Group 2
Improve your Scales!
Scales are integral to your technique - all of music is built on them! They are singularly one of the most important things to master for piano playing!
Fellow Participants in Group 2:
Justo
Randi
Tommy Johnson
CK
Natale Farrell
Scotty
Rudelle Gaje
Harriet Kaplan
Sigurd Bjørhovde
Germán
Himanshu Bhardwaj
RoxyHart
Jenny
Marco
ALICE
Some tonebase productions to get you started
"Creative Scale Practice" with Jarred Dunn
C Major Pattern Scales with Juliana Han
"Choreographing Scales" with Seymour Bernstein
"Scale Technique" with Penelope Roskell
How to get the most out of this course
- Start by watching the introduction video and practice the exercises given in the video.
- Write a post with your experiences with scales.
- Start Practicing Czerny Op.599 no.61, and 69!
- Share two videos per week and help your course partners through feedback on their submissions!
Zoom Check-In: Wednesday, June 29th at 11am PT!
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Here are some of my videos for week one:
Scales #1
C major and C minor
Long-Short (2 Octaves); C-F (3 Octaves); C-G (4 Octaves)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YOO2471S3aEzmWy4GTCE9smZWriDUb91/view?usp=sharing
Op. 599 no .61 Czerny
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sE5JTudHXu3NYapCxeXlnb7sEpwINJ0R/view?usp=sharing
Op. 599 no. 69 Czerny
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dccyMgX-rtKEGCXnVJv3EKtYslJenTWq/view?usp=sharing
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Natale Farrell you have a very nice touch on the keyboard. Your scales sound great!
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Natale Farrell I heard a nice contrasted dynamics on those pieces. Nicely done and played evenly.
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Randi Thank you!
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CK Thank you!
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Natale Farrell Great work Natale!
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Jenny Thank you!
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Here's my latest Burgmuller.
https://youtube.com/shorts/fXQCYUqNZ54?feature=share
I'm working on a piece in E minor so I've been working on the note groupings for that scale. It feels like my fingers are flying all over the place with no control. Thoughts on this?
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Randi Well done Randi, great to see your ongoing progress. I seem to forget the correct fingering when i'm practicing in different groups, and this causes me odd finger hiccups. I've slowed down between "sprints" to think about my next move, so that I can still focus on the speed during the actual run, if that makes sense. I did slow down the whole scale, but thought that this might defeat the objective of learning to speed up the fingers. Perhaps it will be something to ask Dominic tomorrow on the zoom call. Will you be able to be there?
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Jenny That totally makes sense! I also have to stop and think which fingers are next, especially when there's cross-over/under coming up. I'll be on the call tomorrow. Looking forward to it! I wonder if Dominic Cheli will allow us to see each other, if we're a small crowd.
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Hello all, apologies to respond to this thread. I still have not complete some of the things. But here will enclosed with 2 videos which I've just manage to get it done.
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CK Wonderful CK, looks and sounds really smooth to me. Thank you for posting.
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Jenny thanks Jenny. still got things to improve. As I have hidden some weakness there.
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Here is my Burgmuller, I've found it quite tricky!
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Jenny nicely done!
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Randi thank you so much for your encouragement, Randi. I'm hoping to improve more over the second week!
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Hello Everyone! If you would like to join a zoom meeting check in today, follow this link at 11am Pacific time! I will be in the meeting for one hour to check in with you!!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85357940967?pwd=ZFNqZDRKVWRBdU5xa0RQdnE3OFJIUT09-
Dominic Cheli Natale Farrell
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Here is an update of 2,3 and 4 groupings. I'm much more comfortable with the exercise, less tension, and feeling smoother. Still working on speed, but really enjoying the process. Also I find recording myself much less daunting. It's been a great two weeks learning for me, and it was lovely to see some of my fellow "intensives" on zoom last week.
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Jenny your posting does seem smoother from last week, much more relaxed. It's definitely a process. Great job!
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Randi Thanks Randi, yes I think so too. I'm going to carry on practicing this with different scales over the next few weeks and see what happens. I hope we get the chance to have more of these "intensives", they really are a great motivation. Btw, It was lovely to see you at the zoom meet up!
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Here is my E minor in 6- and 7-note groupings. I tried thinking of the ending note to get there, as Dominic Cheli suggested, but that didn't work so well for me. Too much thinking, I guess.
Once I got the rhythm, that's all I needed. -
Randi Very nicely done. You seem quite comfortable with this scale already. I also smiled at your "thumbs up" at the end, that's a really neat and positive way to finish, I think i'll try it (rather than my usual "aargggg, nooooo, not again!!!!" kind of ending
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Here’s a couple from yesterday’s practice. For the groupings, I went up to 9, but as you can see (if you have the patience!) I wasn’t always consistent.
On the Czerny, dynamic contrast doesn’t come through at all on this video. I don’t know if that’s because of the phone mic or my playing.
Any constructive criticism welcome.
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Harriet Kaplan Wow - you can play that really fast! I do hear some dynamics. Well done!
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