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Lesson Journal: Lesson #25

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009

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I had learned a lot of my the other day, so wanted to have a lesson to make sure I had learned it accurately, and to learn more.

She said she was busy, but should be able to see me in the morning. So I had a lesson at 8:00.

We went over what I learned myself, and it was mostly accurate. There were a few things that needed fixed here and there, especially with staccatos and such since the notation I was using to learn it didn’t mark the staccatos, but overall it was pretty accurate.

I’m not sure exactly which measure I got up to, but it was around 41 or 42 probably. It was right after those Ab’s repeated.

We continued on though, well into the third page. I got through one of my favorite parts at measure 58 where it says quasi tambour or something like that.

Nothing was really very difficult, nor hard to memorize, so I was happy about that.

I’m not sure whether I’ll learn more this weekend or not. Either way, I have another lesson on Monday.

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Posted in Claude Debussy, Debussy: Preludes, Debussy: Preludes Book I, Debussy: Preludes Book I, No. 12: Minstrels, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces | No Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #23

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

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The lesson was on Tuesday instead of Monday, because I was at Seven Springs yesterday.

We got a bit of a late start, because we were talking about my Seven Springs trip, the goat, possibly returning to Duquesne, and my lesson next Monday, which will be at a different time, since it is Memorial Day. If you want to skip past all of the friendly conversation in the recording, I actually start playing around 7:20.

I learned 9 measures today. Not as much as last week, but still pretty good.

I wasn’t happy with how I played the prelude on her piano. It was very hard to voice and bring out the melody, and to play softly when required. Hopefully I can work on phrasing and such more this week. Still she said it seemed fast enough, so that’s very good news.

I was a bit confused with measure 15, but then we got back into the melody, albeit transposed, in measure 16. I did have to review a lot to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I can probably stop doing that so much, since I will now have a recording of each lesson.

I really love measures 21-23, but I’m not really sure how to play measures 22-23, as far as dynamics are concerned. I know there’s a crescendo around those measures, but then measure 23 pretty much repeats measure 22. I’ll have to find a recording.

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Posted in Felix Mendelssohn, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces, Practice Journal, Prelude in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1 | 1 Comment »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #22

Monday, May 11th, 2009

I forgot my recorder again, so don’t have a recording of this unfortunately.

I had my lesson at 8:00 AM this morning. She seemed impressed that I did so well with remembering those measures and speeding them up. It was obviously a lot better than when I left last week.

I learned 10 measures today (measures 5-14), which is 2 and a half times more than last week. I must be getting used to memorizing again.

It is hard because there are so many notes, and so many small changes. The melody is easy to memorize, but then there are the supporting notes in both hands above and below that melody. There are 8 notes in every single beat, without a rest, so I suppose that’s really 320 notes I learned today.

It went pretty well, though, and I was happy with myself that I memorized that much. She was saying how she’s told other students about me and how I’m able to memorize so much, because many of her students just won’t memorize for recitals and such.

I did get confused on measure 14, though. Well it was beat 4 of measure 13 and beat 2 of measure 14, because I knew they were very similar but couldn’t remember the difference in the right hand in both. However, I called her and asked about it. Well she wasn’t there when I called this morning, but she called me back at 11:30, and I was able to ask her about those notes then.

Below is the recording of me asking her about the notes in measures 13-14 and her looking it up for me.

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Incidentally, the right hand in beat 4 of measure 13 is C#-E-G-B, while the right hand in beat 2 of measure 14 is C#-E#-G#-B. As you can see, they are very similar (only the two notes in the middle are sharped).

That was the only thing I had trouble remembering, though, though obviously I have to work on getting more comfortable with it, playing it perfectly, and playing it faster.

 

So now we are on the second page of the piece, apparently. I’m very happy with my progress today.

I will try to remember my recorder next week! It really helps me to learn faster when I have it, since I can go back and review if I forget anything. Then I don’t have to call her to look up notes for me, lol. :P

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Posted in Felix Mendelssohn, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces, Prelude in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1 | 2 Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #21

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Monday, May 4, 2009

I am continuing my lesson journal. I only posted up to lesson #19, but had a recording from lesson #20, so will continue from there. I am certain I had at least one or two after that, but I can’t remember how many, and have no documentation of it.

Now that I am at home, I had to decide whom I wanted to have piano lessons with. I have two piano teachers I occasionally saw at home. The first was the one I had originally, from the time I was 5, until I was 10 or 11. her name is Elizabeth. The second was the one I went to after that, from 11 or so, onward. Her name is Sarah. However, when I was home on break, I often went between both of them, depending on how each of their schedules were. I decided to go with Sarah. She doesn’t charge as much, and I just can relate to her better.

