Francisco: Practice "Overworld" with separate hands. Be careful with your fingering. The idea is that you must be able to play with each hand almost without looking. Read p. 41 ("Home of the Range"). Maria Ines: "In the Name of Love": Practice adding rhythm to the chords in the chorus. Follow the song's bass drum. Keep practicing the melodic breakdown [...]
Gerardo: "The Girl From Ipanema": Practice the variation in the A' section at the tempo you play the song. Play just the melody a few times and then add the left hand. Then, practice the song with a metronome from beginning to end. "Tchaikovsky's Theme": Practice A section and its repetition at a slow tempo with both hands. Be careful [...]
Francisco: Read "Home on the Range" (Piano Adventures pp. 40-41). Always have the tempo on your head while playing, so you can follow up with the half notes and eight notes. If you count out loud, remember to star in "3" (the upbeat). Try to read to the end. Maria Ines: "City of Stars": Practice the A section (the first [...]
Gerardo: Practice The Girl From Ipanema with the metronome (50 bpm). The idea is that you can keep going even in you make mistakes. Remember to think about what's next (the triplet, the chord change, or the count) when you have long notes. That will help you to keep pace between parts. For the A section of the song, try [...]
Francisco: Piano Adventures. Read p. 40 (and 41 if possible). If you need to circle or mark the notes to visually help you, do it. Mario Song: Choose a slow tempo and practice from beginning to end. Make sure you can play the notes without missing them, especially the thirds. Maria Ines: In the Name of Love: Figure out the [...]
Gerardo: Girl from Ipanema: Start practicing the whole chord sequence with your left hand. Count while doing it, and remember that just before going back to the A section (Am7-D7-Gm7-C7) they fall every two beats. When you feel confident with that, try those bars with both hands as practiced in class. Finally, play the whole song. Caedan: Read "Mozart's Five [...]
Francisco: Practice the B section of the Mario song. Start slow, and ensure you can follow every rhythm at your chosen tempo. For the last bar, remember the fingering (1/3, 2/4, 1/3, 2/4). Piano Adventures: Read page 40. Maria Ines: City of Stars: Practice the first 2 phrases with both hands as seen in class. Remember to 'jump', making the [...]
Gerardo: The Girl from Ipanema: Take the first part of your practice time to practice the B section's last phrase with the chords (mm. 23-26). When you feel confident with that part, play the complete B section a few times. Since this is the most difficult part of the song, make sure you feel confident with it before trying the [...]
MAKEUP WEEK Francisco: Piano Adventures, "Morning": Play it from beginning to end, always keeping count in your head. Add the dynamic marks (mp, mf). Also, slowly increase the tempo of the piece. Read the next page for the next class. Maria Ines: "In the Stars": Practice playing the chords over the original song. If needed, you can slow down the [...]
Gerardo: Practice the A section of "Tchaikovsky's theme" with both hands. Always keep counting in your head the six beats, until you can feel you have the rhythms solved. Once you feel comfortable playing with both hands, add the dynamic marks. (rit.= gradually slowing down the tempo). Also, take a few minutes of your practice time for The girl from [...]