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Well, yesterday's practice went ok, but I needed more time than I expected for almost every item on my list. So I'm going back at it today with no change to the tasks...determined to NOT move on just because I can already feel Tuesday's lesson approaching.

Okay, I know this is the thread that is right for me! Earlier this year I decided to quit doing postings on the PWF because it was taking too much time away from my limited time for piano practice. FOYD coincides very nicely with my piano studies.

Earlier this week I made a commitment to myself to write some weekly goals beginning today. That's when I realized that this thread is the perfect place to post my goals, and get some ideas for my practice routines. It also has the wonderful benefit of being in touch with some my friends from RST and meeting new folks as well!

I'll be back a bit later today with my goals, and what I'm working on. I gotta go practice to determine what those goals will be!

I've been sporadic in my practicing, but I'm still plugging away at my three Grieg Lyric Pieces. I've progressed from solely doing small sections to doing run-throughs, and then returning to the sections that the run-throughs show need work. Truth be told, I know what those sections are before the run-through, but I've been itching to make music beyond the ongoing focused work on small sections.

I find I discover musical decisions about the piece from playing through the whole thing that I'm not able to discover just by studying the score.

I've learned a lot from working on these pieces (octaves, arpeggios, 2 against 3, clever hand movements), but I find that for the most part I don't really like Romantic-era music (Chopin excepted), so I won't be sorry when these are recorded and I can turn my attention to other pieces.

I've been neglecting the Bach Little Prelude. I have most of the notes memorized HS. A few more measures to go, which are being harder to make stick in my head. Patience and repetition are needed, I guess.

Next goals: continue the Lyric Pieces. Pick Bach up again.

[ETA: After hearing a lot about him, I'm now reading through Graham Fitch's Practicing The Piano blog. Here's a timely post on Top Ten Tips for Trouble Spots.]

I've been dead in the water for a week. I freelance, and work comes unpredictably. Have been working round the clock. During some breaks I've been running through my head what I want to do with the Grieg. I take breaks every 2 hours or so, when I do exercises and a bit of housework (more exercise) and during those times I'm listening to something. It's been stuff dealing with the Renaissance, for music history. I may be able to get back to piano mid-week.

Popping into PW helps in not feeling as shut out from music. If you see me post too much, that's procrastination from work.

keystring, are you a translator/interpreter? I've had tons of work too this month, hoping for some respite tomorrow as soon as the last job is delivered!

I only translate these days. Sometimes I miss teaching until I remember the same kind of woes they talk about in the teacher forum.

It's interesting just how many musicians and music students work in languages or are good in language, and how many people working in languages have quite a background in music. The two must be related, as is often said.

How wonderful to see you on the thread, Griffin, and hear that you're getting some practise in!

So, my brief Sunday night FOYD update...

Recording has taken up most of my time this week but I have three acceptable recordings in the bag. I still have Trolltog to do and I'm under pressure for it. I only really have the week ahead but it isn't quite ready.

The RH in M40-43 descends from D to E and ends on a chord using 1-2-5. In M44-47 it descends from Bb but instead of ending on C it jumps down a third to A and ends on a chord using 1-3-5. I can play the measures up to tempo HS though the octave leaps are up to a tenth and big for the tempo. By aiming my little finger for the upper octaves and my thumb for the lower ones it's workable without much eye movement but when I put hands together remembering to jump to Bb in RH and D in LH for M44 (instead going to D for both as my hands want to do) takes too much brain capacity while I'm juggling the eyes for the octaves and there is consequently quite a large drop off in speed. It's also difficult to remind myself of the skip to A using 1-3-5 instead of settling on C using 1-2-5.

There is no mechanical difficulty here. My hands can do it. It's a reserve of mental capacity that I need by either increasing finger memory or finding a more efficient mental plan, like working out where exactly I need to prepare the leaps to Bb and D in the different hands without it being too soon that I forget by the time I get there or being too late to make it work. It seems trivial but the devil hides in the detail!

There's no way I'm going to be able to do this in the time so my quandary is whether to slow everything down just for this section, maintain a slower tempo throughout, drop to RH alone for this section or compromise the score somehow (and there's a variety of ways to do this). I may try recording all the ways and pick the least offensive!

I'll continue to work on just M40-47 (M38-48) this week while I chase a decent enough recording and I have to refresh my memory of the middle section. The rest of it is all OK but this piece will stay on my pile until it's done. It's a shame it won't make the recital at a better level.

I have limited time on this piece and spending two hours a night on it will simply waste about 90 minutes a day so I need to do all my other pieces as well though I can use both of these last two weekends (and have just used this one).

Brahms Ballad Op. 10/1.
M1-8 was memorised easily enough and just has to be played carefuly until it's automatic.
M26-30 was easier than I expected despite the crossed hands and I got up to M32. This has to be kept very quiet as there's a lot of dynamics to come after it and I can't afford to run out of steam too quickly. Keeping it quiet really adds to the excitement as the figure has a lot potential for dynamic and emotional tension with the soft hammering and the two against three rhythm. I can feel it building up to something and I want to increase the intensity with the slow rise in pitch. I want to get on with it but I must exercise great restraint!