So I scheduled my lesson for Monday at 8:00 AM.

It went rather well. I had no plan for what I wanted to work on, so asked her to try to come up with some pieces for me. She came up with Mendelssohn, Prelude in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1. She played the beginning of it for me, and I really liked it. It is very fast and obviously challenging. I hoped for something that was challenging enough so that I had to work at it and continue to improve, but not so much that I had to tie myself to the piano, since this is only for enjoyment now. Plus, it has a Fugue, obviously, and I’ve been wanting to learn a Fugue. They are so unique and challenging, but I have just never gotten through one.

So we started. I was a little worried I would have trouble since it’s been over a month since I have had a lesson or even touched a piano. I didn’t learn as much as I would have wanted to, but still I was happy with myself. I learned 4 measures, but they were mostly 32nd notes alternating between both hands.

It was really funny after we learned the first measure in a few minutes (it was just inverted E-minor arpeggios). She commented that with any of her other students, it would take weeks to have them play that so easily, and said it was really nice to have me back. :D Of course, that made me happy.

The hard part was following the melody. Both hands have alternating 32nd note arpeggios, but in the right hand, and occasionally the left, there is one certain voice that is the melody. I was just trying to memorize the notes, never mind get the melody, but still it was important for remembering everything.

It took several repetitions to have it sink in satisfactorily, since I hadn’t brought my recorder, and really didn’t want to forget any of it after I left. However, I played it a few times through when I got home, and it was securely in memory.

I am glad to be back to the piano and to piano lessons. This seems like a very nice piece to start back with, too.

I will start posting recordings of my piano lessons starting next week. It is definitely useful to keep recordings of them, so that I don’t have to be afraid of forgetting anything.

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Posted in Felix Mendelssohn, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces, Prelude in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1 | No Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #19

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Unfortunately, when I walked out of this lesson, I realized I had forgotten to record it. Oh well.

Honestly, I almost canceled this lesson. I hadn’t practiced nearly as much as I should have, and I had this nagging guilt that I wasn’t doing what she had asked, namely to practice three hours a day. I have no idea why I fight so much with this, but I felt very unworthy to even go to the lesson.

But I thought about how relentless choir was about absence, and thought lessons surely must be worse, though I had canceled a few last year. So I went down two hours early, as usual, and practiced. I practiced the dominant 7th arpeggios, as well as harmonic and melodic minor scales, and the concerto. I actually did decently I thought, but I knew nothing could replace the many more hours I should have done throughout the week.

Regardless, I walked into my lesson.

We went over my scales at first. I had practiced them all morning, so I was hoping they’d be good. They were decent, but shaky. They were much better than last week, though, so she was happy. In fact, she seemed very happy, which made me happy, too. She said "you must have practiced them a lot." Of course I said yes, but that wasn’t true.

Same went for the arpeggios, though diminished were actually pretty clean.

I still have to work on technique a lot. I have to work dominant up to 104, as it is currently at 100. Most scales are now at 104, but have to be worked up to 112.

She wanted to go over Scarlatti and Rachmaninoff, so we went into those next.

I started with Scarlatti. She was happy with it, but wanted me to work more on dynamics.

On Rachmaninoff, I still need to make that faster, and work on the jumps. Also the ending needs to be cleaner. I slightly butchered the ending.

Finally, we just went into the concerto, from the very beginning.

She was very specific about how she wanted the beginning played, especially that part leading up to the run, and the run itself. I have to work on that a bit.

The parts she said I need to work on the most are those alternating octave runs in both hands, where the right hand chases the left, and also the arpeggios in the middle, per usual. They are coming along rather well, though.

Apparently with the alternating octaves, well I keep playing them together instead. She said to practice them slowly, and to gradually speed up. That’s a good idea, because I also need to relax more when I play them. I’ve had some pain in my left hand that makes me a little nervous, and it acts up when I play this section.

Other than that, things are going pretty well. The ending is still doing pretty well, which I’m very happy about since it is very difficult. I still want to perfect it more, though, and make it even faster.

I walked out of there, asking myself how much better I could be if I practiced as much as I was supposed to. I resolved to make my best effort to actually practice a lot more throughout the upcoming week. I know what I’ve been doing is pathetic at best.

After I meet that goal, I’ll endeavor to practice more than that. I really want to reach 35-40 hours per week eventually. But I have to focus on the minimum, first, I suppose.

