Ode to Joy, Day 22: News Flash: Beethoven Works as Romantic Music!

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B, I’ve reached Day 22 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy. Sorry I missed a couple of days of updates. I was in North Carolina for the weekend and did quite a bit of mental practice, but it wasn't the most exciting thing to write about (or video)

Day 22

Today’s focus is variable practice, where you intentionally change something each time you repeat a passage instead of playing it the exact same way over and over. You might vary the tempo, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, phrasing, and so on.

The idea is to keep your brain actively engaged rather than letting it slip into autopilot. Apparently, besides being kind of fun, this kind of practice improves learning, memory, flexibility, and consistency in ways that regular repetition doesn’t.

Today’s passages were Batch 2 (revisiting after 7 days away) and Batch 6 (revisiting after 2 days away). I experimented a bit with tempo and dynamics, though there’s only so fast I can currently play this piece (not very). And while there are some louder and softer sections, the dynamics are fairly consistent overall. Everything is pretty staccato, and there’s very little pedal.

So I decided to try playing it like an emotional Romantic piece, which somehow turned into 3/4 time... and it was so pretty! It sounds like ... if not a Chopin waltz, at least a Scott Joplin waltz!

As I mention in the video, it’s not easy to make the switch to Romantic-era waltz, but the process definitely helps solidify the notes under my fingers. I may try this, along with other variable practice exercises, on the remaining sections.

Where I Am Now

I’m in a good place, despite a couple of days away from the piano. This feels like the right point to introduce variable practice because now that I know all the notes, it would be very easy to drift into mindless repetition while trying to build tempo.

Tomorrow I continue revisiting Batch 6, and I also begin my Batch 3 revisit after its 7-day break.

Comments

Eureka! Secondary Dominant!

I am such a nerd, and I love being a nerd! Today I was working on Section 5 of You Are My Sunshine, specifically on getting this section up to performance level. In other words, I was practicing being a performer , not an arranger . But then, of course, I came up with another idea. I had just played the delicate sixths and descending rag rolls of "when skies are gray" (I chord) and then moved to the parallel octaves of "you never know, dear" (leading to IV). The shift sounded abrupt to me. Harsh. It needed something. It needed musical WD-40. Something to ease the hinge between textures. And then I stumbled upon it! Right before moving to IV, I can slip in a V7/IV — a secondary dominant! So I tried it, and it sounded so good that I actually yelled "Secondary dominant!" out loud in my house like I was Archimedes discovering water displacement in the bathtub. It's such a small thing. One little chord. But it smooths that transition, leaning the harmony ...

The Rusty Lock and Key

I'm in a room. There's a door in front of me. On the other side of that door is a whole world of adventure and imagination and joy and delight, but for the moment, I'm locked in this gray little room. The door itself has a lock that is all rusted. I've tried to open it in the past, but I've never gotten very far. Sometimes I try to scrape the rust off the lock. I also have a rusty old key that I occasionally try to polish. Each time, after I've made a little progress, I'll put it into the keyhole in hopes of opening the door. It turns a half a millimeter or so, but the brief excitement at my progress dies quickly when I realize, once again, the lock isn't opening. I set the old key aside, and from there I can forget about the door, the lock, and the world outside, for months—years, even. But then something happens—I hear birdsong, or I catch a glimpse of color—and I pick up the key and start picking away at the stubborn rust. That dark little room is my ...

Ode to Joy Day 3: Patterns, Shapes, and Short Breaks

As I work through Rebecca Bogart's Learn New Repertoire Faster challenge , I'll be posting more extended updates here on my blog. Days 1–3 Day 1 was analysis, listening, and generally scoping out the territory of the music . The road trip to Florida last week turned out to be Day 1, even if I didn't label it that way at the time. Day 2 was fingering and the start of my first "batch": measures 0-7 (intro), 8-15 (Section A), and 16-23 (Section A'). Day 3 (today) was about recognizing patterns and continuing work on Batch 1. Batch 1: Intro, A, A' The intro isn't difficult, and it will likely be one of the two easiest sections in this piece. Still, the syncopation is a little tricky, so I took some extra time with it. I've already memorized it, as the chord progression is pretty straightforward and the melody is just a single line (no harmony notes). There is one big augmented chord at the end that required some focused work. Sections A and A' ar...

Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

Search This Blog