Eunice

Youtube Playlist

Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gk9O9tBUT6-vrmekmv5Oyn1ROJOTcH6C?usp=sharing

Long Term Goal

Grade 8 2022

Aural Tips

major is 43
minor is 34
three inversion, root, 1st, 2nd

30 Jun

Exercises: ok, Isaac to check 8C

check all speeds

chord progressions need to be legato

List A

expression needs to be obvious and big
- still trying to keep a pleasant sound
no ‘in the middle’ decisions
check held notes if possible

24 Jun

List A

might be a good time to increase tempo
- for extra flow

keep accomanying parts soft

also some parts still need to be practiced slow

List B

metronome 76
should be fully expressive with the metronome
61, check for LH rests
slow practice needed in some sections

List C

make melody permanent
melody has space to be expressive
24, not too expressive yet
33,

17 Jun

List B

bar 1, ornament a bit earlier and not rushed
bar 2, staccato phrase ending,
phrase endings with staccato, keep soft
bar 9, phrasing, check hairpin
check RH bar 18
bar 20, start softer to have space to phrase up
bar 30, lower notes softer
bar 40, soft softer
bar 50, check LH
64 can be louder, harsh and scary
still do slow practice for consistency

List D

same type of notes should be same length
watch out for precise f and sf changes
finger clustering can help single loud notes

10 Jun

List C

prior to eisteddfod, preservation practice
- consistency a slight issue

can i hear the melody, what can I change to support the melody?
often about making other parts

List B

bar 9, inverted turn, notes must be clear
bar 12, dynamics
bar 20, phrase upwards
bar 16, are notes correct? slow practice in general.
quasi cadenza, more rhythmically free, creative phrasing

3 Jun

List C

big phrasing everywhere, dramatic
bar 23, voice bottom voice, big
bar 30, big ugly loud
bar 33, melodic
keep ideas confident and big 🙂

List A

distant sound, soft but still with note clarity
loud and long crotchets, soft, short crotchets

27 May

List C

bar 6, hold down notes with finger
bar 9, apply rubato
27, rest in RH
watch for overpedalling
leggiere, light and graceful
53-54, watch pedalling
76, start softer

List B

watch out for all articulation, how does it affect mood?
keep all dynamics precise
29 coordination
don’t play too loud LH in left hand ever
quasi cadenza, more rubato and phrasing

Sight Reading

pick a moderate speed
look for difficult sections in warmup time
try not to go backwards

20 May

List C

33 a bit more melody
- LH quick
- RH quicker, simple, and phrased

43, hold pedal
- don’t slow down

53, watch technical notes of RH
62, highlight
66-68, louder, don’t spread out LH too far in 68
watch rhythm 76
83, grace notes crotchets

List D

watch tenuto (flat) accents, loud and separated
3rd line 3rd bar, keep loud dynamic
subito – suddenly
LH chord 2nd page, notes consistent

13 May

Scales

on the right track

List A

biggest issue fingering
- RH should be legato where possible
- bar 12 an example, but many examples
- important to find by yourself
- also important

List C

intentionality
- knowing what idea is in each section and excecuting as large as possible ideas

less staccato LH

8 Apr

List B

smooth phrasing
- notes are not suddenly louder or softer

recommend faster
gap in between bar 6

bar 9 onwards, can be a bit ‘crazy’, more rubato phrasing
- get louder and faster

watch tempo in bar 30
watch for RH rests that mean there’s a pedal gap
watch for precision of dynamic in 24

33 much more flowing and faster
43, watching pedal gap, dynamics and tempo
47 onwards light pedalling

bar 69, check RH

75 no pedal

77 onwards, melody legato but not overpedalled

List D

more agressive character for f sections
matches well with dissonance

25 Mar

a bit slower
a bit louder
a bit more legato

a bit more phrasing

okay to be play slower 🙂

Scales

good speed
watch 3rd and 6th apart for starting and ending notes

List A

loud notes not too agressive, but good difference between soft and loud
- loud and ‘pleasant’
- chords
- RH melody

hold notes bar 97
slow expressive practice
- watching for note lengths
- exploring phrasing ideas

watch for clarity

18 Mar

List C

47 dynamics larger. don’t stop at 49
53, dim later, not too early
55, LH crush note can be louder. don’t slow down
63, bring out melody. more rubato. bring out thumb
make sure all notes come out bar 69
poco marcato il basso – a bit mark the bass
77 try to make chords legato. make sure non-dotted quavers are non-dotted

