Alex

Youtube Playlist

Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18_c8F19H867n86y9A3M8_dAR2RPQgkLJ?usp=sharing

Long Term Goal

• grade 6

20 Dec

Comptine

• every four bars need to start and end soft

Revise all songs during holidays!

One Summer’s Day

13 Dec

One Summer’s Day

• still a few sections especially towards end with wrong notes
• keep 8 quavers in a bar, same speed
• phrasing everywhere!

Comptine

• just watch accuracy when learning this

6 Dec

One Summer’s Day

• a lot of wrong notes in left hand, fix
• do repeat at end
• voice RH

New: Comptine

29 Nov

Summer

• was a bit too fast today
• put energy into quality of dynamics
• in future, we need metronome practice
• a lot of gaps in between bars

22 Nov

• dynamic in softer parts softer, then gradual buildup

15 Nov

Summer

• bar 11 LH wrong
• generally go slower in practice and performance
• think about when the song is softer/relaxed
• no gaps in between sections

One Summer’s Day

• flats at the bottom of 3rd page

8 Nov

Summer

• we start too fast here to be accurate
• there are some parts that are good, but not others. practice the bad parts more!

One Summer’s Day

1 Nov

One Summer’s Day

• try to finish third page through sectional practice. you can use your practice time better

Summer

• main thing is to not start too fast here
• make softs softer, especially on the top of 2nd page

25 Oct

One Summer’s Day

• check LH 30 onwards
• start thinking about balancing the melody

18 Oct

One Summer’s Day

• a few notes inaccurate here today, important to read

Summer

• dynamic contrast between calm and intense sections. what do you think is in each section?

6 Sep

• middle section has a recommended phrasing pattern
• check LH articulations
• practice worse bits more

Nuvole Bianche

• please revise

Start One Summer’s Day

30 Aug

Summer

• think about different different moods
• no pedal in staccatos
• watch staccatos!

Fix You

• ending must be delicate, slowing down

23 Aug

Summer

• pay attention to staccato and lack of staccato
• pedal when there is no staccato in sections
• check LH 10

New: One Summer’s Day

10 Aug

Fix You

• reminders!
• keep left hand soft
• phrasing constantly
• don’t go too fast + change speed suddenly
• check dynamics in general
• bring melody out bar 22
• louder in bar 24

New: Summer

26 Jul

Nuvole

• the main idea is to go from soft to loud
• can use soft pedal
• keep LH light
• practice more from 29 onwards

Bagatelle

17 Jul

Bagatelle

• bar 54 do 31 42 fingering
• bar 60 F#
• in this section, do scale bits by themselves, sectional. check fingering of course!

5 Jul

Fix You

• more phrasing at 14
• bring out melody at 22

Bagatelle

• pay attention to dynamics and articulation
• minore bit is more serious with phrasing

28 Jun

Fix You

• LH wrong 23
• LH fingering wrong 22
• this section needs sectional practice, do sectional practice, roughly 8 bars at a time, 4x over
• look up on the page to fix notes
• ending needs fluency work

14 Jun

Fix You

• continue to practice accurately
• phrasing is important!

Bagatelle

• on the right track here

31 May

Fix You

• better accuracy today
• practice more from 31 onwards
• phrasing, following the melody up and down
• check coordination

New: Bagatelle

17 May

Fix You

• bar 6, 10, often has wrong LH note
• bar 14 probably needs to be practiced slower

10 May

Fix You

• good effort to learn further
• still work on accuracy, break it down into smaller pieces until you can practice comfortably and accurately

Nuvole

• 21, keep quavers not too faster
• check 32!!

3 May

Fix You

• check coordination
• 22-23, do one bar at a time, and check fingering!
• check notes LH bar 6

Nuvole

• keep practicing this one!

