Blog of the Perpetual Seeker

Monday, February 09, 2009

Session #65

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I first worked on the piano concerto. I went through the beginning quickly, fixing minor mistakes, but otherwise I wanted to continue on with the second half.

So, I finally got past the 32^nd notes, and into the fast part right before those octave runs. I don’t even have a guess as to the page, so don’t ask, but I know it’s between 10-18, probably around 14-15. I guess that’s a guess.

Anyway, I was having trouble with parts of that, specifically with keeping my hand relaxed, and with some of the jumps in the left hand, after it ascends and then comes back to the bottom. It didn’t go too badly, but it still needs work.

Then, I went into the octaves, but didn’t work on them much, mostly just getting to the descending chords in both hands after the octaves are done. I worked on that transition a bit, and then worked through those descending chords. I have a bit of trouble with those.

Finally, I worked on those arpeggios a bit starting around page 18, as well as going into that cadenza. That is a little better.

• Time: 08:12:27 AM-08:51:01 AM
• Length: 0:37:10
• Focus: Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22: 1. Andante sostenuto
• Average session: 0:31:40
• Session trend: 0:27:08

Session #66

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Next, I worked on that piano ensemble piece.¹ I feel so embarrassed playing this piece, because it really doesn’t sound that great by itself. I mean, I like it because it sounds cool, but it’s just not that great or difficult of a piece. Nonetheless, I put it on my practice schedule, and so figured I should at least try to practice it a little. It was really hard practicing it for 30 minutes, especially while imagining everyone wondering what on earth I was playing.

Someone walked in on me while practicing this, because I had stolen their practice ^room2. There are certain pieces you don’t mind people walking in on you while playing, such as the piano concerto, but this is not one of those pieces. Oh well.

Anyway, I fixed the minor issues I found. There was actually a small issue with a shift in the right hand at the end, jumping from D and G down to A-Bb-C#-D³. Also, near the end, before it has those dotted 8^ths, the right hand has G, A, G, F, E, D, E-C#. Usually I took that D with finger 3, but since I had to reach down for the E, I decided to take the D with 4. Well, that was turning out to be a little choppy, so I worked on making that smoother.

Besides that, I just worked through everything in general, making sure it was all correct and without error.

• Time: 11:18:43 AM-11:44:18 AM
• Length: 0:25:37
• Focus: Piano Ensemble
• Average session: 0:31:34
• Session trend: 0:26:59

Session #67

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I next worked on the Brahms Rhapsody. This was right before lunch, so only spent 10 minutes on it, but I figured it was better than nothing.

I actually got a good bit accomplished. Everything is a lot better than I would expect, seeing as I haven’t played it seriously for about 9 months. I did relearn it, but I really haven’t practiced it seriously. All the jumps are still mostly in tact, though, which is great because I put a lot of work into those.

I don’t know how to describe where I stopped. It’s right before the left hand has the octaves and octave jumps and the right hand has a bunch of chords. It is building up to that F major scale.

• Time: 11:45:29 AM-11:56:20 AM
• Length: 0:10:51
• Focus: Brahms: Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1
• Average session: 0:31:16
• Session trend: 0:25:22

Session #68

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Forgetting that I had more Brahms to practice, I went into practicing arpeggios.

• C:
  • Diminished 7^th: 96-104
  • Dominant 7^th: 88-100

The diminished at 104 was slightly unstable, though a lot better than my attempt at D major at 104 on Saturday.

• Time: 01:29:56 PM-01:44:55 PM
• Length: 0:14:59
• Focus: Arpeggios
• Average session: 0:31:01
• Session trend: 0:24:20

Session #69

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Next, I did arpeggios again, to finish off the short session earlier.

• C#:
  • Diminished 7^th: 96
  • Dominant 7^th: 80-96

I mostly worked on the dominant 7^th, because that gave me the most trouble. I just could not get that right for some reason. However, once I started getting it, I was able to go faster rather easily. It was much more difficult to play it at 96, though, so we’ll see how that goes.

• Time: 04:05:34 PM-04:22:02 PM
• Length: 0:16:29
• Focus: Arpeggios
• Average session: 0:30:49
• Session trend: 0:23:33

Session #70

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I remembered about the Rhapsody, so decided to finish the other half of that session. I started where I had left off earlier.

I did the end of the main part a few times. The jumps were a little more rusty than in the beginning, but I got them without too much trouble.

I then did the slower section, trying to make it as melodic as possible, as my piano teacher always emphasized so much. I’m not really sure if it was successful or not, though it sounded good to me.

The pedal sounded a little less pronounced than when I used to play it, but I think Mrs. S told me to change it on each beat, so that’s what I was doing.

• Time: 04:27:22 PM-04:45:32 PM
• Length: 0:18:11
• Focus: Brahms: Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1
• Average session: 0:30:38
• Session trend: 0:23:01

Statistics

• Time practiced: 2:03:17
• Total time practiced: 35:44:21
• Sessions: 6
• Average session: 0:20:33
• Longest session: 0:37:10 in session #65
• Average time per day: 0:48:44
• Time per day trend: 1:01:19
• Average sessions per day: 1.59
• Sessions per day trend: 2.37
• Estimates:
  • This week (week #7):
    • Time: 7:11:30
    • Sessions: 21
  • This month (February):
    • Time: 29:45:50
    • Sessions: 75
  • This year (2009):
    • Time: 299:43:18
    • Sessions: 587

Notes 
1. I have no idea what it is called yet, so I’m just calling it piano ensemble for now. I’ll find out on Thursday, and update the categories and the practice schedule appropriately. 
2. I had scheduled it, so I wasn’t budging. 
3. No idea if those are sharps or flats, so I am guessing, per usual.

Similar Posts:

• Practice Journal: Day #38
• Practice Journal: Day #36
• Practice Journal: Day #26
• Practice Journal: Day #43
• Practice Journal: Day #31

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Tags: Music, practice

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under 1. Andante sostenuto, Arpeggios, Camille Saint-Saëns, Johannes Brahms, Music, Piano, Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 22, Pieces, Practice Journal, Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1, Technique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.