Great job to everyone today! If you have spare minute sometime before our next lesson, feel free to check out this video of one my favorite pieces by Frederic Chopin. This recording is played by Lang Lang, who’s one of the most famous pianists in the world right now and he will be in Toronto next year! Enjoy!
Anastasiya
Let’s keep working on “The Lonely Pine” this week. I’m impressed with how quickly you learned it this week. Remember that the hardest part in this piece is the shift in your right hand. Practice getting comfortable with that shift – in that part, your right hand should be shifting smoothly while your left hand is playing. It’s really important that you get comfortable with shifting, because the next pieces we will learn will have much more of that. Last thing! Remember that your left hand in the beginning has a tie – tie means you hold that note longer, and you don’t play the second note. We will keep reviewing this next week and also in your future pieces.
Madison
Fantastic job this week with “Greatest Show on Earth”!! What can make it even better is the dynamics – remember that your left hand has the melody and should be forte! Also remember the fermatas and accents. But it sounded so good this week, and you played it with a lot of confidence which was so nice to hear! Keep working on “The Whirlwind” for next week. Dynamics are important in that piece. When you put the two hands together, remember how to practice it (Hands Separate AND Hands Together).
You can also start looking at the exercise on Pg. 38 so you can start getting used to those whole steps. “The Whirlwind” is full of half steps and on Pg. 38, you are going to play whole steps. Next week, I will test you to see that you know the difference between whole steps and half steps.
Melody
You are really quick at learning the pieces in the lessons! If your book comes this week, you can start by practicing “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas”. One other important thing we talked about this week is keeping your body relaxed. You can play the arm game to make sure your arms are not tense (when you play, your arm should feel heavy!). When we’re playing piano, our arms and shoulders should be relaxed. We can talk about this more when your book comes and next week at your next lesson! Whenever you get a chance to be at a piano, work on finding your notes – especially D, C and E, but if you feel adventurous, try using the trick I showed you to find A and B.