Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum FOYD - Focus On Your Domain

I also have started recording everyday. At first I just recorded using the built in function on my digital. Now I record on the accoustic at least once a week using my Q3HD video recorder, so that I can see what I am doing as well as hear it. It helps to be able to analyze movements, recognize tension, and seems to really help me improve technique. Grieg Valse Impromptu was causing pain in my left hand, and analyzing the video, it became clear why it was happening. I was able to change fingering and arm motion to correct the problem. Without recording it, I might not have figured it out. Most of these recordings are throw aways, but it also helps to reduce "red dot syndrome".

Deadlines as motivators also works for me. I think focussing on the ABF recitals has really improved my playing. It adds a reward for all the hard work.

Richard - I like the idea of just recording phrases - smaller bites!

SwissMS- I find it interesting you are able to spot your own tension in the video - but even more so that you know what to do to get rid of it.

For my recording I don't usually do video, I do audio - and I do it from the silent feature (so digital) which means getting the computer out and hooking it up - checking the volume is ok for audacity. It is a bit of a pain.
....but... I guess it is time to get it set up and work on today's efforts!

To quote Arnie... "I'll be back."

Wow!
This is the sort of thing that might get me to record myself. Not yet, but maybe someday.

Perhaps I did not word myself well about deadlines. The point is that it's not the only way to go, even though it may work for some or even many people. I thought about deadlines when I read about it, and realized that this does not work well for me, and why. A couple of people have written that their focus is on things they reach for and then "it takes as long as it takes". That is what I relate to. For example, I see this post by malkin:

That's what I relate to. It doesn't have to be for everyone.

This goes straight back to when I first had formal lessons, and having to get a piece ready for a recital and not being able to linger on things that seemed important because of that. I'd feel that if I worked on this and that, my playing would get better, pieces would get better, but I was stuck polishing those pieces for an event that happened by a certain date, and couldn't get to it. Apparently this affected me more than I realized, because anything resembling it seems to set off rather negative feelings. My own personal experience is that I can't focus as sharply, I can't draw on my instinct of "what to work on" and just follow it, because there is a piece that has to be polished by a certain date. This is totally me and where I'm at. I don't expect anyone else to feel that way.

So, my goal is to focus on rhythm, no matter how painful, and no matter how short the portion of the piece.

I tried "Song #2" for my wife (well-known pop song, but not putting the title in case she happens to spot reference to it in an email from PW), but determined it was much too complex a rhythm for this effort -- turns out I have no idea how to properly count triplets.

I settled on the first two measures, RH only, of the hymn I'm working on. After 30 minutes of relatively focused practice, I was able to dramatically improve the bpm at which I could do it accurately (5 times in a row)...

wait

for

it...

from 20 bpm to 30 bpm.

Yay. (sarcasm)

Keep in mind, this is a hymn... it's pretty darn simple, and I've been working on it for weeks. There are a couple 1/16 notes, but it's mostly half, quarter, and eighths. I tried the left hand and it was a trainwreck, even at 20bpm.

On the bright side, the next day I was able to maintain the RH at 30 bpm and do OK but not great at 35 bpm, but this is truly excruciating.

I think I might start an ISMPSIHML thread... I Suck, My Piano Sucks, and I Hate My Life. A safe place to let one's negativity flow freely.


I'm breaking the rules already... posting a result without having posted the goal in advance. And, I feel like I'm cheating on AOTW with FYOD.

Goal: For "When I Survey..." (aka "The River is Wide"), take one phrase at a time, one hand a time, always playing with the metronome.
When: Whenever it gets done. Done, for each phrase and the whole thing, is 45 bpm (perform at 40 bpm) HT 5x in a row.

For Song #2, I'm just going to skip dealing with rhythm for now and fake it as best I can.

Keystrings: "it takes as long as it takes" is my overall attitude. I will get better when I get better - of course, doing everything I can to improve. But I don't say that I'll be able to play a Chopin Nocturne in the next 2 months - or six.... I'll get there when I can cope with it.

I do like the fact that the recital deadlines and the recordings for them give me a benchmark picture of where I am. I'd say that for most of the pieces I have submitted I've been able to play them better a few months down the road. Possibly because at that point I know them well and I am not worried about them, I become more musical.

Ideally that will happen earlier and earlier as I make progress
.


Tall Guy -- I hear you on being frustrated with how slowly we have to go to get something under our fingertips.

I realized today (while I was recording ) that in my Fughetta, another problem is that for some crazy reason, I was speeding up near the end of the piece - which is the more difficult section. Why? Who knows. Out came the metronome and I tested , decreasing and decreasing the speed til I got to 100bpm ... but 100bpm for a quarternote!!! (the melody swings back and forth left and right hand in quarternotes) ... so... that was discouraging on the one hand, but satisfying on the other because I did manage to play it.

I then used the metronome to set my speed for the Grieg piece (thank goodness it is MEANT to be very slow!!) - and did a run through of the melody that I generally mess up. By setting a speed that worked for this part I also sorted out other parts too, being more respectful of rests, which I realized I'd been sloppy with.

