Oh god they have changed the interface a bit again. I hope I manage to be able to post stuff in the future.
Okay, the practice stuff, I am trying to get back under control. To this end, I wish I could read music more efficiently.
So, currently I am working on two pieces – Consolation No 2 by Franz Liszt and Les Cyclopes by JP Rameau. It’s tough being back at the start of the journey, although to be fair, if I had actually not taken a chunk of July and August off, I’d not be at the start. I hope, at least I would not be at the start.
I love both pieces but they both in the early stages have some challenges which I am struggling with. As I spent more time with Franz Liszt, the original rock and roll superstar, let’s start there.
Strictly speaking, this is entry level Liszt. Compared to some of his other fireworks, this is reasonably approachable. I draw the line at calling it easy but there is nothing overly shocking here. No polyrhythms for example. But those quaver rests in red are causing me undue difficulty when trying to put these bars hands together. It’s not a straight rhythm problem either because the bars with the squares around them are not posing the same problem for some reason. I understand what they should sound like, I’m not struggling to read them but I am struggling to coordinate them. Even being mangled and interpersed with assorted swearwords, the piece is beautiful. So I don’t intend to give up (and given there is Rachmaninoff and Ravel to come afterwards, I hope this all works out.
I have doing some reading of the pages to come – I can see I will have similar issues but hands swapped. I hope it goes okay – that the click turns up soon.
For the Rameau, it’s mostly okay. The challenge here is memorisation and speed with one or two things for which I will need to spend a lot of time with arpeggios.
I just cannot play the circles bars fast enough. So slow practice and arpeggios are the name of the game. Also, I’d like a new piano stool as the one I have isn’t really stable enough for my liking. The highlighted pieces I love playing.
Currently I am also sight reading all the beginner pieces I can find in assorted issues of Pianist magazine. So since I last spoke, what I have done are:
- Minuet in F by Christian Gottlob Neefe, one of LvB’s teachers. This was not all that difficult and I recommend it.
- The Echo No 14 from Mayflowers, Op 61 by Theodor Oesten, from Berlin direction. Pianist has a lesson from M Spanswick for this if you have access via Pianist. Issue 139
- No 17 from ABC du Piano by Felix Le Couppey from issue 136
All three of these were from today’s practice session. I tend to focus on the pieces which means I’m not doing enough work on the technique side of things. I’d like to be better at reading so I am working through all the beginner stuff and then intermediate stuff that I have in Pianist.
Scales we have loved this week: E major.
Repertoire Management: yes I played 3/4 Grade 6 pieces.
I was listening on Tonic today and I heard someone working on Hanon 31. I like the sound of it. Additionally, Annique Goettler has a tutorial on Hanon 1 on her YouTube channel.