Ken
For our warmup this week, let’s review the C major scale, hands separately. In the RH, fingering is 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5 on the way up, and it’s reverse on the way down. For LH, fingering is 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1 on the way up, and again reverse on the way down.
A Minuet for Mr. Bach’s Children – Pay extra attention to which notes are played with which hand; there are many bars where eighth notes go between the RH and LH. It’s important to follow the fingering and keep the hands in the position they start in – they actually never have to lift in this song!
Mr. Brahms’ Famous Lullaby – Similarly to the previous piece, this one has a lot of back and forth between the hands, so look out for which clef notes are in. There are lots of Bbs in this song – when there is a flat notated, it lasts for the entire bar (so in bar 6 that second B is also flat). As the piece gets more comfortable, start adding in the dynamics.
Steve
See if this week you can get closer to memorizing the sayings for treble clef (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, FACE in the space) and bass clef (Good Birds Don’t Fly Away and All Cows Eat Grass).
My Daydream – This week you can definitely put this piece hands together. No need to go too fast! This piece should actually be a medium tempo. LH please remember your part should also be legato (connected). The very last line is 8va, which means up one octave.
The Clock Strikes Thirteen – In this piece we learned about the crescendo (getting gradually louder) and diminuendo (getting gradually softer). Before putting the hands together, please play each hand by itself so you can practice doing those dynamics a little easier. LH, in the very last 2 bars you have a tie – this means you don’t replay the second set of notes, you just hold them through.
Gabe
Merry Widow Waltz – This will be our new dynamic-focus piece this week. Please ignore the m in the dynamic markings – let’s just play either f or p for more contrast. In this piece there are also crescendos and decrescendos – do your best to observe these as well.
Theme from Don Giovanni – This piece can be put hands together this week, except for the last two lines. Please play bars 16 to the end a few times with RH by itself. It’s extra important to follow the fingering here, specifically the 1 on G in bar 16.
Today we spoke more about intervals, and listened/played intervals from a 2nd all the way up to an octave. You can practice this concept by keeping C as your bottom note and playing around with these intervals; then, if you’d like you can choose a different note as the bottom and try getting the correct interval sound from there.
Isaac
For your warmup this week, please put the F major scale hands together. Also, see if you can get closer to memorizing the sayings for treble clef (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, FACE in the space) and bass clef (Good Birds Don’t Fly Away and All Cows Eat Grass).
Andante in G Minor – This week try the second part of the piece hands together as well. The more you exaggerate your detached quarter notes, the less you have to worry about large jumps (like in bar 6) or any accidental finger mixups. Note that LH’s bar 6 and bar 10 are the same letter names, just an octave apart.
Early One Morning – This will be our new piece! We are in G major, so there is an F# in our key signature. Play through the whole piece hands separately, being especially careful with RH’s steps versus skips. Using your sayings will help with sight reading a lot!