Hi everyone! Everyone’s really putting in the work lately and I can tell! Happy Easter, enjoy the time with your loved ones <3

Exam folks: here is an awesome resource. These are some short (3-5 minute) videos that simulate exactly the pacing, difficulty, and quantity of how the ear assessment part of your exam will go. Simply put on the video, follow her instructions, and watch until the end to see the correct answers!

Level 1 Ear Training mock exam (Marco and Greta)
Level 2 Ear Training mock exam (Daniel)
Level 3 Ear Training mock exam (Liam)
Level 4 Ear Training mock exam (Sara)

Liam

Sonatina in G major – GREAT progress! This week I want you to practice it in tiny chunks, like 1 or 2 bars. Some of the measures I put brackets over are ones I want you to focus on, but anything that feels tricky should be isolated. You don’t have to play the whole song in a practice session!

Walk the Talk – dust this off and look at the page to ensure accuracy to the page. I want to know what things YOU think you have to work on.

Harlequinade – dust this off and look at the page to ensure accuracy to the page. I want to know what things YOU think you have to work on.

Technique – amazing tempos. Play scales from the top down with focus on fingering.

optional bonus – Ragtime medley in Piano Pronto. You did a stellar job counting and playing HT for Hello My Baby.

Katarina

Choose any two of the four pieces in the Water unit.

You’ve gotten so good at identifying skips vs steps – it was very fun playing the Star Catcher game with you.

Marita

Lonely Shepherd – etude book. Even tho this piece changes between many key signatures, the steady pulse of the 8th notes Never changes. You can count aloud based on how the beams of the notes are connected, (example 1-2-3 1-2) rather than 12345.

Sara

Air in Bb – really nice! More detached notes to add to the Baroque vibe. Only legato if it says so, or if they are 8th notes moving step wise. Any quarter notes or any leaps, detach detach detach.

Sonatina in C – Work on phrase endings. They are almost always 2 note slurs so go loud-soft. Here is a nice recording and I love how she handles the phrase endings.

Nighttime – be picky and precise with your rests in the accompaniment hand.

Ballade – amazing dynamics! Try only having the melody grow in the dolce section and keep the LH quiet. Top of page 2, make sure you are playing staccato as notated.

Cloud Dance – I didn’t hear this one today.

https://www.rhythmrandomizer.com/ You can use this if you’re interested. You can toggle it to only include the rhythms you know. The trickiest rhythms you’ll have are dotted 8ths with a 16th note – or a dotted quarter note with an 8th note.

Marco

Cranky Cat – HT up until star now. Good note reading and fingering. *priority*

Jump Pop Hop – Great work! Next week I want to hear nooooo hesitations between positions in the 2nd line. Go as slow as you need to achieve this at a steady tempo.

Superman Theme – Let’s add in just big LH whole notes in the B section. It will be a nice texture change and easier to manage. All Cs and then one F near the ending. Watch the Ab in that final measure.

*New* Universal theme – Watch the Eb major key signature. Play just the top notes for the opening line, but the triads are necessary for the 2nd line. You can use both the written notes and the “pop chords” written above to help you identify the triads. I wrote in the LH notes and also drew arrows to show you which notes are actually played, since there are soooo many tied notes.

***Technique – the contrary motion scale is supposed to be 2 octaves and it slipped my eyes. Fingering will be normal except instead of putting your pinky on the outside C, you will tuck your thumb under so that the fingering pattern can be reset and begin again. Ex RH 123 1234 *1*23 12345

Daniel

Periwinkle Twinkle – I wrote on your paper there are 3ish little details to fix. One rest in the RH, and a few moments where you are not going up to the treble octave when you should. Great job!

Breezy – Isolated slow practice of boxed measure in the final line. Where I’ve drawn in lines, be sure to break the line, like taking a breath while singing.

Entree – nice nice work on the RH! Woo! This week get the LH up to that level. Make sure we are detaching most notes (unless they have legato markings over them) to create that Baroque feel.

Look for your copy of the Wind and dust it off.

Great job on the formula patterns, now you must get rid of the extra C you are playing after the first octave.

*Please bring back my Randall book, the one with the spooky man on it*

Greta

Minuet in F – great work! nice 3/4 feel. Trust yourself more and play deeper in the keys. As we continue into this B section, there will be more black keys and crunchy harmonies, trust your reading. Every phrase ending where the LH jumps down 3 notes it is always going 1-5-1 (like for example in F it would play high F, then the 5th note of the scale = C, then a lower F). This pattern appears in almost all baroque and classical pieces so get used to how it feels. The suspension in the RH is also common, it will build tension with a dissonant sound for the first 2 notes and then release the tension on the third beat.

Technique – get comfy with 2 octave scales. Both the single hand scales and the HT contrary motion scale both use two hands. The only thing this changes is you have to set yourself up to continue the fingering pattern by putting the original starting finger on the next octave. For example RH 2 octaves would be 123 1234 *1*23 12345. This means you will crossing over or under using finger 4, which is a new feeling.

If you have time, refamiliarize yourself with Red Satin Jazz and look at the page to ensure accuracy.