21 Dec

Spinliedchen

• we had a much more controlled speed today
• some attempt at dynamics
• still quite a few wrong notes in middle section

America

• we tried this twice, generally speaking the consistency is not really that good. practice methods for this piece were probably bad over a long time
• we eventually got to the end but with many mistakes

Gnossiene

• some of the dynamics were a bit heavy today and many pauses, but we did get to the end

Legend of Tanis

• this was generally not too bad, but needed more expression in the middle

Generally we are doing okay, we have built up our skills, but we really lack attention to detail, and practicing right instead of wrong. We need to fix this for Grade 6.

New piece: Nuvole Bianche

14 Dec

Unfortunately we had pretty much the same errors as last week, except bar 15 Legend of Tanis got better

Legend of Tanis

• middle page is quite inaccurate especially in left hand
• first bit goes too fast to be secure

7 Dec

Spinliedcchen

• we get a lot faster halfway

America

• same thing!
• middle section slows down a lot though (bar 26-27)

Gnossiene

• this is quite good for mock exam

Legend of Tanis

• bar 15 onwards needs sectional practice

30 Nov

Gnossiene

• hold last note longer
• voice RH melody clearly, give the audience something to listen to
• don’t go faster in the middle of the piece keep LH constant

Legend of Tanis

• pause bar 14
• use pedal in middle section
• do sectional practice, maybe one page at a time, 3-5x

Spinliedchen

• don’t go too fast!
• where are we stopping? probably more in the middle section
• don’t play too loud in p sections, leggiero means light

Remember to review other pieces! Aim to finish exam by the end of this year

23 Nov

Gnossiene

• go a bit faster to feel the flow
• make sure dynamics are smooth and not sudden

Legend of Tanis

• don’t start too fast!
• middle section has a few wrong notes
• bar 14, see lines for how to line up notes

26 Oct

America

• this is too fast, focus on consistency and accuracy for a performance
• where are dynamics!?

Spinliedchen

• same notes as America

19 Oct

Gnossiene

• same notes as last week, especially dynamics

Legend of Tanis

• bar 7-8 LH wrong octave
• bar 15 onwards still has a few wrong notes

12 Oct

Gnossiene

• we want phrasing in RH to be clearer
• keep LH softer
• keep the speed the same, don’t speed up

Tarentelle

• add pedal to sections that need pedal
• this on the right track

Legend of Tanis

• bar 15, do this hands seperately

21 Sep

Legend of Tanis

• sectional practice 15 onwards

America

• Main focuses are dynamics and consistency

Spinliedchen

• dynamics here!

14 Sep

Legend of Tanis

• hands seperate bar 15 onwards
• watch out for f#s
• get up to bar 30 this week

7 Sep

Legend of Tanis

• continue hand seperate, the first page is hard but the second page is easy!

Gnossiene

• make sure pedal is lifted every LH pattern
• the dynamics are good but generally too loud, hairpins are more just like waves instead of being aggressive.

31 Aug

Gnossiene

• notes are getting better, but continue to

17 Aug

America

• last page still needs sectional practice but overall there was a lot of improvement
• add dynamics this week

Gnossiene

• there was quite a lot of improvement this week
• keep LH soft, do dynamics in right hand for a mysterious sound

10 Aug

Gnossiene

• follow RH fingering, keep in one position and flip only at the right time
• keep RH legato
• do sectional practice, but really check whether it is correct

Scales

New: G# harmonic minor

• go faster!

America

• keep doing sectional practice

27 Jul

Scales: Db major

Gnossiene

• watch for fingering and coordination when combining
• try to combine as much as possible this week

America

• all about rhythmic consistency this week
• sectional practice for speed
• when moving in between sections, aim for consistency

20 Jul

America

• make sure there are 6 quavers in a bar
• go hands seperate if the notes are not strong

Gnossiene

• practice LH seperate to start

Scales

• Db major and B major

15 Jun

America

• how can we get difficult bits faster?
• sectional practice gradually increasing speed

