Week 2: Share your progress
WELCOME TO THE LATEST COMMUNITY CHALLENGE!
For this challenge "A Fresh Start" the goal is to pick a BRAND-NEW piece to work on this month.
This is the time to finally open that score that you have been thinking about and get to work!
WHAT ARE WE DOING IN WEEK 2?
- You should have selected your new piece by now, so this week let's start sharing our progress
- Share a video or type what you have been working on this week! It is always interesting to hear how people start the learning process!
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I've worked on blocking the Prelude more quickly, from memory (as you can see in the video, I'm ok until the final few measures!), and with dynamic ebb and flow; I've also played the Gigue all the way through, at various speeds, and with various mistakes
. One thing that I am finding to be very important is regular recording in order to see what my wrists are doing - I have hypermobility and my proprioception is not that great when I'm relaxed. By watching what I've just done, I am starting to learn where my hands/wrists are while I'm playing.I'm looking foward to watching all the videos that have been posted!
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Michelle R This is great Michelle! So much progress in a few days. I agree with you on recording- it helps so much. I have to really watch my hand/wrist positions too- along with tight shoulders/bad posture.
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Vidhya Bashyam Thanks, Vidhya. It's a simple piece. I'd kind of hoped for more of a challenge! Maybe next month.
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Michelle R Sounds great, Michelle!
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Juan Carlos Olite Thank you, Juan Carlos.
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Michelle R You are learning so quickly! And i love HOW you practice.
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Gail Starr Thanks, Gail! I have a great teacher who is teaching me how to most effectively practice.
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Michelle R I can relate to you on the “playing with confidence” I also have what I think feels sometimes like a crippling amount of performance anxiety. It is something that I’ve tried to overcome for a very long time but I’m finding that playing for just the video camera is helping some. You sound fabulous and if you have any helpful tips on us introverts faking it as extroverts I’d love to know all about them
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Andrea LeVan Thanks so much, Andrea! I'm a super-introvert. People exhaust me!
One thing I do (sometimes) is pretend I'm someone else. I know that sounds strange, but I used to enjoy acting on stage because I could be someone else (which meant that people weren't seeing "me" but only the part I was playing). So, I've taken that to music.
I played in the last Community Concert, and though it didn't go quite as I had planned, I was surprised at how little nervousness I actually felt. For me, a lot of my performance-anxiety (which shows up most often in lessons, oddly enough) comes from trauma, so knowing that a safe and supportive group is listening, a group of people whose only desire for me is that I do well, really helps. That, and I can pretend that I am confident. I intentionally practice playing as if I were confident, and I participate as much as I can in the Tonebase forums, because this is a group of amazingly supportive people who inspire me and lift me up.
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Michelle R I have never even thought about pretending that I’m someone else….taking on another character or even alter-ego is sounds like fun! I will give that a mental spin
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Michelle R I love your patient approach. Took me decades to come around to going slow to go fast.
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Jack vreeland Thanks, Jack. I coached sport for decades, and learned through that discipline the best ways to approach learning something new. And my teacher encourages this type of practice. Of course, it is quite tempting to just try to play it as written, but I have to continually remind myself that that happens faster when I'm patient in the beginning!!
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Michelle R Great progress! Thank you for sharing the way you practice, I think I'll try the same next time I start a new piece. I have a bad habit of rushing forward instead of having the discipline and patience to really get to know the piece in the beginning. Your way seems much more efficient.
I also struggle with hypermobility and recording has definitely made a difference. Seeing my fingers overextend so much was a bit shocking at first, but at least by recording I get a sense of what to improve and how. -
maijahildur Thanks so much. I'm following my teacher's suggestions for learning a new piece, and it seems to work well.
Yes, recording is really helping me, too.
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Debussy's Golliwogg's cake walk page 1-2: progress after one week ... I sure need to count better
I'm trying to apply the "drop" on the LH jumps and get them light, accurate and comfortable in the hand before trying to speed up. Also working on the emphasis, which there are many markings in the piece.
I will be going through the B section in week 2, and have been listening to a few recordings and TB tutorial on the piece for ideas.
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Priya Viseskul What a fun piece! Your playing is so crisp, light and lively already!
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Priya Viseskul Good work on this. Looking forward to hearing the rest!
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Priya Viseskul Wow! Your playing already conveys every bit of the charm and whimsy of this piece in only one week. Once you have the muscle memory for the jumps, the rests will take care of themselves. I can already tell you'll do a great job with the contrast in the next section.
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Priya Viseskul What a great start to this fun piece! Looking forward to the next section.
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Sindre Skarelven Vidhya Bashyam Michelle R Gail Starr Thank you
Hope to share with you all the jazzier middle section soon! -
Priya Viseskul Your left hand looks very snappy! Sounding great.
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Priya Viseskul what a fun piece! You've made some good progress there.
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Priya Viseskul I LOVE this! Your insistent, impertinently stomping rhythm is exactly what this piece needs. Very evocative and humorous.
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Priya Viseskul awesome job!
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Priya Viseskul Great start!
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