Youtube Playlist
Long Term Goal
- Certificate of Performance
Theory
https://score.ameb.edu.au/login
24 May
Grainger
- always detached melody
- watch specific pedalling
- double dotted rhythm sharper and quicker
17 Apr
Scarlatti
- 72 call and response in LH
Mozart
- development more LH phrasing
- don’t get too soft towards end of development
- watch ends of phrases
2nd mvt
Chopin
- rubato to help transition
- lighter 43 LH
- more time at end of phrase and on ornaments
Greig
- middle section hold bottom notes, phrasing left hand
28 Mar
Listen to recording this week and do self-analysis
Scarlatti
- tempo not stable
- dynamics poorly executed
- aim for stability and execution
Mozart 1st
- dynamics only warmed up halfway
- evennness always an element, do rhythm practice
Mozart 2nd
- tends to speed up halfway, have the speed as a feeling. if you are struggling to keep the same speed, maybe start slightly quicker
Mozart 3rd
- watch articulation on 3rd page
Chopin
- middle section, have more variation in the moods on repeats
Greig
- middle section not following exactly 4 quavers in a bar (2 crotchets in a bar)
Cat and Mouse
- this needs stability
- pay attention to pause length, sometimes note lengths
22 Mar
Debussy
- pedalling has gotten a bit blurry. when chords change, either half or full pedal
- catch bottom notes where possible
- think about quality, are our notes being played
Chopin
- 40 larger riten
15 Mar
Mozart
- even if a phrase is loud, try to end it soft (development)
- evenness still a bit of an issue
- even if a phrase is loud, phrase
2nd mvt – good
3rd mvt
- last page needs consistency work
- delay crescs, don’t do them too early
Greig
- middle section can be slower, and more in time, slightly in softer in
- generally too fast, take a bit of time for the expressive details
1 Mar
Scarlatti
- general dynamic ideas great, some sections where there are not 3 quavers in a bar (only a few)
- 154, don’t wait too long on quaver
- 145 evenness in LH
- 33 timing
- bar 40 holding LH
- 53 build up gradually
Chopin
- bar 49 extra note
- middle section
- needs more rubato
- sensitivity to phrase endings
- all ornaments and embellishments slower/drawn out
- bar 24 check note
- 29 cresc gradually
23 Feb
Cat and Mouse
- main thing is rhythmic accuracy in some sections
Greig
- 32 gradual buildup, check pedal lifts
- bar 49 fff can be louder, appropriate for romantic style
- 57 clearer melody
- 67, louder, more mixed
- 75 onwards, be careful not to rush rhythm
Mozart 3rd mvt
- staccatos need quality and consistency
- is this speed you want? you’ll want it to be consistent throughout
16 Feb
Scarlatti
- be careful of pedal usage!
- bar 33 rhythm, focus on LH being in time
- bar 90 Bb in LH
Fantaisie
- still a few errors in first 12 bars LH
- bar 17 needs a larger drop in p dynamic
- check bar 35 LH. Also need to wait for rest in RH
- find opportunities to phrase with rubato
- middle section can be a bit more delicate
- have differences between the different sections of repeats
- bar 49 RH has an extra note
Mozart
- access dolce dynamic, whats the smallest dynamic that is still clear
- focus more on soft softs on phrasing
- in development, think about what different dynamics and emotions
8 Sep
Rondo
- super romantic at the start
Wedding Day
- 57, don’t rush LH
- 66 a bit louder
- continue to watch out for bass note hold
1 Sep
Mozart
- LH soft but big RH expression
- play a bit faster in 1st mvt for flow
18 Aug
Debussy
- two things to remember, check rhythm, check texture
Mozart
- starting chords, don’t play too loud
- to find appropriate dynamic, always think of appropriate emotion
11 Aug
Chopin
- 13, voice only main note
- 5, don’t go 100% speed intensity
- slow practice
- separate hands practice
- a lot of mistakes are mental mistakes
- middle section keep the flow
Debussy
- hold pedal to hold bass notes
- delicate touch at all times unless forte
4 Aug
Greig
- track melody
- practice slow
- fff, not too loud everything. keep
21
Mozart
3rd
- start still too loud
- phrasing everything
2nd
- avoid rubato for now
1st
- active phrasing, think always
- speed changes are too common here, no speed changes
New piece:
Mozart
23 Jun
- some sections require full pedal, is bottom note being caught?