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Posted in 1. Andante sostenuto, Arpeggios, Camille Saint-Saëns, Domenico Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonata in E major, K.380/L.23/P.483: Andante comodo, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 22, Pieces, Polichinelle in F-sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 4, Scales, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Technique | 2 Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #7

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Sunday, January 11, 2009

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This was another lesson with J. I continued relearning the Brahms rhapsody, and got through about 27 measures, I think.

As I continue, things are coming back to me more easily, which is why I learned considerably more this time. I haven’t lost all that much technique with this piece, I don’t think, though some of the jumps are rusty.

I want to point out that in the statistics, the total measures learned says 6 lessons instead of 7 because one of those was with my actual piano teacher at college, and I don’t actually learn notes, but instead work on interpretation. I don’t want that to weigh down the average, though.

Statistics

  • Velocity: 27 measures
  • Average velocity: 26 measures
  • Total measures learned: 156 measures in 6 lessons

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Posted in Johannes Brahms, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces, Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1 | No Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #6

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Friday, January 09, 2009

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I wanted to relearn the Brahms rhapsody I had learned about a year and a half ago. It is Brahms, Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1. It is such a beautiful piece, but since I had been away from the piano for several months, I forgot a lot of my repertoire. The judges seemed to really like it at jury last year, and I won an award from that jury, so I tend to attribute it to that piece. :D

So, I got S (the one at home) to copy the piece for me, and picked it up before I came back to college. I brought it to this lesson, and started to relearn it. This lesson was with J, who is the student that reads music to me so I can memorize it.

If I am counting correctly, I think we got through 16 measures, from measures 23-38, or something of that sort. It was coming back pretty easily in some parts. It’s definitely a lot easier to play it initially than it was when I first learned it, because my fingers still seem to remember it a bit.

I also forgot part of the beginning, so part of it was relearning that.

Statistics

  • Velocity: 16 measures
  • Average velocity: 26 measures
  • Total measures learned: 129 measures in 5 lessons

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Posted in Johannes Brahms, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces, Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1 | No Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #5

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Thursday, January 8, 2009

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This was my first piano lesson back at college this semester, with Mrs. S. I was quite nervous about it.

She asked me why I was coming back to music. I explained why I had left, saying I was too tough on myself, and got discouraged, but that I ended up missing the piano after a few months. She gave me a really nice speech saying that there’d be times I would be discouraged, but that I was good at the piano, and had good hands, so should continue on. She said she thinks I made the right decision.

She decided to do the piano concerto, first. Great; that’s the one I’m most nervous about. :P

She said to really make the beginning of it grand, and using a lot of rubato.

That run in the beginning wasn’t bad. She said though to crescendo up to the top, and let the last note ring out. For some reason, I had a lot of trouble with that, probably because I was focusing on trying to play the run accurately. I have to practice that.

The next three rolled chords, well only the left hand is supposed to be rolling, and I was rolling both hands.

Hey, my arpeggio actually went OK! Furthermore, she said to stage it in the beginning, since it is supposed to accelerate. So that gives me time to get settled into the arpeggio.

She was very picky about the phrasing in the slow part that followed. I think I got it, though.

There were a few instances where my  time was a little off, but we worked through that.

And then, yes, the 32nd notes, around page 9 I guess. Those nice descending notes in the right hand. Well I actually did OK on them. Not too fast, but they were accurate. She was impressed with the one part, with all those chords going up and down in the right hand, saying it was a tough part. :D

Then, the part after that. I’m not sure how to describe it, but there are a lot of 32nd notes, then it rapidly ascends the piano. Anyway, I did OK on those. She asked though why I wasn’t playing them faster, and I said I was having trouble on the one that started on the D’s in both hands. Apparently I’m supposed to be playing them as octaves, not as single notes as before. That gives me more time to jump down to the D-Bb-D chord in the left hand.

Next, the octave runs. I love those, and she showed me how to play them better, letting the left hand lead, being loudest. She told me to try playing it fast, and I did. That was cool.

I had some trouble with the transition from those octaves into the descending chords. I didn’t really hit the octave G accurately, then didn’t go directly into those descending chords. She told me to practice that more.

I had a lot of trouble with the arpeggios a few pages later. She thought the left hand was supposed to take more notes, but then saw it was only supposed to take four of them, and the right hand should take the rest.

Then only some minor adjustments; play louder here, much slower there. There was a part near the end that was supposed to be very slow and depressed, I think she said.

Then the end, the toughest part of all. I had a lot of trouble with the two arpeggios, which isn’t helpful when I have to play in time with the orchestra. She said to practice that for hours, because it has to be right on and very accurate. She said I could start a half beat sooner if I had to.

