Group 3
Welcome to the latest TWO WEEK INTENSIVE on tonebase!
For the next two weeks either start learning OR take a Chopin mazurka in your repertoire to the next level through guidance and assignments from Jarred Dunn! Learn about stylistic advice, aspects of the dance and more!
Pianists of all levels are welcome.
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Assignment #1: Seeing the Mazurka
1) Watch Mazurka Dance Lessons 1, 2, and 3:
http://www.tance.edu.pl/en/lessons/show/dance/720
-Pay close attention to Lesson 3: the lesson builds rhythms from what we hear as a Waltz into a clear accent on 2nd beat, 3rd beat, and both 2nd/3rd beats
2) Learn one Mazurka
Choose one from the following suggested opuses for the whole TWI.
Week 1: Practice the LH:
-Op. 6 nr. 1, nr. 2
-Op. 7 nr. 1, nr. 2
-Op. 24 nr. 1 or 2
-Op. 30 nr. 1 or 2
-Op. 67 any
- or a different mazurka
Practice Activities:
a) Identify/mark all articulation in LH parts.
b) Clap the rhythm, emphasize accents and count aloud (speak louder for accented beats, eg. "one, Two, THREE" or "one, TWO, Three" etc.)
c) Identify/mark any unknown harmonic shifts or chords.
d) Find all cadences and notice unfamiliar accents (beat 2).
e) Voice tops of chords in LH or find a moving line (could be the middle notes of a chord that change).
f) Use RH for chords and LH for bass lines.
g) Circle any rests/pauses - they need to be heard.
Upload videos of your LH practicing/playing.
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ASSIGNMENT 2
Second Assignment: Continue your new Mazurka
Week 2: Practice the RH:
Listen to instruments, timbres, and moods in the following:
Kujawiak: https://youtu.be/RjV1bpxi0bc
Mazurek Dąbrowskiego: https://youtu.be/mTx45S-dQmQ?t=4
Chopin Mazurkas/Folk Mazurkas: https://youtu.be/n8OyddwnVbE
Look For/Listen For:
a) Learn the soprano part (melody), always sing/scream with it when you play. Think of dancers in this video: https://youtu.be/p6svoYBEWCs?t=10
b) Add ornaments after you learned the rhythms of the melody.
c) Dotted rhythms and triplets must sound distinctly different (no slackened dotted-eighth/sixteenths).
d) Accents on beats two and three can be subtle: try different levels of pressure/weight on the keys, to create at least four different accent types: sudden accent, leaning/swaying accent, light accent, heavy accent.
e) Remember that recording yourself is the best way to find out if you're actually doing what you intend. Record your melodic playing/singing/screaming whenever you practice.
Upload videos of your RH practicing/playing.
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- Sign-Up : starting July 14
- Course Period: July 17-31
- Class Size: ALL are welcome!
- Optional check-In via Zoom: July 27th 9am PT
CHECK IN VIDEO!
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Welcome Everyone! Witaj (PL = welcome)! I'm happy to see so many of you wanting to improve your Chopin Mazurka playing. I look forward to seeing your work soon!
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Hello all! I'm looking forward to learning my first mazurka, which I think will be Op. 67 no. 4. I've always heard great things about Chopin's mazurkas, but have never really appreciated them myself, so I hope to gain a better feel for what makes them special by the end of this course.
I'm a father of four (9 y.o. and younger) with a day job, so we'll see how far I can get in this course's time frame. I'll give it my best!
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Marc M welcome! Op67 nr4 is a great starting point. I recommend listening to Fu Ts’ong’s recording of this mazurka, it’ll give you a feeling of how special it really is! Hope you get lots of time to practice in the next two weeks!
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Jarred Dunn Thanks! I'll give it a listen. The Ignaz Friedman recording is what made me want to learn the piece. It is hilariously aggressive at times.
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Jarred Dunn Good speaking with you today! Here's what I've got so far for the LH of Op. 67 No. 4 (a few "oops" moments are in there, for humorous effect of course). Thank you for your time and feedback!
