Masterclass Prep I

The masterclass is in 11 days.

I have put some time into the Chopin every day for the past week or so, and the plan is to continue to do that until the 28th. In addition to simply practicing the notes, I'm trying to prepare to play in front of an audience. I don't have a ready-made audience, so I'm having my husband help me here.

I'll play it through, but he'll say "STOP" every 20-30 seconds, and I have to stop, remove my hands from the keyboard, wait a few seconds, and then pick up where I left off.

Or I'll play it and try to have a conversation with him while I'm playing.

Last night, I had him make a video of me playing. The video camera gives me the same kind of nervousness that an audience does.

Also, video can help me to see if I'm sitting awkwardly, making ugly faces, or generally giving an impression I don't want to give.

I'm planning to post a few "Masterclass Prep" videos between now and the 28th. The angle is a little weird in this one; it look like I'm at an angle to the piano, but I'm not. (At least I don't think I am!) I also have a big memory lapse about halfway through, and I forced myself to take the time to settle down and pick up where I'd left off.

I shouldn't have any memory lapses; I know this piece backward and forward (or I think I do!). In this instance, I did manage to find my place and move on. So that's a good sign. Hopefully I'll get to where there is no need to do that!

Comments

Rethinking Bare Necessities

Today's breakthrough moment (there are actually two of them) focuses on "Bare Necessities." As you'll remember, I discovered Jonny May's arrangement back in early March and immediately decided to learn it. I printed out the music, started the course, and proceeded to learn the stride section, posting a few videos of my progress. Ha. I bet those videos make it look like I was making progress. I guess I was ... but not really. And I realized something this weekend that I hadn't before: Because I was thinking of "Bare Necessities" as a "fun" piece, I wasn't practicing it seriously or diligently. I wasn't treating it as something I wanted to master. This mindset might work with an easier piece, but this arrangement isn't easy. The result: despite a little progress at the outset, I wasn't moving forward. I was stalled. Breakthrough #1 The first breakthrough was realizing that if I truly want to learn this piece and play it well,

March Goals Recap/Looking Ahead to April

It's April 1, and time to revisit the goals I set for last month. I practiced a total of 50.45 hours in March, averaging 1.62 hours (or just over an hour and a half) per day. Realistically, I practice about 45 minutes to an hour a day on weekdays, and I usually get at least one longer practice (or multiple shorter practices) in on one or both days of the weekend to bring the average up. CLASSICAL GOALS Chopin, F Minor Nocturne March Goal: Have entire piece by memory and performance-ready. I have about 90% of the piece by memory, but I still have some work to do before it's performance-ready. The only two sections that I don't quite have are "The Agitation" and the "stretto" section with the seventh chords. I'll work on both this week and will have them both memorized before the weekend. April Goal: Finish memorizing, and polish, polish, polish! My focus now is really on phrasing and dynamics. I have the notes down, even in the difficult passages. Fro

Maple Leaf Rag Breakthrough

Oh, Maple Leaf. Where to begin? At the Beginning I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I learned the A and B sections of Maple Leaf Rag back in the 1990s. I can’t tell you if it was early, mid- or late 90s, but it was during those 10 years after I’d graduated college, when I was playing a good bit of piano but not taking regular lessons from anyone. I don’t remember teaching it to myself at all. I just know that, at some point, the first half of Maple Leaf Rag was part of my two- or three-song repertoire of pieces I’d be able to play by memory over the next 25 years. It was always sloppy and I knew it, but people loved it, and so I played it if there was ever a piano around. Back in January, I decided to properly re-learn those two sections, and to finally learn the C and D sections of this wonderful piece. I worked on these over the next month or two, learning (and-relearning) the notes pretty quickly ... but it took time to memorize, and also to get everything to tempo surpassing a

Picking Up the Pieces

Search This Blog