Thalia

Student of the Week

Youtube Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxU_OGndc5q95iO0bM3H7dEo3XbrJIy6s

Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkvir8nLlb0hYXCl94lLbxWVzIf5bLS1?usp=sharing

Long Term Goal

  • Grade 7

23 Nov

Mozart

  • dynamics!
  • don’t go too fast

Gurenge

  • rhythm needs to be followed!

Next week checking Seasons of Love and Scales

16 Nov

Mozart

  • always LH soft, RH does dynamics
  • bottom of first page, accent first beat
  • quavers are detatched
  • 2nd page, do phrasing in RH
  • rhythm in the middle of fourth page

9 Nov

Mozart

  • sectional slow, rhythm practice, attention to detail

Scales

  • D major 3/2 fingering

2 Nov

Scales

  • F harmonic minor fingering
  • D major 3/2 fingering
  • continue with f# contrary

Seasons of Love

  • sectional practice
  • same goal as last week

Mozart

Scales

  • f# contrary this week
  • check fingering in D major 3 against 2

Seasons of Love

  • get up to goal this week

Gurenge

  • all about sectional practice for rhythm

19 Oct

Scales

  • better in general
  • try another week on 2 against 3 scales

Mozart

  • start softer and have dynamics
  • evenness of semiquavers is really important
  • on split chords you can use pedal

12 Oct

Scales

  • be careful of fingering
  • new scale: D major 3 against 2

Gurenge

  • some coordination issues
  • learn how to count rhythms

14 Sep

Scales

  • F harmonic minor again

Gurenge

  • time to

7 Sep

Scales

  • F harmonic minor again

Gurenge

  • hold pedal more for whole bar (or every chord change)
  • sectional practice for rhythm

Mozart

  • slow practice for quality especially on first page

31 Aug

Mozart

  • do soft parts soft
  • follow dynamics carefully
  • slow practice everywhere is beneficial for accuracy and memory

Scales

  • along with 4th finger rule, pay attention to thumb
  • present Ab major and F harm minor this week

17 Aug

Scale

  • B harmonic minor needs serious work
  • Ab major needs serious work
  • hands seperately, 4th finger rule

Mozart

  • get to the end
  • 2nd page make sure that fingering is correct

10 Aug

Mozart

  • 2nd page needs extra care
  • can try fourth page if you want

Gurenge

  • still watching coordination
  • get up to bar 52

3 Aug

Scales

  • B harmonic okay this week actually
  • new scale: Ab major

Gurenge

  • use pedal
  • watching coordination is the most important thing at the start

Mozart

  • see whether you can get to 4th page this week
  • generally its sounding pretty good

27 Jul

Scales

  • B harmonic minor needs serious care this week

20 Jul

Turkish March

  • watch fingering first line
  • all quavers detatched

Scale: B harmonic minor

8 Jun

Goodbye

  • accuracy of phrasing
  • get softer at the edge of phrase

Comptine

  • RH should always be audible on top of LH

25 May

Goodbye for Now

18 May

Scales

  • all about preparing
  • only start once
  • for getting louder/softer, only change in final octave

Mellow Mood

4 May

General

  • keep left hand soft
  • phrasing
  • pedalling

These are the three things that you need to fix this week

26 Apr

6B

  • last note wrong

Scales

  • even some basic scales are uneven!
  • dynamics are not well done esp getting louder getting softer
  • G# cont fingering is actually still wrong, but in a way that maintains fluency. up to you to
  • chord progression not legato right now, still some wrong fingering

Sight Reading

  • look at difficult sections first
  • try some dynamics

General Knowledge

  • generally satisfactory for Mellow Mood

Mellow Mood

  • beat needs to be kept, tends to hesitate/change speed
  • recommend metronome at 63
  • pedalling still not the cleanest

20 Apr

6B

  • pedal dynamics

Scales

  • need to practice hands seperate
  • fingering in chord progression

Mellow Mood

  • add phrasing!
  • check rhythm, listen to recording a lot this week, focus on 17-23

Comptine

  • good attempt with the phrasing but it’s inaccurate, should be s
  • evenness also through slow practice
  • LH should always be soft

Goodbye

  • watch pedalling
  • LH softer

13 Apr

6B

  • add pedal, dynamics

Scales

  • prepare before you start, only one chance
  • C harmonic minor only once chance

Mellow Mood

  • ornaments to be added
  • memory practice
    • seperate hands practice
    • start from anywhere

1 Apr

6B

  • revise!

Scales

  • all scales to be completed during the holidays

Mellow Mood

23 Mar

Scales

  • G# harmonic minor in serious trouble!

