Jayden

Student of the Week

Recording Guidelines

Youtube Playlist

Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxU_OGndc5q-jH26-96g39xF-RLx4hbgc

Google Drive

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dWwG84LFuyn_X-PD_x9-mioV2YXi1h5-?usp=sharing

Intervals

2nd – scale
3rd – O when the saints
4th – amazing grace
5th – twinkle twinkle
6th – my bonnie lies over the ocean
7th – weird
8th – somewhere over the rainbow

Long term goal

Grade 5 exam

6 Dec

Continue to revise scales

Fix You

start from the middle
phrasing
- focus on tail ends
  - end of phrase
- keep phrasing smooth, not zig zag

keep LH really soft
try to finish over the holidays

America

increase speed without getting notes wrong
commit to dynamics

29 Nov

Scales

Eb major fingering
revise similar motions in general

Fix You

generally really accurate
but needs structured, direct practice
- go straight to the part

America

keep a constant 6 beats in a bar

22 Nov

Scales: arpeggio bois

America

systematic learning for the last page
- correct repetitions
- try to learn two lines

Fix You

balance needs to be thought of carefully, LH vs RH?
phrasing
bar 22, interhand balance

15 Nov

Scales: contrary

Fix You

watch pedalling
watch for over thick texture
dolce phrasing, don’t phrase too much
LH generally too loud
- hand independence important here

bar 22, voice main melody, but everything else soft

8 Nov

America

still prioristise new notes, learn up to 2nd last line
hit accents hard
tenuto flat accents, hold long

Fix You

LH soft
thin texture
phrasing
- bar 22, follow up and down also for texture

Scales:

1 Nov

America

bar 17 – 35 smooth
one line of next page
constant titi
improve in small sections as usual

Fix You

phrase
get up to end of 2nd page

25 Oct

New Scale: C minor harmonic and melodic

America

do softs soft
tenuto (flat accents) long notes
when getting faster be careful to quickly fix mistakes
24, both hands in unison

one line of page 3
watch key signature carefully

Fix You

expressive
- phrasing
- balance

18 Oct

New Scale: C# melodic minor

America

35 HT goal
learning progression okay so far, keep it up

Fix You

check some coordination carefully
broken chords

11 Oct

Scales: C# harmonic minor

America

increase of speed important, transition to fast but stable is a critical stage to watch
bar 17, LH treble clef
goal bar 26 but good
flaws in learning
- repeated errors
- lack of urgency of rhythm

Fix You

polyrhythm follows T RLR pattern
learning goal: bar 15

4 Oct

See updated playlist

America

finish into second page

Scales

Eb major

13 Sep

Etude

bar 9-16 coordination
bar 17
- LH a bit heavy
- coordination off
bar 33
- unsteady – leading to mistakes
- always count in 3
ending
- pretty okay
fixing coordination
- paying more attention
- 5% slower maybe?

Allegro

speed up a big problem
- better notes
- better dynamics
- better balance?
LH a bit heavy

Tartan

super too fast

Let the Good Times Roll

probably needs to be slower
focus consistency
‘cool’ speed
softer softs

6 Sep

Let the Good Times Roll

rhythm
- has to be like perfect

articulation overall
- soft staccatos

dynamics
- just needs to be correct

Recording: 3 pieces

regulate speed
amp up dynamics
keep it even
Let the Good Times Roll Optional

Aug 30

Etude

slow practice
- evenness
- keeping a stable speed
- dynamics okay, but not perfect

Allegro

check articulation
gap between bar 8 and 9
unstable speed
slow practice
quality of playing directly related to speed

Tartan

Aug 16

most technical is improving except contrary motion!

Tartan

reliability is a huge issue
slow practice
- avoids mistakes
- improves memory

go slower overall so you can focus on dynamics and correct notes

don’t really have much else to say

9 Aug

Excercises

slow practice

Scales

F minors in poor form
check all contrary motions
chromatic check that it’s 4 octaves
arpeggios stable speed

Tartan

usual issues with consistency
- possible fix may be to go slower and stable
  - if can’t play fast

Allegro

slow practice

Etude

starting speed must be accurate to rest of piece.
awesome dynamics for all of piece.

2 Aug

rhythm incorrect

Scales

known, but execution poor across the board

Kitten and Mousin

choose a stable speed

Tartan

needs to have a higher mistake threshold
some of the dynamics are not clear
add pedal in ff section

Allegro

accuracy
- notes
- articulation

26 July

not even, needs to be stable

rhythm is wrong, clap before playing

Scales

exam standard?
are fingers coming together at the same time

Tartan

practice in sections
practice slower
- so you don’t make mistakes

when you make a mistake, play it correct a few times

Allegro

go overall slower
needs to be consistent quavers

Etude

evenness of quavers

19 July

Technical ex

okay today

Scales to watch

F# harmonic
are scales exam standard (start once only, correct first time)

Etude

way too fast, can’t get detail
- can’t get even
divide constantly into 3
slow practice required

Allegro

consistency not great for amount of practice done
- practice slow
- practice correct

really up to you to produce a good performance at this point

Tartan

scrappy
same notes as above

Notes 12 July

Technical excercises

all about evenness
make everything clean
next week, scales from memory

Extra lists:

choose one speed for the entire piece
try all obvious dynamics

Main pieces

need to practice all 3 in a row

Etude

not rhythmically secure, must think of 2 lots of 3 beats in a bar
dynamics unclear
but at least all notes are correct
metronome 110

