Mon 65 min
Looks like I took a loooong holiday weekend.
Slurps, Prelude #1
C MAJ scale, broken 3ds, arps, 3ds and 6ths.
Record slurps video for MT
More Prelude #1
It looks like I'll have more stuff to work on after orchestra rehearsal tomorrow night. This is what is on our summer concert in 2 weeks:
Suppe-Light Calvary Overture
Borodin-Polovitsian Dances
Gliere-Russian Sailor's Dance
Strauss-Wine, Women and Song
Rossini-Overture to the Barber of Seville
Porter-Begin the Beguine
Strauss-Thunder and Lightning Polka
Porter-Night and Day
Gould-American Salute
YIKES!
Here's my Introduction to Slurps, assisted by my foster kitten, Brigid.
Showing posts with label recording. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recording. Show all posts
Monday, July 5
Wednesday, April 14
Wed 0:55 (1204-1259)
I'm finding the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge to be both fun and rewarding. Love seeing her Dvorak practice tips, and applying a few myself. Today I am working with this recording, and the additional challenges I added today were 1) talking a bit on the video 2) moving while playing, and 3) playing with a cat in the audience.
For practice, I started by warming up with open strings and slurps. First, I made the remarkable discovery that the bow change sound was hidden much better while letting up slightly as I changed direction, allowing the string to continue to vibrate until I caught it going in the other direction. Previously I had been trying all manner of bow change speeds but stopping the string as I changed direction. Cool.
I morphed into 1 note and 2 note string crossings, ala Vivaldi, and lo and behold, I can actually play the impossible string crossing pattern today. WoOt!
Moving on to Faure, I focused on just the two scale patterns, one ascending and the other descending, in the 8th line. I don't think I can even remember all the practice techniques I threw at those: add-a-note, double minting, add-a-note WITH double minting, using the harmonic to check intonation by alternating ringing and stopping. OK, I guess that was all the techniques, but lots of different patterns. I also tried to talk while playing - nope, not ready yet, but I could eventually say some of the fingerings out loud. I also tried to move a lot more, but I think today the movement actually induced more tension. That's OK, it will be better tomorrow.
Here we have 2 takes of the screechy half of Apres Un Reve. You can see on my face that I go in and out of "no tension," using movement to release when needed. I would say that is definite progress.
I'm not sitting on the notes today as well, but I'm not surprised, as between the cat, the talking, and the new movement I've made the task much more complicated. Tomorrow... well, let's see if I can think of a better way to move from distraction to no tension.
I'm finding the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge to be both fun and rewarding. Love seeing her Dvorak practice tips, and applying a few myself. Today I am working with this recording, and the additional challenges I added today were 1) talking a bit on the video 2) moving while playing, and 3) playing with a cat in the audience.
For practice, I started by warming up with open strings and slurps. First, I made the remarkable discovery that the bow change sound was hidden much better while letting up slightly as I changed direction, allowing the string to continue to vibrate until I caught it going in the other direction. Previously I had been trying all manner of bow change speeds but stopping the string as I changed direction. Cool.
I morphed into 1 note and 2 note string crossings, ala Vivaldi, and lo and behold, I can actually play the impossible string crossing pattern today. WoOt!
Moving on to Faure, I focused on just the two scale patterns, one ascending and the other descending, in the 8th line. I don't think I can even remember all the practice techniques I threw at those: add-a-note, double minting, add-a-note WITH double minting, using the harmonic to check intonation by alternating ringing and stopping. OK, I guess that was all the techniques, but lots of different patterns. I also tried to talk while playing - nope, not ready yet, but I could eventually say some of the fingerings out loud. I also tried to move a lot more, but I think today the movement actually induced more tension. That's OK, it will be better tomorrow.
Here we have 2 takes of the screechy half of Apres Un Reve. You can see on my face that I go in and out of "no tension," using movement to release when needed. I would say that is definite progress.
