I am now on the cusp of Phase 2 of learning Jonny May's Ode to Joy. Phase 1 was all about learning the notes, locking down the rhythms, and refining the fingering. In Phase 2, I will focus on:
- Dynamics
- Articulation
- Phrasing
- Voicing
- Tempo (starting at a very comfortable 60 bpm)
- Memorization
Dynamics
This is a relatively short piece when played at tempo (about two minutes; less if you're Jonny May), and it would be easy to just play everything loud. But I want the left hand to be a steady presence—not too loud, not too soft—while the right hand does its thing. And the four-on-the-floor sections should, I think, naturally be a little softer than the boom-chick sections. The fun, crunchy transitions between sections should also be just a hair louder than what came before. So I have work to do there, though the dynamics do make sense and mostly come naturally. I just want to make sure they come naturally in performance, and that will take deliberate practice.
Articulation and Phrasing
There are quite a few scale and arpeggio runs that need to sparkle, and the left-hand jumps need to feel smooth as silk. There are few things I hate more than messy boom-chicks! This will require more slow practice and chunking. I'm up for it because I actually enjoy this kind of practice. It nearly always puts me in the zone. Though I do get frustrated when, after all that practice, my boom-chicks are still sloppy! Hopefully that won't happen too often.
Voicing (and Phrasing)
This is a tricky one. The A section is characterized by a very busy right hand, and only some of the notes are emphasized. A tenuto mark (see image) specifies the melody notes, which should be louder than the ones around them.
In particular, I want to focus on bringing out the high notes of the tenuto-marked chords so they sing. I also want to work on continuity of the melody. I can't make it truly legato, but it needs to have its own line, rising and falling with the shape of the music. I guess that is also a phrasing issue.
Tempo
Ah, tempo! I played through the entire piece yesterday at 60 bpm, and that felt comfortably slow, with the exception of the Very Red Batch 4. So today I played through the piece at 70 (excluding Batch 4, which I begin revisiting later this week), and it was still pretty smooth. I did put little markers on the problem areas. (The two at the bottom are the Very Red Batch 4. It still needs some work!)
I will use interleaved clicking up at some point. I'm not sure if it's time to start using it yet, though I could use it with a tempo goal of, say, 80 bpm, then use it to reach 90 or 100, and so on.
Anyway, I suspect the tempo will take the longest to bring up to speed (pun intended).
Memorization
I memorized each section as I learned it, but I'm not sure I could sit down and play through the entire thing from memory. So as I work on everything above, I'll continue to cut the apron strings of the sheet music so that I can solidify the piece in my memory.
The New Schedule for Phase 2
Starting tomorrow, I'm switching to a new schedule, though I will finish up the Batch 3–6 revisits from the 28-Day "Learn New Repertoire Faster" Challenge.
Here are the changes from the old schedule:
Five batches instead of six. There are enough repeats of material that I think five batches will suffice for this stage. If not (it's surprising how Phase 2 work tends to be slower and more methodical than Phase 1 work), I will adjust accordingly.
Four days on, three days off. I'm honestly not sure how this will go, and I have doubts that only two rotations of this will be enough to get me to Phase 3 (practicing for performance) by early June. But this is the goal.
Batch play-throughs. For each practice session, I will play through the batch at a particular tempo on the metronome, usually a few clicks slower than the previous session. I'll take note of the spots that still give me trouble, then home in on those spots for the first part of the practice session. Or, if I'm working on a larger-scale issue like bringing out the melody in the A section, I'll limit my practice to just voicing work. Then, if there is time after the targeted work, I will use interleaved clicking up to reach the next small tempo goal.
Full-piece play-throughs (used sparingly). I don't want to fall into the habit of trying to play through the whole piece every time, since that can be a waste of valuable practice time. But I do plan to do occasional full play-throughs so I don’t lose sight of the overall shape and momentum of the piece as I focus mostly on smaller technical and musical details.
Thoughts on Phase 2
I'm excited about the next phase but a little wary too. It's during this phase that I tend to get frustrated. I'm on a high from having learned the whole piece, and while Phase 1 tends to be exciting and new, Phase 2 can feel like drudgery. As I work to develop and polish sections I've learned, I sometimes feel like I'm getting worse instead of better. And there is always that judgy little me-as-piano-teacher on my shoulder, insisting that I should have gotten this by now.
I'm just going to stick to the schedule. This is a hard piece, even without the tempo challenges. I've written before about how I find it more mentally than technically difficult, and that's something to overcome, though it certainly has its technical difficulties as well.
I'll continue to post my progress here, of course!
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