the level of the pieces presented here (I am a level 4 student of the piano) but here goes. I have worked on Scarlatti's g minor sonata (KK deest; recently discovered). I hesitated about pedal use both because I am not sure how much one should do so for baroque pieces but also because I am new to pedalling. I memorised it but there are hesitations here and there.
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Sedef CANKOCAK Beautiful playing, Sedef! I love Scarlatti music and you play it with very good taste.
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Michelle R We all love hearing your excellent musicality and the care with which you are building a very solid technique, Michelle!
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Gail Starr Thanks so much, Gail. You are very kind!
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Here is where I am. Overall, I think this was a good exercise. I've never pushed myself to work in this kind of timeframe. So, I am pleased to get to this point in this amount of time (screenshot: 30 hours over 22 days). I will keep working as it. I feel close to being comfortable with the notes, but need more work to now start to make it flow nicely.
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Jack vreeland Bravo Jack! This sounds beautiful and flows very nicely. I can see your dog is also enjoying the music :)
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Jack vreeland Great work! Sounds beautiful!
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Jack vreeland Love how you're handling the polyphony in this piece, and keeping the lines clear with really judicious use of pedal. Great progress in (really just 3) weeks!
Also that app you have is pretty cool - I spent way too much time adding up my practice time totals.
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Jack vreeland Nice work on this piece, Jack. Your process seems to work very well for you!
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Jack vreeland Lovely piece and you bring out a 'round' sound as we cellists would call it - sounding legato without necessarily being played legato. This piano brand is new to me.
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Sindre Skarelven Thank you. I'd like to say Stella loves the piano, but in reality we have a deal where she gets a little treat whenever I turn a page. Been doing this for years.
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Sedef CANKOCAK Mason & Hamlin's are made in Haverhill, Massachusetts and date back to the 1850s. https://masonhamlin.com/about/ Mine is a restored 1915 AA.
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Judy Kuan Thank you. The app keeps me honest (and motivated).
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Vidhya Bashyam Thank you. I hope to sand some rough edges a bit in the next few days and post an update.
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Michelle R Thank you. I have worked without a teacher for many years. So the online options like Tonebase have really helped me to explore process options.
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Jack vreeland That came together quickly! Very clear, tranquil playing. Nice work.
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Jack vreeland That's a lot of time you put in. And, it really shows! Bravo!
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Jack vreeland Admirable work, Jack! Sounds natural and serene with beautiful clarity and inner expressivity. Love it!
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Jack vreeland That is very lovely. I do not know these Etudes very but your performance makes me want to search them out. Thank you.
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Heng-Pin Chen The challenge really forced me to push myself on this. I enjoyed it.
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Jack vreeland Final, final update. Now actually at four weeks? I am still getting comfortable with notes, but did try to focus on voicing and pacing this week. I heard a pianist describe a piece like this as rowing a boat. The rhythm is constantly pushing and pulling.
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Jack vreeland it's very impressive how far this has come over the course of the month! Your progress is so clearly visible since you were kind enough to share very early recordings with us. Now, it's really coming together. The rubato is wonderfully free, but never sloppy; the sound is rich and lovely and punctuated by precious little moments of piano dolce. Stylistically, it seems spot-on to me. Bravo!
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Jack vreeland Wow! The progress is so tangible. You have brought this piece from being a bit amorphous to both fresh-sounding but with targeted rubato. Clearly, your many hours this month have paid off.
May I ask the name of app you use to track your practice? I should probably do something like this!
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Gail Starr Sorry for delay getting back. https://playnpractice.com It don't use all the features, just the time on each work. It's a little old school in the interface but once you get a little used to it it does the job. Good luck.
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Here's my "final" submission of Scriabin Op. 8 No. 12! I wish I could try for a cleaner runthru, but I don't think I'll have time to record again this week... It's definitely not polished or performance-ready, but I'm very happy with how much progress happened over the course of this challenge. And I'm not only planning to keep working on this one, but also look into more Scriabin pieces.
Jack vreeland inspired me to count up my practice time...very similar stats - 28 hours over 23 days... or the equivalent of Horowitz/Lugansky/Trifanov playing it 750 times thru at their performance speed
https://youtu.be/XDZ7TtQsRJA (more observations in the description)
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Judy Kuan Bravo! That was so amazing! I loved your clarity, the deep feeling you played with, and just the overall effect. Great choice to play this piece! I agree with your comments too- somehow doing it together and recording early helps move the learning process forward quicker.
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