Instrument Players - Come and chat (Part II)

[CoteDAzur]

Previous thread is here.

We filled one thread, so here’s another

Cote I can't imagine you without a keyboard!
I've missed a couple of piano lessons but caught up last night. Did a grade 3 piece just for sight reading practice, which was fun. It's called Shadows. Need to get back to playing the Bach every day so I can speed up a bit!

I'm finding the Kodaly approach very useful indeed. It's not so much developing singing skills but rather developing musicianship using singing as its basis. I think musicianship in general was the big missing piece in my past musical education - I mostly just read the dots on the page. Ear training, aural tests, sight-singing, playing by ear etc were a mystery. I think musicianship kind of links the theory directly to the playing by developing all those things.

Kodaly is an entire philosophy / approach, but one part of it is using a movable do sol-fa system (do re mi, like in the Sound of Music) to help you sing pitches accurately. I've only done a little so far but have found it surprisingly effective.

"I can't imagine you without a keyboard!"

I know! It's really hard.

"using a movable do sol-fa system (do re mi, like in the Sound of Music)"

What do you mean by "movable do sol fa system"?

It's not just Sound of Music, by the way I'm also used to reading notes in that way - Do, Re, Mi, etc.

I think in France a fixed do system is used - is that right? So 'do' actually equals a note, eg 'C'. If it's moveable then 'do' is the tonic note - so the absolute pitch of do changes based on what key you are in. The focus is therefore on the relative intervals between the notes.

Of course Do = C, Re = D etc and not just in France. It has been the name of that note for centuries, I believe.

That sounds weird. I don't think I want anything to do with the Kodaly system, if it means I'll have to call a Re# "Do" because it's the tonic in that tonality.

When I was little we used the notation where you write 1 - 7 for tonic to supertonic, and just say what key it's in at the beginning.

Yes I think it would be far too confusing if you already have the fixed system in place!

Having a quick look at the two systems on wikipedia it seems like the moveable do is used in Germanic / Commonwealth countries and the US, and fixed do in Slavic / Romance language countries. (Kodaly itself is Hungarian, started by the composer Zoltan Kodaly.) Interesting!

Haven't heard of the number system Never, but it makes sense of course.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbered_musical_notation

Like the movable do.

Yes, numbers...all makes sense....
I knew absolutely nothing about any of these systems when I was learning as a child / teenager - would have been useful to have had one at least to help me through the aural tests! I wonder if any of them are widely taught in the UK? Perhaps they are and I was in musical black hole for some reason...

Hi there,
I remember those but with do being moveable.
Thanks to this board, I've been doing scales most days and am almost enjoying them .
Had never heard of the Kodaly method, but I think some of our lessons when I was at school were based on it.

Just started seriously working on Chopin's prelude in B minor. I love it, but I've been putting it off as I'm not confident about the dynamic balance between the hands. But, inspired by a recording by Evgeny Kissin, I've been practising it properly. Love the way he brings out the melody. Needs lots more work from me!

I may have just bought myself an authentic Irish whistle...

How exciting! Can you post a video?

What is an authentic Irish whistle? I'd love to hear what it sounds like.

Meanwhile I still don't have a keyboard. My fingers will be as nimble as sausages by the time I am reunited with my beloved piano

I was being a little tongue in cheek... It's an Irish tin whistle that cost me £5.95....

I just got back from my hols and I can't tell you how glad I am to be reunited with my piano! Happily the two weeks of no practise don't seem to have set me back significantly. Still working on the g6 pieces for the autumn exam session and making myself get to grips with the scales etc. I thought I was ok at aural until my last exam when I really messed it up. I had a berievement a few days before the exam so maybe that's why I made such a hash of it... My teacher is a little too relaxed about the aural/sight-reading/scales - I only have 30 minute lessons and there isn't really enough time to work on the pieces let alone the other exam elements. So I'm doing as much as I can independently in those areas. I wish I could have longer lessons but it doesn't work out at the moment.

Are you away, Cote, or has something happened to your piano?

Fluke - I'm away and missing my piano terribly

I am seriously re-evaluating my choices of pieces to learn. I need something that doesn't require giant hands, or 3 hands, or speed-of-sound fingers ...

What sort of things do you have to do for Grade 6 aural fluke? I remember just hoping for the best for the aural parts and I would only just scrape through. I think there are apps and examples from ABRSM now which maybe help?

Cote, do you do mental practice when away from the keyboard? Seems to be effective, eg: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3747442/

What's the 3-handed piece Never?! Sounds terrifying!

I've just been to a folk festival so feeling folky. This has inspired me to play ukulele but my husband has put his foot down and said he just really hates it! So we've agreed that I'll play guitar instead. It does sound nicer...but it's harder! But at least each new instrument doesn't seem quite as hard as the first one since you've "learnt about music" already. Maybe learning languages is similar?

That's interesting. I was told never to "play" on air without an actual keyboard as it messes with muscle memory.

I think it means just imagining playing, without making any physical movements at all. If you actually make movements in the air then yes I imagine you would be creating new muscle memory in your brain for new actual physical movements that don't correspond to the movements you need to make on a real instrument.

Have any of you played Chopin's prelude in E minor (op 28, no 4)? How hard is it? Doable for someone grade 6 sort of standard?

A list! www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=31600.0

It sounds doable.