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Hello I have a serious project going on right now. Feel free to follow me on my newly created blog for it. That will help keep me somewhat accountable. You can learn all about it below, thank you!

http://thepianojourney.wordpress.com/

Teodor, I enjoyed reading the blog and listening to your first recording.

I can't even imagine how much pressure you are under to achieve this sonata, but can understand your desire to see what you are capable off. Good luck and please update the thread with your progress.

Last time I played a Haydn sonata, actually just one movement, it took me over a month. I've been playing about as long as you, maybe 3 years, so you are doing well. I'm not in school, so I guess I have the option to take the long route. Anyway good luck. I'll drop in on your blog from time to time to check your progress. Got my own worries with RCM Exam closing in just over a month away, I'm feeling the pressure more each day.

Great job for a first run through.

Thanks for all the support. I knew I'd have to learn this sonata and I knew 6 months in advance. However, I always had something else to work on and I am not organized so I kind of put it off till all else was going good. I can panic and do nothing or I can give it a shot and see how it goes. Nothing else to do in this situation.

Nice start.

I'm wondering, when you first looked through the movement, did you do any kind of analysis for understanding it as music? I'm thinking of things such as how the whole thing fits together - for example if this movement is in sonata form, finding the three sections that make up a sonata and then the smaller bits that make up a section. For example, in what you have played there are two phrases that talk to each other in a call-answer way, and then other things are happening. I find that seeing these things in advance helps me immensely, even if the first work isn't on a musical level. If not helpful, please ignore or tell me to go away.

You'll be fine, and you are off to a great start. Don't forget to also work on the other movements . Just be methodical in your approach, don't waste time running through except to see where things are at every once in a while at the tempo you'd like to reach. Once you do that, then make notes as to what still needs work or new areas that need work, then get back to the grindstone!

Also, as far as memorization goes I wouldn't try to memorize yet. Let it happen as naturally as possible and work on the musical/technical things first. Set a timeline for yourself as to when you need to begin memorizing. I recommend 2 weeks before you have to perform it at the latest, that gives you 1 week to memorize, and 1 week to finalize everything and just work on performing it.

I am having trouble staying consistent with this. One day I am working hard at it and I am super concentrated. The next day I can't make any progress at all and I just keep gliding through the material and wasting time.

No idea how to stay focused each time I practice. It will take more effort than I thought.

The first page is now more fluid than before but the second page is a mess and I haven't progressed further. My general understanding of the piece has increased and I know how everything in the 3 movements should sound like but my hands can't quite keep up.

Sometimes something simple like a big sign that says "Focus" (or the equivalent in Bulgarian) pinned above the piano can help.

How about a plan for each day that you do before you start? That might help too.

At the end of the day, I could never focus at University until my final year so I probably can't give too much advice

I would concentrate on just page 2. Very slow practice, practice in rhythms, blocking if that applies, make sure you really understand what should be happening at every moment here. If you don't and you kind of skim through, take this time now to figure it out outside the context of the whole piece. Write in the sheet music whatever notes will help you in the midst of playing (finger numbers, note names, sometimes just circling a note that is troublesome is enough to draw your attention when you are playing).

Those are some good ideas. I'll make coffee and start day 3. The focus note is useful, I used to have a "relax" note which helped me avoid getting tension each time I looked at it.

If you figure that out, bottle it up and sell it! I need to know too!

I know the cause but not the solution. We live in a time with lots of distractions. Internet, social media, television, friends, school, work, pressure. It's difficult to separate yourself from your daily life when you sit at the piano but that's just what needs to happen. Also we tend to like playing already "mastered" sections or pieces too much instead of concentrating on the difficulties in our current studies.

If we want to have good practice we need to have strong will and be present when playing. Everything your hands do when learning a new piece should be completely directed by you and not random and by chance. It should be deliberate.

My teacher keeps telling me that in order to truly experience a piece and perform it well, you need to first make sure you have the basis for it. You need to have something to step on and that's perfect knowledge of all the notes you are supposed to play and the correct rhythm. You cannot expect to be able to play with good expression and dynamics and articulation if you don't get the notes. She tells me to get the piece going steady even if it sounds mechanical at first. If I can do that I can then proceed to working out all the little things that will make it meaningful. I know some people say you need to always play very musically but for someone who doesn't yet have good technique, it's not so possible. You cannot concentrate on 5 things at once. Concentrate on 1, playing it fluently. If you think about expression, articulation, dynamics all at the same time before you know the piece and before your hands perform it with no trouble, it's a waste of time.

