Anthony M's practice diary
Updating with notes on my progress on the first 9 pieces of Bach's WTC book 1.
Prelude #1: This was the first piece in the series I memorized. I'm really bad at memorization, so I thought I'd start with the easiest and work my way from there. This was a little easier to memorize once I figured out the chord progressions in the arpeggios: C - Dm7 - G7 - C - C6 - etc. The other pattern is a series of tension and resolutions. There's also one break in this pattern with two consecutive measures of tensions which has led some to suspect a missing measure in the piece, but from my perspective this is totally Bach--you'll expect one thing and he'll totally throw you for a loop and delight you with something unexpected.
Fugue #1: This was the first fugue I learned and was the first one I decided to memorize having played it so many times. The issue I need to work through in playing the piece is finger strength which the piece requires in playing the 32nd notes crisply. My fingers are gradually re-strengthening, but this will take some time.
Prelude #2: I was able to play this at a fairly good speed late in 2021, but having not played it for a while, the Presto section can trip me up if I try to play it too quickly. I'm planning to wait until I can memorize this piece to pick it back up again. I do like to play it a few times every other day or so to work on my finger strength for which it makes a good exercise.
Fugue #2: This is also one I'm planning to take up again when i can work on memorizing it. I think there's only so far I can take it when reading through it. I might be able to make it through and play it cleanly if I'm lucky, but that's usually not the case as one section or another will trip me up.
Prelude #3: This was the second piece in the series I memorized. It has a lot of clear patterns which made it relatively easier to memorize and once I memorized it I found it easier to work on and further polish. It's also probably the one piece I feel the most comfortable playing now so am planning to play it in the next Tonebase community concert.
Fugue #3: This was quite a difficult piece for me to learn, but having learned it I decided to commit it to memory before fugue #2 because I knew if I didn't memorize it right away I would have to work to re-learn it if I took a break from it. Since memorizing it, it gives me a lot of joy to play it. I still makes mistakes here and there so definitely not ready for performance. But it will get there at some point.
Prelude #4: I'm now working on memorizing this (week of Feb 5th, 2022). Personally, I think it's a wonderful prelude, although under-appreciated compared to others in the series.
Fugue #4: This fugue is a lot of work and it's also one I've studied the most, listening to so many different recordings. They say you should play the different voices in a fugue so that they sound similar, but my favorite recording is Glen Gould's as he plays each of the 5 voices in this fugue a little differently, some more staccato and some more legato so that you get a sense that there are 5 distinct voices in this piece. Despite practicing this piece a lot, I have still to record a progress video on it as I can only play it slowly to play it cleanly and I think to a listener that would be about as interesting as watching paint dry.
Prelude #5: This is an interesting prelude in that it seems to sort of wander around aimlessly. But I'm thinking there is likely some ingenious pattern in the piece like it's the musical equivalent for the values of pi or something of that nature. But memorizing this will be like memorizing the digits of pi as I can see no clear patterns. So for now, I'll working on learning it through reading. I'll be ready to record a progress video on it in about 1-2 weeks time.
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Couldn't upload the video I recorded today of the Prelude, so sharing a post from 2 weeks ago. Think my memorization is better now, but I still don't play the piece consistently well. Had to do 3 takes today which was similar to the one posted here.
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Here's a progress video on the Fugue which was recorded yesterday, Jan 29, 2022. I mess up in a couple of places but am glad I was able to find my way though the trip-ups. I think when I get nervous--recording a video or playing for my teacher--I make more mistakes than I normally would. But this is something I would like to work through.
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Here's my first practice video for the Schubert community challenge. I've selected Schubert's Impromptu #2, opus 142 (D935) in Ab-major. It's not that technically difficult, so think it's manageable for me to learn in just 3 weeks, but I've watched several performances of it by well-known pianists--Sviatoslav Richter, Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim (at the memorial service for Jacques Chirac), Emanuel Ax--so I think there is a lot of depth to the piece as well which I'd like to explore.
I'm working on playing smoother transitions in the chords. In the middle section with the arpeggios, I've practiced this right-hand alone but would like to play it more smoothly with hands together. I'm also still figuring out the dynamics so have been trying out some different levels and ranges but am still trying to figure out what I think sounds the best. I'm also trying to figure-out the left-hand trill in measure 76. I think it's an E# to F# trill, but there's no notation on how this trill should be played so it's just my guess for now.
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Here's another piece that I've been working on and would like to continue to work on. It's the first fugue in C-major from book 1 of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. I'd like to work on playing the 32nd notes more crisply as I can play them rather sloppily, especially when using the weaker fingers in my left hand. I'm hoping that over time my fingers will re-strengthen as they've gotten out of shape after so many years without regular practice.
Watching Evan Shinner's video on playing this fugue also helped me with the playing of the trills in the piece, although I only apply his advice to the first trill. With the 2nd trill, it happens too quickly so I can only play a standard trill. I've heard this piece played with 3 trills, but the urtext version I'm playing only has two. I'm thinking of writing in the third trill as it does sound rather nice when I've heard it played.
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Here's my 2nd progress video for week one of the Schubert challenge. Now it doesn't sound like bad sight-reading, but still has a ways to go. The Trio section in particular has parts that still trip me up here and there. When I'm practicing the Trio section, I do all the repeats and sometimes do a 3-peat to practice it again. But I still got tripped-up on the first pass in spots in the recording. I notice that I'm still somewhat hesitating in playing the beginning and end Allegretto sections. This is because when I initially just "went for it" and tried to just play it, I have missed some of the chords, so I'm taking a moment to pause and think before switching chords which is showing through.