I'm not sitting on the notes today as well, but I'm not surprised, as between the cat, the talking, and the new movement I've made the task much more complicated. Tomorrow... well, let's see if I can think of a better way to move from distraction to no tension.
Tuesday, April 13
Tue 1:05 (1100-1215)
Warmed up with open strings and slurps, morphing into Vivaldi string crossings. Focused on right elbow motion. Found as the energy need increased with faster crossings it worked better to provide more body support forward from my chest. Funny, I'd never noticed that before.
Started the No Tension part of my practice with a run through Perpetual Motion in G. Continued to feel more relaxed with more body support.
Then Apres Un Reve. At my lesson yesterday we spent a lot of time on just the first two notes: starting the first note, and the shift to the second. Pointers included:
* Can't start with the bow sitting on the string. Must be dynamic.
* Over-supinate, even putting the frog in the hand to start. At about 1/3 bow, normal bow hold, then increase bow speed after the shift.
* The "shift happens" as the first note is played. Think dynamic again - can't sit on the note, then decide to shift.
* The arm motion is akin to the preparation needed to launch a basketball. Remember to "bend the knees."
* Remember to hummmmm. Pressing the string inhibits this.
For practice today, I did a lot of shift double minting, exploring these pointers and releasing tension. I played short phrases over and over, again attempting to release tension before beginning and to maintain relaxation through the phrase. I tried different (irrelevant) head movements and wiggles to monitor my body parts for tension. I also practiced phrases with a neighboring open string double stop to check intonation.
After working through the piece in fragments a couple of times (~45 min), I recorded a run through. What I tried to do on the recorded run through was to sit on the end of each phrase until I remembered the next fragment and released residual tension before proceeding.
There are some trouble spots still in the middle of the screechy section. I had my music to my right, so you will see me squinting at it (forgot my glasses this morning) to check when I can't remember what comes next. One takeaway is that I need to know the piece well enough to be able to think ahead, but I was surprised that what felt like lots of thinking time didn't perturb the rhythm as much as I thought it did.
Making the video at the end of my practice block turns out to be a very useful exercise. Initially I couldn't help but add the layer of nerves that a performance situation "requires." Today, I felt for the first time that I was allowed to practice in front of the camera.
Note: as I was warming up, I realized that I was never going to release tension while I felt cold. Thus, the funny furry scarf and the down vest. Funny-looking, but much more comfortable!
Warmed up with open strings and slurps, morphing into Vivaldi string crossings. Focused on right elbow motion. Found as the energy need increased with faster crossings it worked better to provide more body support forward from my chest. Funny, I'd never noticed that before.
Started the No Tension part of my practice with a run through Perpetual Motion in G. Continued to feel more relaxed with more body support.
Then Apres Un Reve. At my lesson yesterday we spent a lot of time on just the first two notes: starting the first note, and the shift to the second. Pointers included:
* Can't start with the bow sitting on the string. Must be dynamic.
* Over-supinate, even putting the frog in the hand to start. At about 1/3 bow, normal bow hold, then increase bow speed after the shift.
* The "shift happens" as the first note is played. Think dynamic again - can't sit on the note, then decide to shift.
* The arm motion is akin to the preparation needed to launch a basketball. Remember to "bend the knees."
* Remember to hummmmm. Pressing the string inhibits this.
For practice today, I did a lot of shift double minting, exploring these pointers and releasing tension. I played short phrases over and over, again attempting to release tension before beginning and to maintain relaxation through the phrase. I tried different (irrelevant) head movements and wiggles to monitor my body parts for tension. I also practiced phrases with a neighboring open string double stop to check intonation.
After working through the piece in fragments a couple of times (~45 min), I recorded a run through. What I tried to do on the recorded run through was to sit on the end of each phrase until I remembered the next fragment and released residual tension before proceeding.