So...... lots of realizations.

(I feel like I've abandoned the AOTW thread too..Ack! )

i might like to join this thread at some point. I just returned from a couple weeks visit with family and my luggage was delayed and all my music was in it! So hopefully when it is returned I can start some more focused practice.

One problem for me can be setting goals. There can be so many issues that need working on in a small passage it can be hard to isolate the very specific things needed for improvement.

Valencia, even without your music you could work on improvising, aural investigations, working tunes out by ear, composing, or oodles of nuanced variations on scales and arpeggios.

Hope your luggage and music arrives soon.

Hmm!

Rules? Did I miss something?

Strawberry, apricot, raspberry, blueberry, cucumber, trick or treat, calendar, monicker....

four different note lengths in two measures? And this is simple?

What's your rush? 20 bpm is lightning fast if you haven't got the rhythm down.

I start difficult stuff at four clicks per semiquaver at 60 bpm. That's 16 clicks/seconds per quarter; less than four beats per minute.

Let's see if we can fix this.

Can you count and clap the beat in 4/4 time and 3/4 time? What time sig. is the hymn in? What note values are in the first measure (including any anacrusis or pickup)?

Okay I've finally got that awful programming exam out of the way and can get back to concentrating on important things - like piano! Nothing makes you want to play more than having to do something else.

It's funny that you bring up this thread, Saranoya. One of the classes I was taking this summer was Project Management, and we used MS Project. I was thinking about using it to map out my goals for my bigger pieces. (I keep a daily journal, but I like the idea of a "map" to see where I am going and where I'm at.) I get lost in details a lot, so I need help looking at the big picture to reign me in. I like this idea too. By posting it here, I can think about where I'm going and be held "accountable" for it. Not that you guys are holding me accountable, but since I'm telling you I'm going to do something I feel obligated it.

I also like to see how other people "process," and hope to learn from that, also.

I'm going to keep this week's rather short. I'm in a weird spot where I have more pieces and things than I would normally like to have in progress, and my main focus is to get things done.

1.) Be able to play Hanon 5-8 nonstop at 60 bpm. We're doing this continuous thing to hopefully build my stamina. I've been working on Fur Elise, but I'm having problems getting the second section past a certain speed without derailing in a fantastic way. So my teacher thought it would be good to get me doing the Hanon in groups, and slowly upping my speed.
2.) Record my recital piece!
3.) Go through Sweelinck's Toccata measures 26-50 measure by measure, and get them right, instead of blundering through. I have most of them right, but not consistent, so I need to break it down.

Goal: Next Thursday (except for my recording, obviously!)
I will try really hard to keep up with this thread, too - starting now!

You left 14 perfectly good minutes of potential procrastination on the table! <sigh>



This is simply because it's too complex for me to try to use it as a learning vehicle to do things "just so". I'll just do the best I can based on mimicking the original artist. It's what I can reasonably do given the reason I'm doing the song.

For the rest of the particulars re: counting, I decided to start a separate thread so that FOYD can focus on its domain and not get too much in the weeds on this particular issue.

PianoStudent88, Thanks for these suggestions! I decided to work on some of the music I had memorized, which included scales from some pieces, and also did a little sight-reading with music I had laying around here. Thankfully my luggage has finally arrived so now I can get into my pieces again!

I might need to post a few daily goals this week in order to get my recital pieces ready in time. Hope this is ok. My focus for today:

1. Angel: keep the right hand non-melody notes soft and bring out melody. Do a practice recording. (I hope to submit this to the ABF recital next week).

2. Sailors' Song (which I just picked up for the Grieg recital)-play through the end of the piece (bars 53-56) to get familiar with chords, but not so much that it hurts my hand.

3. Peace of the Woods: Listen to last recording and mark bars where there are continuous hesitations. Choose a few bars and practice them through and figure out what the problem is.

Great to read what everyone is up to - and I see we already have a spin-off thread .. lol.

So today I recorded the Fughetta, Watchmans Song and Evening in the Meadow. I was supposed to do Meadow tomorrow but hubby has the day off and I think we'll be out so I decided to jump the gun and do it today.

The good news: Fughetta went much better - especially the parts that had been wobbly before. There were some little glitches, but playing it at the slower speed is making a huge difference and I will stay at this speed a while longer.

Watchman's Song - the light melody went MUCH better today and the intermezzo was slightly better. I can live with that!

Evening in the Meadow was rougher than I expected when I started recording. For this one I felt nervous with the red dot - for the others, I didn't. Isn't that odd?

I realized that my goal of getting the Austian tunes right by tomorrow , even at slow tempo, wasn't realistic. So I'm pushing that out - and I am having too much frustration with the Adagio Sarabande so I am considering dropping it and pulling in a little lullaby... thinking about it.

I can see a difference that the very small focus practicing is making, and that's good.

