Instrument Players - Come and chat (Part II)

[CoteDAzur]

Previous thread is here.

We filled one thread, so here’s another

I thought it would be the WTC

I can play the C minor prelude and fugue. I'd say the prelude is not one of the easier preludes, but the fugue is quite easy (for a fugue).

Once you've learned scales with lots of sharps or flats, C major becomes surprisingly annoying! I had to do some weird playing of this scale in thirds in my lesson today - though it was just a warm-up and then I carried on with the Clementi Sonatina, which is a lot more fun! Having ditched the idea of doing the grade 5 exam I am enjoying playing piano so much more.

I love Bach's C minor Prelude & Fugue from the WTC

Ooh yes the C minor prelude and fugue is really nice. I need to try some Bach I think. I've drifted to just jazz and pop recently.

Glad you're enjoying piano more now Loose. Is it that you generally feel less pressure, or is it that you don't have to do scales and things like that and can focus on pieces you like? (I find that now I don't do exams, I actually love scales!)

Yes, Cote its the WTC. I adore Bach. I find sharps easier to play, although for some reason I find flats a more pleasing construct intellectually... But I'm a bit weird! Flats feel more mellow and rounded, sharps a little abrasive to me.

Please also check out E minor Prelude & Fugue from WTC. It's really good. I love how the music suddenly goes nuts in the last 30 seconds of the Prelude

You lot got me started on WTC now and I can't stop listening to it

Oh I think I've played the e minor before!

tintini I am happy with scales but don't want the pressure of doing them in exams! I'll still do them to avoid forgetting them.
Need to go off and listen to WTC again - it's been too long!

I love Bach's C minor Prelude & Fugue from the WTC

I love the fugue. The prelude's main merit is that I can play it ( and the last two thirds of the second page which are really fun to play).

Had my piano lesson - I'm learning the one in D major to start with, not E flat minor. Love WTC, Bach's music is so precise and clean cut. I adore baroque music. I find my lessons are never long enough though, I could happily have a few hours. I guess its good to be left wanting more!

Appropriate biscuits for post practice coffee time. I can cope with dark ChocoLiebnitz but apparently should also be eating a lot of hobnobs.

twitter.com/LeahBroad/status/1087829935157329920

Biscuits were good! John Cage one made me laugh

10. Beethoven, dark chocolate hobnob. King of biscuits.

John Cage one made me laugh

She really has Cage nailed

Wow, the thread has moved on. I am not quick enough . I am still undecided about taking grade 4 and only have until Friday to decide. I feel pretty positive about my pieces, although one isn't fast enough yet. I can do all the scales, but can't do the arpeggios anywhere near fast enough yet. No idea about the aural. Sight reading would probably be weak but ok. Mainly I am worried that I will fall to pieces in the exam .

For what it's worth, lastBus I think you should go for it. There is still plenty of time to get up to speed before the exam. You'll be fed up with the pieces if you wait until the summer exam session.

I love the biscuits!

Don't really know about the exam lastbus...the idea of a music exam sounds terrifying to me, but then the last one I did was in 1996.

But like Fluke says it's probably better not to play the pieces too much and get fed up. Do you have a teacher and what do they think?

Actually, I wonder if it might work better for exams if you don't find out what the pieces are until you apply for the exam. That way you'd have to be of about the right standard (playing all sorts of pieces) already. Then you'd have 6 weeks (or whatever - no idea of timescale of these things) to perfect a few!

Here in France at the conservatoire you usually only get the set exam pieces about 6 weeks in advance.

Lastbus, unless the exam is a big expense for you, I'd do it. Adults often have few opportunities to play in front of others and there is nothing riding on the result! Whatever the result you can just move on to something new afterwards. Use an app to prepare for the aural.

Said goodbye to my teacher yesterday :( I have a recommendation for a new teacher but not that close to where I live so it would have to be a monthly lesson rather than weekly.

Oh that's interesting that that's how it's done in France Misti. Feels like that might help promote more general musicianship. One of my friends is an examiner and she says that she sometimes gets the feeling that a candidate can only play the exam pieces and nothing else...but you have to mark based on what you hear! Can't make other assumptions of course.

Hope all goes well with the new teacher. Has anyone tried skype lessons? Wonder how they would work out...

Exams aren't a big thing here really. DD got through two "cycles" of piano (roughly grades 1 to 8) with only one exam - though she did also perform regularly at concerts. Usually there are one or two required pieces (no choice: DD's was a very peculiar contemporary piano piece) plus one or two pieces from your repertoire. DS has never done a music exam.

For me Skype lessons would be an absolute last resort.

"Here in France at the conservatoire you usually only get the set exam pieces about 6 weeks in advance."

Yes. Ime the instrument teacher proposes them but doesn't choose them.

I can't imagine doing Skype lessons. My teacher often puts marks on my sheet music to draw my attention to how it should be played, including numbers for fingering (which tends to be different on the harpsichord than the piano). I benefit enormously from seeing how she plays the same bars next to me.

Ime the instrument teacher proposes them but doesn't choose them.

My DD had one no-choice piece common to all students taking the same exam (who were not all with the same teacher, I assume the conservatoire director chose it) plus two pieces of her choice.

The exams are different too, there is a jury and for DD's second cycle exam all the second cycle (G8) and third cycle (diploma) students taking exams were also present and played in their turn - so it was more like an audition than an exam.

I might find out if there are any adult places available at the conservatoire for next September, but piano places are quite limited so I'm not hopeful.