8 Jun

America

• get to the end this week
• see whether you can do basic f and p dynamics

Scales

• add D flat major this week

Spinliedchen

• slow practice for inaccurate section
• cresc, start getting loud later

1 Jun

Spinliedchen

• get consisten staccatos
• bar 26 no extra not LH

America

• check bar 4
• try to finish this week

18 May

Spinliedchen

• still need to be careful at 11-12
• pay attention to rests LH bar 27
• finish this piece this week

America

• try to get up bar 27

Scales

• can get faster

11 May

Spinliedchen

• be careful slow practice bar 11-12

4 May

Spinliedchen

• see whether you can finish this one this week

Scales

• B major and G# harm minor

New song: America, don’t have to work on this one this week if you have no time

30 Mar

Sunday Morning

• greater dynamic range
• count bar 13

Scales

• make sure you are prepare before doing the scale
• arpeggios need improvement
• arpeggios 多块状物的

Tambo tango is okay

Let the Good Times Roll

• way too fast, no dynamics!!!
• go slower in practice and in performance

23 Mar

Scales

• F# harmonic minor, aim for perfection at a slow speed. too many mistakes
• for other confident scales like E major, make sure it’s even
• don’t play the scale many many times incorrectly. in the exam you only get one chance, so change your practice to one time, but one even and perfect time

Tambo Tango

• this is quite well controlled and played, we can go a bit faster this week

16 Mar

Sunday Morning

• watch D and A chord LH bar 20
• counting to 2 in bar 13
• dynamics need to be very accurate

Scales

• if still struggling with F# minor, do hands seperate first

Tambo Tango

• semiquavers in bar 13 watch for evenness

9 Mar

Sunday morning

• bar 19 incorrect
• dynamic fadeaway bar 20
• this was well played today 🙂

Scales

• F# harmonic minor quite incorrect, 4th finger rule broken
• arpeggios need to be 4 octaves
• we know most of the scales but are we fluent?

Tambo Tango

• this is mostly pretty good
• is it 100% fluent (bar 20?)
• can we bring out our melody a bit more
• we can help our playing by not going too fast and choosing a medium speed

2 Mar

Sunday morning

• bar 9-11 incorrect!
• all about dynamic layers
• left hand soft, RH loud mf. LH ususally stay soft for most of the song
• still need to count at bar 13
• bar 18, loud, not too loud, we need to get louder from here!

Scales

• contrary motions not too bad, just remember 4th finger rule

24 Feb

Sunday Morning

• good job finishing
• all about dynamics now
  • always keep left hand soft until bar 12
  • RH dynamic changes
• bar 13 rhythm, hold for two beats

Scales

• 4 octaves
• 4th finger rules
• this week: A major contrary

17 Feb

Sunday Morning

• get to the end today

Scales

• C# melodic minor

10 Feb

Scales

• move to four octaves this week
• sometimes 4th finger is still wrong, but you are trying your best
• more limited list of scales for Piano for Leisure exam, but I still want all scales to be presented. See ticked scales for compulsory scales
• melodic minor needs to be different on the way up and down

Sunday Morning

• feel free to use pedal from the start
• try to learn at least up to bar 19 this week

3 Feb

Scales

• 4th finger rule
• watch fingering overall
• scales need to catch up a bit

Tambo Tango

• holding bottom notes better bar 1-4
• holding RH melody in bar 5-12
• melody should be louder than accompaniment (top RH)

Sunday Morning

16 Dec

Sunday Morning

• all about being in the right positions, check where middle C is

Tambo Tango

• all about speed again, please think before you start

Sunday Morning

• please revise this piece

2 Dec

Tambo Tango

• all about speed, know what speed you are starting
• not too fast not too slow

Let the good times roll

• still all about dynamics
• last line has new wrong left hand

25 Nov

Let the good times roll

• keep a constant speed, don’t get faster!
• dynamics again
• for constant speed try slow practice

Tambo Tango

• bar 6 still wrong!

