Group 1
We’ve probably all been told, “Practice slowly!” or, “Don’t rush!” and almost certainly, “Use the metronome!” These statements can be valid, but how we treat time, rhythm, and meter in our playing, and what we do—that's a much more nuanced thing. In this Two-Week Intensive, we explore unique practice techniques that impact how we use tempo, technique, rubato, and expression.
BYOP: Bring your own Piece! This challenge does not rely on specific repertoire, so feel free to pick any piece that best suits your current abilities.
Pianists of all levels are welcome. You may choose how much of the piece you would like to work on. It can be a phrase or a page.
More Detailed instructions coming soon!
- Sign-Up : Monday, February 13 - February 19
- Course Period: February 20 - March 6th
- Class Size: max. 4 Groups á 10 Participants
- Optional check-In via Zoom: March 2nd from 11am-12pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81723841404?pwd=N0phNUxDVytMRUt2UGNFOUt5R3BxQT09Passcode: 837385
Assignment 1
Description:
Explore the pulse strategies introduced in the demonstration video. Choose 2 strategies (your favorites, or the ones you find most challenging/rewarding/interesting) and record yourself demonstrating two passages in your choice of repertoire—one passage per strategy. Please include a PDF of the score and the title of the piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMe8_QeNIV4
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Description:
Choose a passage of a piece from the nineteenth-century repertoire. Practice singing the melody or leading line (yes, out loud), marking points where gestures or phrases end and where you choose (or need!) to breathe before the next musical idea. Next, sing or speak subdivisions at the smallest rhythmic level you’re playing, or next smallest (e.g., if you’re playing a passage that’s all eighth-notes, your sung or spoken subdivisions will be no slower than eighths, and likely sixteenths). I suggest using a neutral syllable such as “bum” or “ta.”
Record yourself doing two things:
1) Physically breathing, while you play, at the places you’ve identified as ending points, paying attention to the speed of your breath and the time it takes to accommodate a natural inhale; and separately,
2) Speaking subdivisions aloud on a neutral syllable as you play—your goal is to use these subdivisions to drive rubato intentionally and expressively. Extra imaginary internet points if you sing with your subdivisions! Please include a PDF of the score and the title of the piece.
-
Hello ! I would be glad to present and work on an extract of Beethoven 17th tempest sonata third mvt ! Luc
-
lucto83 By all means!
-
-
I hope the repertoire can be something new we're working on! I'm doing mine practically from scratch. It's Maxine Bonds's "Troubled Water."
-
Lisa Thomas Yes, that's the goal--bring these ideas to your repertoire!
-
-
Hi there, I will work on Passepied by Debussy (from the Suite Bergamasque). I’ve been trying the foot tapping exercise which i find quite tricky! I hope to upload a recording before end of the week. Thank you
-
Derek McConville Looking forward! Walking with Passepied will work well. Depending on your tempo, quarter note pulses (at a slower practice tempo) or half note pulses (closer to a performance tempo) will be effective.
-
Johnandrew Slominski thanks for the suggestion. My brain is still struggling to make feet and hands cooperate! Here is a clip of the beginning of Passepied using half note measures. I attach the score for reference also. Thank you!
-
Derek McConville Nicely done, Derek! Despite your comment about struggling for hand/foot cooperation, this is going very well, so kudos on doing something new. One small comment is that often times when something new like this is making its way into practice, it's most successful in bite-sized chunks. For instance, I might practice from m. 1 to m. 10 (the first phrase) and then stop. Perhaps repeat, perhaps isolate challenging spots for a moment, or perhaps go on after a brief pause and mental and physical reset. Maybe mm. 11-14, then 15-23, and so on. Keep up the good work! Places with the 2:3 (like m. 24, I think) half-note walking is perfect; eighths or quarters will probably drive you bonkers.
-
Johnandrew Slominski thank you for the feedback and suggestions which were very helpful!
-
-
Hi Prof. Johnandrew Johnandrew Slominski, thanks for showing us the walking exercise.
I would like to try using the walking exercise on with the 1st movt. of the Beethoven's sonata, Opus 14, no. 1. It is interesting how I feel the rhythm differently when the walking motion is combined with playing. Is it because there is now a separate aspect of keeping time that is independent of one's hands/arms?
Both video and score are included in this post.
-
Johnandrew Slominski For the second exercise, I would like to apply this third method of using the voice for rhythm. Surprisingly, I found this more difficult than the walking exercise, and had to practice more. Do I sound like a metronome in the recording? :)
-
Natalie Peh Very nice job, Natalie! You're doing everything right. If you haven't done it already, I'd suggest experimenting with the quarter-note walking pulse as well. It gives a different feel--the half-note pulse gives us longer units and longer line (which is a good thing) and the quarter-note pulse gives us shorter units (which is ALSO a good thing, since without the small building blocks the larger building collapses). Keep it up!
In answer to your question, I think the sensation can be different for everyone. For many people, and I think this might be something you're getting at, the situation is that we rarely sync with musical time in a concrete, physical sense. We do it in meaningful ways that are abstract ("This piece feels Andante." or, "Don't rush.") and at other times external (playing with metronome, or much better yet, another musician). This sort of thing you're doing here is bound to feel different because we're using something that's not hands and arms, sure, and ALSO, I think, because it's asking us to contribute intentionally to rhythmic thinking and doing that sometimes we do only subconsciously or implicitly. I hope that helps!
-
Natalie Peh Good work! I think this is often tricky for people in passages such as this, with elaborate melodic figurations. It's easy to lose track of the essential pulse, and this keeps you very much aware of that. You don't sound like a metronome per se--and just getting the hang of this can take some effort, so well done. My next suggestion would be to breathe and shape your spoken subdivisions--you're doing a great job being consistent, and (in my opinion, anyway) slow movements like this are ripe for expressive timing and rubato!
-
Johnandrew Slominski Thanks for the suggestion, and the answer. I think you're right- having to physically keep a pulse makes the rhythm very intentional. Great idea to use a quarter note pulse, it will be good fun to try.
-
Johnandrew Slominski I will try and use as much rubato as I dare! To boldly go....
-
-
Thank you Johnandrew Slominski for the interesting strategies. My examples are from the first movement of Beethoven, which I recently started learning.
I applied the voice method to the first few measures of page 1. I found it really helpful in internalizing the rhythm- which is hard in this section with all the 32nd notes. Question- what method would you suggest/how would you count the scales at the end of measure 4 (and measure 10)?I applied the walking method to measures 11-18. I found this harder than the voice method but interesting as well.
-
Vidhya Bashyam Well Done, Vidhya! Walking in those motoric sections is really effective. As you get more comfortable and tempo increases, you'll start to use the quarter note as your pulse. You're doing everything right there.
For the Grave, 32nd note subdividing is effective--good work. I might choose a slightly faster tempo here, so as to hear more inflection (for instance, momentum toward the 2nd beats, where the harmonic tension lives).
At the end of m. 4, I'd end up playing the 9 128th-notes (!!) evenly, but for practice think 2 per "ta" syllable until the last 3, then a triplet + ritardando. I hope this helps!
-
Johnandrew Slominski Thanks for the suggestions!
-