Once you are at the stage when the notes are no longer an issue then you can play as musically as you want but before that you need to lay the foundation for that. Effective practice is not necessarily one where you sound pleasing to anyone who might listen. Especially until you finish mastering the notes and rhythm.

Months ago, Valentina Lisitsa had a live stream of her preparing for her concert the week before going on stage. So she's sitting in this small room playing the whole day, like 12 hours that week, repeating without stopping some passages, over and over, then her iPhone, which is on the music desk, chimes, and she stops, look at the text, then responses to it, taking many minutes.

I cannot imagine someone like Rubinstein while practicing at the piano would be interrupted every few minutes by a text message or email. I suppose Lisitsa could practice without the iPhone right there on her music desk, but she does. Is that what our society has come to?

The millenial generation really need to learn to unplug everyday for a certain amount of time.

I saw that when she was streaming her practice. It's good to take short breaks like that but it's also very beneficial to forget about the existence of the pc and phone for a few hours each day.

I remember reading somewhere that when you are practicing and you take a break it's good to rest for a while but don't do something too different that will redirect your attention away from the music you are practicing. It's not easy to come back into the proper mindset once you get out of it.

On days like this (and maybe just in general with such a project), decrease the scope and increase the depth of your focus. Instead of "gliding through the material," pick out a small handful of measures. Practice and make them comfortable one at a time until this small section of measures is as absolutely flawless as you're capable without completely leaving them alone to digest for a period of time. At the end of each day with such a project as this, you will walk away with a whole brick in hand - maybe even a small pile of them. While you won't yet be able to build a house with what you have, it certainly puts you closer to that goal than a pile of pieces of bricks.

Here's a quote about time constraints - that's certainly very true of my practicing - that can greatly help us whether we have a modest 30 minutes a day to practice or 3 or 4 hours. Don't even go near a piano if you don't have a very clear and achievable goal and want to improve.



P.S. I commend you for your goal. I'm thinking about undertaking a similar project this summer. A music teacher of mine said that in his time at college, his piano teacher would require him to follow this schedule:

Week 1: Receive new assignment.
Week 2: You must have all the notes of the piece under your fingers.
Week 3: The piece must be playable at tempo.
Week 4: The piece must be memorized and performance-ready.

With this kind of schedule, whether you like practicing or not (which he didn't), you sure had better develop a functional routine if you don't want to fail.

Thanks for the feedback, Bob. I don't know what the end result will be in terms of playing a sonata but so far working on it has taught me many many things that will be useful in the long run. My hands as it turns out are capable of complex coordination if I put my mind to it and practice hard. If I was given this sonata last year I'd be at a loss but now it's within reach.

I am attending a summer music camp in the mountains in August, so after the exam, no matter the outcome I will keep at it and make it better for the master classes in August. It will be 2 weeks of daily lessons and it each week ends with a recital. The second week has 2 recitals, one in the town where the summer music course is held and one in a bigger town where we will conclude the course.

Last year I attended and it was divine. The beautiful nature, the calm pace of life in the village... Can't describe it good enough, you have to experience it to know. Walks at night with the sky filled with stars so close and so bright...... Perfect.

It may not sound like much because for most pianists this is something they sight-read prima vista but last two days I managed to get the piano of the first Bartok Romanian Folk dance going at half the tempo with no mistakes at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTBC734Lljk

Now 2 more of these dances and I'm ready for the chamber music exam. The mozart violin and piano sonata will need most work, it's still difficult for me but I'm getting there. I will have to make some time for it as well soon.

Hi Teodor, are you there? I was just wondering how this is going?

Hello I'm making progress but it doesn't look as if I will be ready by the deadline. The first two movements are going ok, second one in tempo, first one much slower. The third movement however is not even close to going smoothly.

Good morning, Bulgaria. True, Haydn sonatas are deceptive material, they appear easy but then ...

Proof that Haydn was a great artist !

I'm a bit surprised, though, on bumping the thread back up I expected to read that after your worries early on you would have the thing well in hand. Sorry!

Is there a consequence to not having the piece ready "on time" ?