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Maple Leaf Rag Update - 3/6/24

 Maple Leaf Rag is coming together for me. It's been coming together for a while. I'm ready to graduate from "it's coming together" to "it's performance-ready." But I'm not there yet. I still have a few areas to attend to:

  • The D section (I have this section down pretty well, but I'm still stumbling a little at the very end.)
  • Sloppy left hand, particularly in the B and C sections.
  • Weakness in the 4th and 5th fingers in my right hand in one small part of Section A.
  • Transitions (I'm really close with these, but I'm not quite there yet.)
  • Consistent speed. (The C and D sections are new to me, so I tend to slow down when I get to them. I've also noticed that I'm speeding up in the B section without meaning to.)
  • Consistent tone. (Listening to this recording, I can hear that I don't press some of the keys down far enough, which results in a kind of spottiness of tone.)

For my most recent practice session (shown in the video below), I focused on the LH, working to get it cleaner and more even. I ended up playing through the whole piece at a slow pace, barely touching the notes in the RH and bringing out the LH. I think I get so focused on the RH that I kind of forget about the LH (which causes me to ignore it when bits of sloppiness creep in), and this exercise was a step toward remedying that.

If you listen, you will hear that stumble at the end of the D section, and you will probably hear my 4th and 5th fingers miss in the A section. And, while I'm doing better with the transitions between sections, you'll hear that they still need some work.

So, I'm getting there, but there is still work to do.

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