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This is my first progress video on this fugue #4 in C#-minor. For me, this has been the most difficult one to play out of the 4 fugues that I've been working on. For one, it takes the longest to play even when played at a somewhat normal playing tempo it takes more than twice as long to play versus any of the other fugues. And second, it's the most mentally taxing, so it's difficult to to keep practicing without feeling mentally drained and wanting to take a break afterwards. I'm also not that fond of this piece--it doesn't have a very beautiful exposition like fugue #3 for example--and I find that if you really love a piece of music it makes it easier to learn even if it might be a technically difficult piece for the player. So it does take an extra bit of effort to practice it and to find that motivation. But I wanted to record something to at least set as the baseline for improvement. I also play it without pedal although it would probably sound a little better with some pedal. I try to avoid using pedal when practicing these Bach pieces as it enables me to hear what I'm playing more clearly. But I'll likely add some pedal on future progress videos of this particular piece.
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Anthony Miyake Sounding really well done, Anthony, and smart to work without the pedal! I hope you play these in a future Community Concert!! What great music to be working on. Bravo!
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Brother Will Green , thank you! I appreciate your words of encouragement. I think this particular fugue is still a long ways away from performance ready, but I know it will get better if I keep keep up my practice of it. I'm finding it to be great for working on finger independence/strength, more so than any Schmitt exercise could ever help achieve.
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Anthony Miyake Just so you know, Anthony - I think March will be bach month! I hope that you will bring some of your preludes and fugues to bach month, and maybe play one at the community concert! Have you played them all before, or is this your first pass?
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Hilda , good to hear, Hilda. For most of the preludes and fugues, this is my first pass. I learned about 4-5 of the Bach inventions when taking lessons in high school, but besides the first prelude wasn't exposed to the Well Tempered Clavier at all. When I went off to college I audited a piano course, but mainly to get access to the rooms in the dormitory with the practice pianos. It was at that time that the teacher introduced me to the Well Tempered Clavier and I learned the 2nd prelude and the first half of the 2nd fugue. But to be honest, I was mostly busy with my other course work to spend more than just a few hours a week to practice.
I took up learning them again last year, but being much older now, my approach to learning is quite different from when I was younger and I think better suited to learning Bach. I do a lot of research listening to many different recordings and take a much more methodical approach to learning the pieces, learning each hand separately with the metronome, and putting it together at much slower metronome speed, then gradually speeding up the hands separately and the hands together. I never had that kind of discipline to learn a piece that way when I was younger
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Hilda , if March does become Bach month, then I would also suggest an event focused on the use of the sustain pedal when playing Bach. This is a topic of hot debate and each side has their proponents--Andras Schiff on one end of the spectrum who uses as little pedal as possible and Daniel Barenboim on the other end of the spectrum whose playing of the aria in the Goldberg variations was described as "dripping wet with pedal."
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Can't believe it's already week 3 of the Schubert challenge. Unfortunately, I haven't made much progress in week 2 as the problem areas are still inconsistent for me. I started in the Trio section in this recording as it's the section that has the places I need to work on and the opening Allegretto section is repeated at the end and isn't the section that needs the most work.
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Anthony Miyake Love this piece. You are doing beautifully. I hope you continue to keep up your love of Schubert beyond this month so that we can hear you play more in the future. Bravo!!
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Brother Will Green , thank you! yes, I'm planning to add another Schubert piece to my repertoire. Right now, I'm leaning towards the next Impromptu in the series, #3 in Bb-major. I appreciate your encouragement.
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The chirping bird inside the piano: Had the piano tuner over this morning. My piano has been moved around a lot--shipped by boat from Hawaii to California, then trucked cross country to the East coast. Then it was moved at least 4 times as I moved residences, carried up and down stairs, on moving trucks, and so on. So the piano tuner tightened the action on the keys, as they were likely loosened by being physically moved so much. So they are more responsive now which is great. But this has worsened another issue that the piano tuner can't fix unless he takes the inside assembly back to his workshop--and I'd like to plan that out as the piano will be un-playable during that time. The issue is causing a squeaking of the keys. And it's so loud, all I hear is "chirp, chirp, chirp-chirp-chirp" every-time I play. You can hear it on the recording, although the initial squeaking sound is coming from my piano bench. I'm hoping that the sound won't continue to be this loud, but it's much louder than just after the piano tuner finished his work and asked me to test out the playing action on the piano.
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Uploading my first progress video on my new piano (Yamaha U1) as well as of this Prelude #5 in D-major from Bach's WTC, book 1. I'm really enjoying this new piano which is much more resonant, especially in the lower registers, than my old Yamaha P22. It's also the first time I'm using the una corda pedal after watching Dominic's Live Stream on using pedals in Bach.
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Been neglecting my regular repertoire for the Bach month challenge. But it's more Bach. I've been working on this Fugue #4 in C# minor for a few months now and it plays much differently on the new piano. The challenge for me is to balance the different voices (while still trying to play the right notes). The new piano is more more resonant on the bass notes which I like, but it also sounds very bright (almost piercing) in the soprano voice, so I'll need to keep in mind to tone it down a bit where it comes through too strong.
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Anthony Miyake wonderful!!
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Brother Will Green , thank you!
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