Comptine

  • pedalling needs to be more disciplined
  • phrasing its more important to start and end soft, that is my secret!
  • in softer parts, sconsider using the soft pedal (esp in second half)

Mellow Mood

  • pedalling needs to be a lot more disciplined
  • quality is not good, how can we improve
    • sectional practice

16 Mar

Mellow Mood

  • mental memory
    • mostly being able to start from the middle
    • if mental memory is mastered, then tempo can be correct

Goodbye

  • start phrasing this week

9 Mar

Scales

  • G# harmonic minor cont this week
  • Thalia says that she can do it definitely

Goodbye for Now

  • check notes that have been written down
  • minim crotchet rhythm to be felt

Comptine

  • phrasing and pedal discipline main elements this week

2 March

Scales

  • B major cont, this week review

New piece: Goodbye for Now But Not Forever

24 Feb

Scales

  • new scale B major cont
    • just do seperately this week, but combine if you can
    • most important thing is to be correct

Comptine

  • bar 20 check RH
  • pedal lift up higher
  • needs phrasing now
  • keep LH lighter if possible

Mellow Mood

  • pedalling

17 Feb

same notes as last week

10 Feb

Scales

  • D# melodic minor and C minor contrary

Comptine

  • pedalling is super blurred!
  • slow down around 17, for evenness of semiquavers
  • expressive points
    • keep LH soft
    • phrase
    • pedal every bar
    • don’t go too fast

Nuvole Bianche

  • poorly read today
  • can be read, but refusal to read

3 Feb

Scales

  • D# harmonic and melodic if possible

2 Dec

Ex 6B – start this week

  • C harmonic minor grand scale watch 4th finger rule

Mellow mood

25 Nov

Scales

  • C minor incorrect, watch 4th finger rule
  • Eb grand improved, but needs to be faster

Nuvole

  • first few chords have reading errors
  • usually has to do with wrong flats

18 Nov

Scales

  • start C minor grand
  • right, left, contrary, together

Comptine

  • Fluency impressive 🙂
  • this piece is all about small details, keeping LH soft, subtle phrasing

Nuvole Bianche

  • Reach the end of the page this week

11 Nov

Scales

  • Eb grand scale improving. One more week
  • practice scales hands separate
  • be careful of turnaround on melodic minor

Comptine

  • have rhythmic stability as a priority, avoid stops, but maybe go slower
  • accuracy sometimes randomly wrong
  • start to add phrasing

New piece: Nuvole Bianche

4 Nov

Scales

  • remember to practice scales hands separate as well
  • melodic minor, know what you are doing before you go, what are the notes that change?
  • Eb major, LH fingering wrong

Comptine

  • good effort this week
  • keep LH soft, try phrasing. expression is simple here
  • weird mistakes in this piece, see what you’ve noted today

Mellow Mood

  • mood of this piece, what are we looking for? smooth jazz
  • avoid harsh sounds, keep LH soft as well here

28 Oct

Mellow Mood

  • keep notes legato even if you have pedal. this means watching fingering
  • continue to watch notes you have marked
  • watch fingering

Comptine

  • watch fingering
  • watch coordination

Scales: do E flat major grand scale

21 Oct

Scales: continue to revise all scales, do Eb grand scales

Mellow Mood

  • continue to revise notes
  • if you find a mistake by yourself, write it down

Comptine

14 Oct

Scales: revise D# melodic minor

Mellow mood

  • feel 4 lots of 3
  • separate practice on last page

Comptine

  • watch bar 6

7 Oct

Scales: D# melodic minor

Comptine

  • follow fingering
  • keep RH legato
  • key is to keep LH soft

9 Sep

Scales: D# harmonic minor, D# melodic minor

Mellow Mood

  • phrasing important
  • balance important
  • watch for repeated sharps
  • finish by holidays

2 Sep

Scale: F# major

Ex 6B

  • follow the pattern

Mellow Mood

  • watch LH, should be held long
  • should also softer
  • really focusing on correct practice method here

29 Jul

Scales

  • focus on evenness
  • dynamics need to be obvious
  • C# harmonic minor wrong fingering

Spinliedchen

  • cresc should start softer
  • rit at the end gradual, not all at once
  • hold RH notes at bar 42

Jingpo

  • start at tempo that goes with the rest of the piece
  • too many gaps at times
  • hold notes in 23 onwards
  • dynamics vivid in every change
  • bar 65-66 no gap
  • no rushing in 66

22 Jul

5C

  • dynamics are not optional

Scales

  • needs to be even
  • prepare your scales before you start

Spinliedchen

  • don’t start too slow
  • keep dynamics accurate at all time, usually meaning make sure you start soft at the

Jingpo Folk Song

  • big dynamics

Scales

  • general quality yet to be improved

Spinliedchen

  • review bar 14
  • bar 26 extra notes
  • quality in 27
    • slow practice
  • 43 legato RH

