Group 4
Welcome to the NEW TWO WEEK INTENSIVE on tonebase!
Improving your Lyricism (feat Chopin)
Post your progress with videos and written commentary on how things are going for you!
- Course Period: June 26 - July 10th
- Class Size: ALL are welcome!
- Optional check-In via Zoom: July 2nd at 11am PT
- ZOOM MEETING Recording!
- https://youtu.be/Fl-ExGT9aZY
Assignment #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQpw6fZBOlE
- Pick a short piece (Mazurka, Nocturne, Prelude) or excerpt of a longer piece (Ballade, Polonaise, Scherzo, Sonata, Concerto). Focus on lyrical/slow sections.
- Learn bass carefully, labelling all chords and cadences.
- SING melodic line. Practice singing until your voice can identify the melody instantly.
- Submit a video: playing the Bass while singing the Soprano.
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Assignment #2
https://youtu.be/ri2UD1z8sKE?si=w36XWzqb_rao3RAu
-Label all breathing points with an apostrophe between phrase markings. Practice deep breaths between significant points or use a regular breath for phrase changes.
-Sing Bass notes of all chords while playing Soprano melody.
-Submit a video: playing hands together (performance).
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Voila! My recording of the first page of Mazurka Op 67 no 2. Singing helped me learn the melody much faster than I had expected. Of course, singing it is a whole different matter.
I struggled with labeling the G minor chords. Not sure where to begin with that. If anyone has any advice I’d appreciate it!
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Eliza Davis great start: you're able to sing it without using RH to provide reference points. Practice the notes mm.3-4 to check intervals. I suggest that placing the upper note in your voice is a big part of the next step: practicing singing/breathing/listening so that placement of the tone is comfortable. Your voice should know exactly where to sing the next note - this is key to producing natural timing when RH plays. You'll feel a bit of resistance in your voice at times, these are where more breath support and deep breathing are needed to reach high notes. Mazurka expression is another layer: make a special rhythmic lilt between beats 2 and 3, then beats 3 and 1. The accents alternate bar by bar, use LH to produce this. It can be difficult to master but I'm sure you will be able to figure it out!
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Jarred Dunn
Here is my attempt number 2, which I tried to include better breathing techniques. I took deeper breathes before the longer phrases which allowed me to hit the higher notes. Still working on the chord analysis.
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Eliza Davis I can hear you took deeper breaths and thought about longer phrases, you hit high notes much more successfully this time. Well done! Now, turning to the issue of the text itself: which edition are you using? The B-flat major melody tones in m. 3-4 in my edition have different tones in soprano than the ones you're singing.
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Jarred Dunn my edition is from Pianist magazine 133. Here is the score with my scribbles.
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Eliza Davis good - I see the notes in m3-4 are fine! Have a listen to your recording and check mm3-4, you sing A-B flat instead of C-D in soprano!
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Jarred Dunn I listened to my recordings and can hear the wrong notes now. I practiced with my RH alone and sang the correct notes, but with only my LH, I sang the wrong notes! Will have to work on that. Thank you!
Regarding balance between the hands, you said that you should be able to hear clearly every note in the left hand — My question is, how soft should the left-hand be in comparison to the right? I love hearing the strong tenor voice, but my piano teacher said my left hand should be the soft accompaniment. When I practice with a soft left hand, I can’t hear all of the voices
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Eliza Davis great question. LH in a mazurka isn’t always softer than RH, it’s a delicate nuance in LH between beats 2 and 3 that has to be heard, without sufficient sound in tenor the music is colourless. Send a video of hands together with LH voices as loud as you think they can be without going overboard and I’ll let you know if it’s too loud.
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Jarred Dunn
https://youtube.com/shorts/G3M2KWOmkAI?si=NJjbMiCq4JfvgCo4
Thank you for listening! I don’t think the bass sounds overpowering in the video. I could hear the last three measures not flowing because of the rolled cord in m14. What would you recommend since my hand is not big enough to capture the E flat with the G and C?
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Here’s my recording of the Prelude and an attempt at harmonic analysis. Struggled with labeling measure 12 - it’s some kind of diminished chord, but could also be an F#m chord. It feels like that’s the summit of piece. And then a quick resolution.
