I end today feeling rather smug as I finally got some aural practise done courtesy of Nicola, one of my more advanced clarinet pupils and a proficient pianist. I have sponsored Nicola for her own good causes in the past but, assuming it would be frowned upon to persuade a student to part with their dinner money for my own cause, asked Nicola if she could help me in a more practical way. After her lesson in a few spare minutes Nicola played some of the aural tests from Aural Time!, the Grade 1 practice book. Test A is a pulse exercise and she played a piece in 3 time with a good pulse which I followed and clearly showed in my clapping. Test B - Echo Singing and test C - Spot the Difference were also fine. In the final test D the examiner plays a piece of music and the candidate answers questions on the dynamics (loud or soft) and articulation (smooth or detached). Nicola sight-read a piece then asked the first question: “Where were the staccato notes?” The “Ahh…” that followed suggested that Nicola hadn't paid too much attention to the staccatos in her interpretation. As it happened I'd only really been listening to the dynamics so after my two guesses which were both wrong Nicola played the piece again. This time the staccatos were beautifully played in the third phrase. We then tried another one and I correctly identified the piano opening with crescendo and diminuendo. My thanks to Nicola and I am sure she will be pleased to know I will bear her efforts in mind when I write her end of year report!
With a free evening and tomorrow's major performance to think about I did a lengthy session on the harp shortly after getting in from school. It was dedicated to Janine, a flute playing friend and teaching colleague. Janine and husband Ben organised the Nosferatu showing that I went to see on Day 14. They have two young daughters, Beth and Maya and both are showing an interest in music. Beth has started learning the piano but has a keen desire to learn the double bass which is amusing as she is currently only half the size of a half size double bass! Janine's session was a serious 40 minutes and started with scales and some improvised exercises around the pentatonic scale to help get the feel of the GOAT Music piece. After gradually building up the notes of the first few phrases I found myself getting the hang of it and it's not too bad. However as with other pieces most of it is manageable but there are six bars that I don't like as they have an awkward stretch using all eight fingers and have very short rests with little time to prepare for the next. Putting that one aside until another day I went back to Rondo, the other piece I would happily put off until another day. The first play through was rubbish but as I went through again I moved my attention away from my dodgy right hand quavers and focussed on the tone quality in the left hand. This freed up the right hand and the quavers were much smoother. A-ha! Finally it was starting to take shape in the way I wanted it to. After tea I did another 20 minutes for Beth and Maya and did orchestra music, O Sanctissima and some older pieces. I had a few more goes at Rondo and decided to include this in my repertoire for tomorrow. My programme will be The Ball (as a confident opener), followed by Rondo, (in the middle because audiences tend to remember just the beginning and end of a performance), then finish with Azaleas In Houston (the best 'harp' one with it's flowing arpeggios). I then practised my clarinet and reminded myself how the Prelude from the Victorian Kitchen Garden went. I haven't done a recital piece on the clarinet for ages so hope my lack of preparation will not show too much tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment