Grade 3 stuff

I cant believe how long it has been since I posted on here.  I guess it's because I have been trying to get in as much practice as I can with all the new things that I have to do for grade 3 now.  Since my last post I have listened to a lot of pieces that I had to choose from for my exam.  I had to choose 3 List pieces and 2 Extras.  It was pretty hard to decide.  When I listened to all the pieces from the Series 15 and 16 books they all sounded so hard, but I found that I am very drawn to the melancholy type pieces and also the blues style pieces.  I finally decided on which ones I like the sound of the most and narrowed it down to these.

List A: Abenddammerung (Evening Twilight) by Stephen [Istvan] Heller
List B: Adagio by Carl (Heinrich Carsten) Reinecke
List C: Princesse Lointaine (The far-off princess) by Pierre Sancan

My Extra pieces I have chosen are as follows:

Extra 1: Midnight Snack by Sonny Chua
Extra 2: The Enchanted Castle by Ede Poldin

I took a liking to all of these from the first time I heard them, which I think really helps once I learn the notes and then can add character to them all.  They are all fairly slow except for the Midnight Snack piece.  It has a more jazzy feel to it, but is quite fast for me.  It is also a tricky one because it is in 7/8 time, a timing that I have not come across before.  Very challenging but fun piece at the same time.

I really love Princesse Lointaine.  It has a bizzareness about it which grabbed my attention straight away.  I love playing this piece so far, but at the moment, dont do it any justice.

I am finding the fingering patterns in Abenddammerung quite tricky.  There are a lot of four finger chords in the left hand which over lap what the right hand is playing, so I have to make sure that my right hand stays up and out of the way of the left hand.  I have a small hand so some of the four finger chords are posing a challenge for me that I physically cant reach.  I have had to improvise with my right hand to make up the chords in bar 15 as it is way to big a stretch for me, but it wont stop me playing it.

My technical work is coming along too.  My teacher has given me some different techniques to apply to my scales.  Different ways of approaching them.  I have also got hold of a Czerny studies booklet which has some really good finger exercises to help me strengthen my weaker fingers.  They really do work my hands well.

I have also been working through the How to Blitz Grade 2 theory booklet for the last two terms and my teacher has given me soom mock exams and is happy with the knowledge that I have of it and has now started me on the How to Blitz Grade 3 theory.

Above all of this though I have, during that time, bought a new Roland digital piano and I cant express how wonderful it is to play.  It is so much different to the other two keyboards that I had.  The touch is so sensitive.  I am hoping that it will help me greatly improve in the volume area of my playing because that is such a vital part of bringing out the feel of the piece to the listener, a skill of which I need much improvement.  So now I have no excuses.  I now sit at my piano with a little of the joy of what a good piano play might feel and not just look at it and feel overwhelmed by its greatness.  Not that I am a good piano player as yet but it doesnt feel like such a daunting task but more of a time of small achievements for me.

A new year

We are now well into the new year.  All the festivities are over and done with, but I really haven't done much practice piano wise over the break.  I think its because I feel a bit lost now, having done the exam and passed, it seems that even though I have been given some things to have a try at over the break, I have only just had a little bit of time at the piano.  Lessons start back on the 5th of Feb so my motivation will pick up then.  They may be expensive but I realise that that is what keeps me progressing and pressing on. 

I am looking forward to starting with all the new stuff, but it looks quite a lot harder than the previous work.  I still haven't decided on all the pieces I want to do yet but I have both the series 16 Grade three book and the Getting to grade three work book, by Hal Leonard.  These both contain pieces that I can choose from.  I am still trying to get hold of the Hanons exercise workbook which I have ordered but it hasn't come in yet, and I have a sight reading book waiting for me to pick up when the Hanons book comes in.  I am hoping that these will help me improve the technical side of my playing.

I have had a try at some of the new scales that I have to learn, those being B flat major, F sharp minor, in similar and contrary motion.  I now have to do my scales in staccato as well.  I had a short try of a couple of bars of one of the pieces that I like, but apart from these I haven't really done much but that will all change by my next post.

Examiners report

Well I received my examiners report regarding my piano exam some weeks back now.  It was as I predicted, the nerves did show in a big way, but he seemed to be able to see through them to hear the rest of the things that I did manage to play.  I will briefly run through his comments:

"Technical work:
Scales- I knew them but needed to be more secure.
Broken Chords- RH known, LH needs more fluency

List A piece- A lively performance with bright tone. (Really happy with that comment seeing as I messed up the start a couple of times)  This was my bugbear piece too.

List B piece-Keep accompaniment in the background and the melody should really sing.  Watch the tempo in the middle section.

List C piece-Aim for more flow in the Prelude.  Fugue was steady but hands need to be more co-ordinated.

Extra List-A Suitable list. Well known. Demonstrated your potential.

Aural tests-Melody not quite but otherwise good

Sight reading- quite good

General knowledge-very good

General remarks: Musical character of the piece was understood quiet well.  Tone production is developing well. Aim now to play them with more technical refinement and rhythmic pries.  Give more attention to the preparation of technical work to achieve a higher grading.  Your nerves seem to have got the better of you today.  Keep going."

