Eric

Long Term Goal

  • grade 3

3 Jun

Fable

  • many gaps
  • slow practice
  • expression is good

Gavotte

  • all about gaps as well
  • maybe reduce speed

Banjo Tune

  • gaps, quality
  • ending needs practice
  • maybe reduce speed

La poupee

  • watch bar 2, there’s sometimes an extra note LH

General:

  • needs slow practice for consistency, biggest issue!
  • even in performance, always choose a more careful speed

27 May

Recording review:

Fable

  • slower for more accuracy
  • don’t stop in middle of 2nd page
  • soft can be softer in 2nd page

Gavotte

  • slower for more accuracy + dynamics
  • 2nd page softer overall
  • wrong note bar 29
  • aim for 100% consistency during practice

Banjo Tune

  • bar 11, notes should be short in LH
  • bar 14 right hand, check chord

La poupee

  • this should be a lot slower
  • practice carefully, this one is not known, can drag down the entire exam!
  • wrong note last bar RH
  • watch out for extra LH notes
  • bar 11 LH
  • this should be mostly soft

20 May

Fable

  • LH phrasing more accurate and large at 9-18
  • watch RH articulation at all times
  • allargando, slow down at the end
  • hold the last note for longer

Gavotte

  • much better to be safe here for recording
  • dynamics are usually good, but there’s a lot of quality issues. are we actually practicing slow or just thinking about it?

Banjo Tune

  • check 2nd last LH chord
  • can be quicker
  • don’t hold notes over rests in LH bar 11 onwards
  • slow practice for last line

La poupee

  • this is never loud, should be light
  • if possible, LH stays always soft, mostly getting louder in RH
  • this could benefit from some slow practice
  • you should slow down towards the end

13 May

Fable recording- this

is generally pleasin

Banjo Tune

  • can go faster for performance – but still practice slow
  • bar 14 check RH chord
  • more phrasing in middle section
  • recording this week
  • after this, we will try full recordings

La poupee

  • too fast! focus on dynamics and correct notes right now
  • practice ending seperately and slow

6 May

3A

  • okay

3B

  • practice to be a bit quicker

3C

  • F# in key signature
  • keep working on this, good for chord accuracy

Fable – recording

  • consistency problems, we can fix this through slow practice
  • bar 9-16, phrasing is too small
  • was our articulation correct (also slow practice)
  • SLOW AND CAREFUL PRACTICE APPLIES TO ALL PIECES. 慢慢练习很重要!
  • 钢琴考试有多难? you need to be accurate. remember, 4 pieces in a row

Same applies to Banjo tune

29 Apr

Fable

  • keep the same speed
  • start doing accents
    • make the accent loud, other notes a bit softer
  • much more hairpins in left hand bar 9

La poupee

  • check last bar notes
  • articulation in LH important, short long, repeating for whole piece
    • also try to keep left hand quiet

Gavotte

  • pay attention to articulation here as well carefully, some staccatos sometimes are missed
    • bar 4 for example LH
    • bar 7

15 Apr

3B

  • okay for today

3C

  • all about wrist flexibility, wrist up and down on each chord

Scales: good progress

La poupee

  • good notes today
  • keep softs softer, only get louder
  • check position and notes of last two bars

Fable

  • effort on articulation and dynamic much better today
  • bar 9-16, can you keep LH always legato?
  • continue to practice slowly for detail and consistency

8 Apr

3A

  • okay for today

3B

  • slow but accurate, keep practicing to increase speed

3C

  • please prepare for next time

Scales

  • progress steady, please continue to focus on this

Banjo Tune

  • do more phrasing in the middle section
  • when you practice this, aim for consistency. doesn’t need to be perfect, but at least focus on this
    • practice slowly for this

Gavotte

  • this has improved a lot, but keep a constant speed. choose a good speed at the start, not too slow, then don’t speed up

Fable

  • still need to seperate slurs in RH. this is the main issue

Big focus on scales this week

25 Sat

3B

  • on the right track today

3C

  • check fingering
  • check all Fs turn into F#

Scales

  • okay, but still a bit slow. Increase speed slightly
  • please bring sheet next week

Fable

  • bar 6 check LH notes
  • bar 9, rhythm incorrect today, should be perfectly even quavers
    • phrasing as well
  • soft at 19 missed
  • subito f means suddenly loud

Gavotte

  • starting speed was still too fast and inaccurate. Pick a medium speed, better for expression as well
  • 2nd page, dynamics not always correct

18 Mar

Fable

  • bar 9 legato LH, but short RH
    • hairpins as well, this is phrasing
  • bar 1-8 can be louder, big accents
  • articulation in 1-8

3B

  • on the right track, watch your slurs though

Scales

  • see scales sheet, do A major and F# natural minor this week

Gavotte

  • slow speed here is good for accuracy today. we can slowly increase speed from here
  • larger dynamics overall, even if speed is slower. especially when getting louder
  • check articulation bar 4, bar 7

11 Mar

3A

  • satisfactory

3B

  • check LH fingerings carefully, otherwise on the right track

3C

  • put hands together this week
  • check scales next week

Remember, main 3 pieces are Banjo Tune, Gavotte and Fable, practice these the most

Gavotte

  • starts too fast and inaccurate still! slow this down
  • slow practice for first page required, then transition to medium speed practice. try to avoid going very very fast
  • bar 30, check RH
  • articulation in 2nd is okay, but sometimes slurs are held too long

25 Feb

La Poupee

  • going good for extra list
  • last bit, needs most practice. check last bar left hand

3A

  • rhythm, wait two beats on crotchets

3B

  • good effort
  • i’ve written down flats to help us. you can also do this by yourself in the future