There are some trouble spots still in the middle of the screechy section. I had my music to my right, so you will see me squinting at it (forgot my glasses this morning) to check when I can't remember what comes next. One takeaway is that I need to know the piece well enough to be able to think ahead, but I was surprised that what felt like lots of thinking time didn't perturb the rhythm as much as I thought it did.
Making the video at the end of my practice block turns out to be a very useful exercise. Initially I couldn't help but add the layer of nerves that a performance situation "requires." Today, I felt for the first time that I was allowed to practice in front of the camera.
Note: as I was warming up, I realized that I was never going to release tension while I felt cold. Thus, the funny furry scarf and the down vest. Funny-looking, but much more comfortable!
Monday, April 12
Mon 0:50 (1545-1635)
Today is the second installment of the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge. After warming up with open strings, slurps, and a lazy D MAJ galamian scale, I worked on the first half of the screechy part of Apres Un Reve, 25 reps of each of the two phrases. I had planned to do the whole thing, but 25 relaxed reps takes longer than I thought, plus John was absolutely driving me crazy climbing my back while I was trying to play.
There are 4 clips, because each was a failure. Yeah, if there had been a good one I would have just posted it. The first was surprisingly the best. I sat down and realized I couldn't remember how the first phrase went, having just finished 25 reps of the second, LOL! But because I paused for the memory lapses I managed to keep fairly loose until the end, which is actually the beginning of Phrase 3, so I didn't practice it today. Then, oh my, what faces!
The subsequent clips are very telling for where my issues are - before every shift , and at the beginning of every phrase. No problemo!
Tomorrow I will focus specifically on "preparing the relaxation" before shifts and phrases. Knowledge is power.
Today is the second installment of the @EmilyCello No Tension Challenge. After warming up with open strings, slurps, and a lazy D MAJ galamian scale, I worked on the first half of the screechy part of Apres Un Reve, 25 reps of each of the two phrases. I had planned to do the whole thing, but 25 relaxed reps takes longer than I thought, plus John was absolutely driving me crazy climbing my back while I was trying to play.
There are 4 clips, because each was a failure. Yeah, if there had been a good one I would have just posted it. The first was surprisingly the best. I sat down and realized I couldn't remember how the first phrase went, having just finished 25 reps of the second, LOL! But because I paused for the memory lapses I managed to keep fairly loose until the end, which is actually the beginning of Phrase 3, so I didn't practice it today. Then, oh my, what faces!
The subsequent clips are very telling for where my issues are - before every shift , and at the beginning of every phrase. No problemo!
Tomorrow I will focus specifically on "preparing the relaxation" before shifts and phrases. Knowledge is power.
Sunday, April 11
Sun 1:00 (1410-1510)
So, The Thing for today is relaxation. And I don't just mean the putting out the deck furniture and sitting in the sun kind, though that was nice, too. The most dissatisfying part of Thursday night's quartet performance is that as we waited and waited to go on I got more and more chilled and more and more tense, and when we finally played I was unable to release enough tension to play the way that I know I can, and that I did 1.5 hours before, during our warmup. It's not the nerves per se, it's the resulting tension.
I had a nice discussion with @EmilyCello regarding how to practice "not getting tense," looking for the best single thing to focus on while I practice, since I can't really OD on epinephrine and cope with it any time I want to. She suggested focusing on the sensation of relaxation to the exclusion of anything else I was working on for a part of my practice. And she proposed a challenge: video a run through of Apres Un Reve (current project) while focusing on relaxation, and post it. (A little epi-inducing, anyway.)
For today's practice, I divided the opening, pre-screechy part into two, and practiced each phrase 25x, pulling my focus back to relaxation as many times as I lost it, which was frequent. (You can see my counting abacus on the top of the piano.) Then I set up the camera and recorded it once off. That run through was less relaxed than the practice run throughs, but I am not entirely displeased. It definitely shows progress. Watch my face, which shows far fewer ticks than usual. (For some of my practice runs I actually kept my mouth hanging open - easier to feel the minute workings of the jaw that are the beginning of tension.)