18 Nov

Let the good times roll

• softs generally way too loud
• accents sometimes in the wrong spot/missing
• also sometimes too big
• dynamics in last line inaccurate

Tambo tango

• bar 1-4, keep soft, there’s no melody, don’t do a staccato on the last note of the bar
• bar 5 onwards, keep non melody notes soft (everything except top note)
• can be a bit quicker, maintain a steady quick speed

11 Nov

Let the good times roll

• a lot of the same things as last time
• practice slow to remove gaps from the piece

Tambo Tango

• the quality of this piece is pretty good

28 Oct

Let the good times roll

• dynamics
• accents are created by the softer staccato before it
• to do the staccato soft, you need to concentrate. this is the hardest part of the piece

Sunday Morning

• should be combining hands this week
• try to continue to the end (or at least 2nd last line)

21 Oct

Let the Good Times Roll

• good for this week, focus on new piece

Sunday Morning

• RH goes over LH
• don’t forget C#

14 Oct

Let the Good Times

• very accurate reading well done
• rhythm is next step, work line by line to improve rhythm

New piece: Sunday morning

• F# and C#s
• LH stays the same but RH jumps around a lot. Are you in the right spot?

2 Sep

Tambo Tango

• too fast, look at recording
• hold notes for entire bar in LH
• where’s the melody? keep everything else soft except melody
• can add pedal in all parts as long as it is correct

Let the good times roll

26 Aug

Tambo Tango

• 这么厉害的演奏！
• bar 13 add pedal
• bar 20, split between LH and RH for easier execution

这周你必须开始这首新曲子let the good times roll

19 Aug

Tambo Tango

• Well played today, learn to the end

New piece: Let the good times roll

Toccata

5 Aug

• great improvement
• continue sectional 部分练习

22 Jul

Spanish Dance

• tick given today! always go slower and careful, sounds so much better!

Midnight Ride

• tick also given!

Toccata

• to be learned this week, go slow and patient

27 May

Toccata Ritmico

• be careful of each note
• try to learn up to bar 41 this week

Spanish Dance

• all about dynamics, more on the hairpins <>

20 May

Midnight Ride

• good quality
• start dynamics

Spanish Dance

• just do dynamics at least, honestly too fast but that’s up to you if you want to play that fast

Toccata

• try to get up to bar 40 this week (35 is the same as the start)

6 May

Twilight having ongoing accuracy issues. We will take a break from this this week

New piece: Toccata Ritmico

• make sure you have B flat and E flat

15 Apr

Twilight: should be main focus now

• a bit inaccurate in practice
• aim for perfect practice, no restarts, no mistakes, but very slow. go bar by bar. progress with be slow if not accurate

Midnight Ride

• stability has improved well done
• memory sometimes lapses, can you start from the middle of the piece?
• pick a random bar number. can you start from there?

Spanish dance

• LH articulation still not right. Think, connect bounce long

8 Apr

Midnight Ride

• some bits have incorrect rhythm, are you keeping the beat?
• have a listen to recording for this
• fix rhythm slowly before getting faster
• can add more dynamics

Spanish Dance

• this speeds up halfway, don’t do that!
• is your LH articulation always right? (gets worse when you get faster)

Twilight

• main learning goal for holidays

25 Sat

Twilight

• good reading of the RH
• some struggles to get hands together. luckily, this song repeats a lot, so go nice and slow and read every note

Midnight Ride

• can you get 12-13 without stopping? keep RH even and not too fast
• check LH 24
• check 25-26 RH

18 Mar

Twilight

• good start on this, continue learning

Midnight Ride

• we finished the last bit

11 Mar

Spanish Dance

• slow it down a bit, focus on hairpins
• good attempt in LH articulation
  • make sure that first 3 notes are connected
• 2nd page
  • mp, mf, f and p
  • bar 30-32, do slow practice

New song: Twilight (no homework set for this one)

