Alex

Recording Guidelines

Youtube Playlist

Google Drive

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

Long Term Goal

  • grade 2 video exam

25 June

Petite Piece

  • drill bar 17-24
    • also check articulation here, slurs must be connected
    • LH bar 21
    • RH bar 17

Dragon fly

  • this needs to be READ
  • all fixed, but practice over holidays

Allegro

  • dynamics can be bigger
  • bar 9, LH not

18 June

Petite Piece

  • rest in bar 1 RH
  • bar 5 RH octave lower
  • still practice a bit quicker 17-24
    • split into 2×4 bars
  • dynamics are easy, but also super important to remember!

Tango For Two: great!

Allegro

  • mf in bar 9,27 is a bit too soft
  • bar 9, LH seperate

4 June

Petite Piece

  • targeted practice on difficult areas
  • fixing by repetition

Tango For Two

  • good, but insecure for performance
  • to improve mental memory
    • slow practice
    • seperate hands practice
    • breaking the piece into small parts for mental memory analysis

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?

21 May

List C

  • very good!

List A

  • needs improvement. practice needs to be more balanced. even if I don’t work on a piece one week, it should be still practiced

Petite Piece

  • priority to learn this week
  • begin hands together
  • important to check position on piano, not too high or low

14 May

List C

  • quick transition between LH and RH (see quick on page)
  • check RH note bar 10
  • keep up dynamics
  • pretty much done 🙂

List B

  • bar 3, first note soft, not loud
  • bar 9, split LH
  • watch dynamics bar 15
  • dim bar 31

5 May

Tango for Two

  • still working on louds and softs
  • correct rhythm
  • nearly done 🙂

Dragon fly

  • can use una corda (soft pedal) left foot
  • make sure all LH staccatos are short
  • metronome starting at 72
  • still lots of work to do for consistency

Allegro

  • must prepare for next lesson, revise all notes, read carefully!

2 Apr

Dragon fly

  • big hair pins (phrasing)
  • don’t get too soft early
  • for evennness, try rhythm practice

Tango for Two

26 Mar

Dragon fly

  • dyanmics
  • articulation
    • staccatissimo
  • go slow to get details
  • bar 9 LH too high

New Piece: Petite piece

Allegro

19 Mar

Dragon fly

  • LH practice needed, in weak spots

Tango for Two

  • phrasing markings need to be much larger
  • rhythm sometimes correct
  • bar 11-12 needs to be all legato and smooth in RH. curved fingers. fingering must be correct

12 Mar

Dragon fly

  • combine hands

Tango for Two

  • ta ti ta ta rhythm
    • if possible, can be done with metronome
  • RH legato, don’t jump in RH
  • clap and listen for rhythm (see playlist)

5 Mar

Tango for two

  • make sure ta ti ta ta rhythm is right
  • make sure green getting louder and softer is right

Allegro

  • LH not too loud in bar 9, LH also detached (with a gap)

New song: dragon fly

Keep doing scales and exercises

19 Feb

  • bar 11, perfect RH legato

Combine all hands

Allegro

  • LH too loud

12 Feb

Allegro

  • soft dynamic, try to do softer
  • watch dynamics in bar 3 and 7
  • bar 9, detatched LH

2A

  • add swing rhythm
  • remember REPEATED flats

Learn Tango for Two

5 Feb

Allegro

  • follow dynamics carefully
  • go through difficult part slowly

Ex: 2A

New piece: Tango for two

10 Dec

Allegro

  • need to really use note chart
  • 18 bars of RH recommended goal

3 Dec

Sailor’s Dance

  • be careful in practice not to get into bad habits
    • DONT START AGAIN 500 times
  • practice in smaller sections from the middle
  • practice slow
  • FOLLOW THESE 3 TIPS! this week ok? hi alex

New piece:

26 Nov

Minuet

  • ticked off! 🙂
  • generally could have been softer
  • targeted practice: practice the bits you are not as good at

Sailor’s Dance

  • better chance with some slow practice
    • also don’t try this so fast, keep it calm and stable

19 Nov

Sailor’s

  • articulation important for progression
    • staccatos don’t lift too high
    • slurs, lift at the end of slurs
    • difficult articulation, but if you can do this you can do anything 🙂

Minuet

  • articulation
    • bars 7-8
    • bar 15-16
    • same as sailors dance, you can do anything if you do this 🙂

12 Nov

Sailor

  • all combined this week
  • good notes progress 🙂
  • have to keep watching the articulation, especially bar 13
    • both hands here have same articulation

Minuet

  • bar 8, getting softer on last note
  • bar 9 LOUD
  • bar 11, missing note?
  • no gaps
  • increase consistency
    • always practice with conscious effort
  • could be completed this week with conscious effort

5 Nov

Minuet

  • bar 9 LH in wrong spot
  • bar 11 has a missing RH note
  • perfect line by line, present for assessment

Sailor’s dance

  • lift at the end of slurs
    • makes it more lively
  • LH should also be slightly detached, same reason
  • main focus should be articulation

29 Oct

Scales

  • G contrary motion
    • READ while playing, no guessing

Minuet

  • 2nd stage of learning
    • 1st reading quickly
    • 2nd getting better
      • line-by-line
        • all lines perfect

22 Oct

Minuet

  • check positions when reading LH
  • RH is super good though!
  • learning process changes
    • don’t spend too long in hands separate, combine as soon as possible
  • for early stages of learning, learn more, but learn bad. Push boundaries of how much you can learn in one week
  • pushed boundary goal: whole piece hands together (okay if you don’t get there, but it’s a challenge)