- can hold notes to hold notes
- careful phrasing and balance in middle section
Cat
- check all markings
Greig
- dynamic contrast
- pedalling in the middle section
9 Jun
Greig
- pp still much softer
- 163 very loud
- always staccato
- watch pedal
- 45, accent bottom note
Fantasie
- keep doing slow practice
- watch pedal, catch the bottom
2 Jun
Mozart
- 29 onwards, big difference between f and p
- phrasing in both hands
- don’t cut crotchets off in
- return to recap, not too loud (42)
- 50, LH melody
2nd mvt
- don’t start too slow: andante is walking speed
- dolce, don’t go too loud
- not too much offset rubato
- watch rhythms in last line
3rd mvt
- don’t have big rests in between sections
- short staccato
- check various notes that we’ve written in
- fingering at the end check, not too loud
26 May
19 May
Greig
- pay attention to pedal markings carefully
- slow practice for pp soft and fast sections
- 57 catch bass note with pedal
- don’t change speed middle section
Chopin
- do ‘medium’ practice, focus on evenness
- watch double fingerings
- maintain flow in middle section, keep left hand always soft
12 May
Mozart 2nd
- LH soft as possible
- focus on end of phrases
Mozart 3rd
- check gaps between section
- chords at start are a bit too loud
- what is the character that we want?
5 May
28 Apr
Mozart 1st
- don’t do staccato in 1st line
- phrasing, do more softs
- check fingering in bar 9 RH
- don’t change speed 13 onwards
- 29 onwards and in general, have planned dynamics
- 67, don’t speed up
- check chord in bar 70
Weding Day
- bar 57, check rhythm quaver
- phrasing
- hold bottom note with pedal
- pp dynamics need to be ‘cute’
- check pedalling
31 March
Romeo and Juliet
- this is mostly correct, learn further
new piece: wedding day in t
Mozart
- rubato is overused a bit too much
- careful with phrasing as much as possible
- focus on the small end and beautiful side of phrasing
24 March
Romeo and Juliet
- learn this one further
Fantaisie
- middle section
- limit rubato, still keep original rhythm
- phrase endings are all soft
- think about story, how same sections are changing
- continue slow practice
- build
- bar 91, phrase melody
- can get loud, but just in the right sections
Mozart 3rd
- sneaky phrasing
10 March
Fantaisie
- ease into soft 41-42, then 43 onwards light delicate. contrast with the previous section
- keep LH soft always
- keep pedal clear
- slow practice essential as always, but also do a bit of middle range practice as well.
List D
- pesante, heavy, bring strong beat notes
3 March
Fantaisie
- smaller rubato, keep flow forwards
- always keep LH soft
- always prioritise control over speed
- slow practice still critical
24 Feb
Fantaisie
- old piano teachers HATE it when bar 5 is too loud, keep it soft like the dynamic says
- bar 11-12 check notes
- bar 13-16, focus on thumb, and thin sound
- bar 17, soft
- B# LH bar 24
- check LH bar 30-35. gradually cresc
- bar 37 do pedalling
- tips for middle section
- SOFT left hand
- delicate phrasing
- take your time
- 119 top note needs to be heard clearly
- 125 keep the same tempo
10 Feb
List C
- watch circled notes, but generally practice is a lot better today
New piece: Romeo and Juliet
List B
- bar 5
- watch for quality of scale
- watch LH rests
- 22 don’t get too loud
- 23 watch articculation RH
- 26 LH rests
- 42 watch speed
3 Feb
Impromptu
- a few adjustments to practice
- slow practice for coordination
- aim for perfect coordination
- can also try perfect dynamic
- soft dynamic, LH soft, RH phrase only in important section
- bar 13, bring out melody by making all other notes softer
- middle section
- softer LH
- softer overall ideas
Cramer
- practice slow, main challenge is technique
- keep LH articulation same
13 Dec
Chopin
- try partial pedalling
- middle section, much more delicate, more rubato, softer LH, delicate phrasing
- bar 59, rhythm is dotted
- bar 60, last note happens quickly
Mozart
- first line legato
- plan out phrasing where possible
- bar 14 lift off at end of slur
- check notes 18 onwards
- slurs bar 23
- bar 24 loud RH
- clear dynamic ideas from 29 in development
- bar 42 careful dynamics
2 Dec
Mozart 1st
- keep a stable semiquaver speed. What speed can you be stable at?
