Week 3: Progress Check!
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 3?
1. Let's share how our practice is going by posting a video, or writing some comments about our past week!
2. Practice your piece!
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It's been an interesting week! My teacher gave me two new pieces last week, so everything I'm playing is fairly new. I didn't spend as much time on the challenge piece because of the other new pieces. But, here is the Prelude with my attempt at playing it confidently, self-assured, and in an extroverted manner. I'm mostly satisfied with it - there are a couple of spots that I want to even out somewhat, and I'd like to bring out the subtle dynamic changes a little more. And also the Gigue, which I do have mostly memorized (and yes, I'm playing it with my eyes closed - it was just easier that way!) with only one small memory lapse in the middle. I'd like to increase the speed just a bit, and sharpen up a couple of spots, but I'm ok with where it is right now. For next week, I want to play the two sections of this one piece back to back.
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Judy Kuan Thanks, Judy. For me, closing my eyes allows me to focus more on the sound and the "feel" of the keys under my fingers. Last fall, in an effort to help me become more comfortable with the topography of the keyboard, my teacher encouraged me to close my eyes and learn that I could trust that I knew where things were. I found that once I knew a piece fairly well, that closing my eyes made it easier to play from memory because I coud hear it better. The problem when I close my eyes is that I'm not watching my right wrist and can't feel/see that it's dropping so much - so, there's a trade off, and I usually keep my eyes open during practice in order to keep some awareness on my wrist.
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Marc M Thanks much, Marc. This "Prelude & Gigue" was written in the early 21st century by Keith Snell. It's in the little repertoire book my teacher had me buy.
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Michelle R ah! That makes sense!
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Michelle R Well done, Michelle! The prelude is formed very nicely and the Gigue felt like it had the correct spirit.
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Michelle R I love your little rubato in the first one. You have the light, playful touch that serves the piece perfectly. And also a great feeling for the gigue. It DOES help to close our eyes sometimes!
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Sindre Skarelven Thanks so much, Sindre. It took me a little while to learn how to play the Prelude without tension, and I think working through that really helped me to find a good way into the piece.
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Gail Starr Thank you, dear Gail. "Playful" was another word my teacher tossed in my direction regarding this piece. I'm glad you think I pulled that off!! I actually used my God-daughter's laugh (we have regular playdates, and she thinks I'm funny, so we laugh a lot together) as an inspiration for the Prelude. It seems to have worked.
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Michelle R Thanks for explaining. It sounds like a very thoughtful approach that works well for you! I'm curious to test it out on a couple of other pieces I'm working on (*not* this Scriabin lol)
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Michelle R I didn't know these two pieces. They sounds pretty and lively. Thanks for introducing them.
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Michelle R We ALL need more laughter in our lives!
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Here’s where it is now!
https://youtu.be/BaJLUzWYTVEPiano may sound different because I moved the mics farther from the strings a bit. I have it memorized hands separately, although towards the end I still get stuck putting the hands together. The second to last chord is funny…basically a C major chord with a B in the bass, haha.
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Marc M That was truly lovely, Marc. I appreciated the tenderness with which you played.
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Marc M it's flowing very nicely. Makes me want to investigate Scriabin. Good work.
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Marc M Beautifully played! A very interesting piece for sure.
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Marc M Love the soft, dreaming quality. Well played :)
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Marc M Sounding great, both musically and sound/mic-quality-wise! That last cadence is so interesting, thanks for pointing it out. (ps I've been taking notes on your mic set-up - it's on my list of summer projects to improve my set-up!)
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Marc M wow what a beautiful piece and you play with such grace and tranquility in this it sounds absolutely stunning! I also like the new mic placement
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Marc M I told you, beautiful tone to this gorgeous piece of Scriabin, you've done it!
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Marc M That was gorgeous! I'm really loving this piece!
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Marc M Great job with phrasing, mics and memory!
Do you memorize each hand separately?
And no more pink socks, LOL!
(PS: Do you have a Garmin watch?)
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Marc M It sounds beautiful. I'll definitely look into this piece too.
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Heng-Pin Chen Sindre Skarelven Juan Carlos Olite Andrea LeVan Judy Kuan Priya Viseskul Vidhya Bashyam Randi Michelle R Thanks everyone! You are all very kind.
I'm still tweaking mic setup. I think I found something that captures a bit more bass and has a better "stereo image" (I think that's what the sound engineers call it, haha). Will share in the next video. Mic placement is a big time sink, haha.
Gail Starr These days I memorize hands together for music that's easy enough, but where things get tricky I do hands separate first. And yes, that's a garmin watch. It's big but I like it.
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Marc M I'm doing hands separately for my new Debussy that I started last night. I normally haven't done that before, but it is SUPER useful!
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I've gotten through the first 2 pages of K545 2nd movement. Please excuse the wrong note in the wrong place.
At least I got it right the second time I played the phrase. 
Next I'll tackle page 3.
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Randi Yay! Fantastic work on this, Randi! I'm looking forward to hearing page 3.
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