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A banner resembling black and yellow ticker tape.

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All the other videos on this padlet have normal volume levels, but the jury performance videos are noticeably quiet, sorry about that. If you're gonna turn up your device's volume to hear them better, you might want to turn your volume back down afterwards to keep your ears safe. Thank you 🌻

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Beyond having scales and arpeggios in my routine, I'll additionally try to work with a dexterity warmup of flicking or wiggling my fingers rapidly, technical exercise of reincorporating Dohnanyi's finger studies, and sight-reading (maybe from beginner entries in Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos?).

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Performance: Bergmüller Op. 109/13, L'Orage

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Performance: Bergmüller Op. 109/13, L'Orage

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Performance: Mozart K. 282/2-3, Menuetto I-II

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Performance: Mozart K. 282/2-3, Menuetto I-II

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Assignment 9: Reference recording. Menuetto - Mitsuko Uchida

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Assignment 9: Reference recording. Menuetto - Mitsuko Uchida

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Piece: Mozart K.282/2, Menuetto I - II

Performer: Mitsuko Uchida

The sudden dynamic shifts in certain spots in her performance of the piece bring out Mozart's musical humor, while maintaining a coherent through-line that has no tonal whiplash. I really like Uchida's performances of Mozart in general, there's a confident grace to her playing that I feel is worth emulating.

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Mozart: Piano Sonata No.4 in E flat, K.282 - 2. Menuetto I-II

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(Additionally clarifying the jury pieces and the requirements they're relevant to.)

Solo pieces

Mozart Sonata K.282/2-3, Menuetto I - II

CPE Bach H.220, Solfeggio

Technique

Bergmüller Etude Op. 109/13, L'Orage

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Assignment 8: Jury excerpt. CPE Bach H.220, Solfeggio

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Assignment 8: Jury excerpt. CPE Bach H.220, Solfeggio

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Description:
CPE Bach's Solfeggio is in my jury repertoire for Fall 2021 and here's how that's going so far. I'm mainly working at a pace that's comfortable for me to work out any kinks, with the additional goal of being "light" in the fingers. I've made some good progress with not having my left arm be so tense, though I might want to cut back on the excessive "flourishes". After this stage I'll speed up to an appropriate tempo and finalize the piece for performance.

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Jury excerpt: CPE Bach Wot.117/2 Solfeggio

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Assignment 5: Progress. Mozart K.282/2, Menuetto I - II

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Assignment 5: Progress. Mozart K.282/2, Menuetto I - II

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Description:
One of the pieces I'm working on is Mozart's Menuetto I & II from his Sonata in E-flat major, K.282. The part shown here is from the second part of the piece from measures 34 to 49 with the written repetition.

I've been working to try to make my left arm more flexible. My right arm is plenty flexible, maybe a bit too much so, yet the left seems stiff and board-like. This is not good! This makes problems for performance and interpretation, as well as healthy keyboard practice. In the video you can see there's little improvement in this regard, but more intentional practice with this should rectify it over time. I intend to do this by isolating the left hand and practicing with it by itself.

I've often heard that when performing a piece that it's more important for the audience to feel the right rhythm than to hear the right notes. Even still, I have the unhelpful habit of stopping my performance when I mess up and I'm currently working on breaking the habit. Granted there are moments in the video where I still do that, yet there's a moment in the second repeat where I flub some of the notes and don't break the piece's rhythm. This is an improvement from where I used to be!

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Progress: Mozart Sonata in E♭ major K. 282 - Menuetto I & II

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Assignment 7: Goals assessment [with end-of-semester updates]

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Assignment 7: Goals assessment [with end-of-semester updates]

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I said I wanted to be able to play quick sextuplet trills in the right hand with any two adjacent fingers, and as of halfway through the semester I'm getting close to having it done (thanks to Bergmuller's L'Orage, which is chock full of them). [Update: by the end of the semester I have met this goal.]

I'm not doing so hot on following through with building habits with unwavering consistency, but I'm seeing someone who's helping me with that skill. I feel that trying to find the best system for myself, whether it's digital or online, is further help I need to get this thing down. [Update: I've always struggled with this and by the end of the semester I have not quite met this goal, but I think I'm making good progress by using a physical habit tracker.]

