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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Here's my Week 3 progress for Scriabin Opus 8 Number 12. I'm comfortable playing and practicing without the score now, and am able to find my way back from memory slips.
I called in a lifeline (lesson with my teacher this weekend) and am curious what magic fairy dust he has to offer this time... I'm *certain* he will want more sound
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Judy Kuan I am amazed at your ability to learn AND memorize SO fast! How'd your lessons turn out?
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Thank you for your kind comments! Gail Starr Juan Carlos Olite Andrea LeVan Marc M Vidhya Bashyam Jack vreeland Sindre Skarelven Michelle R
I did have my lesson this afternoon, and my teacher had a lot of helpful feedback on technique (e.g., let the RH octaves fly like how he taught me for Chopin's Revolutionary etude), rhythm (e.g., rolling the LH was throwing off the RH), phrasing (where I was unintentionally accenting), and where people (Horowitz etc) tend to take down the volume to give room to regrow.
The thing he said that resonated the most, was that it's the struggle of the large intervals & leaps that gives the "Patetico", and that you just have to go all out for this piece to give it that intensity. (And to your guys' point, many live performances have many wrong notes - there's definitely a tradeoff!) So yeah, a lot of work this week on the digital piano so I don't deafen myself and the neighbors...
It definitely helped to have the piece memorized in advance of our lesson so we could do some deeper work on it. I am usually a slow learner, so he was surprised. Another reason that I have much appreciation for this month's challenge and everyone's hard work as inspiration!
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Judy Kuan Great feedback- thanks for sharing with us all! I also agree that these challenges are amazing and we are somehow able to do together what we struggle with doing on our own (I am a super slow learner left on my own!)
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Judy Kuan The whole picture is there, very nice playing!
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Judy Kuan Your teacher had really great suggestions. Now that I’ve given it some thought, maybe it DOES make sense to throw caution to the wind in this piece, and just FLY. No one cares about wrong notes when the overall effect is brilliant!
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Here's my progress on Debussy Golliwog's Cakewalk. Still rough on the edges and not quite secured in the fingers yet. I have been working more on the middle section in the past week, hoping get the lazy summer, cheesy "Tom and Jerry" kind of vibe ... I think I can stretch the cheese further, and more dynamic contrast.
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Priya Viseskul So much progress! Really sounds lively and I do get the Tom & Jerry vibe for sure!
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Priya Viseskul Great playing, Priya! Definitely feeling the playfulness of this piece! I completely agree, that middle section is so awesome with those contrasting themes!
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Priya Viseskul This is fantastic, Priya! So much fun to listen to.
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Priya Viseskul Awesome…it’s sounding natural now!
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Priya Viseskul delightful, love cheese! So much character, you're doing great!
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Priya Viseskul wow you’ve come along way in such a short amount of time!!! I love the light, fun, and playfulness of this piece…..excellent!!!
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Priya Viseskul Great playing for a playful piece! So much progress!
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Priya Viseskul
Wow! It's really got a great flavor now. Great job! -
Priya Viseskul Yes, here comes the cakewalk! Great job!
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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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Michelle R I’m not familiar with either piece, but it looks like you’re nearly ready! Your tone on the gigue is perfect.
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Michelle R those are both sounding pretty good!
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Michelle R These are both sounding great! Lively and happy pieces. They were a such pleasure to listen to!
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Michelle I love your touch
They both sound lovely -
Michelle R Both are sounding great! I'm curious - is it easier for you to play with eyes closed because you can see the score in your head? Or that it's easier to focus on the sound? I ask because playing "blindfolded" is one of the ways I test/challenge my knowledge of the piece, rather than to make things easier
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Michelle R awesome job Michelle!!! And you really did NOT look nervous at all in either of those videos…..even though we feel the sheer terror on the inside it’s amazing that we can still look so relaxed on the outside
Kudos!!! -
Michelle R Sounds beautiful, Michelle!
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Randi Vidhya Bashyam Priya Viseskul Juan Carlos Olite Thank you all so much for listening!
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Andrea LeVan Thanks Andrea! It's not really about nervousness. My teacher wants me to play confidently - he wants the music to come out of its shell, which means he wants me to come out of my shell. A request that I chuckle at because of how my name could be pronounced....
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