Summer piano plans

ShiroKuro · 2024-05-14T10:28:09+00:00

As we move into summer, my work duties are lightening up (thank goodness!). We’re moving next month but somehow it doesn’t feel like it’s going to take over...

ranjit

navindra I learned the Schumann piece, Of Strange Lands and People a while back! I tried it out and realized the piece was still in my fingers, which was awesome. I thought I might record it and share it here. It's not that hard to play, but boy is it hard to phrase. I spent the past two hours recording the piece like 50 times, and even then I'm not totally satisfied. But it was a rewarding experience and I think I learned something from it.

BartK

ranjit
That was very good. I wonder why you don't participate in the recitals. You don't have to play virtuosic pieces when your playing of simple pieces is great.

Josephine

You play it beautifully Ranjit!

PianogrlNW

keff Mozart K331 is one of my all-time favorite pieces, especially the 1st movement. With the theme and variation format, you can pick and choose which variations you want to play, if not all of them. I think that working on these variations helped to improve my technique also. The 2nd movement is short but challenging. I had a hard time playing the 3rd movement at tempo.

keff

PianogrlNW I have just arrived at the forth variation. Even at a slow tempo it is gorgeous.

PianogrlNW

Sam I checked out the Tonebase Summer Camp and was pleasantly surprised to see that it’s taking place at the Adamant Music School in Vermont. BTW, when I clicked on “apply” there was no message that it was full, but it did say deposits were due by May 1st. Maybe they are collecting additional names to compile a wait list.

I attended the Adamant Music School for the first time last summer and will be going again this summer over a long Labor Day weekend. The focus of that particular program is 2 piano plus solo repertoire. Sara Davis Buechner, who is teaching at Tonebase, will be one of our 5 teachers. I’m going to be playing Gliere Six Pieces for 2 pianos with the same partner I was matched with last year and Chopin 3rd Impromptu in Gb major. I’m also learning the Ravel Piano Concerto, 2nd movement which begins with a piano solo. The score I have is a transcription for piano.

Adamant is a magical place. If you can get into the Tonebase summer program, GO!

shawarma_bees

ShiroKuro Also, I don’t have any piano friends or music friends in my new town (we just moved here last summer), and it would be nice to make some music connections. Not sure how to do that though…

What country/region are you in? I’m in a similar boat. Maybe this forum and recordings section will provide an opportunity for virtual socialization 🙂

ShiroKuro What are your summer piano plans?

I’ll be working on two pieces - Rach Prelude op 23 no. 5, and Rach Prelude Op 32 no 5. The first I’ve already learned, but I’ve hit the limit with what I can accomplish with dynamics and inner voicing using my VPC-1. Once the Bluthner arrives in a couple weeks, I’m looking forward to taking the piece to the next level, focusing on the layers of voicing in the middle section.

I’m still in the early stages of learning op 32 no 5. It’s such an entrancing and uplifting piece, and I’m really excited to hear how the Bluthner’s voice will make it sound.

ShiroKuro

shawarma_bees I totally missed your post, but I live in the Midwest. Re finding music friends, before we moved, I had a violin friend and we regularly played music together. She and I would work on one or two pieces, and we would both work on one or two solo pieces. Then I would invite people over for dinner and she and I would play and we would have a little music/dinner party. My husband likes to cook, so he enjoyed them parties as well. Now we really, really miss them!

I found (online) a strings teacher in my new town, it looks like she coordinates recitals for adult string players, so I’m going to email her and ask her if she has any violin or cello students who would like to play duets with me. I’m also going to start asking around to see if people know other adult piano players.

Stub

I will be having only one or two piano lessons over the summer, so now's the time to (a) take some time off, or (b) dig deep into a couple of pieces. I just got back from a road trip vacation, so that was my time off. Now I'm going to buckle down on the Tchaikovsky Barcarole (June) and Debussy Arabesque I. I had started the Debussy a couple of years ago, but it was a stretch piece then and I put it aside. Now it feels much more manageable.

PianogrlNW

keff I like Var 4 too with the hand-crossing. Var 5 is gorgeous and is the only variation played at a slower tempo. Var 1 is has an engaging, catchy rhythm. Var 2 reminds me of galloping horses. Var 3 gave me some difficulties with making the RH octaves legato. Var 6 took me the longest to play at tempo, maybe because I left it for last.

Which are your favorite variations and what are the technical challenges for you?

keff

PianogrlNW I am following the schedule of practice shown in the videos that twocats discussed in the neuroscience thread (the Dr.Molly Gebrian spaced schedule) and to date I have had six days of practice with variation 2 and 3 and three days of practice with variation 4. I have not practiced 5 or 6 and had not put the theme or variation 1 on the schedule so perhaps I will have to leave answering on my favourite for awhile. The theme is so calming and var 1 is definitely engaging as you say. So far I think var 2 presented the greatest technical challenge due to the trills and when it is next scheduled to be practised in a few days time the tempo needs to increase but I will let this happen naturally as the notes become more familiar.

keff

keff volunteered to play in a fund raising concert for the Salvation Army at the end of June.

Concert took place yesterday evening and I have been very tired today. Members of our piano group filled about 50% of the programme and made a real success of it.

Pallas

keff Congratulations on completing the event! I hope you enjoyed it. I would love to hear more about it if you're inclined to share.

keff

Pallas Our local Salvation Army church were raising money to buy Christmas presents for children in our area that come from families that do not have an awful lot of cash to spare. In 2023 they distributed over a thousand gift wrapped presents. The church is very welcoming, comfortable and has a very nice Kawai KG2 grand piano which they have tuned every six months. It is where we meet as a piano group and therefore the SA is an organisation that we support.

We had six members of the group who volunteered to play solo piano pieces. These included a Passacagia by Handel, Cakewalk by Debussy and Keith Jarrett's arrangement of Danny Boy. One of my friends played a couple of jazz pieces, one being Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, partly memorised, partly improvised, definitely magical.

Returned home after the concert elated, stayed up late and hence tired today.

Pallas

keff Thank you for sharing that! It sounds absolutely wonderful!

thepianoplayer416

Summer is a quiet time. My piano teacher on break. A few music groups signing people up for September (Fall season) so contacted a few.

keff

I haven't been able to get my friend's playing of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square out of my mind since Saturday's concert and so have just bought the sheet music, to be added to this summer's practice schedule. If I can get somewhere near my friends performance, which I doubt, I'll be very happy.

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