Dvorah
Recommended minutes to practice: 10 minutes a day
What to practice: Octavius the Octopus, Copycat
How to practice it most effectively: In Octavius the Octopus your LH is playing octaves from middle C to bass C; use fingers 1 and 5 for these. For the second line, please use the C major scale fingerings we wrote down (5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1); of course, you can also try once with the 3-3-3 fingering! For Copycat, LH is always copying RH’s melody just lower. Both hands are in C position. Please watch your steps versus skips on the music.
Diya
Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day
What to practice: Haunted House, Classic Dance, brainstorm new vocal song ideas!
How to practice it most effectively: For Haunted House, you can try adding the last 2 lines in, hands together. Make sure you’re holding all your half notes the full 2 counts. If you’d like, you can add in some of the dynamics (louds and softs). Note your melody directions in RH’s last line – this part is all steps. For Classic Dance, please play the full song hands separately. Line 1 is exactly the same as line 3! Keep working on the legato versus staccato articulation. RH’s second line pattern is up-down-up, up-down-up, etc.
Marco
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Flute of the Andes, Runaway Rabbit
How to practice it most effectively: Flute of the Andes is almost all C and G 4ths! Use FACE in the space to help you with RH’s space notes. Please try to do the slurs in the RH. The 8va symbol at the end tells you to play those same letters 1 octave higher! For Runaway Rabbit, really notice if notes are moving from space to line, line to space (steps and fourths) or space to space, line to line (skips). There are a lot of 4ths in the melody (most often from C to F or D to G).
Oliver
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Firefly (in G position!), and Mexican Jumping Beans
How to practice it most effectively: For Firefly, see if you can play the piece in G position (so RH thumb on G, LH pinky on G). The notes will be different, however the finger numbers, steps vs. skips, and direction of the melody will all be the same! For Mexican Jumping Beans, we are in C position and everything is very staccato. Double check LH letters by using the sayings for bass clef (All Cows Eat Grass and Good Birds Don’t Fly Away).
Alice
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Bells of Great Britain, Let Me Love You
How to practice it most effectively:Bells of Great Britain does not have too many notes, so this is a great song to do dynamics on (f, p, mf, etc.) Please play with the repeat, and try holding down your right foot pedal for the whole song for a cool effect! For Let Me Love You, think of your “nah nah nah” as one long “ah” with your tongue/mouth doing the Ns. You can practice this by just singing “Don’t you give up, naaaah”, “I won’t give up naaaah” before adding the other 2 syllables. The other thing to try in this song is really pronouncing the V in “love”. Remember to give yourself your starting G before singing along to the recording!
Linda
Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day
What to practice: Pyrenese Melody, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Cool Groove
How to practice it most effectively: For the Pyrenese Melody, continue at a consistent, moderately slow speed. LH in bars 1 and 13 tends to rush the eighth notes, so just keep your tempo in mind. There are a couple of moments where there are C#s and G#s that sometimes get missed, but I think you noted those down on your sheet music already. For I’ve Got You Under My Skin, please remember that if a flat symbol is right next to the letter, it’s referring to the root of the chord. If the flat symbol is on the other side of the 7 (so the quality), it is referring to an alteration (like b5, b9). Some specific chord tips: A7b9 in the RH is just C# diminished 7; Eb7 is like E7 with every single note moved down 1 semitone. The quality rules that we had spoken about being in quadrants are: C7 (+3, b7), Cmaj7 (+3,+7), Cmi7 (b3, b7), and Cmi(maj)7 (+3, b7); where “+” means major and “b” means flat. C7 is the basic chord. Cmi(maj)7 is the furthest thing away. You can practice playing these variations from a few different roots (C, G, F); note how only the 3rd and 7th move.
Emet
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-25 minutes a day
What to practice: Rock Around the Clock, Haunted House
How to practice it most effectively: For Rock Around the Clock, let’s play the first page hands together and second page hands separately. Remember that the swing feel (long-short) only affects eighth notes; quarter notes are still just on the numbered beats and hold for a whole beat. It helps to keep a “1+2+3+4+” swung counting in your head while you play. On the second page, LH’s bassline should be all connected and grounded. For Haunted House, please play until the 1st ending hands together. When notes and rhythms feel comfy, add the staccatos to make it even spookier!
Kollel
Recommended minutes to practice: 25 minutes a day
What to practice: The Entertainer, The Black Pony, preliminary look at A Faded Letter
How to practice it most effectively: For The Entertainer, please continue playing the first section hands together slowly, and add the second section hands separately (until the 1st ending). LH in the second section has a lot of similar shapes (C, G, F majors) as the first section. For RH’s thirds, please use the written fingerings. For The Black Pony, make sure you start and continue along at a consistent speed (even if this is slower than you might want to go). Please keep it bouncy with light, short staccatos! You can start having a preliminary look at A Faded Letter if you’d like.