25 Feb

Midnight Ride

• bar 4, watch RH fingering
• bar 23, watch RH tie

Spanish Dance

• good notes, just have a look at hairpins and dynamics

18 Feb

Spanish Dance

• go slower and focus on LH articulation this week. no need to rush the speed
• 2nd page, dynamics goes up in layers

Midnight Ride

11 Feb

Midnight Ride

• great effort this week
• try to practice at a moderate speed, instead of super fast. make sure your coordination is coorect
• try to finish first page hands together this week

Spanish Dance

• good effort here
• try LH articualtion, slur then staccato pattern

4 Feb

Spanish Dance

• great work over the holidays!
• for hard parts like bar 30, go hands sep
• LH articulation, slurs and staccatos
• we will work on details more next week, as you have finished this over holidays, try new piece

New piece: Midnight Ride

10 Dec

Song with a sad ending

• recommend to go slower, too fast for notes and expression
• pedal should start immediately
  • doesn’t need to be perfect, but you will never learn if you never do!
• bar 10 still wrong?
• bar 1 missing LH note

Banjo Tune

• please get more work on this one done this week
• try to get to end of 1st page hands seperate

3 Dec

Banjo Tune

• some clean up to LH done today
• read forward into next section this week, try to to get to the end of the 1st page

Song with a sad ending

• go a bit slower (to help you get coordination right and pedal). still a bit inaccurate
  • for accuracy, challenge yourself, can I get a section perfect?
• focus on LH softer
• bar 10 completely wrong!

12 Nov

Scales

• good technique, aim for evenness
• F# harmonic minor and Eb major this week

Whirlygig

• also aim for evenness

New exercise: 3B

Song with a Sad Ending

• ending super soft, the sad ending!
• try pedal, not perfect yet, but just try
• phrasing essential feature!
• while phrasing, LH stays soft

Start Banjo Tune this week

5 Nov

Scales

• start hands together A major for homework (more scales if possible)
  • 4th finger rule, watch for where the 4th finger goes. It only goes on one note, and always on the same note
• aim for evenness before speed for scales

Whirlygig

• need to have correct fingering
• LH whirlygig for homework

Song with a Sad Ending

• last 8 bars sectional practice
• add pedal and phrasing this week
  • pedale simile – do similar pedal, always pedal twice a bar

Would be good to start a few notes of Banjo Tune this week

29 Oct

Song with a sad ending

• good first few bars
• last section is accurate but slow
• sectional practice from 22 and 11, so that other sections can catch up
• looking to add pedal in future when notes are solid

Scales

• good accuracy. work on getting faster and like clock
• next week F# natural minor

3A

• please do this this week

22 Oct

Song with a sad ending

• song should be softer overall (try to keep it light)
• try to avoid restarts when practicing. try to make sure the note is right before playing, or this can lead to learning mistakes 😦
  • especially bar 11 onwards
• phrasing this week, following the melody up and down
  • (see hairpins)
• when pedalling
  • sit on the edge of the seat, heel on floor
  • exact pedalling not too important today, but important to try
• try to finish this week

Start: Banjo Tune

See technical work from last week. You have to do it!

8 Oct

A song with a Sad Ending

• pedal timing important
  • should be on the beat (exactly where the divot is)
  • then it should be an uninterrupted sound
• however, most important thing is to at least try pedal, even if not perfect.
• learn as much as possible this week

Technical work

• 3 exercises + scales
  • required for exam, but don’t need to do exam, just to help technical elements
• try 3A and A major (can do more if you want)

17 Sep

A song with a Sad Ending

• B flats!
• try pedal if you can during holidays
• most important expression is phrasing, following the dynamic as the melody goes up and down (hairpins)

10 Sep

Allegro

• same notes as Tango for Two

28 May

Petite Piece

• priority for learning
• try to complete this week
• slowly combine 17-24, difficult

Tango for Two

• some improvement needed with memory
  • challenges: can you do it separate hands?