Practice Journal: Day #6

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Statistics

Time practiced: 2:05:00
Time practiced this week: 3:53:00
Average time practiced per day this week: 0:58:15
Average session length this week: 0:46:36
Total time practiced: 7:36:00 in 11 days
Average time practiced per day: 0:41:27
Average session length: 0:45:36

Session #9

Time: 8:37 PM-9:35 PM
Length: 58 minutes

Technique

I first worked on scales, to warm up a bit.

C major, C natural minor, C melodic minor, and C harmonic minor were all played at 96 BPM. It seemed that once I was able to play one, they all followed rather easily.

C# major was played at96. C# natural and melodic minor were played at 92. C# harmonic minor was played at 84.

I think all of the D scales were played at 80.

Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in E major, K.380/L.23/P.483: Andante comodo

I mostly just tried to run through the piece a bit.

In the beginning part, measures 5-8, I’m still trying to improve that trill in the left hand. It is somewhat hit or miss.

In measure 9, it sounds in the recording like the B holds for the full value, and then they hit a very short E, then jump up to the octave. So I tried to take the E with finger 3, so I could be able to do that. I just have to get used to it.

There really weren’t too many other major problems.

Rachmaninoff: Polichinelle in F-sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 4

This piece seems to be going a lot better.

I practiced a lot on those arpeggios, such as in measures 30-35, 50-58, and 121-130. I feel like they are going a bit better, though they are still not perfect. I’m a little better at hitting the F# when descending.

Then I worked on measures 107-117, which also needs a lot of work. I’m still having trouble, though. For instance, in the second half of the third beat of measure 113, I keep missing the bottom E, despite the new fingering I assigned it.

I’m getting better with those octave jumps in measures 124-125. I’m still not perfectly confident with them, but I’m hitting them more times than not, at least.

That middle section, measures 59-91, is a bit difficult. I’m trying to make it very melodic, bringing out the accented notes, and not bringing out so much the non-accented ones. It still needs a bit of work.

Measures 86, 90, and 91 are going better. I was having trouble hitting the D when coming down, but that’s getting better.

Session #10

Time: 9:38 PM-10:45 PM
Length: 67 minutes

Technique

I worked on arpeggios, including the C, C#, and D diminished and dominant 7th arpeggios.

I think I was able to do C diminished and dominant 7th at 96. C# diminished was 92, and C# dominant was 69. I’m not so good at that one. D diminished and dominant were also 69.

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22: 1. Andante sostenuto

I played through the whole piece, making sure it was presentable for my piano lesson the next day.

The run in the beginning was actually a little difficult today. When it starts to ascend again, my hands were not playing together. So I had to work that out.

The arpeggio wasn’t so great on the Steinway, as it was at home. Oh well. I worked on that a while, and made some definite progress.

Not too much else to report with this. Everything that was usually difficult was difficult. Although, I did do a little better with the arpeggios at the end of the movement.