Um, to be fair, I don't wake up til one or two pm, so I don't think I should be held actually accountable for actual *time*. I am making progress - I did something early!

So far, with my new focus, I have decided to make better use of my time, and not record all the repeats. My Red Dot Syndrome isn't ready for it.

I did a great job of focusing on my problem spots in my recital piece. Didn't really hit the other two. But it's only been a day!


No because I want that confidence where I can record anything without being nervous! In all seriousness, when things are sounding rough, I'm beginning to realize that while I know it(or think I know it), I'm not comfortable with it. That has been rather eye opening for me.

Pfff... I didn't get much piano practice this week, but I still managed to work about half an hour a day on Bach's Minuet and Clementi's Arietta.

This minuet is definitely more difficult than the previous one, but I got it to 80 bpm, although some notes don't sound very good. There are so many technical issues that I should work out on their own and build exercises on, and they are all so basic, that I have a feeling I'm going backwards. Probably I'm also getting harder to please. The notes in the Arietta, for instance, are terribly simple, and yet this single page (on Pianist magazine) is full of comments and hints on dynamics and phrasing, and now I can't play a note without thinking: this should be louder, here starts a crescendo, or this needs to be accented, etc. I'm so distracted by these thoughts that I can barely hit the right notes!

My opinions and feelings about piano practice keep changing - and I kind of like it!

I am really enjoying reading about what everyone is working on! I think this thread is going to be a real motivator. Well, this is my one week on FOYD report:

1) Grieg Melody - I achieved the tempo I wanted and recorded it. This week I will work on better phrasing. These Grieg pieces are both 2 1/2 repeats. I would like to show some definition between the repeats for more interest. Goal - Record for performance.

2) Grieg Valse Impromptu- The new fingering worked, and I recorded at medium tempo. I still have a couple of uncomfortable spots ( 5th's 5-3 to 7th's with 3-1 on the LH) that I feel I need to reconsider. This one I am being very careful of at full tempo. I sent a recording of this and Melody to my teacher for review. She is conducting workshops in the US right now. My goal this week for this one, is to continue slow play without tension.

3) Liszt Consolation #3 - The jumps are smoother. I think this one needs practice performance this week and recording at tempo.

4) Bach Invention 6 - HS is memorized. I have combined "A" section. Goal this week - combine first 1/2 of "B" section and continue playing both sections HS to solidify shaping.

5) Streabbog The Ophan, Burgmüller Swallow - These are my Bernhard experiment pieces. I applied the 20 minute limit section by section, slow, accurate play, as well as listening to recordings with the score prior to playing. Orphan is the easier of the two, and is nearly memorized and ready to record. I am not sure if it was a good test. Swallow is learned, and needs shaping. I can play this one with the score, but the variations on the patterns are not fully memorized. My goal is to record Orphan, and get Swallow fully memorized. Overall I think my attempt at the method was successful. I have good accuracy and the learning process was rapid. However, neither of these pieces was technically challenging for me. Once I finish these two pieces I want to try it on a more challenging piece. I am applying the approach to combining the Bach invention HT as well.

6) Overall goal, based on above. SLOW DOWN. My biggest problem is impatience. I speed things up too soon, and introduce errors. Slow and accurate need to occur even after a piece is learned.

Well, it's Friday. It's not Friday night yet, but in all honesty, I think it's pretty safe to say that I have failed to achieve my goal. I got two thirds of the way through BWV 930. The last third ... well, I can do hands separate.

Like Richard said, it was pretty ambitious. I *knew* he was right even before I got started. And like I told him at the time, that's not a bug, it's a feature. I shoot for Alpha Centauri, and when I fail to get there (which happens pretty often), then at least I can land on the moon and still be pretty satisfied.

That's exactly what happened here. The fact that I had a plan has allowed me to make more concrete progress in the past week than in the five weeks of summer break that came before it.

Per my stated goal, I *had* to finish the Bach, so I focused mostly on that. But in the meantime, I also got to the end of the first page of Chopin's Grande Valse Brilliante (opus 34/2), and I made some tangible progress on two of the Burgmüllers (opus 100, nrs. 14 and 17), though neither of them are anywhere near performance-ready.

I am *still* going to try for a recording of the Bach before the ABF recital deadline, but I have a different piece on standby in case I fail.

Other than that, by next Friday, I hope to have finished the two Burgmüllers, and to have gotten a little further along on the Chopin, though I'm not going to make a definite goal out of that.

I would say that my goals are being reached. I'm in conditions to do a record of my piece to ABF Recital as I wanted. I was really focused on this.

Here's some [more] advice regarding Bach's inventions if you'd like it:

• How To Teach/Learn Bach's Inventions:
  http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=2714.msg26624#msg26624
• How To Memorize Bach's Works/Inventions:
  http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,3056.msg26761.html#msg26761
• Ornamentation and Bach's Inventions:
  http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,7857.msg78912.html#msg78912
• JS Bach Advice Link Index:
  http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,9159.0.html