Poldi and I

New week:

Maple Leaf Rag, Trio and end are now at around 100x. Still not as secure as I want them, but need to record my final 100x video for June soon. Am at 60bpm with still some glitching or lost notes.

Brahms Waltz in d minor is memorized now, so I csn work on it musically. Both endings in part B are troublespots, part 1 develops nicely

Haydn German Dance 2 still WIP, we didn't have time for it last lesson. Articulationhas improved and I tried to find ways to alter the repetitions.

The Boogie is as mediocre as it was I play it but don't really focus on intense practice, so no wonder it doesn't show huge improvement. 

Started to work on Minuet III in G by Bach. B section needs practice and I find it hard to find ways to vary the repetitions. 

Also started a Ländler by Schubert from Trinity grade 2 book as 40x piece and for reading practice. 

Have to work on Sostenuto in Eb by Chopin for the Lyric challenge here on tonebase...  phew... so many construction sites... a bit too much, need to find my focus!

New scale: Bb - meh... everything is weird here need to go slow and concentrate where fingers 4 go.

And I quickly learned Mexican March in 2 sessions as piece 22 this year. (Trinity 2015 grade 2, but really, that was easier as some grade 1s...)

I recorded the Haydn Dance.

Actually I gave up. I can hear that my staccatos aren't precise, but I just can't fix it. I think I am not technically at the point where I can cross over or tuck under plus precisely articulate and have the right dynamics. I tried it slow and hands seperate, but even at snail tempo it is so difficult. I could do a semi sharp staccato for the whole phrase, but not a sharp clear one, and I can't precisely do the change between two slured, four sharp. 

One day I will return to this one and see how my articulation has improved. For now I have to be happy with having hit the right notes at the right time and 80% of the intended interpretation. 

Weird how expectations get higher the more we advance. A year ago I might have been really happy with this recording. Now I am not really pleased. But enough time spent on this, it starts to get boring. 

What this piece taught me:

- my weaknesses in articulation, I will work on that!

The other pieces are still WIP. I spent most time on the Chopin Sostenuto für the TWI here. It eats a lot of my time, because I want to learn as much as I can in the course but feel like I am not advanced enough. It was the easiest lyric Chopin piece I could find, but it is Abrsm 5, so that's around my lesson level. To learn the notes already is a challenge, to play one hand up tempo and sing the other one kills me Soprano singing went ok, bass singing is like rocket science for me, so I cheated and recorded the soprano, so that I can focus on singing alone. It is a very good exercise but I spent a huge amount of time this week just on SINGING, plus the hours for learning the first half of the piece. It is far from perfect yet, but I already really like my improvement! 

Of course the Brahms Waltz has not improved very much because it didn't get the focus. Ländler improved but is not ready yet, Boogie bad as always, and unfortunately Maple Leaf Rag got a little worse

So this week's challenge: Get the Ländler ready, don't suck in the TWI and don't lose the Leaf Rag. Plus  somehow not suck at the Brahms because that's my lesson piece...

One week holiday, now back to practice. 

I got some helpful advice on Brahms Waltz 39.9 and finally am motivated to practice this weird thing.

I felt like I didn't connect with the piece. Something didn't feel right, like sand running through my hands, somethingI couldn't really name. I was convinced that one tiny shift in my thinking or listening could being me on track, if I just knew what it was. But I knew that it didn't make any sense to continue practicing without it, as I didn't know what I was doing, where it should go, not even what the melody was. How can you practice phrasing, dynamics, when you don't even "hear" where the waltz is? 

Turned out the key was getting the right lyrics. When I complained that I don't even hear a melody, just boring intervals, and don't even know where the emphasis lies, because waltz says 1 and the slurs say 3, someone said "I can hear the soprano lament: "I yearn, I mourn, I cry, I die". 

It was meant as a joke. But this was all it took! The missing puzzle piece. Because suddenly I could feel the rhythm. Now I feel when to emphasize the bass notes (I randomly did and my teacher grew grey hair because he didn't know what else to tell me to finally do it right).

With these lyrics in mind I now wrote lyrics for the whole piece. They lead me perfectly through dynamics and rubato! Now I just need to practice the troublespots, but finally know WHAT exactly to practice and how. I finally have a vision!

Here are my lyrics, which ridiculouslymake so much sense:

I yearn, I mourn, I cry, I die

I WANT TO EAT THAT APPLE PIE!

I know I'm fat, but diets suck

I SO WANT TO GIVE ALL THOSE CAL'RIES A HUG!

BUT I know oh for sure I so much will regret

to have given in to a binge-eating attack.

Yes true, I'm fat, but not to blame! 

Those apple pie pieces all carry my name, da*mn!

So best I can find a sweet co-hompromise

And I might just be eating a ti-hiny slice?! Hm....

