Elizabeth

Student of the Week

Youtube Playlist

All of the pieces in Grade 8

Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ytOy–hBhgTWdvyF_oJ5Na_V7EBZfIzb?usp=sharing

Long term goal

grade 8 early 2022

Aural HOT tips

Inversions

where is the fourth?
root, 1st, 2nd/no, top, bottom

Cadences - Music Theory Academy - Perfect, plagal, imperfect, interrupted

imperfect – stopping in the middle of the song
interrupted – sad
perfect – grand finish
plagal – calm finish, closing in on itself

28 Oct

Rach

ppp doesn’t mean super soft
- needs phrasing
- voicing

timing should be careful

List D

exaggerated and intentional phrasing ideas

21 Oct

List D

check wrong notes in first page
sff chords quicker, longer pedal
more ‘french’ singing style
ff more aggresive
creepy march, don’t speed up
precision of rhythms here

14 Oct

Etude

slow practice may be helpful for consistency

List D

economy of sound
- allocate greater ranges if possible
- good to have it planned

check key areas for rhythm
check notes at the ending

List C

7 Oct

List D

focus on rhythmic
- triplet rhythms tight
- steady beat

last page menacing chords
- caused by minor 2nd and tritone
- soft accents

List A

phrasing
- emphasise the middle note

when doing soft, don’t make notes staccato
dim at end of middle section, start earlier
pedal can help cresc. assai at end

List B

16 Sep

List D

check rhythm, particularly of quavers
check articulation
check phrasing

9 Sep

Poulenc

accents, long, but separated
staccato refers to anti accents
loud RH double 8va
sf, do LH louder
slur endings soft

List A

practice sections
slow practice
- mistake avoidance
- it can only be memory mistakes

perfect runs
- 2x?
- 3x?
- 5x?
- 10x?

um
i’m done with my list yeet

2 Sep

Etude

just get faster

Firement

watch for micro-phrasing at all times. Overall ideas are already pretty good

Novlette

tres sec
- RH agressive and sarcastic

romantic section
- softer LH
- phrased

absolutement part 2nd page
- lighter texture

26 Aug

Toccata

first note octave higher
match speeds across piece
natural LH bounch here

check note here

seperate accents

pedal can dictate dynamics as well

List A

if no pedal, gradient of phrasing must be smooth
sequence phrasing, as it goes higher, get louder (7 8 9)
fingering is there for legato
start and end hairpins softer

19 Aug

List D

careful notes
careful articulation
slow practice
more bars

List C

same warnings as above

Khachaturian

see in email

12 Aug

check note bar 1
check rhythm bar 4 and 7-8

Scales

check tempos for minor third chromatics
check tempo for chord progression
check tempo for arpeggios

List A

pedal must be used for dynamic variation
don’t overpedal in p section
to get cat attack sound, have to have soft softs
terraced dynamics possible

p return of main theme, phrasing or not?
chaos in this section, can be helped by dynamics and pedal

5 Aug

List d

slow practice
- slow enough to stuff you up

skip straight to unknown sections
- minimum 4 bars a week

List A

starts soft before going louder
pedal can

22 July

List B

delicate in slow sections
- staccatos long
- phrase troughs
- ping top pinky

List D

phrasing expressive priority
- plan phrasing out using discrete numbers
pedal, catch sff
absolutement sans ralentir
- keep on going

15 July

Scales

actually pretty good
focus on arpeggios
- check the speeds

List D

for accents, slightly longer pedal usage
check difference between quavers and triplets
tres sec, dry, use wrist flicks
use pedal here

List C

vary offset rubato
perfect phrasing
- perfect LH, first note louder, next 3 softer
  - except when there LH is split into two parts

24 June

Scales

dimisnhed
Poulenc
- direci

17 June

go at a moderate speed, aim for coordination and beauty of tone

List B

be more safe
- don’t jump too high

two categories of mistakes
- risky mistakes
- mistakes that happen all the time

10 June

Scales

dominant of 7th

keep up phrasing for whole excercise
don’t forget Bb

Nocturne

good quality expression
use rubato note stability

Poulenc

check notes in key sections
framework for interpretation
- high low or middle
- loud middle or soft
- can be random for playfulness
- pp high, like jack in a box
- mf before sff, normal before SURPRISE

3 June

Scales

Dominant 7th of Eb

Poulenc

see goal (3rd page, 2nd line, 2nd bar)

Nocturne

Sensitivity

more backwards rubato, towards of phrase
- also works in tense sections
- rubato also works between different moods
getting softer towards end of phrase
hypersoft LH
bar 21, make sure you don’t speed up

check LH mista

27 May

Scales

Dominant of E root this week

Poulenc

watch notes carefully
watch articulation carefully
learn new section

Nocturne

be precise with expression
check LH notes

Firement

check notes bar 10

bar 11, dip for buildup
bar 19, can apply sotto voce, RH blends into left
34, be very careful with phrasing
hold crotchets for contrapuntal texture in bar 68

