Last Wednesday was my last lesson before Easter. I can understand why my teacher has to work to school terms - she has a busy schedule and really needs the break. But it can occassionally be frustrating for me, as my life and work definitely doesn't revolve around school times. The worst is the summer - 6 weeks of no lessons and usually no time off work. Of course it also means that when I want to take my own holidays (definitely not in school holidays) I am then missing yet another lesson. Ho hum.
Having said that, I am quite pleased to have a break this Easter. It is quite nice to have less pressure to do "proper practice" I have fewer things to work through which means that I now have time to do some focussed practice on Rite of Spring and, maybe more importantly, just play through pieces that I've learned but moved on from. To play music for pure enjoyment, without worrying about stopping to sort out that awkward bit. I've been picking a piece a day to go through, initially for fun but it definitely has some other benefits. It's brought home how much we have actually covered - some of which I had forgotten about! I love coming across those bits that were really tricky, or clunky or difficult and realise that I can now play them quite easily - well some of them anyway. Playing pieces all the way through is also playing dividends on my stamina and breathing. All good...I think I need to think about using the Summer break in a similar way - and maybe finding some people to play Chamber music with. It's good to have a break from constant practising without reducing my playing so that I can start in the new term more refreshed.
Showing posts with label stamina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stamina. Show all posts
Monday, 2 April 2012
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Recovery and catching up
Saturday was a really good day with lots of playing....but it does seem to have completely upset my practice routine. Obviously I couldn't practice on Saturday and Sunday my lips were so sore that playing was not an option. By Monday I thought I would have recovered but my embouchure stamina seemed to have gone completely and even at orchestra yesterday I was struggling. I have my lesson tonight and don't really feel as prepared as I should be.
Due to the missed days of practice, I tried to spend Monday's practice session really focussing on the Luft study. I spent a long time on this one - which is in Ab major. This is my least favourite key as the fingering is rather awkward on the oboe, so this study has been good for practising fluency of left hand Eb fingering and use of the side Ab key. It did make my head spin a little trying to sort out which fingers to use. Hopefully I'll get another stab at it, I would like another couple of weeks to consolidate. I have had some play throughs of the third movement of the Telemann Fantasia but have not done as much on this as I'd have liked. My embouchure gave up on Monday before I could really get stuck in.
Orchestra last night was a night of two halves. We spent the first half working on Sleeping Beauty. This could definitely do with some sectional rehearsal because in places it frankly sounds pretty dreadful at the moment. There are a number of places with repeated staccato semiquavers from the wind (clarinet, bassoon, oboe, cor anglais) which need to be precise and give support to the tune. These are difficult to play well at the right volume - and we don't play them well, or together, or in time with the rest of the orchestra and they are generally too loud. Hopefully we can get it sorted before we have to perform it. Having said that, the last movement is sounding really rather nice now.
The second half was spent looking at Night on Bare Mountain. This is probably, on paper at least, even more difficult -but somehow it seems easier to play. The fact that it is so loud and fast and almost aggressive makes it possible to just launch yourself at it and see what happens. Getting each note in place isn't as important as the overall gist and the attitude. It seems to work. This is really good fun to play and feels like it is coming together.
Due to the missed days of practice, I tried to spend Monday's practice session really focussing on the Luft study. I spent a long time on this one - which is in Ab major. This is my least favourite key as the fingering is rather awkward on the oboe, so this study has been good for practising fluency of left hand Eb fingering and use of the side Ab key. It did make my head spin a little trying to sort out which fingers to use. Hopefully I'll get another stab at it, I would like another couple of weeks to consolidate. I have had some play throughs of the third movement of the Telemann Fantasia but have not done as much on this as I'd have liked. My embouchure gave up on Monday before I could really get stuck in.
Orchestra last night was a night of two halves. We spent the first half working on Sleeping Beauty. This could definitely do with some sectional rehearsal because in places it frankly sounds pretty dreadful at the moment. There are a number of places with repeated staccato semiquavers from the wind (clarinet, bassoon, oboe, cor anglais) which need to be precise and give support to the tune. These are difficult to play well at the right volume - and we don't play them well, or together, or in time with the rest of the orchestra and they are generally too loud. Hopefully we can get it sorted before we have to perform it. Having said that, the last movement is sounding really rather nice now.
