Abigail

Student of the Week

Youtube Playlist

Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxU_OGndc5q8aFchejbOpalVsfxNRi1u9

Google Drive

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10s-HHQdLYSNM7DwPIMubef4GSWRT_Cbs?usp=sharing

Goal for this week

  • Focus on consistency

Long term goal

Do Grade 4 exam early 2021.

Abigail’s Amazing Aural Assessment Advice

Intervals

  • 2nd – scale
  • 3rd – o when saints
  • 4th – amazing grace
  • 5th – twinkle twinkle lil star
  • 6th – my bonnie
  • 7th – weird
  • 8th – somewhere over the rainbow

26 July

Spinliedchen

  • second page slow practice recommended
  • be careful to get all accompaniment all soft

Twilight

  • we’re looking for overall touch instead of individual.
  • prioritise RH
  • PHRASE A LOT, be expressive

Let the Good Times Roll

  • bar 13-20 dynamics
  • dynamics last line
  • check dynamics boundaries

19 July

PLEASE LOOK AT ALL GUIDELINES ON www.isaachok.com/recording

Let the Good Times Roll

  • might recommend 5% slower
    • rhythm not super accurate, try not to be ‘loose’
  • softs in bar 13-20 not great

Twilight

  • consistency very poor
    • seperate hands
    • start from EVERY FOUR BARS cleanly
    • DON’T FEED BAD HABITS (don’t repeat mistakes)
    • 3 times perfect practice
  • generally too loud, especially in LH. Should have a ‘floaty feel’ even in the loud sections

New York

  • this is pretty good, expressive. Sometimes soft dynamics incorrect in bar 5

Spinliedchen

  • speed change 42, then in 3rd page again
  • some dynamics too loud, accents in soft bits, too loud
    • some dynamics not planned well

12 July

Spinliedchen

  • no cresc. in bar 3-4 to accent. ONLY accent
  • bar 14 hit accents HARD
  • can softs be ANY softer overall
  • learning on 2nd page should be fast tracked
    • no mistakes challenge
    • practice small chunks
  • watch 2nd page dynamics carefully
  • watch slurs bar 43

Twilight

  • needs more dynamics

21 June

Spinliedchen

  • dynamics most crticial
    • most of it is really straight forward, what’s written on the page
  • take a moderate speed
  • important that dynamics are planned well
  • also think about melodic balance
  • staccato, to be soft, don’t lift off high
  • accents in soft sections, small, accents in loud sections, big
  • 27, make RH very soft
  • suddenly soft bar 42
  • 79 rit must be carefully planned

7 June

Spinliedchen

  • learn this week
  • be careful of coordination
  • be careful of Bb

1-2 weeks Abigail, 3 weeks Isaac’s prediction

Recording: send audio of all three pieces

24 May

Scales

  • Bb chromatic, make sure it is 4 octaves
  • G harmonic contrary, make sure both hands have the same fingers
  • Make sure recovery is good

New York

  • ff can be louder
  • doesn’t need to be too slow

Twilight

  • all about balance, if you are able to fix in this short period. RH slightly louder, LH slightly softer.
  • good speed choice

Let the good times roll

  • more accents
  • softs softer
  • don’t get faster (if possible)

22 May

Scales

  • all about 5 second preparation
  • recover if mistake, don’t start again. Okay for one or two mistakes

New York

  • bar 44, not too fast, just original speed
  • some coordination issues in 41

Twilight

  • slow down metronome 80
  • focus on being delicate
  • hold last note longer

Let the good times roll

  • a bit rushed, don’t get faster
  • metronome 120

General

  • try not start from the start after a mistake

17 May

Scales

  • need to mentally prepare before starting
  • check speed of similar motions

New York

  • ff can be more
  • check coordination 41

Twilight

  • should be a lot slower and delicate
    • think slow motion
  • balance STILL not correct.
    • very little LH, a lot of RH
  • needs some consistency work (see consistency notes below)

Let the Good Times Roll

  • precision of dynamics
  • keep same speed
  • metronome at 120

10 May

Consistency

  • start fluently from any where
  • can play fast or slow
  • can play LH seperate and RH seperate

3 May

Scales

  • need to be faster for similar motion and chromatic
  • DO NOT land on thumb hard
  • you need to think for 5 seconds before playing
  • chromatic needs work
  • arpeggio check

Theme From New York

  • bar 7 LH wrong note
  • difference between p and f is in the wrong
  • many notes wrong last week are still wrong, NEED TO REVISE

Twilight

  • loud section is too loud, too fast. makes mistakes happen
  • LH can always be softer, don’t include LH when getting
  • might help to go slower overall, compared to other pieces

Let the Good Times Roll

  • softs need to be softer
  • this is too fast, needs to be more relaxed

Notes 26 Apr

Scales

  • similar motions too slow
  • arpeggios need to be memorised
  • chromatic needs to be exam quality

New York

  • clear difference between dynamics
  • CHECK ALL LETTERS ON PAGE
  • when it is loud, get very loud, when it is slow, get very slow
  • if slurred, check if legato

Twilight

  • treat entire piece lighter, especially LH.
    • go two dynamics
  • don’t rush, don’t go too fast

Let The Good Times Roll

  • DYNAMICS
  • not too fast
    • also gives more time for accents

Notes 19 Apr

Scales

  • good quality!
  • similar motion: loud or soft
  • start chromatic, see three rules on paper
  • make sure you memorise all scales

Twilight

  • we need to hear melody a lot more all the time. LH must generally be really soft RH controls the dynamics
  • 21-24, all notes LH need to be fixed