I have settled on a climax in M44 right in the middle of a page turn so I've rewritten M41-46 in manuscript to memorise the phrase independently. That's my aim for the week ahead.

Bach Invention 1
The recording has again left this hanging over so I'll move on next week and come back to this as a new piece after the Grieg recital maybe instead of waiting for it to come round again in my repertoire section.

Benda Sonatina in A minor
I was going to start Scarlatti's Kp. 87 after finishing Kp. 149 recently but I got a delivery of sheet music on Monday including Benda Sonatinas on Ganddalf's recommendation (for my son) and Glière Op. 43 after hearing Riddler in the ABF Recital (for me). I read through the Benda book as far as number 3 and stopped there. I've added this. It was easy to memorise and much of it is already up to speed but it's such a blast to play.



Child Falling Asleep
Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15/12. This looks trickier than it is but simple note redistribution between the hands simplifies it enormously. There are no difficuties at all and it's not too hard to remember. The tune is lovely, of course, and I've been humming it regularly which helps.

Anyone who's nursed a child to sleep in their arms knows that infants wake easily until they've given that big sigh that precedes the soft and steady breathing that signals full sleep and they can be laid down. I love how Schumann has uses E minor with a fitful RH figure to suggest the restlessness that precedes slumber and that big soft E major chord in M9 with a new relaxed figure in RH, rhyming with the LH and announcing the arrival of sleep. Gorgeous!

So the week ahead is recording Trolltog and getting back to more regular practise - till the next themed recital. My repertoire piece is Schubert Scherzo in Bb and my other pieces are Bach Little Prelude BWV 933, Scarlatti Kp. 531 and Beethoven Andante Op. 79/3.

I'm going thru this (yet again) on review of an older piece at this very minute (yet again) so I know the feeling (yet again)

Life's relentless, huh.

Cathy

Hi everyone. Good to hear from you, Richard.

Here are my goals for this week:

1. Clair de Lune (Debussy) - My goal this week is to memorize and record measures 15-26 and analyze. I already know that I will have to do some focused efforts with measures 23 and 24. My biggest challenge is to play very slowly to make sure of accuracy, and particular attention to the dynamics. My teacher and I will be talking about this piece later this week. I've been working on this piece in very small doses since 2011. However, now that I'm retired and have significantly increased my practice time, my teacher is noticing major progress and thinks it's time to start preparing to perform this for some small informal groups.  

2. Prelude in D-Flat Major, Opus 28, No. 15 (Chopin) - My goal this week will be to review measures 60-75. My goal is to isolate the weakest measures and break them into smaller parts for practice and recording. I will be reviewing this with my teacher later for additional ideas.

3. Gymnopedie 1 (Satie) -  Yup!  I'm bringing this one back for additional refinements after I performed it as a work in progress for the Erik Satie themed recital last year. It's now time to memorize it. I'll get into more of the details next week after I've had a chance to review the parts I'll give focused attention to.  It's not my highest priority right now, however.

4. O Holy Night (Dwight and Adams) arranged by Dan Coates - I plan to record this and a few more Christmas songs over the next few months. I will be more detailed next week on my specific goals. I just need to make sure it's listed and not lost in the other things I'm doing.

That's it for now. I'm sure glad this thread was started.  I've already seen a lot of good ideas that I am starting to use. I will post my goals each Sunday, as well as some updates. I will check in daily, however.   Have a great week everyone!

#23 & 24 aren't too bad once you get accustomed to them, you're just sliding up a bit, but the basic patterns are the same as the prior measures.

If I was forced at gunpoint to play two measures and two measures only, for the rest of my life, it would be #25 & #26. There's a whole world of possibilities in those 30 notes. Bliss...

Summer holidays are finally over, and tonight is lesson time. Yay!

I'll go over last week's goals and determine new ones after the lesson. Spoiler: I did not learn the Clementi sonatina

I agree with this TallGuy. I love playing #25 & #26. I did my precision work on these earlier. I think I am now more highly motivated to do the repetitive precision work I need to do on #23 & #24, because i'll feel immediately rewarded afterwards by getting to play 25 & 26. What a treat!

I have to focus to keep a completely relaxed left hand while playing a pattern that I can't quite reach. It is an octave (5-1) with finger 2 falling 'naturally' a third below the top. So if 5 and 1 are playing C, 2 needs to play A when it is really more comfortable down around F#. It is for one of the Stravinsky pieces. His definition of "Très facile" and mine don't really align very closely. For me, in fact some of these things approach 'Presque Impossible!"



Tension in the palm of my hand results in pain in the back of my wrist, so I'm not doing that!

malkin, I know whereof you speak. I made some passages like that at the beginning The Entertainer into 6ths, because not only could I not reach them, I certainly couldn't do them fast. That was my first recital piece, almost 5 years ago. Now I could reach them, but I still wouldn't be able to do them fast. And you are so right about the tension and the pain! I may never be able to do them fast, but I can still play without pain! Works for me.