So there it is in a nutshell.  I agree with all of it.  I felt I put in alot of work where the scales were mentioned but obviously not enough.  When I practiced them at home they seem to be ok.  That just tells me that the  I may need more time to refine all the elements before I book myself in for an exam.

The wait is over

Arrived at my piano lesson on Saturday and my teacher sat me down with a big smile on her face and read out my exam result.  I had passed my exam......(phew)......with a C+.  She told me she had been checking the internet all week for the results and found out on Thursday.  She only got the grade, as the comment sheet and certificate had not been sent out to her yet.  It was a welcome relief, as I was in two minds whether I had done enough.  I am really happy with a C+ because I know that that is a good overall mark considering my performance.  As I mentioned in the previous post that I had made some errors because of my nerves.  I will be interested to read the examiners comments as they are a really good indication of what needs improving and what was done well.  I am really thankful to Maria, my teacher, for her great guidance and encouragement, because if it weren't for her I would not have come this far.  Also for the encouragement and prayers of family and friends.

So after some discussion about the exam result Maria asked me what I would like to do now.  I told her that I would like to do grade 3, but I also want to learn some different styles and add more pieces to my repertoire.  So we looked at the syllabus for grade 3, looked at some pieces from my grade 1 series 16 book that I have but have not learned any pieces from.  We looked at doing some pieces from my Getting to grade 2 book which has an accompanying CD.  This is a really good book because the CD has an amazing little piece of software on it that slows each piece down to a speed you can learn it. 

We also chose some books that might be useful for me to get.  The Getting to grade 3 book by Elissa Milne was one, and a Hanons finger exercises book, to strengthen my fingers more, was another.  A sight reading book would be good too.  Maria has the AMEB series 15 grade 3 book and CD, so I think I might have a listen to what the pieces are like in that one and get the series 16 book, so I have a wide variety of choice.  I must also get myself a metronome because I really need it to do the finger exercises at the right speeds.

Our final idea was that maybe I should give myself a little longer before I sit the next exam so I can concentrate on learning more pieces and styles rather than just limiting myself to exam stuff, but for now I am enjoying the fact that I have done a lot of hard work and it has paid off.  I know I could have done better on the day, but whatever I did on that day was meant to happen to show me what I was lacking under pressure.  I just need to take the good and the bad and learn from it. I mean, I could have done worse too.  Now I can enjoy playing my piano without the pressure for a while.

Grade 2 piano exam done

I sat my exam on Friday (12/11/2010).  I was so nervous once I got in there, its like my blood just rushed to my head and I couldn't think straight.  Adrenaline kicked in and my hands just started shaking, my heart was beating like it was going to come out of my chest and I couldn't relax.  Taking in deep breaths didn't help.  My fingers just felt like jelly. 

I went through my technical stuff.  Some scales went good and some not so good.  My fingers kind of got twisted up in themselves.  I asked a couple of times if I could start again.  Not so good. 
I started my pieces.  Menuet was like a nightmare.  I started it twice and stuffed up both times but on the second one I just thought I am going to keep going no matter what.  Next I did A little flower.  That went ok, I got through from start to finish without a mistake.  Same with the Miniature Prelude and a slight hesitation between two notes in Miniature Fugue, but I was happy with those because I completed them. 

My theory seemed alright and my rhythm clapping, pitch, and singing went ok.  Then I had a choice of the extra pieces so I chose Chagrin d'enfant which I felt more confident with and that went well too. 

Overall I did most things ok, but not sure if I have done enough to pass.  Now the waiting game begins.  I couldn't sleep that night thinking about what happened, going over things in my head.  I am hoping that what may have seemed like a disaster to me, didn't come across that badly to the examiner.  Time will tell.

Another Piece

In addition to the previous post, I have another piece that I have recorded myself playing.  It is Two Part Intention by Kerin Bailey.  This is a swing/jazz piece which I have really enjoyed learning for my exam, which is coming up in two days.  Its upbeat but has a real relaxed feel about it.  Well here it is.  Hope you like it.

I am fairly happy with the way this one is going.  Hopefully I can do it as good in the exam.... (nervously chewing away at my fingernails)...... I've been practicing heaps but at this point I never think its enough.

Me playing one of my pieces

I figured since I have the ability to record what I am playing on my old keyboard, that I should make use of it.  I have recorded myself playing Chagrin d'enfant and A little flower then transferred it to my mp3 player and then put it onto my computer.  Ah technology is so much fun.  
So now I am going to try and put one on here.  Lets see how I go.

Oh joy!!!!!........ it worked.
Well that was my rendition of Chagrin d'enfant.  I still need to do a lot more work on the tonal qualities of it and iron out the little bugs, but overall I am happy that I can play it from start to end now.  I am supposed to play this with sustain pedal but unfortunately the keyboard I played it on doesn't have a pedal. I do play it with sustain on my digital piano but I cant record on that one.  Oh well, thems the breaks.