Goal: Grade 5
16 Oct
Scales
- Bb harmonic minor this week and revise all other scales
Moonlight
- check LH bar 5
- check 32 LH
- dynamics still need to be more pronounced
9 Oct
Moonlight
- don’t go too fast
- keys are balance dynamics here
- be careful with any repeated mistakes
- count triplets
Legend of Tanis
- finish first page this week
Scales
- first four scales
New: Legend of Tanis
18 Sep
Spinliedchen
- melodic voicing is key
- crescendos
- watch for evenness and quality of quick notes
Moonlight: work on during holidays
Scales
- finish scales during holidays
11 Sep
Spinliedchen
- sectional practice
Scales
- G# melodic minor
4 Sep
Spinliedchen
- work to always highlight melody
- learn at least 2nd page this week
Scales
- B maj and G# harmonic minor this week
7 Aug
Technical work: prepare
31 Jul
4A
- exaggerate dynamics
Scales
- all about execution, make sure you are prepared
Tambo Tango
- evenness at 13
Let the Good Times Roll
- accents
- for memory, slow and seperate hands practice
Twilight
- keep 13-15 loud
- would recommend slow practice
24 Jul
Twilight
- slow down towards the end
- exaggerate dynamic changes between sections
- pedalling 9-10, hold entire bar
Let the Good Times Roll
- exaggerated dynamic ranges and accents are key
- particularly the louds need to be louder
Tambo Tango
- this is generally well played, good pedalling, good top note voicing
- rhythm and clarity at 13-16 a big thing still though
4A
- needs dynamics
Scales
- needs to be correct and fluent first time, not four attempts
3 Jul
Twilight
- 9 bigger and more phrasing
- more in 21 as well
- 17 not too heavy, but 21 more
26 Jun
Twilight
- don’t go too fast
- even in loud bits, left hand soft, right louder. never lose RH melody
- watch pedalling 9 onwards
4A
- please finish this week!
Scales
- do F# harmonic minor this week
Tambo Tango
- needs slow practice for accuracy
19 Jun
Twilight
- phrasing, when we got higher, get louder. we can do this throughout the song
4A
- keep improving
Scales
- on the right track, but need to go quicker
Let the Good Times Roll
- accents are relative to dynamics
12 Jun
Twilight
- learn more this week
- balance is the most important thing
- LH soft, RH loud
Scales
- this needs to be done, we are going to check next week
Tango
5 Jun
Twilight
- check hand swap at bar 8
Let the Good Times Roll
- accents need work
- watch transitions between sections
4A
- slow down, but do the phrasing
29 May
Tambo Tango
- melody can come out stronger still, this means everything else soft
- watch pedalling at 13
Let the Good Times Roll
- check rhythm bar 1
- accents still need to come out stronger
- mp and p softer
New song: Twilight
22 May
Tambo Tango
- holding top note better, this is our melody
- similarly, where is melody is 13?
- quality of notes, are you pressing all of the notes down
Let the good times roll
- finish this week
- accents, louder than surrounding notes
- staccatos are soft, and short
Scales
- just make sure they are accurate when you play them
15 May
Scales
- Bb major contrary, just be careful if you get lost halfway
- do G harmonic minor this week
Midnight Ride
- choose areas that need work
- dynamics!
- sometimes it helps to exaggerate dynamics
Nashville Rag
- a generally good performance, but needs dynamics, espeically on the f side
Tambo Tango
- don’t overdo pedal
New: Let the good times roll
8 May
Scales
- do up to Bb major cont
Midnight Ride
1 May
Scales
- please watch accuracy quality
- do all scales up to C melodic minor
Song of Twilight
- this was done well
New song: Midnight Ride
24 Apr
Nashville Rag
- larger dynamic difference, is it obvious?
- bar 1-4 LH fingering
New: Song of Twilight
- tranqil, relaxed
- watch key signature
Scales:
- do three scales this week
27 Mar
Scales
- E harmonic minor, maybe F major this week
- need to work on accuracy generally speaking
Kinabalu Sunrise
- when doing sectional practice, split into smaller sections
- add pedal
20 Mar
Star Wars
- the quality here was decent
- add dynamics for interest
Kinabalu Sunrise
- check where pedal changes
- dynamics as well
- practice the 2nd page more
Scales
- take each time seriously, execution is important as knowing the scale
13 Mar
Kinabalu Sunrise
- try to add pedal
- generally well done
- try to finish this week
Scales
- Bb major and G major contrary
6 Mar
Easy Does It
- this was beautifully presented today! for grade 2 standard, this is sufficient, this would get about a B+ in an exam
Star Wars
- this is also generally not bad. there’s a couple bits that would benefit from sectional practice, do you know where they are?
- sometimes we have to watch accuracy, if it sounds wrong, read!
- otherwise, really good progress!
Scales
- B harmonic minor
- 4th finger rule
New song: Kinabalu Sunrise
27 Feb
Star Wars
- great work today!
- sectional practice on difficult sections, 3-5x times
- aim for a steady beat especially in LH. slow practice for this
Please do your scale B natural minor
Keep revising Easy Does It
20 Feb
Easy Does It
- excellent progress
- slow practice for consistency
- if you’re consistent, all crotchets should be the same in LH
New song: Star Wars
- see how far you can go
New Scale: B natural minor
- check fingering with 4th fingering rule
13 Feb
Easy Does It
- don’t set a limit, try to push much as you can
- we want to be doing more reading
- try to finish this week
- don’t do a few bars at a time, do larger sections
Scales: D major this week
6 Feb
New song: Easy Does It
- try not to restart too much
- don’t forget F#s
- see how far you can get!
Scales
- D major