How getting angry helped the Winter Wind etude this week; 25/3 and 25/5 in progress; a short improv with lots of rests.
Archives for posts with tag: Practice
Practicing in little bits, at tempo; why Chopin etudes are like yoga poses; memorized versions of most of 25/3, 25/5, and 25/11 (with some screaming); a slightly Halloweeny improvisation.
Some thoughts on two very different performances from last week; concentrating on Opus 25: bits of some other Chopin etudes, a plan for 5, 9, and 3, and a promise about 11. Also some improv.
PIAS 39
Just the thumbs version of 25/3 (and the whole thing, too); a report on my first time onstage in over a year and a half, including some thoughts on stage fright; an unfortunate side effect of motherhood; Scriabin’s prelude for left hand; most of 25/11, under tempo; 25/9 after an hour and a half’s practice.
Warning: I’ve been practicing in my office at work, so my home piano is desperately out of tune!
Some nattering about work/life balance; 25/11 under tempo; a plan for 25/3; some improv.
Tools for focused practice; strategies for Chopin 25/11; a mediocre performance of 25/2; bits of 25/3 and 25/5; an attempt at improvisation (and a confession that I find improvising a little scary).
Specifically, a practice technique I learned here, and that I assign to my students this way:
Practice Recipe Week
In order to jump-start the fall semester, you will follow and notate a careful plan for your practice for one week, and show your notes to me at the end of the week. In most cases, you do not have to follow these guidelines for the rest of the semester, but you may find them helpful when you need to be extra disciplined. You will use the following guidelines, adapted from Burton Kaplan:
1. You will figure out exactly when you have time to practice and write it in your calendar for the week. Since it’s the first week, you are required to block out at least four hours every day.
2. For each day, you will plan your practice time for 80% of your allotted time; for example, if you have blocked out five hours, you will plan for four hours.
3. For that 80%, you will schedule your time PRECISELY, writing your schedule down. Your schedule might look like this:
10 minutes scales
10 minutes sight-read Beethoven slow movement
10 minutes tricky rhythm Beethoven p. 3, slow and then faster with metronome
15 minutes sixteenth notes Beethoven p. 2
15 minutes harmonic analysis of Beethoven first movement
10 minutes play through Beethoven first movement
10 minute play through Chopin under tempo
10 minutes play through Chopin and mark trouble spots
10 minutes Chopin run m. 48 figure out fingering
10 minutes Chopin run m. 90 with metronome slow then faster
10 minutes Chopin sixteenth notes pp. 3-4 in groups
20 minutes read through Bach p & fs (shopping)
20 minutes play through old Mozart and Debussy—sloppy ok but be musical!
10 minutes Bartok jumping chords p.2
10 minutes Bartok rest of p.2
12 minutes write out plan for tomorrow
4. As you practice, you will set a timer (your phone works fine) for each timed section minus five minutes. When your timer goes off, you re-set it for five minutes and finish up with what you’re doing. When it goes off again, you check off the item on your list and you STOP PRACTICING THAT THING. If you’re dying to practice it more, write it down at the bottom of your page.
5. You will write down exactly when you start and stop practicing. If you answer your phone, or go get a drink of water, or have a conversation with someone, or stop practicing for any reason, your timer stops.
6. You will probably find that at the end of your list, you’ve used up most of your allotted time. If you have any extra time, you can practice things you wanted to catch at the end, or practice something else, or just mess around on the piano, or stop practicing and go outside. You’re done.
7. Make sure that the last part of your scheduled practice is your time to write out tomorrow’s plan; that way when you start in the morning, you’ll know exactly what to do.
In which:
A report on an informal house concert; why it’s hard to practice on vacation; last 10/7 before it goes on the shelf for a few weeks; early days in 10/11; the scariest measure in 10/10; beginning 10/8, and finding it strangely familiar.
Recorded March 19, 2011
In which:
Part of a “before” version of 10/10, including a momentary foray into theory geekdom; a slightly improved version of 10/11; just the sixteenths of 10/2; the danger in 25/12; a new strategy for 10/7; a quote from Schumann; why I find these etudes so challenging; cheating on Chopin with Mozart and Haydn.
Recorded March 5, 2011
In which:
A failed version of 10/2 (and some thoughts about why); newly discovered notes in 25/12; a new strategy for 10/7; 10/4 as a rhythm meta-etude; a painfully slow before version of 10/11; and a thought about balancing days.
Recorded February 19, 2011
In which:
A lengthy quote about George Sand from Proust; getting irritated with jazzy skeletons; a play-through of 10/1 before letting it rest for a while; a thought about 25/12 from this podcast; a memorized skeleton of 10/7; a play-through of 10/4; a partial play-through of 10/2; starting 10/11; and a plan for the spring.
Recorded Sunday, 13. February, 2011
Play It Again Swig 