Week 2 - pedaling, octaves, double notes, and legato

Hello, forgive me for not plucking up the courage to post a video after week 1! I promise I have found the process v useful. 

For week 2 I've identified the following:

Double notes - Burgmuller 'La Petite Reunion'

Pedalling- sticking with my Chopin Preludes for this

Legato - funnily enough, one of my Bach Little Preludes (no. 2 BWV 934) is marked as to be played Legato. Would this work?

Octaves - could you clarify, are we looking for octaves same hand, or separate hands? I spotted a descending octave passage in one of my old pieces (Mendelssohn, Song without Words op. 30 no. 3), or, if separate hands, I was thinking of picking out some appropriate Weick studies?

Your advice & guidance is much appreciated 

Hi Piotr, I have a passage of double thirds where I want to use pedalling  (this pattern of double thirds is repeated later with different notes and for both hands).  It is from the Adagio of Mozart's K332. I can manage the notes but I don't know what to do about the pedal.  I tried different scenarios (full pedal per beat, half pedal per two 16th notes etc.)  but I can't produce a flowing, even sound.  I am a novice in pedalling so this is no surprise and I would be grateful for your suggestions.

Thank you for this class Piotr. Not sure if these are making sense:

As for the legato, I want to do Orchestral Suite No 3 in D Major, Movement II BWV 1068 by Bach. 

As mentioned last week, I am working on Sarabande.  I wonder if I can use Octave in part 33 left hand instead of the single notes. I have seen one pianist did this.  It sounded like it had more volume.

I do have a question.  Fur Elise Bagatelle NO, 25 WoO 59 By Beethoven.  On the single note left hand in part 58, do you use 321 counting?  That is what I was thought but I also saw several pianist only do 1 and it does looked smoother and easier.  Also, for the right hand in part 80, can I use that portion for scaling? 

Therese

Week 2 already? I'm hardly done with week 1! I think I'll have a go at this selection:

• Legato – Beethoven, Pathétique, No.8, op.13, 2nd movement Adagio cantabile, mainly 1st page
• Pedaling – Ravel, Forlane (1-9 & 29-38) in Le Tombeau de Couperin

• Double notes – Bach-Lipatti, Schafe Können Sicher Weiden, from Cantata No. 208

• Octaves – Mozart, Sonate in A, KV 331, Variation III, m. 5-8

This is from Silver Waves by A.P Wyman

I am worried about the pedal as well as the octaves.  What is a better way to relax them? 

From Balled #70 by Debussy 

Measurement 24-26. About the legato, (my hands are small) on the third and fourth beat would you recommend playing the bottom notes C & D together with the thumb? The three quarter notes on measurement 26 how can I hold it?

Thank you so much from you help :)

Hello Piotr, thanks for another really instructive video.  I'll not be able to record anything this week, unfortunately -- we've got too many visitors wandering in and out of my physical and mentl practice spaces!  But here are the pieces I would propose to use to practice your lessons:

Legato -- Rachmaninoff Prelude in D Major Op. 23 No. 4. Both main theme and descant need to be legato and it makes for some challenging pedaling.

Thirds -- Rachmaninoff Prelude in Eb Minor Op. 23 No. 8 (it's mostly double 6ths alternating with double 4ths -- actually a little easier to play than consecutive double thirds -- is that OK?)

Thirds -- Rachmaninoff Prelude in G Major, the 1st 4 of the last 6 measures.  (fairly short passages).

[Yes, I'm studying all the Rachmaninoff Preludes; have played them all very sloppily in the past and now would like to relearn them and make decent recordings of each one]

Octaves -  Beethoven Sonata in F Op. 54, 1st movement. the 2nd theme is stated in octaves, in both hands, overlapping in quasi-scale passages. This piece has been on my to-do list for many years!

I hope to record some samples next week. I am not as far along with these as I am with last week's pieces, so I may not be able to play them anywhere near up to speed in a recording. But that will give me lots to work on over the next several months.

Hello Piotr; Thank you so much for your wonderful lesson and I'll send you my video of the first part of the INTERMEZZO in E minor by Manuel Ponce, in which I was able to work on the LEGATO on the THIRDS and on the PEDAL. I imagine it inside me softer and more sensual than what I can produce, because I never know if the thirds should be played with soft fingers or set in a more rigid position...in any case I struggle to bring out the voice of the theme and in the padale I chose to always divide each bar into two parts, because I'm terrified that it's too mixed up in harmonies. Furthermore, I tie all the non-consecutive thirds with the pedal, because I can't join them only with my fingers, despite using a bit of rotation, unfortunately to the detriment of singability. I defer to your judgment and trust in your wise guidance.

Thanks so much for your suggestions, Piotr. They're really valuable, and I'll try to put them into practice. I'm really sorry the video went missing... but I know that I have a big problem about my hand position😓😖 This is the video.😓