Further progress:

Chopin Sostenuto is fully memorized and part B also develops nicely. I work a lot on the things we learned in the TWI and notice that I can listen better to the bassline now.

And I recorded a Ländler from Schubert for the 40x challenge. 

The 5-4 finger slurs drive me crazy. I feel like I should be able to play them much more precise, but somehow it won't work. Also I notice that I get fatigued very quickly, although I do my best to stay light and relaxed. Interesting observation, I will keep it in mind and see if I can find out how to fix it in the future. 

However sloppy playing (hitting adjacent keys) in the arpeggio could get fixed. And I used the piece to practice staying closer to the keys, which is a long term construction site of mine and didn't really work so much

I can hear what needs improvement, but as this is a challenge piece it did its job: work on something new for 1-2 weeks, improve it as much as you can during that time and move on.

What this piece taught me:

- I need to work on my basics.

I celebrated my 5th pianoversary with Chopin and recorded the Sostenuto. So excited what the next 5 years will bring. 

Although the recording isn't perfect (where is the high G gone? I need to voice it better, because I definitely DO PLAY it!) I love it very much. It shows my "best playing skills" after these 5 years, and I can clearly see and hear all of my improvement over the past years since I started recording myself. 

I also got a recording of Minuet III in G. Grade 2 and it took me weeks. I suck so much at baroque, mostly because I can't read quick enough and counterpoint is difficult for me to memorize. The recording is one out of hundred attempts...

Now I need to get the Brahms ready... and practise something for lessons next week, because th Debussy Arabesque my teacher gave me feels too overwhelming. I don't think I'm ready for it yet!

Yesss, finally the Brahms. I know one can hear my concentration, but I am happy I have it with all right notes on video. I don't want to practice it any further to get it smoother or get the pedal a little better under control and more reduced. I don't like this one enough. I'm just proud I could get the difficult spots done and finally, FINALLY, could make sense of the "melody" and feel the piece somehow.

What a struggle! The lyrics help me soooo much!

Summer holidays... long time no lessons, so my teacher gave me Arabesque 1 by Debussy, I think it was meant to practice sight reading and some technical challenges very slowly. Not to learn the piece, more like an exercise.  But... err.... nooooo?! It is way too advanced for me. So I will only do the first page or two and really very, very slow.

Instead I decided to stay with impressionism and revisit Gnossienne 4. We did this 1.5 years ago and it was really hard for me back then! I could never get it "finished" and recorded. And I am surprised now: I thought it would be a hard time again, but after approximately an hour I felt like around 80-90% alresdy where I had left it. Plus I notice that I have more time with my eyes on the score. Still I look down very often, but as it is slow I can get some orientation of what comes next now, which 1.5 yrars ago seemed impossible. I hope that I can get a recording in 1-2 weeks! And already I feel that I have a nicer tone, it feels more organic, less "fully concentrated".

I also started Idea 10. I underestimated that one, it has some hricky spots. Plus I think that he didn't pla  it, but arranged it on a computer. 'Cause the recording is so fast! It's weird, because it's composed relatively beginner friendly, but suddenly octaves at that tempo? Nope... plus the recording uses a different sound foe the bass notes. So either he used a dual setting on a digital piano or it's a computer version.

But it's lovely at slower pace as well!

I am so happy, because AI managed to record Gnossienne 4. We did this in lessons 1.5 years ago and I never could get a nice recording. I left it unfinished, which was a bit frustrating after all the effort and weeks I had put work into it. I was convinced that once I dop it it will all be gone and I'd have to start from zero. 

I was really surprised that when I restarted I could get to my exit level within 2 sessions. 10 days in total now and it sounds so much more beautiful than 1.5 years ago. It's so motivating to have proof of my progress, and also see that not everything gets lost when we move on to new pieces and stop practicing old ones.

Idea 10 develops nicely, but I have difficulties with the octaves part, precision is a mess, I hit adjacent keys at the faster spots...

Idea 10, and learning to ignore tiny glitches :)

Phew...

So good thing: a lot faster, a lot more fluent, nice tone improvement.

Plus I have memorized the whole first movement and can play all parts at slow tempo.

Buuuut oooh there is still so much more work to be done! How can some C and F scales be so challenging? There is nothing of real difficulty in this piece. And yet, the required tempo raises the bars so high.

So far I can't think of nice interpretation 100% because I need so much concentration still on not messing up. Also some transitions are sloppy, and in some sections my left hand is too dominant for my taste. It's sooo difficult to get it softer, while keeping everything light and even nd still present enough.

I will continue to practice the whole 1st movement next month, but not in the 100x challenge. Just my own pace and seperate section work. But I hope I can get a final recording of this movement still in 2024.