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

okay

practice to be a bit quicker

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

okay for today

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

okay for today

slow but accurate, keep practicing to increase speed

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

on the right track today

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

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

satisfactory

check LH fingerings carefully, otherwise on the right track

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

rhythm, wait two beats on crotchets

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

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

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

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

on the right track

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

watch for E flats
wait on crotchets

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

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

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

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?