The final goal I made for myself was to learn about music programs in the colleges around me. I have not met this goal, but I intend to work on it. [Update: by the end of the semester, Professor Leung and I have talked about the entry requirements for various colleges in the area, including Fullerton and Pomona.]

In all, I've made some good progress on the goals that I set for myself this semester, but I could be doing better.

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Today is the final lesson of the semester, as we are heading into juries. We reviewed the C major scale and came up against a problem with playing it speedily. I really didn't do so hot on this and much work still needs to be done here. The problem seems to be I complicate this stuff for myself, he gave suggestions about how to fix this.

Professor Leung recommended literature (Contemporary Piano Technique — Stephany Tiernan) as further help. We further discussed the entry requirements for different music programs in the colleges of southern California, and the possibility of pursuing composition as a major.

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I've had a tendency to stop whenever I make a mistake. We checked against that, as it's better to not stop during a performance. Problems of relaxation with regards to the forearm were also checked against, as they're relevant to healthily expressing forte's. The thumb was identified as a difficult finger, and Professor Leung showed me how every rest in the Bergmuller piece exists as part of the central rhythmic motif. This greatly helped my understanding of the piece and how it should flow.

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This week we focused on the Solfegietto. Many issues were addressed, such as voicing in the left hand, the relation of two seperate voices, and making the bass voice more present in the piece. Focused on the bass is important as it's a valid point of reference for feeling the composition. Feel bottom of keys more.

Musicianship as a value encompasses pianism, but being a musician means more than playing an instrument. We looked at Yo-Yo Ma's various crystalline performances of Bach as a reference point to compare against an excessively pedal'd bass part on the piano. Pedal can obscure and blur, but the Cello doesn't have that kind of sound.

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Tue, Nov 23: 30m45s

Session start, 12:34p.

Goals

Build into new fingering, Storm meas. 7

Storm, voicing, rest as part of phrase

Practice start, 12:46p.

Exercise

Breathing + stretching: 10m42s. Neck "stretch," arms, hand, fingers, legs, back.

Scarps: 8m14s.

Repertoire

Storm: 22m31s.

Session end, 2p. Think I'm getting it. Less stiffness in arm when focusing on phrasing. Singing helps.

Fri, Nov 26: 1h17m19s

Session start, 10:57p.

Goals

Slow Storm (find tempo to build from)

Solf

Menuet

Practice, 11:01p-12:32a

Exercise

Breathe: 1m40s.

Scarps: 14m51s. Asc+desc GbM, RH 3rd up from LH

Repertoire

Storm: 62m28s. Light. Wiggly arms. Gravity.

Reflect: none of the goals met, but ather found other things to work on: looking for ways to relaxy my arms, "making it look easy." Don't want to overdo the "wiggliness" (here meaning "arm flexibility"). Waves. Next time want to work on a diff song, but I think touching it up briefly will be good. Noticing lightness in handwriting while writing this, which is interesting. Session end, 12:37a.

Mon, Nov 29

Session, 12:17p-12:50. Cold start.

Practice, 12:18p

Exercise

Breathe, 1m48s

Repertoire

Storm: 11m16s. So much less tension.

Solf: 11m10s.

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Sat, Nov 13: 41m42s.

Session start, 2:25pm. Breathe & stretch before practicing, 19m17s [not counted in practice total].

Practice

Scarps, 12m06s.

Storm, 12m34s. Slow & steady. Sensitivity. Greater dynamics.

Solf, 7m51s

Menuetto, 9m11s.

Session end, 3:43pm. Focused on de-stressing & ease of phrasing. Attention to fluidity in arm.

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Sat, Nov 6: 1h08m36s.

Session start, 7:40pm. Cold start.

Practice

Scarps, 13m59s.

Menuetto, 54m37s

Session end, 9:10pm. End-of-phrase lifts, working on it. Feeling good about it. meas 13-14 also seeing improvement.

Sun, Nov 7: 37m01s

Session start, 3:22pm. Cold start\

Practice

Menuetto, 37m01s. Cultivating feeling of lightness in fingers.

Session end, 4pm. Reflect: Moving towards an appropriate tone. Sensitive fingertips. Next time, see what the Alberti bass is about. Also fixed fingering in Sec 2, feeling good about that.

