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Playing "Jingle Bells Rag" by (Slow) Memory

According to my practice log, I've spent about 10 hours on "Jingle Bells Rag." Most have that time has focused on the outro. Still, I learned it pretty quickly (for me), and memorizing it wasn't too hard (mainly because there are just a few chords, and a lot of repetition).

The Challenges

The biggest challenge will be with the tempo--it needs to be a lot faster than what I'm currently playing! Some sections, such as the crossed-hands section, will be easy to get up to speed (mostly). Other sections will take more work.

The hardest section, by far, is the outro. It comes right after the high-register "jingle bell" section and begins with climbing arpeggios. The arpeggios aren't too bad, but there's the one little spot where the left hand is playing C7 to F (at 2:47 in the video) that has dogged me ever since I first started learning this piece! I've come a long way with it, but it's going to be a while before I can play that section as fast as I can play the other sections.

The Video

Anyway, here it is. I'll add my notes afterward, for anyone who is interested. (They're mostly for me, to help me prioritize my practices.)

Intro

(0:00 to 0:12) This section is a bit of a stretch for my right hand (playing an octave + the third, all the way down). When I speed it up, I tend to accidentally brush some black keys on the way down, so I need to work on playing it more precisely at tempo.

First Verse

(0:23) You might notice a slight pause ... I pause there a lot. I need to spend some practice time on just that little transition from G7 to C. I think the jump in the right hand is throwing me off -- even though it's not a big jump.

(0:36) Aaand, another pause before the transition. I've worked on this part, but clearly not enough. :)

First Chorus (Ragtime)

(0:50) There's that G7-to-C pause again! You'll hear it once more at 2:13.

(0:56) I didn't mess up here the first time through, but I did the second time. I mess up here a lot! (This the "Jingle all the way" line.) In octaves, I go up a third, and then I jump down a fifth. For some reason, I can't get a sense of what a "fifth" feels like in octaves.

(1:03) This is a little jump up a few notes, going from octaves to sixths. It's tricky. Needs work.

Second Verse (Crossed Hands)

(1:12) Like Bare Necessities, this song has a crossed-hands section. I keep wanting to dive into Bare Necessities. Usually I stop myself, but I accidentally played the first note this time. LOL.

There are a few pauses in this section, but I'm generally playing it pretty well, with few to no pauses.

Third Verse (up an octave)

I'm playing this section an octave down from what's written. I'll jump up an octave for the chorus and play as written in the sheet music.

(2:13) Messing up in my usual spot.

(2:20) This is an "anticipation error." I'm anticipating the upcoming measures, getting a little nervous about them, and so I forget to concentrate on what I'm doing. This section, with the following measures, need to be worked on as a unit.

Second Chorus ("jingle bell" section)

(2:26) Because I'm jumping up the octave, there's a slight pause at the beginning that shouldn't be there. The pause doesn't sound awful (in my opinion), so it's possible I won't worry too much about it. I may even incorporate it as an extra beat. Or maybe not.

(2:30) Playing with the hands so far apart is really challenging! Luckily, the right hand section is very easy, so it shouldn't take too long for me to get this one sounding good. (I originally was going to play it an octave down, which was much easier, but I wanted to keep some of the "jingle bells" sound in that last section.)

Outro

I managed to play it through in the video! Yay! Even the tough part at 2:47 went well! I did mess up briefly at 3:16, but that was a one-time error.

More Work To Do

As with Solace, I definitely have more work to do, but I still think I'll have it in good shape by the end of the month.


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