Allegro

same notes as above

Tartan

same notes as above

Notes 30 June

Exercises

need to be more stable
4B, must wait long enough for the crotchet

Tartan

consistency improved but not perfect
- section by section
  - try 8/10
  - need often more judgement

dynamics good but not great, work on it at home and also when

Allegro

are all notes accurate
are all dynamics accurate
articulation
- staccatos all the same length

Notes 21 June

keep a stable beat
don’t miss notes

don’t miss notes
keep a stable beat
try swing practice

Scales

some scales still need 4th finger rule

Kitten and Mousin

get more stable

Let the Good Times Roll

take a slower speed, have a look at staccatos

Tartan

dynamics need to be much more clear and obvious
bar 33, don’t get faster
- also needs to have much greater consistency here

Notes 7 June

Ex 4A

pretty good today

Scales

practice all scales, 3 a day

Tartan

prioritise not stopping over speed this week
consistency for whole piece

Etude

phrasing start soft
be very careful with coordination

Allegro

staccato sometimes dodgy and inconsistent

Notes 31 May

focused practice on errors
really needs to be exam standard

Tartan

work done today sub standard
need to focus on goal, up to 40 performance standard

Etude

intentional dynamics
intentional stability of the tempo
practice at a slower tempo for details

Notes 24 May

Scales

similar motions revise
revise excercises

Tartan

avoid mistakes when learning (secret sauce)
complete tartan this week up to standard

Kitten

bar 16

Allegro

not too heavy
stay the same speed for whole piece
precision in some parts
- are you smudging?
- in chords, do you know what the notes are?

Notes 17 May

Scales

see scale to desuc

Tartan

needs to be stable
- faster parts slow, slower past faster

all piece same speed (about)

Let the Good Times Roll

take it slower, and stable
add some dynamics

Notes 10 May

on the right track

steady speed

Run through scales occassionally

Tartan

expression is simply done into two elements
- dynamics
- articulation

subito
- suddnely
- instantly get soft
- everything before is loud

Allegro

focus on accuracy over speed
- 10% slower

Etude

same notes as allegro

devote some time to extra list, but tartan is priority

Notes 3 May

Scales to checked next week

Tartan

see message

Allegro

steady is number 1 priority
- slower, but without stopping
dynamics is number 2 priority

Notes 26 Apr

Revise scales and excercises generally. Quality needs to improve

will check scales next week

Tartan

not up to quality

Notes 19 Apr

Excercises

practice to be correct! Need a bit more care. On the right track though.

Let the good times roll

on the right track

new extra list today

Tartan

still some technical issues, but we can fix them ourselves using consistent and careful practice
start from second page
push as fast as possible while still being consistent

Allegro

more soft dynamic
metronome at 90-100aZ

Notes 7 Apr

needs phrasing now

needs phrasing
correct rhythm
slower overall

good

Let the Good Times Roll

Added on Youtube playlist, listen to find rhythm

Allegro

needs slow practice for consistency
start from the middle practice
LH only practice
OVERALL can perform

Tartan

this just needs more practice

Notes 29 Mar

needs to be better
practice bar by bar

Tartan

unacceptable that this is not done

Etude

all about evenness and coordination
- slow practice, but perfectly even and coordinated
- also helps us build mental memory

New song: Let the good times roll (extra list 1)

learn during holidays, one page

Notes 22 Mar

Please do ex 4A and 4B

Continue with scales

Tartan

must learn faster
- don’t start from the start
- practice in small sections
- should always have DAILY goal in mind

Allegro

most ideas are there, must focus on continuity when practicing
- choose a more medium speed
also focus on hands together
also focus on slurs
once you’ve identified trouble sections, practice slow and in sections

Notes 15 Mar

Ex 4A

this needs work!

Ex 4B

improve LH version

Tartan

staccatos need to be clear, so don’t jump toooo high
Finish this week

Allegro

some slurs are not connected
some dynamics are really wrong
- for softs, use arm weight, don’t play on the surface. use arm weight to hit the bottom of the keys

Etude

some coordination is very dodgy
- and evenness
  - slow practice
  - rhythm practice

Notes 1 Mar

Scales

generally okay, will improve more closer to the exam.

Tartan

needs improvement by drilling small sections at full speed
small sections but fast
more foucsed practice this week, but still goal bar 32

Allegro

last section still has lots of gaps. Don’t go faster, just be play stable
focus on bad parts, DO not start again

Notes 22 Feb

rhythm
correct notes
dynamics

needs to be faster and more phrasing

Scales

see goals of the week for which scales to present

Tartan

LH chords must be solid
focus on a consistent beat
same goal bar 32, but increase consistency

Allegro

aim for CLINICAL precision
last line no gaps

slurs pay attention
consistency in general pay attention

Notes 15 Feb

second line still needs a bit more work.
Careful with fingering
do LOTS of phrasing

Scales

need to have fingers together
C# melodic minor, check if everything is right here.
F# harmonic minor contrary
In general, contrary needs work

Tartan

LH needs needs to be broken up between rests
fadeaway dynamic

goal is bar 32

Allegro

bar 3 is messy

dynamics are great, but technical still needs to be fixed. Go part by part and fix little by little.
Don’t panic!

Notes 8 Feb

Technical

Revise in general
Do ex 4A all
revise other excercises

Allegro

in mf, balance towards RH f, LH mp
do slur in bar 2-3

consistency in bar 9-12

entire middle sections is only quavers (ti ti), so it should keep on going. No gaps between
2nd page, needs dynamics with consistency, especially if ti ti