The second half was spent looking at Night on Bare Mountain. This is probably, on paper at least, even more difficult -but somehow it seems easier to play. The fact that it is so loud and fast and almost aggressive makes it possible to just launch yourself at it and see what happens. Getting each note in place isn't as important as the overall gist and the attitude. It seems to work. This is really good fun to play and feels like it is coming together.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Identifying the phrase
Lesson again on Wednesday and this time I played much better. I am not sure whether it is because I am back into the routine of lessons again, because I ended up being nearly late so I went straight in instead of sitting in the car for 5 minutes or whether just acknowledging it and trying to understand it has made it go away. For now at least. Either way I felt relaxed enough to be able to play as I normally play in my practice room. So I felt like it was a good lesson.
The Luft study had improved a lot. An extra week of practice to make the notes more fluent while being able to focus more specifically on breathing and stamina really helped me put the whole thing together. I need to remember that strategy of practising getting through a whole section - from breath to breath - and then putting 2/3/ sections togetehr at a time. I'm moving onto the next one this week, so the challenge is to identify breathing points early in the process and stick to them
I am charging through the French Suite - the Passepied came together pretty well last week, the notes aren't so difficult. There are couple of points of rhythm and phrasing to check, moving on to the fourth piece this week. I had a play through last night, it is the shortest piece in the work and doesn't appear too complicated. But don't really "get" it yet. It feels like a random collection of notes at the moment, I need to make it feel like music, with phrases and direction.
We spent some time in the lesson on Telemann Fantastia No 6. This is another "phrasing" challenge....it feels like a theme is emerging, which I don't think is co-incidental. My teacher has set me a challenge to understand exactly where each note is in its phrase and which direction it is moving in. It is new to me to think about this level of detail of interpretation, and I find it difficult and that it is good. It has made me think about the piece in a different way. I'll be working on this over the weekend.
There was no time to look at the Reizenstein in the lesson so I will keep on with it for another week. Last week I focussed mainly on getting the finger twisting bits more fluent, and there is still plenty more to do on that. However last night I went straight to the middle section which has long slow, legato, fluent phrases - almost quite myseterious. I know I need to fix the rhythm, it does changes from 6/8 to duplets to crotchets and in parts I am aware that I am just approximating what is written. Last night I didn't get beyond the first phrase though - tone, tuning, smoothness issues were leaping out at me too much. So I focussed on trying to make it beautiful and tryig to maintain the quality of sound through the note changes. Too often there is a dip, or even a break, the note goes flat at the end and the phrase ends rather abruptly. I found it quite helpful to treat it as a technical exercise and focus on improving one thing at a time. It reminded me that these are things I should be thinking about when I do my scales at the beginning of my practice. I think there was some improvement by the end...but still a long way to go.
The Luft study had improved a lot. An extra week of practice to make the notes more fluent while being able to focus more specifically on breathing and stamina really helped me put the whole thing together. I need to remember that strategy of practising getting through a whole section - from breath to breath - and then putting 2/3/ sections togetehr at a time. I'm moving onto the next one this week, so the challenge is to identify breathing points early in the process and stick to them
I am charging through the French Suite - the Passepied came together pretty well last week, the notes aren't so difficult. There are couple of points of rhythm and phrasing to check, moving on to the fourth piece this week. I had a play through last night, it is the shortest piece in the work and doesn't appear too complicated. But don't really "get" it yet. It feels like a random collection of notes at the moment, I need to make it feel like music, with phrases and direction.
We spent some time in the lesson on Telemann Fantastia No 6. This is another "phrasing" challenge....it feels like a theme is emerging, which I don't think is co-incidental. My teacher has set me a challenge to understand exactly where each note is in its phrase and which direction it is moving in. It is new to me to think about this level of detail of interpretation, and I find it difficult and that it is good. It has made me think about the piece in a different way. I'll be working on this over the weekend.
There was no time to look at the Reizenstein in the lesson so I will keep on with it for another week. Last week I focussed mainly on getting the finger twisting bits more fluent, and there is still plenty more to do on that. However last night I went straight to the middle section which has long slow, legato, fluent phrases - almost quite myseterious. I know I need to fix the rhythm, it does changes from 6/8 to duplets to crotchets and in parts I am aware that I am just approximating what is written. Last night I didn't get beyond the first phrase though - tone, tuning, smoothness issues were leaping out at me too much. So I focussed on trying to make it beautiful and tryig to maintain the quality of sound through the note changes. Too often there is a dip, or even a break, the note goes flat at the end and the phrase ends rather abruptly. I found it quite helpful to treat it as a technical exercise and focus on improving one thing at a time. It reminded me that these are things I should be thinking about when I do my scales at the beginning of my practice. I think there was some improvement by the end...but still a long way to go.
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