Instrument players - come and chat!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

I thought we could have a thread to chat about playing! I play the piano (not as badly as I fear but not as well as I hope) and have recently tried my hand at chamber music. Would love to hear what other people are doing.

CoteDAzur Here's a picture of the instruments they used in Rameau's Dardanus.

I know this is not what you want to hear right now, but I came across Handel's Air & 5 Doubles which is surprisingly similar to Rameau's Gavotte & 6 Doubles. Not the melody but the structures of the Doubles:

1st Double: Left hand beats the melody while the right hand "fiddles"
2nd Double: Right hand beats the melody while left hand "fiddles"
3rd Double: Two melodies on the right hand with "weird hand technique" (little finger plays the melody)
..... all just like G & 6Ds!

All to the extent that I wonder if there was a formula whereby these Doubles were constructed in the Baroque era?

I don't know any music history, but I expect there were rules about everything. Which is probably why there was a "rebellion" and you move into the classical era. And then they develop their rules. So there comes another "rebellion" in the form of Beethoven. And so on. Probably.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along to explain!

I'll ask my teacher if there was a set format of Doubles in the Baroque era - if will have to wait a week as tomorrow we're full on rehearsing for the concert tomorrow eve. (Pray for me, needless to say!)

I raised that I forgot to give the link for the Handel piece:

That whole suite is fantastic, actually. I want to play it all.

Air - 8:29
Double 1 - 12:40
Double 2 - 13:33
Double 3 - 14:10
Double 4 - 14:47
Double 5 - 15:17

Good luck Cote!

Will listen to the Handel later.

But I now have a craving for something rich and flow-y...

Just had rehearsal where teacher said it was "sublime" so I'm not freaking out fucking am, too and telling myself "I'll just show them how beautiful the music is".

I survived it! Some wrong notes but it flowed well and was apparently much appreciated. Onwards and upwards

At the risk of talking to myself here...

There is apparently a set format for Doubles in the Baroque era (at least). Check out this Wiki page:

An air is followed by five doubles (variations in the English division style): semiquavers in the right hand; semiquavers in the left hand; semiquaver triplets in the right and left hands; and finally demisemiquavers in both hands.

Sound familiar?

Thank goodness Rameau didn't get to the demisemiquavers in the Gavotte.

Well done Cote - I bet you sound amazing!
I have had to resort to getting up early to get my practice done. Trying to keep my fingers nice and high in the Hanon exercises and slowly playing the grade 5 Waltz hands together - I intend to do a second round of practice later just to see if it works. I can't do the trio bit hands together yet but at least it sounds better than it did.
Chopin Sostenuto attempt at hands together ended abruptly - I am sorting my fingering out!
I like all the C list pieces in the book - very relieved I don't have to choose one yet!

Friends, I've passed a landmark today and will of course have to share it with you

My teacher had my notes for the Fugue I'm supposed to be practicing, so I thought I would have a go at the aforementioned Handel Air & 5 Doubles. I put the Air in front of me and just started playing it, both hands, at first sight! That has never happened to me before! I think I'm finally getting somewhere. Really really happy with how I'm progressing. (And the Air is really beautiful, too)

This has fallen off my active threads list!

Well done cote!

Must get on with practising ...

Well done Cote for the performance. And the sight-reading. I'm terrible at it.
Good progress Loose. Hanon is great to warm up and keep technique in place isn't it, finding it's strengthening my 4th and 5th fingers.
I can now basically play all my pieces, bash through rather than well, learned some scales but I have a while...exam date is in the final week, so just over 5 weeks to go. I have bought ALL THE BOOKS - the sample sight-reading and aural, etc.
My credit rating is crap or I'd have got a loan. I'm going to see if the credit union will play ball.

Half term over. Perhaps there'll be more practice time now.

Broken sounds like you're doing amazingly well! The specimen sight reading book is definitely worth it.
The Hanon is definitely helping me to begin to correct some bad habits and lift the weaker fingers more so I shall keep going with those.
Alexandra I really sympathise about finding practice time - half term doesn't help much! But sounds like yours is going well even with that tricky D!

Never half term is a nightmare for music practice in this house!

Well, we didn't have half term but just a long weekend. I took advantage of the electronic keyboard with headphones to practice for a few hours after DC went to bed.

Results:

• I can now play Rameau's Gavotte & 6Ds and Handel's Air and the 1st Double.
• My forearms and especially right wrist hurt.
• I don't think DH is speaking to me.

Cote that's brilliant - if a little masochistic! You must post some clips of your playing, it sounds very inspiring!
I have definitely improved my technique thanks to Hanon. I'm continuing with that and now doing scales across the full keyboard as apparently that makes 3 octaves seem like a walk in the park!

What happened?

I'm going to learn Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 1.

Or better:

A piece of cake.

Did you look like this ?

Clearly I am not going to attempt that speed with the Hungarian Dance. I would be happy be I can make the nearly-3-octaves jumps accurately at snail's pace.