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Mon, Nov 1: 59m14s.

Session start, 12:54pm. Cold start

Practice

Menuetto, 59m14s.

Session end. Why do I keep doing this.

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Tue, Oct 19: 1h6m24s

Start session, 7:04am. Foundational exerise, 6m09s (not counted in practice total. feels nice.)

Practice

Scarps, 6m12s. Doing good at previous speed.

Storm, 5m(?). Touched up on it, didn't turn on timer.

Menuetto I, 46m02s. Refinement. Addressed tension + armswing. Imagination next session

Session end, 8:30am. Reflect: still got a lot of work to do.

Sat, Oct 23: 41m52s.

Session start, 3:03pm. Goal: work on Menuetto [ ]. Breathed for 3m to relax before practice.

Practice

Scarps, 9m36s. Fatigue in thumbs? Maybe subconscious attempt to make thumb connect when crossing over. Undo this.

Menuetto, 32m16s. First part done nice. Listening: Mitsuko Uchida's take [not tallied in practice time]. Staccato. Same flow. Finished first page.

Session end, 4:16pm. Not feeling secure in what's been accomplished this week.

Sun, Oct 24: 3h16m12s.

Session start, 8:02am. Cold start

Practice

Scarps, 6m58s.

Menuetto, 1h53m03s. Got to meas 49 😄

Misc, 76m11s.

Session end.

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Tue, Oct 12: 53m26s.

Goals: Block harmonies in Solf [x]. Get to end of Part 1 of Menuetto [ ]. Integrate natural armswing [x].

Practice

Scarps, 8m52s.

Solf, 27m03s. Worked on bock harms.

Menuetto, 17m31s. I keep forgetting to turn timer on.

Reflect: only got two measures in with Mozart but it's chill.

Fri, Oct 15: 1h06m16s.

Goals: Mozart, get to end of line 3 [ ]. Solf with expressiveness, slow & wrongnote-less five times [x]. Storm w expression, slow & wrongnoteless [ ].

Practice

Scarps, 7m33s.

Solf, 34m02s. Singing descending line, meas 26-9. Blocked, tried out alt rhythms. 5 times slow & wrongnote-less at 84bpm.

Menuetto, 24m41s.

Reflect: 👍

Sun, Oct 17: 57m05s.

Goals: Get to end of Menuetto I [x].

Practice

Scarps, 9m47s

Menuetto, 47m18s.

Reflect: 👍

Mon, Oct 18: 30m53s.

Practice

Scarps, 7m13s. 80dpm. Detach thumb, not so heavy.

Solf, 11m40s. Set speed to 110bpm.

Menuetto, around 12m.

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Sun, Oct 10: 2h19m53s.

Goal: work on scales & arps (abbreviated as Scarps going forward)

Practice

Scarps, 13m55s. Bb improved. Tempo upped to 75bpm.

Storm, 15m08s. Upped speed, felt good about consistency.

Solfeggietto, 1h43m09s (abbreviated as Solf going forward). Finished functional playthrough. Measures 26-29 a little sticky but okay.

Menuetto, 7m41s. Touched up on first repitition of measures 1-12. Fixed bad note habit on meas 9.

Reflect: Will wanna practice more later (didn't happen)

Mon, Oct 11: 51m21s

Quickie practice

Solf, 51m21s.

Reflect: feel good + more prepared. Should stop waiting til last minute.

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Tuesday, 28 Sep: 25m10s.

- Goals: Bergmuller's L'Orage: 5 times slowly with no mistakes.; Solfeggietto: successfully read and fluently perform 2 lines.

L'Orage. 20m09s. Played through five times. Paying attention to dynamic markings.

Solfeggietto. 5m01s. First two lines is six measures, I've only successfully gotten through 4.

—

Wednesday, 29 Sep: 47m30s

- Goals: 3x flawless L’Orage (Storm), slow; Bach -> line 3.

Storm 17m15s. Three times.

Solfeggietto 30m15s. (Forgot to start counting time, +15m). Got to line 4. Added estimated time in total.

- Reflect: Feeling good about progress, Bach meas 7 is weird, I’ll see what that’s about eventually.

