Logan

Logan’s Playlist

All songs from Grade 4

Goal

  • three grade 4 pieces
  • all compulsory scales
  • sight reading or aural test
  • general knowledge

Technical

  • most incorrect scales need hands seperate practice
  • 4th finger rule is essential

Sunday Morning

  • a few errors, check what you’ve written down
  • pedal change at 12
  • fingering at 14
  • for future performances, crotchet needs to be always the same speed

Twilight

  • check some points in the previous

13 Mar

Sunday Morning

  • practice RH seperate
  • combine based on LH
  • goal: bar 11

Twilight

  • good fluency today
  • some bits still have coordination issues
  • bar 6 RH
  • bar 10 LH
  • bar 15 coordination
  • bar 25 LH spot
  • bar 26, does it exist?

Scales

  • revise more of the later scales. main goal is C# melodic minor

6 Mar

Goodbye

  • can be slower, more epic
  • phrasing is really note by note in this piece

27 Feb

Scales:

  • one more week for Ab major

20 Feb

Twilight

  • accurate notes today, but you can sacrifice some quality for more bars.
  • get a good overall idea of the piece before going into a detailed practice mode

Scales

  • Ab major

Let the Good Times roll

  • oveall goal is to get three pieces done. revise this ocassionally even if you are not focusing on it.
  • try to get to the end once this week
  • key expressive element: accents

13 Feb

Scales

  • C# melodic minor

Twilight

  • balance is the most important thing here
  • LH as soft as possible
  • add pedal as soon as possible
  • can add left pedal to soft sections
  • goal: bar 12

Let the Good Times Roll

15 Dec

Midnight Ride

  • see notes from last week

Castle in the Sky

8 Dec

Midnight Ride

  • consistency issues in key areas – sectional practice
  • dynamics, have conscious thought about it

Toccata

  • check bar 41 fingering
  • check p dynamic on last page

Castle in the Sky

  • end needs a bit of work
  • pedalling is very cloudy, lift on chord changes

Scales

  • learn all arpeggios

1 Dec

Scales

  • on the right track now, keep monitoring accuracy and push speed when ready

Castle

  • great stability in tempo today
  • good balance
  • watch pedalling, does the chord change (chord usually changes either once or twice a bar in this piece)
  • bar 17, RH carries dynamic change
  • consider phrasing through the whole piece

Song of Twilight

  • balance is halfway there, but can be more exaggerated
    • LH as soft as possible
    • RH with a bit of volum
  • notes need development
  • pedal can be less lifted high

Midnight Ride

  • check bar 23 LH
  • check phrasing
  • check pedal last lin

24 Nov

Scales

  • 3x a week, 1x perfect each scale
  • speed also an important factor once all correct

Midnight Ride

  • quality is good enough to try metronome
  • 75 is recommended
  • try to get dynamics at the same time
  • bar 10 onwards needs more work
  • wait for the first crotchet in bar 12

Toccata Ritmico

  • RH clarity an issue. Is this a good speed to practice/perform
  • is tempo consistent?

17 Nov

Castle

  • phrasing and balance key aspects. easy in concept, but difficult to execute
  • bar 17, go louder. phrasing gets bigger

Scales

  • two new scales

Midnight Ride

  • slower standardised practice for consistency

10 Nov

Scales

  • revise fingering

Castle

  • start at the correct speed you want for the piece
  • bar 9, RH gets louder, which is our interpretation difference
  • LH seperate for last two lines, learn the last two lines hands together this week
  • watch for rhythmic errors

Song of Twilight

  • needs improvement
  • don’t go too slow
  • pedal lifts partially, not all the way. listen, are there gaps?
  • bar 5, are all the notes coming down?
    • are the fingers curved
    • is your arm relaxed?
    • are you paying attention

3 Nov

Castle in the Sky

  • balance, similar to Song of Twilight
  • can you feel the waves of phrasing?
  • where is the major section, what difference can you make?
  • pedal at the start of each bar
  • avoid accents at the start of each beat

Midnight Ride

  • for greater evenness, have you practiced slow?
    • can also help with dynamic wise
  • balance, more towards melody
  • is RH slurred?

Scales

  • starting to be learned

27 Oct

Toccata Ritmico

  • make sure all the staccatos are of an equal length
  • are all the notes in the RH come in?
  • are all the quavers consistent?
  • some of the dynamics are of mixed quality

Midnight Ride

  • watch 23 LH
  • watch 25 fingering for legato
  • balance: RH louder, LH much sofer
  • bar 1, start correct speed
  • a lot of dynamics related to phrasing of height
  • watch for RH slurs in general

Scales

  • scales can pick up pace for Grade

20 Oct

Midnight Ride

  • start incorporating hands together sight reading where practical
  • bar 12, 3 on black, 1 on white, 12 on white note gaps
  • aim is bar 26 hands together

Scales

  • try F major, Bb major, D harmonic scales hands seperate, but can be together

Song of Twilight

  • practice hands together, unless there’s an issue
  • remember G#s
  • should be complete hands together this week

Present Castle in the sky for me next wek

13 Oct

Toccata Ritmico

  • use metronome to
    • identify large gaps
    • keep a stable tempo
  • try 260, slow tempo around 180-200
  • biggest gap is at 42-43

Song of Twilight

  • bar 7 RH watch note
  • bar 9 C# LH
  • hands separate might help here, sectional (2 bars?)
  • have it sparklingly clean, and we’ll talk about expression next week

New piece: midnight ride

6 Oct

Own choice

  • things to try
    • pedal
    • keep left hand soft, and softe

8 Sep

Toccata Ritmico

  • mp, p much softer
  • bar 24 RH incorrect

Song of Twilight

  • left hand balance, left hand is in the background
  • we get our left hand soft to make a calmer
  • if you have trouble with reading, read notes aloud before playing

1 Sep

  • new song – song of twilight
  • F# C# G#

Toccata Ritmico

  • focus is dynamics this week
  • finish the piece

25 Aug

Toccata Ritmico

  • rhythm is all quavers, all should be even
  • goal: bar 40

Jive Turkey

  • before you start
    • think about the speed
    • think about dynamics
  • practice left hand slowly to make sure you don’t miss notes
  • check number of notes in RH

18 Aug

Toccata Ritmico

  • things to remember
    • B flat and E flat, write them in if you forget
    • can repeat, but maybe four bars at a time
    • check your clefs, especially in LH
    • okay if you get stuck this week, just try your best
    • listen to recording