Grade 1 Update #4

Couple of things to talk about today.

Last night's practice went well again.

Mozart 'Minuet in G' was still getting better ( more accurate and less mistakes) but not perfect. I have found a weakness. That is a good thing. When you know what you are not good at, it means you have the ability to work at it. It's easy to get frustrated but I'm remaining positive.

I realised that I was good at breaking down parts and practicing them separately. The Bit that I was then failing at was the transition from each separate part into the next. For example, I had practiced the first section and second section quite a lot on their own. Thinking I have it down, I would play it through and there would be a pause and stumble when ending one and starting the other.




What I think I need to do is treat the transition as its own 'part'. Go over the ending of one and how my hands, body and mind move over to the next part. The 'bridge' can then be worked on in it's own right, making the whole piece flow and sound more cohesive as a piece of music.

It's not simply a physical exercise. My mind has to move along with my hands. It's like recording a thought process and playing it back. Each time you have to refine the thought process to make it more efficient. It takes a lot of concentration. Worth it though.



The next thing I did was give myself a break from Mozart as I don't want to drill in any bad habits. I tried going over Turk's Das Ballet. It took a few goes, but it wasn't too hard and i was happy with my progress within one practice session. I could pretty much play it through without too much trouble. A couple of pauses on changing hand position, but I know I can do it.

So now I know that if things are getting stuck and I feel that somethings not working for now, move on to something else and it will give you the encouragement to keep going. I now have another surge of will that I can use to put back into practice.

Keep on tickling.