Abi:
Nice job on those air/ tongue attacks to start the note right away. If you incorporate that into your practice I think you’ll see a big difference. You can do it on individual notes, or up and down a scale. The 4, 5, and 6 note slurs also sounded a lot easier. Try to get the 6 note slurs starting on C. Remember, big breath and let the air do the work. no breaks in the sound!
Hard Rock Blues was nice. It’s awesome that you can switch articulations while playing. Try a couple of the other tunes all with long notes and again with short notes. You can do this on scales too! For next week, have theme from “New World Symphony” ready to play. This piece is all about beautiful tone, light/ long articulation and dynamics. Try to work all three of those concepts into your playing.
Also, write out C# major for next week (this is the same as Db major). If you want to write both that would be cool. Even though they have the same notes, the scale will look different because one will have sharps and the other will have flats. Have fun!
Matt:
All Through the Night and German Dance are getting close to performance level! Good job on those. Just a couple notes. All Through the Night needs to be a bit slower and smooth sounding… Let your tone shine through. Also don’t be afraid to bring out those dynamics. You need to start softer in order to have more contrast. German Dance also needs to be a bit slower for now. Your time isn’t consistent while you play so start it slower and when you can play everything at the same speed, THEN you can increase the tempo. Remember you want the articulation and dynamics to contrast as well.
Continue to look at Etude in G major. Pay very close attention to the articulation. You don’t want to mix up slurring and tonguing! There are a lot of tricky spots so take your time and be precise. For next week, I’ll want to hear This again, as well as the first two lines of Etude in D Minor.
Please review D chromatic scale as well. Thanks!