Cathy

Do you mind sharing your fingering for LH on #19 through #23? I'm picking it up again after a lengthy break, and realizing that I never wrote down what I had done before. Can't seem to settle on what I like, but here's what I have at the moment (ignoring the octaves of course):

#19: 5-124-2-124-5
#20: 125x4-124-125
#21: 235-4-2-124-5
#22: 135x6
#23: 235-4-1-124-5
#24: 135x6-125-124

#22 and #24 I'm pretty sure about, but sharing them for sake of continuity.

Edit: #20 is pretty straightforward as well. It's the odd numbered measures that I've always found vexing.

I decided to start the lesson (why am I the one making the decision?) with the Clementi sonatina, to get the un-fun out of the way first. I butchered the piece while sight-reading, since I couldn't stomach practising the piece for more than half an hour a week. Teacher thinks Clementi (and Czerny) are essential building blocks to learning piano. He understands I might not like this particular piece, so he proceeded to demonstrate 36.6 Allegro con Spirito. Yeah, that actually does sound better. It's also four times as hard.

After that I forgot everything else I had been working on during the summer and only played Return to the Heart, even without too many mistakes. Am I supposed to not feel like playing after the lesson?

Anyway, I did make decent progress with last week's goals. Waltz de Chocobo and Einaudi's "Life" are both residing on my hard disk, waiting to be edited and uploaded. Before the lesson I played Life with my balcony door open and got through almost perfectly despite the noise outside.

Recording multiple pieces on the same day was way more tiring than I expected, and I did not get as far with Grieg 43.3 as I planned to. I refreshed my memory on the notes and worked a bit more on the one difficult passage. Should be able to get something decent sounding this week.

Currently undecided whether I should just bite the bullet and learn Clementi 36.1 anyway, or aim for any other goals.

TallGuy, I'd be happy to share my fingering for those measures. I didn't write mine out either. It wouldn't be any problem for me to do this, however. I will do it on Tuesday when I plan to do some slow practice on those sections.

This a good thread. I just have one question. I don't want to be rude but don't think I can comment on everyone's posting. Assuming its ok:

Mozart 2 pianos - I'm still working in this for our October recital. Will play with my teacher.
(1) Page 26 4th bar - John (SummerKeys teacher) suggested 6 note trills from the note above. It is slightly easier than 4 notes trills against 3 16th notes. Discuss with my teacher also another difference in trill interpretation for the trill for a 16th note. John says to start from the note and provide just 3 note with the note above since it is a very fast piece. I have been doing textbook style 4 note trills starting from the note above.
(2) need to practice last 2 pages more. Play left hand broken descending octaves with crisp staccato and octaves runs in legato using 4th fingers. Last page right hand still sloppy. Compare and contrast with the similar section. I know I was damn lucky that I ended correctly in the last performance.
(3) coordinate the dynamic in conversation type passages between piano 1 & 2 on Pages 26 and 30 - I think it's cool to use contrasting dynamic between two pianos.
(4) practice eye contact with piano 2 at key moments (beginning, after a long trill and whole measure rest etc)

Grieg - I could not work on it at all during Summerkeys sessions. just realized I have only 1 week to record. Worked on Summer's eve today. Not really a virtuoso speed but the fast runs are getting a bit faster. Worked on Puck a little then run out of time. I will not be able to achieve the real speed for Puck. Will try to play the best I can. Will practice this one first tomorrow.

Rach Elegie - haven't looked at it for a while. Tried the first coupe of pages. Still i can play as I did before, which is a good thing. At the same time I have to realize that I made no progress on this. Need to get this ready for October recital.

Clair De Lune (in case anyone missed this - I did for a little while)

In the interests of trying out more ways to find the most comfortable, here are my fingerings for this passage.

#19: 5-124-3-124-5

#20: 125x4-124-125 (same)

#21: 235-4-2-123-5

#22: 135x4-124-135

#23: 235-5-3-124-5

#24: 135x4-124-135-125-124

I don't think it's rude not to comment, FarmGirl. Comments are fine to add if they're significant for you or you think they'll be helpful but participation is enough.

Seeing how others formulate ideas and plans can offer an incredible broadening of our horizons but just posting our own plans helps us subconsciously to focus on them and that is the essence of the thread. Just posting, then, is good for us and good for others.

We're not seeking feedback the way we might on AOTW. I don't even need feedback there. When something good happens, I just want to tell someone, anyone, it doesn't matter whether or not it means anything to whomever I tell, I don't need the feedback. I just need to tell someone.

The Grieg is a late piece. You might get in touch with your opus leader and sort out some kind of arrangement where they have a working link but can add an updated one later if you can improve upon it. I'm making such allowances for one or two in my opus who are having work or domestic related interruptions to their normal schedule.

Regarding your work on Puck, "Will try to play the best I can" is something that took me a lifetime and a day to realise but this is how we need to practise every single phrase, every single time and I've just come from the piano teaching my son this very thing when working on a two note fragment!