New exercise: 3C

Banjo Tune

  • critical to revise correctly a bit, avoid creating new mistakes
  • try perfect practice, can i get through 2 lines perfectly? can i get through a page correctly?
  • revise slowly

18 Feb

La Poupee

  • great reading
  • most of the piece is soft, you don’t need to be loud

3A

  • make sure you have E flats
  • accuracy is key rather than speed

3B

  • this needs to combine hands this week

When practicing, play old pieces at least once a week so you don’t lose it, including Banjo Tune

11 Feb

PLEASE DO TECHNICAL EXERCISES

3B

  • this needs to combine hands this week

New side piece: Hedwig’s Theme

La poupee

  • this is on the right track 🙂

Fable

  • seperate slurs in first two lines
  • connect slurs in LH from 9-16

4 Feb

Study

  • mostly accurate
  • as this is an extra piece, focus on just getting notes right first

Last extra: La poupee

Fable

  • watch left hand bar 6

Technical Work

3A

  • on the right track

3B

  • aim to do hands together this one, this is the main challenge of the exercise
  • watch for missing flats

17 Dec

Gavotte

  • practice of very poor quality this week, did you try to make sure that it was correct? was it slow and steady?
  • avoid careless practice!

10 Dec

For concert: Gavotte

  • speed unstable and too fast
    • causing a lot of mistakes
    • go at a comfortable speed
  • once we have stable notes, it will be easier to do dynamics
  • sectional practice AT STABLE SPEED
    • bar 7-8
    • bar 9-12
    • bar 15-16
  • piece taking longer to learn because of bad practice methods
  • 2nd page dynamic much softer. check dynamics carefully

Scales

3A

  • watch for E flats
  • wait on crotchets

3B

  • try to combine hands this week

3C: start this week

3 Dec

Banjo Tune

  • lift LH crotchet in bar 11
  • check bar 14 RH chord
  • generally good standard though

Fable

  • check LH bar 7-8
  • bar 9, LH should be perfectly legato
  • lift at the ends of slurs bar 1-8

New piece (extra list): Study

  • check ALL fingering for this one!
  • extra list are non-assessed pieces, but are desgined to have wider breadth of pieces

19 Nov

3B

  • focus on coordinating hands together, watch all fingerings, watch for flats in LH

3C

  • do hands together this week. focus on loose wrist and light pleasant sound. notes lightly seperated

3A

  • a little bit inaccurate today, watch for flats and fingering

Gavotte

  • first page needs slow and secure slow practice, becoming more inaccurate
  • likely to get worse with current practice. strong warning!
  • 2nd page be accurate with dynamics and staccato and slurs

Banjo Tune

  • for greater control in RH, have curved fingers
  • bar 11 staccatos
  • eric figured out half way that it needs to be more accurate, so he went slower by himself 🙂
  • fingering LH bar 27

Fable

  • lift at the end of slus
  • bar 6-8 LH notes
  • bar 9, connect notes in slurs in LH

12 Nov

Scales

  • good progress, continue on same path more scales hands together
  • practice 3A, start 3B hands separately

Banjo tune

  • aim for absolute RH evenness, swing should always be the same
  • LH missing bar 9
  • bar 14 RH Db chord

Fable

  • articulation in RH

5 Nov

Gavotte

  • dynamics, to be accurate, plan them out (see marking on page)

Banjo Tune

  • ending, make sure there are no gaps
  • for stability try at a slower speed

Great progress through first two pieces. New piece: Fable.

Scales

  • good progress through scales

29 Oct

Gavotte

  • bar 9-12 a danger zone
    • keep quavers even
    • avoid mistakes in bar 11-12
    • staccato 11-12 LH

Banjo Tune

  • check LH bar 3
  • decent flow going on 🙂
  • check Db right hand bar 14
  • are you doing the last note in bar 16 RH?
  • bar 26, triplets should come directly after one another
    • maybe try slower this week

Scales

  • fingering very dodgy 😦
  • just do hands seperate this week
  • even scales are when the notes come one after another. Is this even?

22 Oct

Gavotte

  • still make sure all staccatos are separated, not joined
  • watch rhythm bar 7-12. quavers should be even, should sound like they come equally after one another
  • second page, make sure slurs have gaps if they are seprated. is every staccato short?
  • lift at the end of every slur

Banjo Tune

  • first two lines solid forte
  • phrase LH parts based on how high the notes are (see LH hairpins)
  • try to finish this week

17 Sep

We got our final tick 🙂

  • good effort, can focus on Gr 3 now 🙂

Gavotte

  • first page all about articulation
    • dots staccato
    • lines, tenuto (long note)
    • slurs
  • watch articulation, fingering and key signature second page

New song to try on holidays: Banjo Tune

Scales: try as many as possible

10 Sep

Meandering

  • dynamics
  • tick today 🙂

March

  • slow, then slowly increase
  • try for tick next week

New song: Gavotte

27 Aug

Meandering

  • when doing sectional, also try to do perfect runs, instead of just running through them
  • when trying for a tick, choose a medium speed rather than a fast one
  • maybe one more week!

March

  • this is really good!
  • just need a bit more work focusing on line 4 and 5
  • maybe next week as well :)?

20 Aug

Meandering

  • ti ti quavers at the end of lines too slow (bar 3-4, 7-8)
    • clap rhythm then play
  • bar 9 onwards, issue is technical, get rid of gaps
    • seems to be caused by left hand, practice separately
  • getting much better overall 🙂 very close to being done

March

  • listen to which parts are going wrong, see below for self-reflection
  • are we going too fast?
  • what bits need to be practised separately? what bits are fine?