So overall, not too bad, I guess, though the ending poses some difficulties. She reiterated that she wanted me to be in the piano concerto competition in October, and if I won, I would get the chance to play with an orchestra. That would be absolutely amazing, so that is something to work towards. I just hope I can do it. I keep thinking she wouldn’t have given it to me if she didn’t think I could, though.

I know some of my descriptions of the parts were not that good. You should know what I mean though if you listen to the recording. I went in order of what happened in the lesson, to the best of my memory.

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Posted in 1. Andante sostenuto, Camille Saint-Saëns, College, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 22, Pieces | No Comments »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #4

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Time: 12:40 PM-1:39 PM

My lesson was supposed to be at 2:00 today, but around 12:00, E called me and said all the schools were closing due to the ice, and she was canceling all her lessons. I said that I still wanted to come because I only had a page and a half to learn. So she seemed to agree, and I went over at about 12:30. I felt bad, but I really wanted to finish this piece!

So, of course we worked on the Scarlatti piece (Sonata K.380). We started on the third measure of page 4 (measure 52 of the piece), where I only knew the right hand for five measures.

The left hand only had quarter notes, but it was a little difficult because they just seemed rather random. But I got it, with a little work.

After those five measures, I was mostly home-free, because it went back to the primary pattern of the piece; for comparison, see measures 1-3 of page 2 (measures 19-21 of the piece), and measures 13-15 of page 3 (measures 46-48 of the piece). This time, the right hand was playing B and F# instead of F# and C#.

From measure 8 of page 5 (measure 72 of the piece) to the end, it went back to a pattern very similar to measures 1-7 of page 3 (measures 34-40 of the piece). Again it just shifted keys, the left hand was a bit lower, and the left hand didn’t have so many staccatos.

So that ended it, and we were early. We reviewed it, with the remaining time. That was a good thing, since I briefly forgot what the left hand did in measure 8 of page 2 (measure 26 of the piece). Sometimes new material temporarily displaces older material until I secure it better. But I got it, and it seems more secure now.

It really helps when I go through the piece in my mind to try to write down measure numbers, because I have to know it a lot better. That’s something I’ve just started with the Rachmaninoff piece, though with this one, I’m more detailed, as I’m also paying attention to page numbers. Maybe I’ll start paying attention to score lines, too. I do so for those few people who might read this journal, in case you have a copy of the music.

So now, the pieces I was supposed to learn before the beginning of the semester are done. I have no idea how, because I came home with still two pieces to learn. I learned Rachmaninoff in five lessons, and Scarlatti in three.

Tomorrow, I’m going to pick up a copy of Brahms Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79, No. 1. I learned it last year, but with me abandoning the piano for five months, I mostly forgot everything. I really want to relearn it, as that was one of my favorite pieces.

Also coming up should hopefully be the next movement of the Saint-Saëns piano concerto. That makes me nervous though, as I still have to improve a lot on the first.

Statistics

  • Velocity: 24.5 measures
  • Average velocity: 28 measures
  • Total measures learned: 113 measures in 4 lessons

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Posted in Domenico Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonata in E major, K.380/L.23/P.483: Andante comodo, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces | 1 Comment »

Lesson Journal: Lesson #3

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Monday, January 05, 2009

Time: 8:00 AM-9:02 AM

Today’s lesson was with S.

We worked exclusively on Scarlatti, of course, since that’s the only thing left that I need to learn for now. I ended up learning 18 measures hands together, and 5 more measures with only the right hand. For the total measures learned, I’m dividing that 5 by half since I didn’t learn the left hand with it.

So, we started at the top of the third page. Measures 1-7 of that page (measures 34-40 in the piece) were a little difficult for some reason, trying to remember when each hand had staccatos. Sometimes the right hand did and the left hand did not, and sometimes the left hand did and the right hand did not.

But the real challenge was measures 8-11 of the third page (measures 41-44 of the piece). I don’t’ know why, but I just couldn’t remember it all at first. Finally S went to get more coffee, and told me to practice that a few times. I finally was able to remember it without difficulty after about 5 minutes.

I’m not sure why it was hard. Just the way the hands went back and forth and notes held across beats, kind of confused me.

The rest wasn’t that hard. Measures 13-15 on the third page (measures 46-48 of the piece) were a similar pattern to measures 1-3 of the second page (measures 19-21 of the piece).

I’m really hoping I can finish this tomorrow. We should only have about a page and a half to go, I think. I have one more lesson with E tomorrow, before I go back to college.

Statistics

  • Velocity: 20.5 measures
  • Average velocity: 30 measures
  • Total measures learned: 88.5

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Posted in Domenico Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonata in E major, K.380/L.23/P.483: Andante comodo, Lesson Journal, Music, Piano, Pieces | 1 Comment »

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