Blog of the Perpetual Seeker

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Session #215

215.1: Technique: Scales

I decided to work mostly hands-separate on scales today.

I started on C major, and at mm=92, with four notes per beat. I did it hands separate at first, and then hands together after I did the scale with each hand a few times without mistakes.

I slowly increased the metronome, playing hands-separate at each speed, all the way up to 108. I’m surprised I could go that fast, since that was about the speed I was at a few months ago, before I stopped practicing them.

I still wasn’t sure whether it was better to work on speeding up one scale, or to try to get several scales to one speed. I opted to try the former, though.

Statistics

• Time: 07:13:55 PM-07:30:29 PM
• Length: 0:16:35
• Average session: 0:25:02
• Session trend: 0:27:04

Session #216

216.1: Mendelssohn: Prelude in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1

I worked on the first three measures. I thought I’d get through all four, but I did not.

I worked on each measure separately, trying to play it 7 times perfectly before moving on.

Of course the first measure really gave me no problems. I did each hand separately though before putting them together.

The second measure wasn’t too bad, but I wanted to make sure all the notes were even. It is hard to tell when both hands are together and going rather fast, so I separated them and slowed down. That seemed to help a lot.

The third measure was probably the hardest. The second half of beat 4 in the right hand has D#-F#-A#-B (I don’t know if any of those are flats or not, but I’ll go with sharps). For some reason I sometimes play that unevenly.

To try to fix it, I started out playing it very slowly. Then I sped it up, just a few notes at a time. I played D#-F# in succession very fast at first. Then I added the A#, and finally the B. It was going too fast at this point, so I slowed it down a bit. That seemed a lot better.

I had a similar problem in the left hand, in the first half of beat 4. It has D#-F#-A-B. The problem wasn’t as pronounced, but it still was a little uneven. I used the exact same method as in the right hand, and it helped.

After each measure, I played through that measure from the beginning, to put it in context.

This was a very intense practice, but I feel like this method really is helping. It can be frustrating because it points out exactly where you are having trouble. This is the first time in a while I have used this method of playing a part 7 times perfectly.

The trick is to take a passage, and split into sections that you can repeat 7 times perfectly without trouble. You should be able to complete the passage in 15-20 minutes.

I will report how it goes as time continues, but so far I feel pretty good about it.

Statistics

• Time: 07:33:58 PM-07:58:42 PM
• Length: 0:24:45
• Average session: 0:25:02
• Session trend: 0:26:50

Session #217

In the recording, I got confused and say session #216 instead of #217. I lose count sometimes.

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

So, following the example of session #216, I again chose a passage and worked on it part-by-part. I was going to go by measure, but well this section really doesn’t have measures.

I started at the beginning, and worked first until the next time the left hand plays the octave G’s. It plays that three times, so that gave me two small sections to work on. The third section was from the third octave G’s in the left hand, up to the top where the run begins.

That all went very well. I hardly made any mistakes at all, except maybe one. It was strange to do, though, because I had never split this up like that before.

It was useful though, I think. Usually I can only start at certain spots that I have concrete in memory, but not at other parts, because once I start somewhere, my fingers just know where to go but I don’t necessarily remember which notes it is. However, this forced me to remember different sections at a more granular level.

Then I went into that descending run, which was a lot harder. I worked hands separate on that, since they don’t interlace together like they do in the beginning.

In the first section of this run, I played down to the F# in the right hand, before it starts that descending pattern of down-up-down-up, etc. The right hand can go very fast, which is great, and I made very few mistakes.

The left hand is a different story. I moved up the bench for this one, since I knew I’d be up there for a while.

The left hand is nowhere nearly as fast, which disappoints me. So I split it up, by its natural seams, so to speak, where the thumb has to cross under.

The first part was just F# and Eb (I seriously have no idea which is a sharp or flat, but that makes the most sense in terms of a harmonic minor). Then it crosses under to D-C-Bb. So I played both parts separately, then gradually put them together. I played the F#-Eb part, then D-C-Bb. I made the transition faster and faster. It still is not very fast, but is a little better.

Then I worked on the D-C-Bb, and A-G-F#-Eb, using the same method.

Finally, I worked on the transition between A-G-F#-Eb, to D-C-Bb-A.

I did not try to put them all together very much because I just want to work on one transition at a time for now. However I did play the hands together slowly.

Then I worked on the descending pattern after that, hands-separate. The right hand had no problem at all, so that was great.

The left hand had a little more trouble. Though it was accurate most of the time at first, I felt like it was being held together by a thread. So I slowed it down, and tried to get it perfectly. I was then starting to make mistakes, and get frustrated, so I slowed down a lot just to get it right at least a few times.

Then I played hands together, and did the ascending diminished arpeggio, just so as to finish the passage, then resolved with those four chords afterwards, resolving with the G-minor.

I think that if I stick with this method for mastering a passage, it should work. I think it really started to help me today, so I will try it over the next week or so and see how it works.

Statistics

• Time: 08:00:01 PM-08:27:05 PM
• Length: 0:27:06
• Average session: 0:25:03
• Session trend: 0:26:51

Statistics

• Today:
  • Time practiced: 1:08:26
  • Sessions: 3
  • Average session: 0:22:49
  • Longest session: 0:27:06 in session #217
• Total:
  • Time practiced: 90:35:09
  • Average time per day: 0:37:29
  • Time per day trend: 0:40:18
  • Average sessions per day: 1.50
  • Sessions per day trend: 1.48
• Estimates:
  • This week (week #21):
    • Time: 5:02:34
    • Sessions: 13
  • This month (May):
    • Time: 20:05:04
    • Sessions: 44
  • This year (2009):
    • Time: 230:31:32
    • Sessions: 552

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• Practice Journal: Day #66
• Practice Journal: Day #37
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• Practice Journal: Day #58
• Practice Journal: Day #56

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under 1. Andante sostenuto, Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Mendelssohn, Music, Piano, Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 22, Pieces, Practice Journal, Prelude in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1, Scales, 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.