List B

make sure all ornaments are spread out and clear
various fixes to rhythm and coordination

11 Mar

List D

articulation important
exact dynamics important
molto leggiero – very light
una corda – one string – soft pedal
giocoso – playful and joking
subito – suddenly
stringnedo – getting faster

List C

watch recommended pedalling
bar 21, don’t pedal over rest

25 Feb

List C

what is the perfect balance, see dynamic, appropriate voicing?
check pedals carefully
check voicing of melody carefully
bar 33, count full bar of 3 beats

make sure melody is well voiced in 33
43, bring top melody out

watch p dolce bar 54
in general, watch pedal and articualtion carefully

List B

dynamics need to be precise, do you know exactly what you’re doing?
candenza bar 50
- greater phrasing, more freedom of time

LH not too short 55, dolce

60, watch pedalling, big drama

18 Feb

increase tempo

Scales

group chromatic into 6
don’t start too many times

List A

think about how the key/harmony affects the overall dynamic, what mood is it?

List B

playful mood
- less raw loud dynamics
- more sudden soft dynamics

11 Feb

List C

to help legato in 33, can use touches of pedal
- recommended to lift pedal every RH note
see recommended rhythm bar 43
bar 45, watch pedalling for staccato RH note

4 Feb

List C

start with very soft, then bar 6 get louder. Don’t rush bar 6.
bar 9, good phrasing, add rubato
marcato – voice melody intensely

15 Jan

List C

exaggerated ‘salon’ expression
split chords and ornaments slowly

List A

continue to work on baroque balance, light touch, prioritise one melody at a time

17 Dec

List B

no notes due to hands on advice

10 Dec

List B

keep track of 4 beats
bar 8, see where 4 beats are
check notes
- 4 RH
- 10 RH
- 11 LH

practice slow, but increase speed with evenness

List A

be conscious of held notes

3 Dec

List A

slow practice
watch fingering
check RH bar 3
check tension and resolution
hold long note bar 5

Haydn

bar 16, fit all notes in quickly
bar 17, non legato
check rhythm at the end of 2nd page

26 Nov

Haydn

watch articulation in LH and how it changes mood
- no markings mean non-legato if it is slow enough
- staccatos very short

build ups, always start soft. They often don’t go anywhere in Haydn

Bach

bar 25 LH strong
build ups, keep soft
but bar 38 can phrase a bit
keep

19 Nov

Scales

C# harmonic grand scale

Haydn

for comedy
- dynamics
- articulation

turn has principle, above, principle, below, principle (5 notes total)

Bach

start from 3rd page more
slow practice
- mistake avoidance
- increasing memory

12 Nov

voice top line
listen for ideal balance, not too much of any one line

Start 8B

Scales

start E major

Bach

bar 25, sharp phrasing, LH very loud to voice
balance appropirate to whether in RH or LH
repeating motifs should receieve the same treatment in articulation and dynamics
bar 35, dominant 7th tension
bar 1 louder announcement
bar 4, tension

5 Nov

Bach

phrasing
articulation
voicing
beginning history of dynamics
LH crotchets detatched

Exercise 8A + a grand scale or two

29 Oct

Mozart

could have more contrast f and p

List A

don’t rush the small notes

Chopin

think about the phrasing logically

22 Oct

Tric

make sure that the ornaments are consistent and spaced out

Mozart

slow practice and separate practice might help

Nocturne

watch pedalling carefully
don’t rush polyrhythms
think about rubato for emphasis of notes

Merry Andrew

can slow down a bit more in 40

15 Oct

Mozart

metro at 120 to get flow
soft sections need to be softer

Etude

try adjusting pedal so texture is not too heavy
middle section less phrasing to keep it more calm

Nocturne

rubato doesn’t need to happen everywhere
slow down towards end, bar 36 rit to atempo
rit and dim and the end
discretion to do or not do expression important for next step

8 Oct

Le Tr

this could be a bit slower, rapid LH

Mozart

be careful of LH rests, adds to character of lightness
all phrase endings should be soft, unless the phrase ending is a peak
rhythmic accuracy 100% for playfulness
can be a bit faster
watch articulaton in 3rd page
keep this section soft for sneakiness

