Gail’s Practice Plans
Good morning, dear piano friends!
This year I actually have 3 different musical areas of interest.
FOR JANUARY 2022:
1. CHAMBER MUSIC: Before joining Tonebase last year, I only played chamber music and NEVER learned any solo repertoire. Because I have lots of friends who are strings players, I was invited to join an existing quartet in my state (Florida) to help them become a Piano Quintet. I’m starting to learn the Dvorak Op, 81 to rehearse with them on Feb. 7. We are planning to participate in a concert in a museum in April, but that depends on Covid.
2. TONEBASE: I am FINALLY going to start the Bach Goldberg’s and play a few for our Community Concert on Jan. 29. I will work through them by also listening to Lowry Yankwich’s amazing 30 Bach podcast. (I’ve listened to the episodes once when they first came out, but I was driving so I didn’t pay enough attention.)
3. JAZZ: I started learning a bit a jazz and have classes at Piano with Jonny (with Sindre Skarelven ). I’m going to do those Community Challenges also, as time permits. For January, I’m doing some basic theory review, starting to work on Cocktail piano and the St. Louis Blues.
This seems to be a lot of stuff…so I may have to prioritize!
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Gail! Yay, you're back!
How smart you are to develop so many aspects of your talented musical self! Your commitment to chamber music is particularly touching - such a giving way to approach music. You have inspired me to look for chamber music partners to form a piano trio.
The Goldberg Variations are a great choice for this Challenge - two birds with one piece, to soften an otherwise violent metaphor.
We will need to remain very focused, single-minded, almost, with this month's flexible challenge. I can't wait to see and hear its impact on all of us.
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Monika Tusnady Yay! I'm back! I was too busy with the Brahms Piano Quartet and now the Dvorak Quintet for a few weeks...tu me manques!
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Great plan, Gail! Looking forward to hear your Bach! Yes, I may have some issues with prioritizing myself. But I think it's doable.
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Wow! Great repertoire! I cannot wait to hear what you play for the concert! Just making sure you are aware of the dress rehearsal for this coming Saturday! :) See you there!
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Brother Will Green I just learned that I am not free on January 29, but I'm sure we'll do other concerts in the future.
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How fun! I have only had a few opportunities to play chamber music, and I loved every second of it! How exciting for you to be in a piano quintet! You have a nice variety of music there to work on.
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Susan I was super lucky to have a chamber music enthusiast as my very first piano teacher when I was 10 years old. So, I was playing with others from the start! I also played cello until university, so I really prefer to play in a group.
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Woohoo, Gail - what a fantastic plan and music list. The Dvorak quintet makes me so happy. And I'm so happy to know that you're taking the opportunity to play with your friends and perform together. I'd like to host a guest on one of my upcoming livestreams to chat a bit about chamber music.
Also, I think it's quite unusual that you only played chamber music but not solo repertoire. How did that come to be?
and PS - I'm starting my first Jazz class at Juilliard, too! I'm so stoked.
Hilda
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Hilda Hi Hilda! I'm so glad you are excited about my cool Dvorak quintet opportunity. The reason I've ONLY played chamber music is that when I started piano as a little kid (I was 9, but had played violin before that), my Juilliard-trained teacher realized that none of her students were going to be professional pianists, but we all would want to continue playing music after high school. So, she figured that we'd have more fun if we learned to play chamber music...and that was what we all worked on, all the time. In fact, the first "real" piece i learned was an easy Haydn Trio that I did with my bestie at the time!
My bestie was a child prodigy violinist who now plays in an awesome orchestra in Germany!
PS: I am LOVING the month of Schubert!
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It is a very good plan to do it, Gail. I am trying to work the Goldberg's too. I have listened the Lowry Yankwich's podcast, it is amazing indeed!