15 Oct

Minuet: new piece

  • bar 8 hands separate this week (can do more though)
  • focus on INDEPENDENT READING

8 Oct

Summer T

  • softs need to be softer

Walzer

  • softs need to be softer

Little Flower Girl of Paris

  • p RH in bar 1, softer
  • bar 19, mp softer
  • riten, slow down a lot more

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • keep a stable speed, don’t start too fast
  • softs softer

29 Sep

Summer Toccatina

  • increase speed closer to the recording. don’t start too slow
  • mp and p should be A LOT SOFTER
  • fix rhythm bar 8, wait in between last two notes
  • keep up the good dynamics

Let’s sing a duet

  • softs need to be a lot softer
  • are you even like a clock?

Walzer

  • pretty good

Little Flower Girl of Paris

  • bar 19 onwards, watch out for all dyanmics, make sure they are all correct

22 Sep

Summer Toccatina

  • more dynamics
    • focus on softs!
  • crotchets in RH, keep long, but not too long!
  • when we go soft, don’t go slow

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • a more stable speed needed, or just more practice in general

Walzer

  • some slow practice may help with stability of rhythm, otherwise good dynamics

Flower Girl of Paris

  • bigger difference between RH and LH
  • needs more practice

ALL four pieces need to be exam standard and play in order. See recording guidelines above.

10 Sep

Summer Toccatina

  • main focus increase speed of semiquavers and put hands together
  • listen to recording intensely

Recording homework: Walzer

27 Aug

Technical

  • start ex PB

Flower Girl of Paris

  • bar 8 still isn’t 3 beats
  • bar 19, don’t slow down at all

20 Aug

Scales

  • focus on slower but even
  • play scales only once, only one opportunity in exam

Ex PA

  • good right hand today
  • do the left hand version this week

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • make sure dynamic barriers are clear, don’t get louder in bar 7-8

Walzer

  • two types of memory
    • brain memory – slow practice
    • finger memory – fast practice
  • brain memory will help avoid lapses in memory
    • only can be developed and tested in slow practice

Little Flower Girl

  • bar 7-8, wait for 6 beats in total
  • cresc starts too loud, can’t hear difference in volume
  • non-melody notes should be a lot softer

13 Aug

Exercises

  • start exercise PA both hands today

Little Flower Girl

  • dynamics more exaggerated
  • have an activing thinking mind about whether you are stopping
  • riten, slow down gradually

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • check the rhythm at the end, titi ta rest titi rest

6 Aug

Scales

  • needs to be practiced
  • needs to be consistent like a clock
  • needs to have correct finger numbers

Little Flower Girl

  • cresc. needs to start softer, then get louder
  • hands separate is a good way to practice memory
  • bar 19 onwards in poor condition, needs more practice

Walzer

  • bar 6-7, rhythm wrong in RH
  • separate hands to help memory

31 July

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • curve fingers for consistency
  • perfect game (3x) line by line
    • starting from the middle

Waltzer

  • curve fingers
  • start from the middle
    • 3x perfect

Little Flower Girl of Paris

  • practice smaller sections
  • cresc. – getting louder
  • can i start from anywhere

games:

  • 3x perfect
  • can I start from anywhere
  • little

25 July

Waltzer

  • issues with hesitation
    • needs to be challenged ‘can I do this section without stops’
    • generally do 4 bars
    • needs to be slower to get no hesitations
  • louds and softs throughout the piece exaggerated

Little Flower Girl of Paris

  • cresc means getting gradually louder
    • need to start soft then get louder
    • soft and loud equally important
  • riten, the gaps between the notes get bigger, slowing down

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • notes are good
  • in exams, dynamics are most important

7 July

Let’s sing a duet

  • rhythm needs to be like a clock
    • not about fast or slow, but about matching the beat
    • try metronome at 170 per quaver

Walzer

  • try to play lighter overall, especially in LH
  • make sure quavers are equally spaced
    • or make sure there’s no gap after the 2nd note
  • pay attention to all dynamic markings

Little Flower Girl

  • LH must be legato when there’s slurs
  • LH mf, RH p

25 June

Flower Girl of Paris

  • ties, don’t play the same note twice
  • RH is soft, LH is medium loud
  • we have read the rest of the piece. Aim to read independently

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • where are all the louds and softs
  • no GAPS
    • practice line by line without gaps
    • aim not for fast, but no gaps. slow and steady
  • dim. plan out from f, mf, mp, p

Homework:

  • practice ALL pieces before next lesson
  • no gaps and dynamics in Duet

19 June

Waltzer

  • finish all hands together

Little Flower Girl of Paris

  • finish first 3 lines hands together, bonus, rest of

11 June

Waltzer

  • have learned to read the LH this week
  • combine whole song together this week
    • best way to combine is RIGHT LEFT TOGETHER line by line

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • louds and soft
    • loud is f
    • soft is p

Notes 4 June

Waltzer

  • finish ALL right hand notes this week

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • on the right track but try to remember staccatos and legatos
  • don’t miss out on the LH notes

Homework: Finish ALL of Waltzer RH and ALL of Let’s Sing a Duet hands together

Notes 28 May

Let’s Sing a Duet

  • staccatos and legatos
    • staccatos are dots
  • p and f is soft and loud
  • keep getting faster!

Waltz

  • Get up to bar 8 in RH