Sara
Technical Exercises – Working through new key this week: E Major (4 sharps)
Overall thinking about larger groupings of notes/fingers and thinking ahead instead of thinking of what you are doing. E Major Technique Fingerings – Sara
- Scales: E Major hands separately 1 octave first, working towards hands together 2 octaves – thinking about hand position groupings as opposed to individual notes/steps. Thinking about what is under the fingers at any given moment, what is the highest/lowest notes in each position, how far do we need to move to get to the next position, etc.
- Practicing as solid blocked chords of each hand position, then moving on to stepping through the scale with a detached articulation, still thinking about the larger hand position.
- Triads: Focusing on HS solid triads, watching out for finger 2 in each position (see attached example). Holding each inversion and thinking ahead before moving, only moving to the next position when you are feeling prepared and confident you can go right to it.
Pierrot and Pierrette – Beginning to think about musical direction and dynamics! One of the most important parts of telling a story is communicating clearly – so making sure that we know what the beginning and ending of your ideas are in the piece is a good place to start (considering what they are to you right now, not what is the “correct” answer). and start to introduce dynamic markings.
- Think about your characters, shifting moods, or a narrative that makes sense for you within this piece – use it as inspiration musically as you are working. Consider the beginnings and endings of your musical ideas and how they might impact musical shapes/dynamics that are already on the page.
- Making sure that we are comfortable enough with “step 1” of notes/rhythms that we are able to at least play comfortably to the end of each idea without getting caught off guard.
- Begin introducing dynamic shapes that are on the page.
- Thinking about our waltz rhythm and how it can help us understand the flow of the music – STRONG weak weak STRONG weak weak (always going to the next strong beat 1!)
- Practicing pulsing solid chords in LH to get comfortable with changes (also a good way to introduce your dynamic shapes!)
The Entertainer – For octaves and large chords, making sure to not let our hand/wrist/forearm get tense. Opening up our fingers from our wrist instead of the base of our fingers, and not letting the wrist get too high (we want to keep as relaxed and open as possible). Practicing repeating chords/octaves and making sure you are able to stay loose especially in your wrist.
Bartok – New set of reading exercises: begin working through the first few exercises (1-6 should be enough for this week). Observing as much as you can about each new exercise before playing, see how much you are able to hear in your head before playing. Bartok Mikrokosmos Book 1 1-19
- Paying attention to rhythms, shapes/directions of notes in groupings instead of reading 1 note at a time, any patterns you notice.
Clara
Working through scanned pages, focusing on playing on the black keys and reading through each piece as opposed to practicing the same piece repeatedly. Saying all finger numbers out loud while playing through, and watching out for half notes vs. quarter notes.