34. Theme from 6th Symphony (Pathetique)

This is a sight-reading exercise. The technical difficulty level is not that high, but it requires some sophistication regarding timing, since it is 5/4. I teach my students iambic pentameter, and I swear this time signature always makes me think of that. That's kind of what it is. I could set a Browning poem or Shakespeare sonnet to it, probably.

33. First Movement from Sonata in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1

Still working on this piece (January 27, 2016) even though I'm already posting. It's taking a long time, as it's by no means short or easy. The technical challenge is at RCM grade 10 level, and I believe it. Though it's been taxing, it's been rewarding rather than frustrating. I've been working on it concurrently with Mozart's K545 Rondo in C in order to break up the stress and monotony--if I ever feel them. Between those two pieces, I've been doing a lot of Alberti bass work. This is good. I really feel myself improving.

I know that even though I've only just reached the end of the sonata's exposition (i.e. nowhere near the end), I've previewed pretty much all the technique it requires. This means that the rest of the piece will be only "mildly" taxing and in the areas of memorization and technique perfection rather than technique acquisition. This is heartening, though perfection will naturally take a very long time--if it can be achieved at all.Soon it's on to the fifth grade book! But for now...

This part (left) was hard to get. I spent some time early in the game learning it because it looked like it would be difficult. The left hand broken octaves were definitely not intuitive. Took weeks and weeks to feel semi-comfortable and I'm still not 100% (Feb. 29, 2016). The good news is I actually felt my fingers relaxing in the left-hand version of the very first opening phrase today. I don't have a pic, but it occurs just before this section. I contains a C-minor arpeggio beginning on G and ending on E-flat. I'd been having some trouble with it for a while, the left hand being what it is. The triplet that follows was especially difficult, since I was using fingers 1-2-3. They felt really awkward and I probably could have changed to 2-3-4 and felt easier, but I figured the (former group of) fingers needed the work out, so I kept using them. (In general, those triplets were kind of a pain, but of the good kind.)

This is a nice, lyrical bit that follows the difficult LH section and immediately precedes that broken octave phrase above. It requires legato with chords, which is difficult when you have to switch more than one finger at a time. But I think I'm getting it. Below it is the companion section which kind of repeats the phrase on the above, but this time the right hand plays octaves. Notice that staccato in the first bar that allows the RH to leap onto the E-flat octave. Then the thumb has to stretch to reach the adjacent D^♭. Took a bit of practice, but it worked out.

 These two sections require major Alberti bass work. The left hand was tricky because the fingers shift Alberti-style between keys and the pattern alternates ever so slightly. I haven't ever really found Alberti bass to be scary, but this doubles whatever challenge it usually presents and leaves your mind to sift between the two until it figures it out. I messed up for a long time, especially at that leap to G-F^♭ in the middle bar (lower left). Even now, it surprises me every time I make the leap, even though I do it pretty consistently.





I remember having some trouble with the timing for this run at first. Then I remember practising it over and over for 2-3 days--that making up the entirety of the practice session spent on this song. I image I have of sitting in my darkening room while the sun set on my practice is visual, kinaesthetic, and eidetic. Not sure why it's so stark. I keep meaning to speed it up, now I've got it ingrained in my fingers, but I mostly forget.



I like this part with all its jumps and acciaccaturas. The leap isn't obvious here, but it's in the left and and does something like a diminished seventh. Took me a while to get the hand shape correct (but I had a head start because of a similar chord in the earlier measures). It repeats in this register and then leaps up an octave to do the same at a higher pitch.






Fun times playing a chord with all five fingers here. It feels very empowering (although I recall six-note chords from Chopin's Prelude in C Minor way back when!) I don't even know what to call that chord. Probably some kind of G suspended seventh. Dunno, but it resolves beautifully to A^♭ major.  I had some trouble getting there from the previous notes because positioning the left hand exactly right to hit all five notes took some practice. I've more or less got it now though.

32. My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice

31. Canzonetta in D Major, Op. 28, No. 2

30. Rondo (from C Major Sonata)

29. Cradle Song

28. Artist's Life

27. Träumerei (Dreaming)

26. Romeo and Juliet (Orchestral Overture)

25. Nocturne (for the Left Hand Alone)

24. Prelude

This is J. S. Bach's Prelude in D Minor. It's heavy on the fingering and I think it will be helpful in preparation for Chopin's Minute Waltz, which I'll have to play about 1/3 of the way into the Fifth Grade Book. But I haven't really been finding this Prelude very inspiring. It's the style though. Baroque isn't my favourite. So I've been sort of stuck in the first two bars, which are actually pretty challenging technically. Just getting those strange patterns in one hand is hard enough. Getting them in both--murder. Needless to say I've been doing some mindless repetition. Menuetto took a really long time to learn, and it seems this one will too.

23. Menuetto from Sonata in E-flat Major

Felt kinda bogged down on Day 7 of learning this (Sept. 16). I'm only just half way through the memorisation process. It feels like every phrase has some kind of tangle my fingers have to work out. I guess because I've started trying to really get things under my fingers before moving on to memorise later sections, it takes on the whole a longer time to learn the notes of a piece. Maybe that explained my frustration. But after spending the entire session on scales (C and D melodic minors), arpeggios (in C) and just this song, I got a bit annoyed. So I stopped before it got to me. I'd prefer not to associate the piano with annoyance.

Two weeks later and I'm still memorizing. Doesn't help that school started again and I'm finding less time to practise. Nevertheless, it's coming along. I do still think the song is a morass of technical difficulties. I like it for that reason: any competent rendition means I've improved my skills quite a bit.

I've been learning and practising the song in sections a lot, and while I think I've memorised all the parts, I'm not confident in one or two of them. For some reason that has deterred my putting them all together and playing the whole thing through. Thus, I haven't yet checked this off as a "learned song," as I usually do by recording the date I first play it all the way through from memory. Consequently, I'm about 24 days into learning this song... longest bout ever! (So far.)

Can I just say now that I know all the parts and have been working a lot more on them: I really enjoy playing this song. It's been a technical challenge through and through--though one I've always been able to meet, since it's been appropriately placed (by J.T.) at the edge of the abilities I've developed so far. But I'd always liked the song, and I'm glad I've learned it because I like hearing myself play it now. I still don't play it well, but it's getting there. (Oct. 27, 2015).

  

Eight months I worked to get this part. That gap between the G and the E in the descent was always very choppy. I played this almost every day for eight months and this week (this week, June 5- 12, 2016) is the first time I've felt fluidity in my fingers.