[Journal] Brahms g minor piano quartet performance readiness

twocats · 2024-05-30T06:19:57+00:00

Hi folks! I'm calling this a "journal" because I've decided to document my next 26 days of preparation to get the Brahms g minor piano quartet ready for my...

twocats

I did a lot of focused practice. Started breaking up some of the chord progressions that I have trouble memorizing into marked groups, and I think that is helping! Like how a phone number is broken up into groups of 3 or 4 digits.

Also I don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier, the "militant section" in the 3rd movement has two quick repeated notes and then a chord. I started practicing just playing one of the notes instead of the two to simplify it for memorization. And I marked groupings of the similar chords there, too.

Tomorrow I'm going to focus on the 4th movement which is currently a mess in a bunch of places.

twocats

Only working on 4th movement today and taking a break for dinner but I am so focused!! All the places I've been sloppy are getting close examination. I think because there was so much to learn I got things to "passable for now" and then just went on. Sometimes I can play a difficult bar ok but then I didn't practice the transition to the next bar enough so it's not second nature to land on the right note. Hopefully I am remedying all that now.

It does not feel real that we're leaving next Tuesday.

twocats

4 Days Left: 4th movement

As mentioned in the previous post, I did extremely focused practice on the sloppy parts. Why didn't I practice like this when I was learning it?! I should have, although it also took me quite a long time to figure out optimal fingerings. I've been been changing up stuff even this week!! Next time I will focus more on fast accuracy earlier when I'm working on something really hard.

No video because my wrists are trashed. During dinner I started making a list of all the things I need to do before we leave and figuring out when I have time to do them. My next few days are already very busy 😭

Tomorrow I'm going to take a break from the 4th movement. I should probably focus on the stuff that isn't yet ready in the 1st and 3rd movements.

Rubens

Where is the workshop again, @twocats ? Maybe you mentioned it before, I'm just curious.

twocats

Rubens I'll private message you! If I say where it's too easy to figure out my name 🙂

Rubens

@twocats
Hey no need to tell me if you want to keep your name private, although I already know your name😉.

You are Miss Cats. Two Cats.

twocats

3 Days Left: 1st & 3rd movements

No video today. I was running around all day and it was already after 9pm by the time I could practice, so I just very quietly refreshed the tricky bits of the 1st and 3rd movements.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to try to make a video using my Zoom video camera. The video quality is terrible but the sound should be good. I need to try it out again before I take it with me. Annoyingly this model doesn't accept remote control so I'll have to edit the video afterward.

I'm starting to feel resigned about the state of the piece. However, the first three days I'm in the afternoon session which means that I can practice a lot before we rehearse, which is good news!

twocats

The battery for my Zoom video camera was dead and I put it for charge; I'll also charge up the extra battery I got. I may ask someone to also record on their iPhone in case the video gets botched, since I barely know how to use the device. I find that the Apple phones generally have better sound than Android.

My hands and wrists are still tired and maybe this is a sign that I need to do minimal practice before I leave. Maybe I'll just run through everything once today with the recorder and then do a few touch up things tomorrow.

rsl12

Good luck on your performance! To my non-professional ears, you sound terrific!

twocats

rsl12 thank you! 🙂

Pallas

Do piano people have a special phrase for "best wishes" the way actors and ballerinas do?

twocats

Pallas not that I know of! I think people say "toi toi toi" to opera singers but that's the only musician one I know 🙂

Pallas

twocats The last thing I want to do is some kind of bad luck thing! Actors say break a leg, ballet dancers say merde, and singers say toi toi toi! So I'll just say I'll be sending you the good vibes, and I hope you'll share how it went if you feel like it later. Safe travels!

twocats

Pallas thank you!!

twocats

I made a single video of all 4 movements. The recording volume is a little low. But there are so many wrong notes that it's kinda humiliating and I'm thinking of redoing it. At least I wouldn't be going in cold and not warmed up.

twocats

2 Days Left: the whole thing!!

This is my final video for this journal, recorded on a Zoom Q8 Handy Recorder. I couldn't believe that in the first take the hardest part of the 1st movement was spot on! Of course it wasn't repeatable. And the 4th movement final page Molto Presto was better the first time around (but far from perfect) but I'm going to blame the second time around on being tired. I played the entire 4th movement faster AND more accurately the first time around! Oh well. The nice thing about doing the video twice was that I positioned the recorder more to the right the second time around and the sound is much better.

Thoughts:

1st movement: the second-to-last page is still not solid despite tons of practice and it not being hard, and every time I'm there I panic and wondering where my fingers should go. I need to practice it more tomorrow and attempt to semi-memorize. Also should refresh those big chord jumps that I've been working hard on memorizing.
2nd movement: I think it was acceptable. I'll leave it alone for now.
3rd movement: Ouch. The first half is good, the second half has a lot of mess from me not being comfortable enough with the notes. Tomorrow I will focus on the last few pages and hopefully next week they will magically be better.
4th movement: Today my left hand could not keep up with my right hand at all for the runs (for both takes). I think I've put a lot of work in this past week and will just let my brain do its thing over the next week. If I overdo it I might actually injure myself, as my wrists have been tired for days. This movement is clearly beyond my ability and I'm just faking my way through it...

I don't want to work on anything this hard for a while! For the next 6 months I'm taking it easy with my piano projects and if all goes to plan I can sign up for something more challenging the following year, but not as hard as this. It was one of my bucket list pieces but I was in over my head. At least I tried, though 🙂

navindra

twocats Wow, congrats and well done on all the hard work!

And seeing your Bösendorfer in full glory like that... it's truly majestic! 😲

keff

twocats Bravo, well done indeed.

Rubens

For what it's worth, I'm very proud of you 🐱🐱! You can now consider the piece as learned. Mastery is another thing, but you have to leave something for teachers to teach you anyway. And it's a big, big piece. But here's a trick. Since you're twocats, just think of it as a big piece of catnip, and you'll be fine🤣.

twocats

Rubens thank you!! I did do my best, although most of the effort was heavily weighted to the end. I have to say that the progress from 3.5 weeks ago has been really great, though!

My piano needs voicing so badly 😭 I'm glad that once my tech comes right after I return, he's going to voice the whole thing and then I won't be playing such "abusive" pieces so it should last a while.

« Previous Page Next Page »