Next time I'll do a couple of screechy lines. Be afraid.
So, The Thing for today is relaxation. And I don't just mean the putting out the deck furniture and sitting in the sun kind, though that was nice, too. The most dissatisfying part of Thursday night's quartet performance is that as we waited and waited to go on I got more and more chilled and more and more tense, and when we finally played I was unable to release enough tension to play the way that I know I can, and that I did 1.5 hours before, during our warmup. It's not the nerves per se, it's the resulting tension.
I had a nice discussion with @EmilyCello regarding how to practice "not getting tense," looking for the best single thing to focus on while I practice, since I can't really OD on epinephrine and cope with it any time I want to. She suggested focusing on the sensation of relaxation to the exclusion of anything else I was working on for a part of my practice. And she proposed a challenge: video a run through of Apres Un Reve (current project) while focusing on relaxation, and post it. (A little epi-inducing, anyway.)
For today's practice, I divided the opening, pre-screechy part into two, and practiced each phrase 25x, pulling my focus back to relaxation as many times as I lost it, which was frequent. (You can see my counting abacus on the top of the piano.) Then I set up the camera and recorded it once off. That run through was less relaxed than the practice run throughs, but I am not entirely displeased. It definitely shows progress. Watch my face, which shows far fewer ticks than usual. (For some of my practice runs I actually kept my mouth hanging open - easier to feel the minute workings of the jaw that are the beginning of tension.)
Next time I'll do a couple of screechy lines. Be afraid.
Monday, January 11
30 min + recording
Day 4. Did a few scale trills to warm up, then a Breval run through from memory, slightly under tempo. Afterward, I dug through the games and found a die. I marked 6 starting points, as follows:
6. pu to m 3, 1st A stmt
5. m 23, 1st C stmt
4. m 40, double bar, inv B stmt
3. pu to m 52, a minor section (also B)
2. m 76, B stmt in recap
1. m 93, beginning of final triplet sections
The rest of the half hour passed quickly, rolling the die and starting at the indicated starting point. Initially I wanted to memorize the points first, but it became apparent that learning would be faster if I rolled the die, tried to remember, and if I didn't remember, looked where I needed to start. By the end I could remember the numbers of all the starting points.
You will notice that I numbered the starting points backwards, from the end instead of the beginning. That was a suggestion from T4-. The idea is that once you remember the number of the starting point you can count down as you play, and reliably know where the end is.
After my practice I decided to record a spot check. Fascinating how much adrenaline simply starting a camera can bring on. I had one big memory slip and a few small ones that I noticed while playing. I'll do the formal spot check as part of my practice tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to watch and tell me everything I did wrong in the comments.
BTW, that's Emma I am playing today.
Day 4. Did a few scale trills to warm up, then a Breval run through from memory, slightly under tempo. Afterward, I dug through the games and found a die. I marked 6 starting points, as follows:
6. pu to m 3, 1st A stmt
5. m 23, 1st C stmt
4. m 40, double bar, inv B stmt
3. pu to m 52, a minor section (also B)
2. m 76, B stmt in recap
1. m 93, beginning of final triplet sections
The rest of the half hour passed quickly, rolling the die and starting at the indicated starting point. Initially I wanted to memorize the points first, but it became apparent that learning would be faster if I rolled the die, tried to remember, and if I didn't remember, looked where I needed to start. By the end I could remember the numbers of all the starting points.
You will notice that I numbered the starting points backwards, from the end instead of the beginning. That was a suggestion from T4-. The idea is that once you remember the number of the starting point you can count down as you play, and reliably know where the end is.
After my practice I decided to record a spot check. Fascinating how much adrenaline simply starting a camera can bring on. I had one big memory slip and a few small ones that I noticed while playing. I'll do the formal spot check as part of my practice tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to watch and tell me everything I did wrong in the comments.
BTW, that's Emma I am playing today.
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