20 May

Scales

G minor scales
2nd inversion arpeggios

Poulenc

hyperphrasing
can also invert phrasing
goal: finish first section

Moskowski

add pedal and phrasing

List B

76, dotted practice

106, keep octaves legato with fingers as much as possible

keep rhythm tight in in 144

utilise hairpins 134

13 May

Technical

Bb major scales
1st inversions

List A

see 20/5 learning goal
aim, speed at 83, 4-8 bars

List B

softs softer
- it represents volatility

please fix the note bar 13

note check 102-105

when pedalling LH octaves are legato
think of ff as maximum volatility

List C

missed opportunities for big dynamics
some missed opportunities for rubato

List D

5-10 bars
reach learning goal

6 May

Scales

C# harmonic everything next

Arpeggios

all roots

Nocturne

don’t rush bar 34
con forza, not too early

dont need to rush these notes

slow down note by note

29 April

Chord progressions for scales this week

Nocturne

expression good this week
focus on LH seperate for mistake avoidance and note fixing

Novlette

learn at least 5-10 bars

22 April

aim for clarity, balance and coordination, don’t have to play too fast

on the right track

more phrasing

Next week

choose your own scales
- one from each scale type

List B

before phrasing up, dip all the phrases. peak later for effective peaks
start hazy on mp dolce sections
bar 63, A natural
64 onwards, layer carefully

98 check articulation

smorz means dying away

7 April

Scales

try double minor thirds

Nocturne

self-relfection today: main takeaway is to do more rubato

Practice requirements

don’t go backwards, don’t make a mistake
50/50 ratio between this practice and other types

Mar 25

Scales

start chromatics

more phrasing
make sure all quavers are even

Nocturne

three elements of a Nocturne
- phrasing
- balance
- rubato

1-4, make sure arm is relaxed to get all notes down. don’t play too soft. wait longer on emphasis
dolce, be careful
with rubato, make sure equal slowing down and speeding up
- do more offset rubato
when can left hand get involved?
bar 15, E# LH
bar 16, phrase LH
17-21, more rubato
pp softer. don’t have to voice melody. soft pedal
34, make sure pedalling is clean here
- make sure 1 2 3 beat is correct

45, start a bit faster and louder for bigger morendo
58, softer scale runs if possible. don’t rush the last two scales.

Mar 18

Firement

error in bar 10

mistake bar 88, don’t jump LH here as well

94, more phrasing
suspensions, accented

smorzando: dying away
try to finish this week

Poulenc

expression comes from aggressive staccatos
- approach from distance

Think about eisteddfod

Mar 11

List B

bar 34 still not speed matched with previous section
bar bar 47-48, wait on crotchets RH

dolce – can’t be past a certain volume level, but RH melody can still be heard
Focus of the week – coordination
try to finish this week maybe if not too busy

List D

split chords quickly, align with top note
voice melody

List A

phrase, but less in mp

Mar 4

Scales

3rds/6ths, can exclusively focus on 4th fingers

List D

keep going with this one

List C

make sure first bars are counted properly

List B

volume limiting: will help tone to be appropriate here, especially
please practice new bars this week (skip to this spot)

Feb 25

legato – hold notes for longer
balance – top, bottom, middle. relax arm, but not fingers too much
synchronous – maybe just play stronger?

Scales

work on thirds and sixths

Nocturne

generally, we want all phrase endings to be soft

don’t feel limited by phrasing, think more in terms of gradient
more ‘struggle’ in forte sections can be done by lots of dynamics
pp let RH fade in with LH. Don’t rush in these sections, add HEAPS of rubato

Feb 18

Ex 8C

more phrasing
rhythmic accuracy

Lump thirds and sixth practice into one group

Break chromatics into 6s

Firement

balance of LH/RH can still be weighted more towards LH
melody should be 2 volumes above
when LH in melody, must be forced

18 dolce, still have clarity while dolce
mf dolce, maybe just more phrasing
octave trick: voice top note

Nocturne

forte bits still need greater intensity

Feb 11

Ex 8B

big phrasing, emphasise top note only

Scales

thirds, keep 4th finger rule in mind
continue with 3rds

Nocturne

first chords, aim for bottom of key. don’t combine chords with pedal

bar 15, more con forza and in other similar places
when speeding up, make sure it’s balanced by equal slowing down
59, slow down early to ease into tempo change

4 Feb

Ex 8A

strong touch for legato
balance towards top note

Scales

present thirds scales next week

Firement

‘scientific’ accuracy of dynamics is required. this makes it more beautiful. This is more a general theory specific
watch notes bar 50
watch notes bar 54
persistent notes need to be less, more to create texture. Think about what is required
careful 66-67