Adult Learners - Good, tricky, do differently

On Saturday I played at an Adult Learner's Event.  The set up of the day was quite informal - there were 20 or so people there and we had run throughs and rehearsals in the morning and then played to each other in a concert format in the afternoon before going out for drinks and food.

I played the second movement of the Mozart Oboe Quartet.  I wasn't really happy with how I played in the concert.  But I did it, got to the end and had some nice comments (criticism was not allowed!).  It has made me think about what I thought could have been improved and how to make it better.  At work wegive feedback in the form "Good, Tricky, Do differently" and that seems to be as good a way as any to review how it went.  So here goes:

GOOD

1. I was really pleased with the first phrase which is long and has a huge crescendo in it!  I think I really pulled that off. 

2. I got through from start to finish, I wasn't derailed by little upsets on the way and generally kept my calm.

3. I wasn't overly affected by nerves- I felt some tension, but none of the shaking hands that I got the first couple of times I played in front of people.

4. There was some nice phrasing - I did manage to get some of the shaping in.  Some of the things that I had struggled with in the practice room seemed to be much more manageable in a bigger, more resonant space.

5. My intonation was generally OK and probably better than I expected under the pressure and nerves.

TRICKY

1. I wasn't that comfortable with the piece.  I chose it because it had an easy piano accompaniment and fitted the time limit.  But I knew it would be hard to pull off and that made me feel a little uneasy about the whole thing.

2. There wasn't enough practice with the accompanist.  There were some points where fitting the two parts together were a bit tricky - even though the piano part looks straight forward it needs good co-ordination with the oboist to ensure notes are absolutely together.  Bits that were a bit dodgy in rehearsal were picked up but we didn't reinforce enough, so that the same mistakes occurred in the performance.

3. I need to take the lead more in the rehearsal with the accompanist to highlight the slightly dodgy bits and make sure that I am happy with them.  I am the one that knows the piece better, so I am the one who will pick those things up.  I suppose I felt reluctant to do so in this situation as it was meant to be a "fun" event and so I didn't want to be seen as too "picky" but in the end it meant that I was feeling on edge in the performance.  Also  I ended up trying to play the piece to fit in with the accompanist rather than as I had practiced it.  So I need to learn to take the lead in the performance as well, and let the accompanist keep up with me.

4.  Poor tone in places.  I was not happy with my reed....are oboists ever?  This has been a problematic reed from day 1.  It took ages to blow in and even then there are certain notes that just don't sound very nice and are hard to control...or they are sometimes, sometimes it works just fine! Unfortunaly due to my lesson being cancelled I hadn't had chance to buy a replacement, so it was the best one I had!  There is also a chance that it was my lip giving up a bit.  I was also not feeling that well as still getting over a cold - by the afternoon I was definitely flagging. I think the practice in the morning sounded much better so could probably have been tension in my embouchure that affected the tone.  In some places it was OK but need to work on endurance and consistency.  More long notes!

5.  Due to my slot towards the end and the overall length of the concert I ended up playing on a pretty cold instrument and reed.  I did what I could to warm it up by silently blowing through but I think that due to the stop/ start nature of the playing it probably didn't warm up properly all day.

DO DIFFERENTLY

(thinking of Saturday's Garden Party)

1. I  feel more comfortable with these pieces which definitely play to my strengths.

2. I will buy at least 1 new reed from my teacher on Wednesday and make sure I am happy with it.

3. I have already had one run through with accompanist but will have another on Saturday.  I feel more comfortable with fitting these pieces to the piano part anyway so hopefully will be fine.

4. I will do a proper warm up at the start of the day.

5. I will smile and relax and focus on the music rather than worrying about anything else.

Catch up

I thought I ought to do a round up of the things that I am practising at the moment:

Technical exercises - I am still doing articulation exercises to try and up my speed.  It is gradually having some effect I think. I'm also doing long notes based on arpeggios - trying to improve tone, dynamic range and tuning. Doing arpeggios is good as it means I'm doing notes across the whole range of the instrument.

Studies - this week's study is Luft No 20 which is in C# minor.  I really like this one but it has some tricky passages and also a lot of rhythmic changees - lots of subdivisions as it goes from minims to crotchets to demi semi quavers to quavers to semi quaver tripets to trying to fit 5 notes into the space of 1 semi quaver....it is making my head spin a bit.  Hopefully I will get another week to work on it.

Hindemith Sonata - There are only 2 movements.  The first one grew on me a bit - though having heard a recording of it with piano I would still say that it is a Sonata that is more fun to play than to listen to.  I really do not like the second movement at all.  Slow, random notes, strange rhythms.  It really doesn't do it for me at all. So hopefully won't be spending too much longer on this. 

Telemann Fantasia No 8 - still working on the second and third movements of this as we haven't looked at it in a lesson for a few weeks.  I really like these pieces but there are still a few bits of this that I am struggling to get into my fingers.  It just doesn't seem to go as expected.  Improving though.

Mozart Oboe Quartet - have been working on third movement in lesson which has some really awkward bits in the middle.  It is getting better though. 

I have finally agreed what I'm playing at the Adult learner concert and Garden Party.

Adult Leader Concert - second movement of the Mozart Oboe Quartet. Sadly the piano accompaniment for French Suite turned out to be too tricky and an alternative needed to be found.  The first movement of the Quartet exceeded the time limit so this is my third (maybe even 4th) choice piece.  My accompanist seems quite happy with this one though.  I need to get practicing and make sure I have a VERY good reed to pull it off!

Garden Party - I've had a run through with pianist for this, which seemed to go very well.  I am playing:
Mozart Quartet Movement 1
Piazolla Oblivion
Dring Italian Dance.

Hopefully this fits the bill of light, accessible, easy to listen to classical music and it should take just over 10 minutes.  I just need to time the pieces and send the programe to the organiser (and practice of  course!).

Piano exam 28th June.  Playing my pieces for a friend tonight.

It's warm...

It's been very warm this week - practice has happened in the evening's when  it has been marginally cooler.  I've been continuing with articulation exercises though not really seeing a huge increase in speed yet. I need to keep going though.  My study this week (Luft no 18)  is in F#minor and is also good articulation practice.  I need to focus on stamina, breathing and tuning for the rest of the week. 

Telemann Fantastia No 8: I've been working on articulation in the second movement nad trying to get accuracy and dynamics too.  The last movement is getting there.

Hindemith movement 1:  Still working on the basics - notes, rhythm, articulation.  I still need to work through the second half of this.  First half dynamics, phrasing is improving.

Mozart Oboe Quartet Movement 3:  Bits are OK, other bits are very ropey.  There is some ornamentation I'm struggling to get the rhythm to - it doesn't help that it comes very soon after a change from 6/8 to cut common time.  Articulation speed is also slowing me down - but that is something that I'm working on.

Extras: I'm working on the tricky bits for Gershwin.  I'll have another You tube run through next week to see if it's any better.

I had a play through Rendez vous and Causerie from French Suite yesterday.  Total time was 5 mins and 17 seconds which is slightly longer than my time slot for the play day so may need to only do one.  I've sent music to my accompanist - the first one is quite tricky so it maybe that I have to change my piece anyway.  Hopefully he can simplify it a bit to let me play it as it is a really fun piece.

I'm waiting for a piano exam date - 15th June would be my ideal date, so let's wait and see.