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rtansf m. 12 is a dominant seventh chord, F-sharp dominant seventh, the dominant of b minor (V7 of ii). M. 13 bass has this as the root and second beat; then in beat 3 of m. 13 Chopin adds the 7th (A) to the b minor chord. You're right, it's the summit of this Prelude and then a quick resolution. Good work singing it! Work on breathing enough to sing the high C-sharp of m. 11-12 confidently, you can take time to really breathe for and support your sound - this will be a key feeling to translate into piano playing when you add the RH to your performance. Great work!
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Zoom Check-in: Tuesday July 2nd at 11am PT. Bring any questions you have so far or important lessons/skills you're learning. Hope to see you there! Keep singing..
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https://share.icloud.com/photos/053lH1Izuv7E_BNNXE3s_-krQ
Hi I just sent my recording and analysis. Thank you for any helpful feedback you might have.
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Karen Wood your analysis is on point, well done. Singing and playing bass are fluently in tempo. One observation I have is about your breathing: Chopin’s phrasing often comes with the necessity to breathe mid-way through a phrase. The way you move into new phrases is loyal to the bass line but with a bit more time you could take more natural/longer breaths between sections. Deeper breaths would make your phrasing more elegant. Same applies to high notes - when Chopin reaches to the high D in m15, measure your breath support level and make sure you can reach it in RH and voice with natural dynamic support - the hand playing should reflect a voice with ample breath support. I suggest exploring the beauty and nuance of different lengths of phrasing, slurs, and how they can be shown by your singing.
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Hi, this is a bit of the Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1.
Please correct whatever mistakes I made (also where the ???) is.My voice is not in good shape right now, I know the rhythms and pitches are wrong in some places.
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springgrass good start, you're using your upper tessitura and following the melody's direction. Next steps: a bit more specific in tone on the 8th, 16th, and 32nd notes (m. 2, 4, 6, 7-8) - practice singing slowly and carefully, with attention to the upward or downward flow of the line. This will give you a lyrical inflection when you play. Keep working - your singing is great!
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Hello there!
I did a beginner-level harmonic analysis on the central part of Fantasie-Impromptu op.66.
Please correct my mistakes! Thank you!
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Letizia only comment is to approach some chords like m. 55-56 as applied dominants, when bass motion indicates a cadence (B-flat to E-flat = V7 of ii, labelled V7 ---> ii or V7/ii). Using a Roman Numeral label that shows how harmonies are related to the next chord helps us think about phrasing and performance.
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Hi - here's my submission for week 2 assignments.
Sing the bass root of the chords (in treble register ...) https://youtu.be/OHvOOG8tPic
Hands together https://youtu.be/kGLhghbwQv0
And labelled breath markings
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It is really quite a soothing piece - I will definitely work through the entire piece after this TWI :-)
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PS: I just realised the zoom catch up was posted at the top so only got a chance to watch it and didn't realise you wanted also to have the bass sung while playing both hands. Will see if I will have time this weekend to try and get another recording, though this will be quite a challenge for my brain to multitask playing and singing the bass at the same time.
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Priya Viseskul great work on this, it's great you'll work through the entire piece. Breathing work and bass singing paid off. Next steps when you play soprano and sing bass: (1) more sound in RH to help give the bass a reason to rise and fall; (2) think of the deepest sound your piano can produce and listen to it the moment you strike the bass note - this will tell you about the harmonic colour and help you sustain it in your imagination as you play. Then, the next task is to sing bass line while playing both hands. Great work!
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Jarred Dunn second attempts :-)
Soprano with sung Bass https://youtu.be/MkuyeJzCP7M ... I played only the top line and try to shape it better, and let the bass swelled up and down more
Both hands with sung Bass https://youtu.be/YfExmwTs9pE ... tried to shape the lines more and be a little more confidence with the singing
...I think singing the bass in treble while trying to listen to the actual bass is a bit of a challenge ... like, I'm not sure if I hear or treat them as being the same or separate things ... though I guess the singing is there to guide the shape, depth and intensity of the bass line. It has been an interesting exercise for sure, and that I should try to sing out the lines more when working through each piece
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Priya Viseskul You are right - singing guides shape, depth, and intensity of the bass. In your video of hands together + singing bass your voice sustains, rises, and falls with the long notes always shaped. The direction of your bass line is always clear. Compare your two videos: the second has the more natural, lilting, singing melody because you're singing the bass as you play the whole structure. Your RH moves comfortably between chords and the melody voices/balances more easily. Good work.
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Jarred Dunn Thank you so much for the feedbacks and this amazing TWI
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Priya Viseskul thanks for joining! Great work and happy future studies! Hope you keep playing.
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