Week 2: Getting into the Practice!
Week 1 was about choosing your piece and getting your bearings.
This week, we settle in and actually live with the music a bit.
As you practice, start paying attention to your first honest reactions.
A few prompts to get you thinking (and sharing below!)
- What feels easier than you expected?
- What’s proving more difficult or stubborn?
- Are there any spots that keep pulling your attention?
- What’s one clear goal you want to focus on this week?
No need for polished thoughts or solutions. Early observations are incredibly valuable, and chances are others are noticing the same things.
Share a few lines below about how it’s going so far. If you want, feel free to post a short clip or a marked-up score too.
Happy Practicing!
56 replies
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Some unexpected difficulties leading to realizations here. Practicing a slow piece forces me to double-check my technique. Things that are done automatically in fast pieces are now scrutinized on a more precise level, and this led me to question the pertinence of each little motion. Sure enough, some of those motions that I made needed optimization, slight adjustments in my overall technique. This reminds me of some of those terrible lessons at the conservatory where my teacher would sometimes spend the entire lesson fixing how I played the first bar of a piece.
A pleasant surprise is how much this helps me achieve better control in fast pieces as well. Almost a paradigm shift! I really appreciate this challenge!
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Suggested Tonebase lessons for improving 3rds? Working on a second, more modern, and I think could be considered Romantic, piece, Bluebird by Alexis Ffrench which has some 3rds.
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The most annoying thing im dealing with in liebestraum 3 so far is that it is the first piece I've worked on where so many bass notes are just about a whole step away from my normal fingerspan, which also starts happening alongside two tricky uppervoices. The big octave jumps in the climax is a bit easier than expected. I think this is because I am fresh off chopin 25. 1.
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I'm learning Water Lily from Edward MacDowell's Woodland Sketches.
Reading the 3 staves is easier than I expected - except getting the hand positions right coming back up from the lower octaves is taking a long time to really establish. (I'm in my 70s and don't practice for long periods at a time)
The 1st two bars of the last line are taking a long time to establish as well. it's not a technical issue, just the 5#s!
it's all pulling my attention - getting the fingering right all through, and musical issues too. I'm not sure how long to keep the accel up - right through to the rit or just to the 2/2. Any ideas?
I want to work on getting the ondeggiantamente - wavy - 'dreamy, swaying rhythm'.
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