Moonlight Serenade

  • dynamics
  • bal

17 Jun

5C

  • triplet too quick sometimes in bar 3

Scales

  • poorly planned! practice bad scales only
  • follow practice formula
    • 2x RH, 2x LH, 2x together

General knowledge

  • start memorising this week

Jingpo folk song

  • Fingering in RH is often wrong

10 Jun

Moonlight

  • LH practice separate for pedalling + notes
  • all about detail

Scales

  • need to get quicker
  • start chromatic and arpeggios

3 Jun

Scales

  • C# harmonic, do LH by itself
  • if scales are correct, start to increase speed

Moonlight Serenade

  • check RH bar 15
  • crotchet at the start
  • is the quality the same in each line?
  • clean pedal lifts
  • dynamics

Jingpo

  • fingering at the start
  • keep LH staccato 23
  • count notes in 44
  • make sure that 74 chords are clean

27 May

Scales

  • if scales are correct start to increase speed
  • keep going with all contraries and similar motions

Spinliedchen

  • start at a steady speed, not too slow, separate from slow practice
  • 43, watch RH articulation and fingering
  • think about balance between accompaniment
  • cresc, start soft

Jingpo

20 May

Scales

  • all about accuracy and 4th finger rule

Jingpo

  • start at the right speed
  • watch fingering PLEASE
  • check pedalling bar 19
  • hold notes at 23 don’t go faster
  • last section, bar by bar

Moonlight serenade

  • metronome at 68 this week

13 May

Scales

  • C# contrary, all about accuracy
  • do hands seperate this week

Jingpo

  • practicing without gaps priority
  • fingering in many places!

Moonlight

  • speed keep constant

6 May

Scales

  • retry C# harmonic minor this week

Spinliedchen

  • slow practice, speeding up, in technically difficult bits
  • bar 27, LH louder
  • slow practice for rhythmic consistency

Jingpo

  • start at a speed that you want to start at. think before you start
  • check notes at 44
  • fingering at 46
  • approach ending with hands seperate

29 Apr

Jingpo Folk song

  • 31 aim for consistency over speed
  • 44 check notes
  • 46 check fingering
  • 66 check notes

Scales

  • remember to practice hands seperate
  • make sure that you have 4 octaves
  • do C# minor contrary this week

Moonlight

  • adjust balance, make sure there is clear RH
  • check pedal

22 Apr

Scales-

  • if the scale is good quality, increase speed
  • new scale: C# contrary

Jingpo

  • watch fingering in opening section
  • LH staccato from bar 23
  • fingering should often be 5 and 3 RH bar 46 onwards

Moonlight

  • watch pedalling!
  • aim for a slower, but steadier speed
  • are LH crotchets constant?
  • dynamics would be great

1 Apr

Scales

  • pay attention to 4th finger rule
  • new scale: E major cont

Jingpo Folk Song

  • 46, pay attention to RH fingering, practice seperately

25 Mar

Scales

  • new scale: Bb harmonic minor

5C

  • metronome at 58

Moonlight

  • dynamics
  • balance
  • rhythm
  • be intentional with practice

Jingpo Folk Song

18 Mar

Scales

  • current scales unsatisfactory
  • try hands seperate if struggling

Jingpo Folk Song

  • make sure LH quaver rhythm is consistent
  • see learning goal

Sight reading – average strength, accuracy sometimes careless

11 Mar

Scale

  • B major well done, but uneven. Rhythm practice for evenness
  • Db major, go this week again

Jingpo Folk Song

  • see goal for this week

Moonlight Serenade

  • balance
  • pedal
  • overall dynamic decided by the right hand

4 Mar

5C

  • don’t clump triplets together

Scales

  • keep working G# harmonic minor
  • new scale Db major

Moonlight Serenade

  • errors in 14-21, read carefully

Jingpo: main focus this week for notes

25 Feb

Scales

  • same as before, increase speed and further improve speed

Moonlight Serenade

  • even if not perfect, try controlling dynamic
  • accuracy still key for learning

Jingpo Folk

  • watch coordination
  • watch RH fingering

18 Feb

5C

  • keep working on this

Scales

  • B major can be faster
  • please work on G# harmonic minor
  • curve fingers

Spinliedchen

  • LH less active, softs softer
  • bar 27
    • LH rests important
    • accompanying parts need to be softer
  • bar 14 has missing note LH

11 Feb

Moonlight Serenade

  • even though fingering is not super important, watch fingering
  • if possible, try to get a softer sound, especially in RH

Spinliedchen

  • aim for soft LH when repeating pattern
  • 27 RH soft

4 Feb

Spinliedchen

  • LH soft
  • are all the notes played in chord bar 5
  • watch fingering 11-18
  • 27 onwards, make sure quaver beat is steady