23 Sep

Nocturne

don’t speed up towards end
last bar even
bar 33
- exaggerated dynamics, but do
- don’t speed up

bar 29, lots of polyrhythms!
bar 28, no delay into next beat

Etude

evenness
- all notes are the same length
- there aren’t any suddenly loud notes, the phrasing make sense

there needs to be space in between each note
middle section like ‘choir’
pedal is smooth, but fully refresh

10 Sep

Le Tric

fingers close to keys
long notes
to avoid missing notes
appogiaturas rushed to avoid change in time

Mozart

must flow more, increase tempo, remove rubato
‘careless’ tempo, faster, no rubato, not affected by anything
still have phrasing
balance in LH always soft

3 Sep

Merry (record this week)

bar 9 start softer, constant staccatos using flicking action. don’t lift high from piano, don’t create accents
bar 13, check where the softs are at the start of hairpins
bar 42, check pause at end, it should be a long note
metronome practice recommended 80-90

Nocturne

check where crescendos are
5 against two, the LH note comes between the 3rd and 4th note
mf play a bit softer in bar 29

27 Aug

Les Tricoteuses

think balance related to mood
accents for bird call

softs softer end of 2nd page
last page, softer softs, rit at the end

Mozart

ends of phrases soft
- sneaky, no rubato
not loud here, focus on phrasing

20 Aug

Etude

adjust pedalling according to desired texture
- frequently lifts?
- half pedals?

middle sections, softer, lighter
- adjust pedal
- adjust dynamic

make sure that phrasing is accurate

evenness
- most important think about evenness

Merry Andrew

slow practice for mental memory
should be done for all pieces anyway as well

Nocturne

balanced rubato WITHIN phrases, each phrase must have equal amounts slowing down and speed up (if you want momentum to go forward in that section)
polyrhythms, don’t rush RH, don’t need to worry about exact grouping

13 Aug

Tricoteuses

rubato, delay in entry,
- can also be at the end of phrases

think of small notes attached to previous note
experiment with rubato as an expressive tool

Mozart

look out for parts that are uneven
- slow practice
- rhythm practice
- staccato practice

keep soft bits soft
avoid rubato excessively
- use metronome 105-110

6 August

fast sections
- doesn’t need to be overcalculated
- as long as notes at both ends are coordinated

LH involvement important for dynamics
make sure pedal is correct (every four notes)

Merry Andrew

don’t add extra rests
- bar 12

check rest here

Etude

last page, phrasing on the page only

23 July

Etude

focus on light sound, texutre
p only in bar 7, creates beautiful sound
staccato, just means light

33 can be intense
37, as soft possible
- can use soft pedal

overall, just contrast strong sections with beautiful soft sections

Nocturne

we want forward momentum, slow rubato must be balanced with speeding rubato
pedal needs to be constant, to capture bass note
animato, get quicker

polyrhythm can be guessed, sufficiently good
check coordination here

16 July

Merry Andrew

detail in dynamics

strict rhythm from 34, strict rit
subito p, loud until subito p

don’t accel early
last two notes should be nearly next to each other

Couperin

think of moods

Notes 13 Jan

Ex 5C

division of beats important

Scales

remember 4th finger rule
first page of scales up to Bb melodic minor

Alla polacca

keep quavers as quavers. When you see a quaver, make sure you don’t rush.

Wistful prelude

again, keep quavers quavers
strong touch and try a bit phrasing
full pedal down

Notes 16 Dec

Sonata

personal interpration is encouraged
watch rhythm at

for constant speed, recommended metronome at 100

Alla Pollacca

2nd page, slurs are important. rhythm has two parts, maths and listening. Listen to music.

phrasing needs to be careful. Has many rules, including end of slur must be soft

Notes 9 Dec

Technical homework

5B LH, Db major

Alla p

most important thing now is the articulation. Gives the piece character
don’t accent staccatos
after that, do phrasing
make sure that you plan out your phrasing. If you know you are getting louder, then start soft

Sonata

starting from 2nd page until end, work on buildup

Notes 2 Dec

Ex 5A, even when rolling, make sure

Learn 5B this week

Scales: G# harmonic/melodic minor

Sonata

RH still doesn’t need to be rolled. Can be direct. This will help with balancing LH/RH balance
make sure you don’t slow down for ornaments and getting softer.

Notes 25 Nov

Scale: B major

Excercise 5A

Sonata

be careful of ornaments, see how they are divided into three notes. see sheet for guidelines
approach the touch with a dry and straight forward approach
balance should be