Nova

Blink Gone: we continue working on the guitar solo passage on the xylophone. While we are still trying to master the roll, I asked Nova to pay attention to several things in how the mechanism of our arm and our body. First of all, when playing something fast, like a roll, make sure our wrist is not raised, as it creates tension, and also limits the angle of which we can generate power from. Use the same exercise of playing the same note in counts of odd number, and whenever Nova notice tension in the wrist and start raising it, seek relaxation and potentially slow down and when relaxed again, speed up the tempo. We are trying to create endurance and understanding of muscle tension. Second thing is paying attention to hip movement and shifting weight. Nova mentioned their father does martial arts, and perhaps can chime in on this. In the second line of the solo, the notes run from the middle of the keyboard to almost the bottom. This requires moving our body to not lose balance while playing it. The most straightforward way is to step over with your foot, giving yourself that extra length to go the distance, but it is not often the most efficient practice. I instead encourage Nova to half bend her legs, and seek relaxation in the hip, allowing them to relax as they turn towards different parts of the keyboard. Also find spots in a passage where they can gradually shift weight from one leg to another. It is like Taichi! Practice away from keyboard could go a long way in understanding these concepts. Continuing working on the guitar solo and try to master the drum beat as well.

Santino

Santino told me he has to play the same passage as Nicolas for the exam. I think the two brothers are definitely capable of learning it by themselves and in fact, Nicolas at this point has mastered it. However don’t be lazy with reading the music and don’t rely on memorisation. I let Nicolas coach Santino for part of today lesson under my supervision, and I believe the two brother helping each other out will allow them to excel in the school exam. Perhaps play for each other and critique what needs to be done better.

Nicolas

Since Nicolas is done with his exam passage, I notated the song Golden Brown for him (a song that Santino is very fond of and often talk about in lesson), and here I tried to encourage active score reading, something that Nicolas has tried to avoid through memorisation. We will continue working on that, as this is something that takes time to build through habit. We can often seek tools with learning music in blocks so we don’t lose track with where we are on the music as well as where we are on the instrument. Believe it or not, composer often write repeating material, and as soon as we can identify those patterns, it is wayyyy easier to learn something. Also introduced the concept of mixed meter. Will continue working on the song next class.

Jonah

Continued working through the guitar solo section. Again sticking is super important to get us not tangled in this section. Jonah should aim to repeat the same sticking every time, so muscle memory is built in. Aim to play through the section next class. I have attached a video for Jonah to watch in case he is uncertain while practising the passage.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mwRznc1zGvAd1dWjvjJ3lFqUlv8AjSOF/view?usp=drive_link