—

Friday, 1 Oct: 2h23m30s

- Practice start, 3:40pm. Goals: Storm 3x perfect; Solfeggietto p1 end.

Warmup

Scales & arps 19m07s. Wow I fell out of practice with arpeggios specifically. Took it down to 70bpm. Bb major scale needs work.

Repertoire

Storm 12m13s. 3 times.

Solfeggietto 1h52m10s. Forgot to start timer again xp (+4m). -> meas 21 (p2). Really spent some time on this.

- Practice end, 6:27pm. Reflection: Really happy w my progress today. Met both goals and then some. Maybe finish Bach before Monday?

—

Saturday, 2 Oct 1h10m38s

- Practice start 2:44pm. Goals: Flawless Storm 3x. Bach -> start of meas 26.

Warmup

Scales & arps (shortened to Scarp) 9m39s. 70bpm. Combatted discomfort in one hand by focusing on the other. Playing w using LH as volume control. Need to relax thumbs.

Repertoire

Solf 33m52s. (+3m, gotta remember to start the timer.) Starting to piece together an interpretation. Slow, around 52bpm, playing with voices, upper and lower. Break to print ur-text. Technical difficulty, upsetty.

Storm 27m07. Went zoomy (played very quickly), which was fun, at 152bpm. Made mistakes all over but it’s to be expected at this stage. Practiced slower without mistakes 3 times. Just noticed a reading oopsie in measure 23. Correcting it.

- Practice end 5:02pm. Reflect: Honestly confused and frustrated at editions making things up, realized what I was playing of Bach was different from manuscript & urtext editions. Technical difficulties prevent me from printing it out, but otherwise a fine practice.

—

Sunday, 3 Oct: 38m38s

- Practice start 5:53pm. Goals: touch up for 30m; flawless Storm 3x; Bach for remainder.

Warmup

Scarp 7m28s.

Repertoire

Storm 10m13s.

Menuetto 20m57s. -> meas12.

- Reflect: did Mozart instead, don’t have urtext still.

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Mon, Sep 13.

Goals: finish piece; do those "wonky" scales (ref previous lesson, scales in which the thumb is accented (LH, RH, L+RH)); start new piece

Exercise

FE: 11m57s

Scarps: 31m13s. Was a struggle but managed to do "wonky" scale with confidence.

Repertoire

L'Orage: 63m51s. Slight pain RH. Day+ I could prolly finish it properly. All played but R+LH still to work on. Only seperate meas. 26-end.

Reflect: Did finish piece, gotta work on timing + speed. Wonky scales effort but gottem done. Remember to print next few pieces.

Sun, Sep 19

Goals

Finish Storm for good

Scarps 130bpm

Print new pieces

FE: 13m01s.

Scarps: 13m38s. Sloppy LH ⬆115bpm. It's hard! LH ♩=100, some progress.

Mon, Sep 20

Storm: 26m

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Briefly discussed places to listen to classical music. We focused on Bergmuller's Storm. Work on bringing out greater contrasting dynamics. Wavy arm LH. Relax hand when key hits bottom. Addressed bodily stress and the different exercises that are helpful for alleviating it.

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Menuetto. Relax your fortes. Punchy. Worked on fingering measures 13-14. Warm fortes. Melodic direction for repeating notes. More bass.

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This week we focused on Mozart's Menuetto. Work in more detail by slowing down. Avoid using thumb heavily. Worked on connecting different parts of phrase in service of a complete, nonsegmented statement.

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Addressed speed of practice: build slow & steady foundation before increasing speed. This week we focused on Mozart's Menuetto. Used imagination to bring out feeling. Addressed bodily tension, especially in arm. Professor's encouragement: keep arm-swing in mind while playing, gravity is your friend.

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Practice: Tue, Sep 7

Goals: finish Storm; ♩ = 96 scales; 5min improv

Exercise

Improv: 9m (not counted in total).

Quick Foundational Exercise: 2m44s.

Scales + arps: 8m38s. Tense thumbs, esp. RH. Will come back to it.

Repertoire

L'Orage: 59m23s. got to beginning of measure 15.

Practice: Fri, Sep 10

Exercise

Foundational Exercise: 13m04s.