New York

  • keep listening to recording
  • needs consistently desperately
    • practice slow
  • some notes are wrong past bar 30

Can you play:

  • slow?
  • hands seperate

Notes 29 Mar

Scales need to be

  • memorised
  • consistent
  • fast
  • correct fingering notes

Scales to check

  • both contrary motions
  • G melodic minor 4 in LH

Let the good times roll

  • still very inconsistent
    • start from the start of every two bars
    • slow practice
    • perfect 2x practice
    • seperate hand practice

New York

  • Listen to recording a bit more
  • be careful with dynamic barriers
  • STILL INCONSISTENT
    • start from the start of every two bars
    • slow practice
    • perfect 2x practice
    • seperate hand practice

Notes 22 Mar

Scales

  • ALL scales should be exam speed/standard
  • also must be from memory
  • all fingering must be memorised for fourth finger rule
  • arpeggios need improvement in general

Let the good times roll

  • time to carefully relearn stronger!
    • play slow
    • start from the middle
    • read carefully
      • each relearn will make it stronger
  • don’t jump so much. There are some notes that are not staccato, like accents >
  • needs dynamics

Notes 15 Mar

General Twilight notes

  • always more RH and less LH
  • consistency needs to be careful
    • slow practice
    • sectional practice
    • must be w
  • phrasing makes it expressive
  • try your best 🙂

Notes 8 Mar

Scales

  • still 4th finger rule
  • Arpeggios need to be 4 octaves

Twilight

  • balance between LH and RH needs to be lighter
  • do dynamics as well
  • for memory, LH should be able to played all by itself
  • for memory, slow practice
  • don’t do too much normal practice
  • try your best for performance

Notes 1 Mar

Scales

  • slowly improving, but still need lots of work
  • 4th finger rule is wrong in EVERY scale 😦
  • speed needs to be up in every scale
  • scales need two things
    • speed
    • accuracy

Twlight

  • severe fluency mistakes can be fixed by being hyper aware of mistakes, practicing in small clusters and
  • metronome practice is also recommended, at speed 70-80
  • balance between two hands is sometimes not great, LH has to be a lot softer

Notes 22 Feb

Scales

  • improved, but still need to speed up good scales
  • C# harmonic minor needs a lot of work
  • please, 4th finger rule

Twilight

  • bar 1-4, voice melody more by making LH softer
  • please stop for mistakes and read
  • for greater consistency, practice hands seperately
  • main issues here are speed, balance and consistency

Notes 15 Feb

Scales

  • well known and correct scales need to be played faster
  • scale to work on slow and seperate: G melodic minor
  • scale to work on slow: Bb contrary motion
  • SEVERE and URGENT practice required. Must be accurate

Let the Good Times Roll

  • Overall, speed needs to be more ‘slow and cool’
  • articulation is good
  • dynamics need to REALLY careful!
  • rhythm needs to be fixed slightly, but we’ll do that next time
  • for memory problems, practice slow! VERY slow. Read while going slow.
  • also helps to go hands seperately for memory

Twilight

Notes 8 Feb

Scales

  • need to be 77bpm per 4 notes
  • correct fingering, use 4th finger rule and don’t skip fingers
  • MUST be 4 octaves
  • refresh arpeggios

New York

  • bar 3 LH watch this note
  • legato bar 8, with correct fingering
  • clear diference in dynamics bar 13
  • 18, use pedal for legato
  • 24, legato
  • add pedal, helps with big sound and articulation
  • poco rall, getting a bit slower
  • molto rall, getting really slow

Notes 1 Feb

Twilight

  • watch pedalling carefully, don’t BLUR different chords
  • pedal exactly on the marking to make sure there is no gap
  • For the entire piece, we need to work on getting the speed all the same. Would help to listen to recording.
  • bar 7 check this note
  • bar 8, rhythm is TI TIKA
  • LH missing in bar 11?
  • 25, check if everything is in the correct spot, bar 27, check LH notes

Notes 15 Dec

Scales

  • 4TH FINGER RULE PLEASE
  • in general, need to increase speed as well
  • melodic minor, do brackets on the way down
  • scales are starting to become careless. please be careful this holiday!
  • if the scales are going to be careless, do not do them at all

Twilight

  • in general, very good. Keep practicing in small bits and READ that notes are correct. Present in good condition in 2021.

New York

  • STILL be careful about articulation, especially staccato.
  • after bar 30, for some reason there are suddenly a lot of wrong notes. See music for markings on page.
  • add pedal when marked

Let the Good Times Roll

  • bar 1-4, watch articulation
  • still, dynamics need greater exaggerated. accents are good though! rem
  • in 2021, we have a look at the detailed rhythms

Summary

  • in 2021, we will look at details. details and attention

Notes 7 Dec

Scales

  • generally, keep working on them

Twilight

  • last line, very similar to before but just check where you are.
  • bar 21, watch out for when LH stretches past 1 octave

Notes 30 Nov

Scales

  • overall need to check fingering on ALL scales. Quality of fingering is poor.
  • Present the three scales in the weekly goal next week with correct fingering!

Twilight

  • reading here is good, however again watch out for fingering.
  • bar 20 hands together, bar 24 hands sep

Notes 23 Nov

Scales

  • look carefully when doing Bb major arpeggio/contrary
  • E major fix fingering. 4th finger rule!
  • Scales might need to pick up pace

Twilight

  • all note learning today. See goal on weekly goal

New York

  • with articulation (dots and slurs), don’t get into bad habits. Try being very careful
  • Also be careful with dynamics, especially difficult ones
  • 1st page needs careful work, 2nd and 3rd pages are pretty easy