Moonlight Serenade

  • LH accuracy key at this stage
  • 1st page hands together

26 Nov

Scales

  • fingering in B major incorrect
  • new scale: G# harmonic minor
  • Fx is a double sharp (same as G)

Spinliedchen

  • bar 3, lift at end of slurs, short staccato, leggiero light and short
  • bar 11, cresc, plan out
  • bar 27, RH soft, LH melody

19 Nov

Spinli

5 Nov

Machines on the Loose

  • cut the little gaps out
  • start a medium speed and maintain that speed
  • cresc at the end start softer

Etude

  • start soft, and start needs to be the same speed
  • dynamics everywhere, especially hairpin bar 17

Allegro

  • go slower
  • try to get staccatos

Tartan

  • don’t get faster in bar 33, same speed for
  • dyanmics

29 Oct

Machines on the Loose

  • cut the little gaps out
  • keep RH slurred

Etude

  • start soft
  • think about speed at the start
  • try to do dynamic in bar 17
  • ‘sticky’ LH

Tartan

  • dynamics
  • slow practice – aim for perfect practice
  • watch for sticky staccatos

Allegro

  • staccatos

22 Oct

Machines

  • watch 15-16, practice notes carefully
  • things to watch
    • RH slur, and is the note clear
    • have clear dynamics, especially in the RH

Etude

  • bar 62 LH still wrong!
  • bar 39 RH fingering
  • 71 RH
  • check 23-24 LH
  • increase speed, but with correct notes

Machines

  • practice slow and consistent tempo
  • do dynamics while going slow
  • danger zones
    • 7-8
    • 15-16
    • 33
    • 35
  • watch that slurs are slurred
  • practice all slow this week

Tartan

  • can speed up provided it is correct
  • watch for your staccatos
  • do some dynamics if you can

Etude

  • still watch fingering in bar 24, all slurred. Also watch left hand notes here
  • watch pedalling 33 onwards, don’t do extra
  • bar 62 LH incorrect
  • seperate LH 35, RH legato
  • watch fingering RH 40

Allegro

  • watch staccatos bar 1-8
  • watch slurs bar 17

8 Oct

Etude

  • bar 24 fingering
  • bar 5-6 fingering
  • get it consistent slow, then consistent medium, then consistent fast
  • split practice between slow practice and fast practice
    • slow practice for notes and fingering
    • fast practice to get faster

Machines

  • no gaps between lines on first
  • don’t rush rhythm 25
  • slow down bar 31
  • check rhythm in ending (42-43)

Tartan

  • staccatos are better, but check all of them
  • are you playing ALL LH CHORDS?
  • practice 29-32 seperately
  • 41 speed up to full

1 Oct

Machines

  • listen to rhythm on recordings

Allegro

  • attention to
    • dynamics
    • staccato
    • is every note coming out?

Tartan

  • consistency in rhythm most important

Etude

  • bar 24, fingering RH still wrong
  • 62 LH not correct

17 Sep

Etude

  • watch for key fingerings
    • bar 23
    • bar 33 onwards RH
  • 33 onwards
    • watch fingering
    • pedal
    • staccato LH

Machines

  • inaccurate at
    • 9-16
    • 25-32 LH
    • last 3 lines

Allegro

  • slow, and look up practice
  • staccatos
  • dynamics

10 Sep

Etude

  • watch fingering in bar
    • 6
    • 23-24
    • 39-41
  • begin to speed up, but with CORRECT FINGERING
  • LH different in bar 62

Allegro

  • recovery and maintenance work not going super well
  • need to look up at the book

3 Sep

Etude

  • mostly correct now, but we are looking for consistent quavers, as the entire piece is quavers.
  • start slow, but then get quicker
  • fingering bar 71
  • bar 62 LH chord, E G A# C

Tartan

  • this has similar issues to Etude, consistency of quavers is most important
  • bar 39, LH notes wrong
  • bar 33-40 in general is a dangerous section
  • speed changes are wild! constant changes from slow to fast

Allegro

  • this needs to be maintained through slow accurate practice

26 Aug

Etude

  • fingering bars 1-8
  • bar 17, LH staccato and seperateds
  • bar 24 fingering
  • bar 35 LH droopy 😦

Machines

  • watch 15-16 notes
  • all quavers must be even
  • how slow should the practice be then?

13 Aug

  • watch ties in LH bar 1-8 and fingering
  • watch fingering bar 9-16
  • bar 24, watch RH fingering, LH chords need to have sharp

6 Aug

  • are all chords seperate?
    • easy to make sure if they are staccato
    • don’t lift off too high on stacactos to make sure they are not too loud
  • check notes
    • 47 RH
  • increase speed gradually and correctly

Etude