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Marc M dynamic shape at cadences is correct. Sensitivity to first beat and second beat weights is good. Let mm. 21-24 be more wistful, dreamy, nocturne like. Try playing each bar of harmony like a nocturne (extended Alberti bass as in op27 nr2 or triplet figures). A major: listen more to top voice like a drone. Softer cadence at mm. 47-48 to finish the section. Next step for a clearer pulse: play through with a metronome pulsing dotted half notes (one pulse per measure) at 40-42 and play around with nuances you can fit into one pulse per measure (hypermeter counting). Nice talking to you today too and powodzenie!
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Jarred Dunn Thank you for the feedback! It is helpful and I will work on it. Here is my right hand so far. The A major section is still a little awkward because I’ve practiced it less, but the rest is starting to feel more comfortable. I should probably speed it up a bit though.
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I know the 2 week intensive is over, but here's where I am with Op. 67 No. 4 with hands together, for people's amusement.
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Marc M Sounds great!
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Vidhya Bashyam I kinda choked at the end of the a major repeat, but I felt decent about the rest. Thank you for the kind words, Vidhya!
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Marc M It was really good! I was learning it in this 2 wk intensive too and totally think it is trickier than it looks at first glance!
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Hello. I try to learn the Mazurka 59 no 3. I like the complex approach of the late Chopin music and the very divers character of this Mazurka between more lyrical and more energetic, dancing parts.
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André Kuntz great choice! It’s a lively and complex oberek, and I recommend listening to Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron’s recording of it as you get started. Can’t wait to hear your playing!
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I just saw this topic! I have been crazy busy with piano students, studio recital, and preparing for going back to campus (hs teacher)... BUT, I will be playing Op 68 No 2 at MY mentor's studio recital on Aug. 5.... I have crazy performance anxiety, and my doctor gave me beta blockers... I have it memorized and this is a recording from today. I would love any feedback! And I will do my best to join the live streams, but - I have 21 private piano students, take a lesson (manage my practice) and will be back on campus (special ed teacher) soon - so I love to see the recordings of events even though I cannot attend. THANK You for ANY feed back to make my performance better!!! I know the middle section is still shaky... a few mistakes... but getting there. I struggle with memory work and performance anxiety. I try to record myself every week or so. It's a struggle.
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my trills kill me :-(
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Denise trills can be slow when we get started, that’s no problem. But the rhythm of the dotted eighth + sixteenth can be more accurate, aim for precision on this or else the piece sounds like a gigue. Your sixteenths are mostly in triplets. Good tempo change for A major section!
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I have been battling the sixteenths sounding line triplets. Thanks! I will keep working on it. :-)
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UWAGA! ATTENTION!
Polskie Instrumenty Ludowe / Polish Folk Instruments click below to hear and see!
https://folk.instruments.edu.pl/pl/instrumenty/categories/category/316
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Hi Mazurkophiles / Cześć mazurkofile! I want to thank you for your videos, questions, and general participation this week. I’m enjoying this TWI and hope you are learning a lot!
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Here is my latest run. I wasn't focusing on dynamics so much as rhythm and it is loaded with mistakes. I hope that the dotted eighth/16ths were better? It was still memory work but the music is on the stand... My mentor suggested I am playing it too fast? Thoughts?
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Denise after listening to it, it sounds like a faster version of your first video. Could you record it with a metronome clicking in 8th notes? I’d like to hear it that way at least for two phrases just to be sure you’re feeling comfortable with how long the eighths are and how short the sixteenths need to be. Spróbuj!
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Hi everyone! This is the link that should be above beside Chopin Mazurkas/Folk Mazurkas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8OyddwnVbE
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Cześć Mazurkofile/ Hi mazurkophiles! Hope to see you at the Zoom check in today!
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Mazurkas Recorded by:
Ignaz Friedman
Artur Rubinstein
Jan Smeterlin
Tatiana Shebanova
Ewa Pobłocka
Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń
Władysław Szpilman
Aleksander Michałowski
Moriz Rosenthal
Adam Harasiewicz
Lidia Grychtołówna
Wojciecj Świtała
Hlena Czerny-Stafańska
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Magdalena Lisak
Maryla Jonas
Raoul Koczalski (pupil of Mikuli) -
HiJarred Dunn ! Sorry I am late to the Mazurka party, I’ve been away. Here is my Left Hand Only version of opus 6 no. 1. Thanks for all your guidance on this!
Btw, I have no idea what fingering to use for the repeated RH appogiaturas in the middle section of this piece — do you have any advice there? Bars 41 to 56. Thanks!
