Vivienne
Vivienne should practice 4-5 times per week for 20-30 mins per session.
Betty Ragtime
- Focus and practice the entire section B, especially from the middle to the end of the section
Lesson book
- Review C, G, D and F major scale in contrary motion, chromatic scale starting on any key (1 octave)
- A natural minor and A harmonic minor scales
Ellis
Ellis should practice 4-5 times per week at 10 – 15 mins per session
Lesson book
- Review and practice the pieces we played in class
A Dozen a Day
- First 2 pages of exercises
Chantal
Chantal should practice 4-5 times per week at 20 – 30 mins per session
A Dozen A day
- Weekly assigned exercises
Lesson Book
- Elf’s Silver Hammer
Popular Selection Book
- ABC – don’t get confused with the music notes and the lyrics!
Alyssa
Alyssa should practice 4-5 times per week at 45 mins – 1 hr per session.
Technique
- Use the correct fingering, play with accuracy, and clarity on everything with the metronome
- Keep your knuckles and fingers up
Sunset in Rio
- Practicing starting softer at the “p cresc.” passages
- Polish of from bottom of first page to top of second page
Sonatina in C
- Practice and review the running scales with the CORRECT fingering
- Play L.H. repeated chordal accompaniment lightly, do not let it overpower the R.H.
Scherzo in C
- Practice and play with the suggested FINGERING
- Start practicing hands together by marked phrases
Allegro in D
- Practice and polish 4 bars phrase at a time
In Church
- Do not play the accented chords too harsh – play on and into the keys, not pushing down from above the keys
- Dynamic phrasing
Maria
Maria should practice 4-5 times per week for 20-30 mins per session.
Lesson Book
- Goodbye, Old Paint – practice hands together, and pay attention to your L.H. to avoid playing extra notes
12 Days of Christmas
- Practice and review the first 3 phrases
Simone
Simone should practice 4-5 times per week for 15-20 mins per session.
Lesson Book
- Runaway Rabbit – review, faster and livelier
- Lightly Row – practice hands together
Theory
- Weekly assigned pages
David
David should practice 4-5 times per week for 30 mins – 1hour per session.
Pathetique 2nd movement
- Look and think about the piece in a horizontal singing line (look at the direction of the melody), and phrase the piece with written dynamic changes
- Change the pedal more often, for each harmony change
- Listen to a few recordings, think about the musicality in all aspects
Maple Leaf Rag
- Try practicing with staccato OR detached 8th notes
Rialto Ripple
- Keep working on learning the notes
- Detach the quarter notes (except the slurred ones), play the accented notes (syncopation), march-like, playful character, the opposite of Pathetique
Chopin
- Section A – voicing the top notes in the R.H.
- Section B – always keep your R.H. fingers ‘open’ for the running 8th’s
- L.H. – don’t push down on the notes, but to lightly tap and bounce off the keys
Theory
- Analyze and listen to the other 3-voice fugue piece