Practice: Sat, Sep 11

Goals: Finish L'orage; Scales + arps, up to 130bpm.

Exercise

Foundational exercise: 8m31s

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Professor's encouragement: listen to classical music more. It should aid in further developing a musical ear that is sensitive to different classical stylings, ultimately aiding performance.

This week we focused on CPE Bach's Solfeggietto. We focused on dynamics in measures 26-29, bringing out different textures within the harmony. Grounded in historical perspective in the "terraced" dynamics in instruments preceeding the pianoforte. Discussed breaking down a phase containing vertical chromatic downsteps by exercising it horizontally (melodic movement -> harmonic movement). Praised work on dynamic clarity.

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This week we focused on C.P.E. Bach's Solfeggietto.

We began class by noting certain differences between different editions of the piece and in working on the piece itself we looked at the second measure, third beat of each statement of the theme. We identified that that beat should be a dynamic high, where the phrase ought to get louder leading up to it and softer afterwards, especially in measures 2 and 4.

We also worked on bringing out the unique color of each modulation of the theme, and addressed the need to exaggerate dynamics when working on a piece that moves relatively quickly in service of the overall concept of the piece. Since I've been working from a heavily modified edition of the piece, I will see to printing out and working with an urtext edition of the Solfeggietto.

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For Burgmüller - l'Orage we worked on playing with accurate timing in the ending section, including keeping the eighth note subdivisions consistent. Also, we worked on the keeping the articulation markings and dynamic markings within pianissimo at the beginning section. Olivia played this etude with greater fluency and more emotion.

For C.P.E. Bach - Solfeggietto, we discussed style, various possible interpretations, and listened to two recordings. One interpretation had a fast tempo and more rubato, while another interpretation had a moderate tempo and allowed for the phrases to breathe. Both interpretations had elements of fantasy.

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Mozart Sonata in E-flat Major, K. 282 - II. Menuettos I & II
C.P.E. Bach - Solfeggietto
Burgmüller - "L'Orage" from Op. 109

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For Olivia's performance of "l'Orage," we discussed practicing very slowly at least four days a week. In the ending section of "l'Orage" we discussed timing, rhythm, listening to the melody and bass lines at the same time. We also reviewed the middle section with regards to following dynamics, and using the imagination.

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Olivia played the D Major scale, ascending and descending, in parallel motion at a brisk tempo.
For Olivia's performance of "l'Orage" (The Storm), we discussed combining technique with acting. For example, the beginning phrase could be like a person riding a horse at night with an approaching storm on the horizon. In the middle section, there is the effect of lightning with the sforzando marking on a fully diminished seventh chord, followed by thunder effects (chromatic scales in the low register of the piano.) In the ending section, the rain dissipates, and there is a sense of tranquility. We also, discussed style.

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Olivia played the C Major scale, ascending and descending, in parallel motion, at the following tempi: quarter note = 70, 90, 110, and 123. She accented various notes in the scale as an exercise to develop precision and control. We discussed practice strategies, such as practicing with different approaches for each day of the week, and repertoire. Olivia showed improvement in terms of fluency and expression in "L'Orage."

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We analyzed the structure of Burgmüller's Etude "L'Orage" from Op. 109. Then we discussed a storyline for the piece. Olivia paid more attention to the dynamic and articulation markings, such as playing the accents within pianissimo in the first section of the piece. Also, Olivia played the D harmonic minor scale (the Etude is in D minor) five times, hands together, 4 octaves, in parallel motion, with playing the scale each time slightly faster than the previous time.

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I want to be able to play an even, convincing sextuplet trill in the right hand at 132 beats per minute with any two adjacent fingers. When I play a trill I feel like it's a bit weak and even though many listeners can't tell, I know I can do better.

I want to build the habit of following through with a schedule for practice and every other activity, starting with a streak of practicing 1h a day for two weeks. I've gone through so many plans and schedules but I still have a long way to go in actually doing them consistently, and is important for me in reaching my long-term goals.

I want to learn about the music programs in the colleges around me and just go bananas.

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Prof. Marston and I look forward to seeing what you write for your musical goals. We would like to see you succeed. Let me know if you have any questions.