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  • Mozarts sonata in A K331 using Dr.Molly Gebrian's spaced practice schedule

In the pianist zone there is a thread "Neuroscience based efficient practice schedule". I have decided to try out the schedule to hopefully learn the Mozart piano sonata in A major, K331, first movement . I have never learned the first movement before but I have heard another amateur pianist play parts of it at our piano group. I did try to learn the third movement quite a few years ago so may have glimpsed the first at that time.

The schedule requires a new piece to be played on consecutive days for three days and then not to play it on the fourth. I have decided to start at the second variation and the attached recording shows progress to the end of the third day. I start by playing a few bars as separate hand practice as warm up before playing through the whole variation at a slow pace.

I will probably re-record variation 2 after completing the next part of the schedule and can repost it here if it is of any interest. I find trills very difficult.

https://whyp.it/tracks/179101/mozart-sonata-in-a-var-2-after-3days-18may24?token=rodtM

Thanks for sharing this music Keff! I'm enjoying listening to the playing right now as I'm typing.
Extremely nice and relaxing to listen to. This is great side of piano forums. Wonderful.

5 days later

Please find attached a re-recording of variation 2 of Mozarts sonata K331. This is a one take after the second session of spaced practice periods (ie three days alternating with three rest days). I could have made a second take to remove some of the errors and hesitations but that perhaps wouldn't have been the point of trying to make a true record of progress. I hope there is an improvement over the first recording dated 18May24.

During these three alternating days I have changed the way of playing the trills twice and hope I have managed to play them correctly for this recording.

I have recommended Dr Molly Gebrian's videos to a friend who is also keen to start a trial.

https://whyp.it/tracks/180458/mozart-sonata-in-a-var-2-24may24?token=SBHPS

    keff Super relaxing to hear. Very good sound quality and sounds Keff. I didn't know about this later one until today!

      5 days later
      keff changed the title to Mozarts sonata in A K331 using Dr.Molly Gebrian's spaced practice schedule .

      Yesterday was the first day of practice of variation 5. The first part went much as I expected but I could not get through the second part for love nor money. After one night of sleep, miraculously, I can now make more sense of the second part and at least play it slowly.

      6 days later

      Progress statement.

      It is my first day practising variation 6 and thankfully I'm finding the notes relatively straight forward to read. Thus am concluding that variation no.5 is the most difficult to learn due to triplets that suddenly seem to appear out of nowhere. I will get used to them but it may take some time.

        5 days later

        keff

        How is the schedule working for you?

        *
        ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

        • keff replied to this.

            Animisha I am concluding that the schedule works very well. It was started on the 16th of May by dividing the first movement into the separate variations but omitting the theme and variation no.1. I started with variation 2 but when I reached a free day of the schedule I added in the next variation. I started practising variation 6 on Weds 5th June and the schedule as a whole will end on July 1st.

            My expectations are that by July 1st I will be able to play through all of the first movement reasonably accurately but at less than performance tempo. I doubt that I would have got this far if I had adopted my normal practice routine of just trying to plough through from beginning to end.

            I find variation 5 the most difficult and this perhaps should have been subdivided.

            I have been able to practice this Mozart on the scheduled days but couldn't devote all my time to it because of the need to learn other pieces for performance at our piano group and at a concert later this month. However the schedule does let you keep lots of "balls in the air".

              8 days later

              Yesterday evening was the penultimate day to practice variation 2 in the first cycle of Dr. Molly's spaced schedule and I made a recording of my progress. I then made the mistake of listening to a professional recording, something that I tend to avoid, and was shocked by the tempo it was being played at. I knew my tempo was slow but not that slow! The first reaction was that I couldn't possibly share this new recording.

              One full cycle of the schedule spans almost five weeks. It contains twelve practice days and twenty one rest days. I cannot answer how much progress would have been made with this piece had I practiced it for twelve days in a row rather than twelve days spread over thirty three. My feeling is not as much. It is even more difficult to answer how much progress would there have been if I had practised this variation for thirty three days in a row. Surely it would have fallen into a rut. The other advantage with the schedule is that those rest days have been used to make progress on variations 3 to 6.

              A link to the most recent recording is given below. Warning,if you think it is not very good at the start it gets worse in the middle. It is recorded with QuickTimePlayer. I did try Audacity but the screen was distracting me from playing.

              Edit: In the original recording dated 17 June I was trying to push the tempo so I have replaced with one at a more comfortable speed.

              https://whyp.it/tracks/186663/mozart-sonata-in-a-var2-19jun24?token=N4mjX

              For comparison and in reverse order are recordings after three days and six days.
              https://whyp.it/tracks/180458/mozart-sonata-in-a-var-2-24may24?token=SBHPS

              https://whyp.it/tracks/179101/mozart-sonata-in-a-var-2-after-3days-18may24?token=rodtM

                For having practiced Var 2 for only 12 days, I think you’re doing really well. Especially that you have also been learning the other variations also in the last month. You have made definite progress since the last recording on 5/24. There are still some baubles, but you seem to understand the basic rhythm and get it right most of the times.

                If this helps as a reference point, I spent 4 months learning the 1st movement. I didn’t practice it every day but I had days of intensive practice, recording, listening, re-recording, spending 2-3 hours/day on it. This was in 2021 during Covid, but I managed to get a lesson on it which helped me deal with some of the technical challenges.

                Here’s my recording from the ABF recital, if interested. I started working on the piece in mid-June, recorded this mid-August , and then kept working on it until October.

                https://recitals.pianoworld.com/recital_files/Recital_63/24.%20PianogrlNW%20Ellen%20-%20Sonata%20K331%201st%20Movement%20-%20Andante%20grazioso.mp3

                  PianogrlNW Thank you PianogrlNW. Your performance was delightful and gives me something to aim at.
                  I've been without a teacher for about a year (she retired) and with this Mozart I am missing her.

                    keff I think the tempo is fine for where you're at! You clearly aren't fully comfortable with the notes yet but it's coming along 🙂 I don't know which professional recording you listened to but sometimes pros take things way too fast.

                    Are you planning to look for a new teacher? I think as a beginner it's so important! I notice some rhythms that are a little off.

                    Also I had mentioned on my journal but I can't learn a difficult piece in one of Dr. Gebrian's cycles. With viola she mostly only has to play one line so if she can get it clean and up to speed with every practice session, it's probably performance-ready by the end of 5 weeks. I can't do that at all with a challenging piece but perhaps I'll try the strict schedule for my next chamber work, which looks easy on paper (haven't tried to read through it yet).