Mozart 2nd
- don’t overdo rubato and phrasing – ‘keep it straightforward’, simple beauty
- what are the different characters in each section? how does that affect phrasing and dynamic?
Mozart 3rd
- sort of like ritornello form here, main themes have slightly less detail, middle sections have more expression
Fantaisie Impromptu
- loud sf at start
25 Nov
Mozart
- first line, RH legato
- 2nd line, swing rhythm practice. PHRASE!
- bar 13, LH soft
- bar 18 phrase according to RH
- 29 onwards, big phrasing. play bottom notes soft
- bar 36 repeated G# in LH
Impromptu
- ocassional wrong fingering can be fatal!
- bar 13 LH check
- bar 41, check pedalling
- phrase gently, LH gentle as well
- bar 43 check LH
11 Nov
Mozart 2nd mvt
- lighter voicing in general
- staccatos light and not too short
- good LH and RH and balance and phrasing ideas good
- can be a bit quicker
- middle minor section can have wider dynamic range
Mozart 3rd mvt
- playful
- quick articulation
- quick dynamics
- phrasing in key sections
4 Nov
- aria style, singing style
- mozart’s main music was arias from opera
- phrasing
- light LH
- flowing character, rather than disrupted
Fantasie
- try to avoid restarts for now, don’t worry about exact polyrhythm
28 Oct
Fantasy Impromptu
- watch for repeated accidentals in general
- bar 10 A#
- repeated sharps bar 11
- bar 8 check RH fingering
- incrementally get faster
7 Oct
List A
- no rubato, keep flow
- dynamic ranges can be slightly more in episodes, but nothing too much
- slow practice may help stability
List B
- keep flow here
- make sure dynamics are sharp
16 Sep
List A
- great improvement across the board
- keep practicing slow, focus on memory and consistency
- perfect practice
- bar 36/34 RH had a mistake
List B
- where dynamics should be surprising, feel free to give greater dynamic contrastp
- understanding the different characters in your
- still aim for a quick and accurate touch at all times
List C
- try not to lift pedal up all the way
List D
9 Sep
List A
- have a difference between ritornellos and episodes
- always start and end ritornellos loud
- episodes are softer in general
- bring out some of left hand in 104
- 113 ritornello ‘sandwich’, make ritornello loud, episode
- 140 onwards, areas of concern
- perfect challenges, can I get through this section without a mistake?
List C
- make sure you can hear all LH notes clearly (or all notes in general)
2 Sep
Technical
- 8C, take your time to play
- 8B, try to practice error free and slower
- in scales, coordination is ocassionally a problem
- prepare arpeggios logner
- arpeggios, more accurate, inversions, more correct
List C
- some pedalling is ocassionally a bit not consistent leading to missed pedal notes
- make sure rit at bar 31 gets slowe
List A
- bar 104 can voice LH LH and RH and take turns
- slow practice maybe starts around 120ish mark?
26 Aug
List A
- things to improve
- quality
- specificity of dynamics
- include
- medium practice
- perfect runs
- what are we looking for in perfect runs?
- 1 mistake? what speed?
- seperate hands for listening and memory benefit
- end nice and big
List D
- bar 1 LH shorter and snappier
- 11, RH staccato first
- 16 RH not too loud
- watch 37 LH, still ff
- watch pp left hand bar 37
- 37 see new fingering
List B
- soft touch unreliable
- still need to hear melody clearly
- notes go down to bottom of the key quickly
- phrase LH 53
- occasional slowdowns, practice at tempo with metronome
- metronome practice 76, some sections drag
- should be fully expressed
19 Aug
List B – self-reflection
- bar 1, voice RH less, minimum clarity to hear it
- make fingers quicker
- bar 6, LH seperate, when doing hairpins, first note not SUDDENLY loud
- bar 8, know exactly what speed the run is, don’t be too quick
- turns need to be clearer – slower (spreading them out)
- bar 12, mf not too loud
- bar 22 non legato LH
- bar 25 softer, less RH voicing
- 29 too loud RH
- 39 end of phrase too long, then next staccatos also a bit too long
- 49 dotted rhythms
- missing notes 51???
- fix fingering here
- don’t rush in bar 58
- 60 too loud
- more mistakes towards the end?