Week 2: Getting into the Practice!

I'm playing a piece by Zdenek Fibich op 41 no 4 entitled Poem...It has a lot of crescendos and diminuendos with rubato...just like real love...for my wife of 40 years...conrad

(Transcription of the Adagio from Rachmaninoff's Symphony no.2)

- What feels easier than you expected?

Learning the text! I know I complained a lot about this step because I find it the least pleasant one, but I'm glad it's behind me now.

- What’s proving more difficult or stubborn?

Since this is a transcription of instruments with sustained tones to the piano, I find myself pushing on the keys after hitting them, as if I could still manipulate the sound after the key has been struck! I have to keep reminding myself to release the pressure to a minimum as soon as I hit each key!

Another surprise challenge, since this is such a romantic piece, is that I sometimes struggle to contain the emotions! I have been playing mostly virtuosic music over the past year, so it has been a long time that I haven't played something that hits closer to home. Even though this is no programmatic music, I can't help but think of an extra-musical meaning, and to me this is a piece about saying goodbye to an impossible love. This takes me very far from the notes, and then I suddenly forget where I am in the piece! Oh well, it's still just week 2, I'll get there eventually. And btw, I'm not sure I made that up, the thing about the idea of saying goodbye / letting go. I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere that it was the meaning that the composer intended for this piece. And no, it's not Eric Carmen's (in)famous song "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" that is incidentally quoting this piece 😂! (Although I have nothing against Mr. Carmen😆.) I just remember it was from an article, perhaps online. Maybe someone can confirm from a biography or other source? 

Chopin Prelude in A (opus 28 no. 7)

What feels easier than expected? Putting hands together

What's proving more difficult or stubborn? Soft dynamics and voicing LH

One clear goal for this week: Complete learning of RH, especially the double 6th sections (maintaining relaxation, working on "thumb-thumb" paintbrush action, etc.)

Rachmaninoff Elegie op 3 no 1 - I just about finished working out the fingering and those hand crossings/redistribution on the last page, so the practice this week will be mostly to get a handle on the final page esp the dramatic descending thirds ending.

So far, the soft, double passage in the middle was much easier than I had anticipated, and the big passage that follows is slowly sinking in now after a bit of deconstructing the patterns on LH.

Hope to find time to record and share a snippet this weekend.

Mendelssohn-Hensel: Melodie op.4 no2

What feels easier than you expected?

- Playing middle layer/ accompaniment with both hands. 

What’s proving more difficult or stubborn?

- Left hand needs to jump after bass note and play middle layer accompaniment. 

What’s one clear goal you want to focus on this week?

- I need to get to know the piece more. Listen to recordings and make notes on my score: how good recordings do articulation, ideas of rubato, dynamics. 

I'm learning Scriabin's Op. 11 No. 11. It's a passionate prelude that starts with big minor vibes (obsessively returning C# in the base) and ending in B major, after an extended B pedal section.

The left hand in the piece is rather wild and is constantly traveling up and down three octaves playing chords with extensions in an unusual pattern, usually at p and occasionally at pp or ppp.

My plan: Focus on the left hand, getting it count-able and up to speed, and learn to sing the melody and counter melodies while playing it. Then add the right hand.  Challenge so far: learning the left hand has been going slow. It's not easy to get it into muscle memory. But I'm getting there! There are certain elements that are easier than they look, namely, the left hand's eighth notes on beats 4, 5, and 6. They're often played with the thumb, so making them stand out is natural. 

I'll focus on finishing the left hand this week. We'll see if I can! Might be hard if I want to also do the Two Week Intensive I found out about yesterday. 😅

To give a flavor of the challenge of the piece, here's an excerpt. 

I'm learning "Kind im Einschlummern" by Robert Schumann. I love it so much!

1. Easier than I expected:
   - playing very soft dynamics, especially in the bass
2. Proving more difficult or stubborn:
   - playing with fluency/even tone and playing longer lines
3. Spots that keep pulling my attention:
   - measures 17 - 20 (a lot of tied notes)
   - measures 21 - 24 (RH taking over briefly for LH)
4. One clear goal for this week:
   - shaping m. 1 - 8
   - slow practice m. 17 - 24; be clear where the melody is

Traumerei-

What feels easy- The writing style. It is unique but makes sense and is very pianistic.

Stubborn- Focus, I'm working on scriabin op 11 with my teacher and have my own piano things for my job so I just haven't had all the time to work and sit with this piece. I have up until the first repeat and the ending. I need to find better practice habits to be efficient with my Piano workload.

Pulling my attention- Well the most obvious thing is the quarter note=100 in my henle urtext edition. This seems to be not the best tempo and after some research it is entirely possible Schumann did not mean 100bpm. Most great recordings of this piece are quite slow. I've been phrasing it weird and kind of trying new things with it. I am definitely playing it too fast but I am having fun with it. For example during the eighth note passages at the end of measures I am slightly rushing them just playing around with rubato to find how I would like to interpret it. 

One clear goal this week- Whole piece under fingers.

• What feels easier than you expected?

 - Nothing!  Absolutely nothing

1) Faschingsschwank aus Wien: Fantasiebilder Op. 26, No. 2 - Romanze, in g minor by Robert Schumann

• What’s proving more difficult or stubborn?

 - Counting.  I am struggling with the rhythm of the triplet within the main motif.  Seems straightforward but the tempo is slow and this becomes a challenge for me.

• Are there any spots that keep pulling your attention?

 - In addition to nailing the triplet rhythm there is one spot that has a ritardando written in three bars in a row.  It's very hard to feel confident that I'm returning to the original tempo each time and how.

• What’s one clear goal you want to focus on this week?

 - I want to come to some conclusion on how I want to interpret this Romanze.

2) Bunte Blätter Op. 99, No. 10 - Präludium in b-flat minor by Robert Schumann

• What’s proving more difficult or stubborn?

 - Working out the fingering

• Are there any spots that keep pulling your attention?

 - In bars 1 & 3 some stretches of a 10th in the RH are proving to be a challenge.

• What’s one clear goal you want to focus on this week?

 - Slow practice / learn the notes

3) Wandererfantasie Op. 15 - Adagio in c-sharp minor by Franz Schubert

• What’s proving more difficult or stubborn?

 - Starting out too fast.  This is essentially a theme and nine variations roughly.  If you don't think about the ending variations and what is possible there this creates a problem because it is so easy to start too fast.  Figuring that out and setting the metronome for that is the only way I can judge the correct beginning tempo.

• Are there any spots that keep pulling your attention?

 - Oh yes!  There are plenty of challenges in the first three pages but I have made good progress there.  The last five pages will keep my attention for a long, long time.  A few pages have two full lines for each bar.  Not sure I've ever seen something like this before.  It is really a stunning masterpiece of mathematics disguised as heavenly beauty.  

• What’s one clear goal you want to focus on this week?

 - Slow practice of the ending working out more fingering.  Main focus also on the LH work

Hi - I'm new, and this is my first challenge and sharing a recording of any kind.  I chose something pretty short and simple - Field's Nocturne No.5 in B flat major because I have limited time and am not a quick learner.  

What feels easier than expected?  I didn't expect to get my hands around it so easily in a week.  It's been pretty easy to learn.

What's proving difficult?  Randomly hitting wrong notes.  There's no specific difficult passages - I just seem to always go to a few wrong notes, so I am trying to think harmonically and do some slow, focused practice.

One clear goal for this week?  Do at least three "practice recordings", so I can listen and look for ways to improve, as well as feel less anxiety when I hit record!