Help with this rolled chord in Clair de Lune?
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Heh... It depends on how much you like/love a piece. CDL is one of the few pieces that even non-classical music lovers know and love. Even once you have all the notes down, there's a gestation period before you really get to work in the depth of the piece.
I think I spent forever learning the 1st Contrapunctus of Bach's Art of Fugue. It was a real slog through a tropical jungle with some swamps along the way. And a couple of years hence, I'm still learning from that journey - sorting out touch and tone issues that I didn't capture the first round. And it's only 3 pages long!!
Personally, I would keep at it, but perhaps down the intensity of your focus - just settle for a measure or 2 at a time. As for the jury, maybe take a stab at something easier - but I would encourage you to keep some effort on Clair de Lune.
Having said that, I know longer think about learning a major Beethoven Sonata. i prefer to learn a prelude, mazurka, song without words, waltz, Bach pieces - or recently, Standchen by Schubert/Liszt - still a relatively shorter piece.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
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Heh... It depends on how much you like/love a piece. CDL is one of the few pieces that even non-classical music lovers know and love. Even once you have all the notes down, there's a gestation period before you really get to work in the depth of the piece.
I think I spent forever learning the 1st Contrapunctus of Bach's Art of Fugue. It was a real slog through a tropical jungle with some swamps along the way. And a couple of years hence, I'm still learning from that journey - sorting out touch and tone issues that I didn't capture the first round. And it's only 3 pages long!!
Personally, I would keep at it, but perhaps down the intensity of your focus - just settle for a measure or 2 at a time. As for the jury, maybe take a stab at something easier - but I would encourage you to keep some effort on Clair de Lune.
Having said that, I know longer think about learning a major Beethoven Sonata. i prefer to learn a prelude, mazurka, song without words, waltz, Bach pieces - or recently, Standchen by Schubert/Liszt - still a relatively shorter piece.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Heh... It depends on how much you like/love a piece. CDL is one of the few pieces that even non-classical music lovers know and love. Even once you have all the notes down, there's a gestation period before you really get to work in the depth of the piece.
Oh I’ll definitely keep working on it. I want to get through to the end, and then of course have that gestation period, or maybe I’ll just let it fall out of my fingers completely so I can come back to it in a year or so.
I just think it’s really interesting to observe these differences in rate of progress. I’ve been working on Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence for 3 weeks (half as long as CdL) and I’m working on about 96 measures (out of 104). Whereas in 6 weeks with CdL, I’m only up to measure 38 (out of 72).
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Thank you!
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Clair de Lune update…. So the rolled chord is now a non-issue since I decided to drop that Db (thanks again @bernard !)
But wow my progress is so slow with this piece! I am working through the first 4 pages so far, well not even, since I’m only up through the first two staves of page 4.
That’s after 6 weeks of (literally) daily practice on the piece.
I can only add maybe 2 to 4 new measures each week. At this rate it will take me another 4 months to get through to the end! And that’s not even getting up to tempo or polishing, that’s just working out fingerings and getting all the notes in my fingers.
That’s probably not how long it will take in actuality, but my teacher thinks I can play this for my jury — which is about two months away. There’s no way.
Fortunately, I’m working on two other pieces, and I think either would be fine for the jury. But it’s a little frustrating to me that she seems kind of clueless about what it means that I’m progressing so slowly through this piece. For the record, this is my new teacher at the music school, I’ve had 6 lessons with her so far. She’s a doctoral student in the piano program here, as was my teacher last year. But my last teacher and this teacher seem miles apart in terms of teaching experience. Anyway, this post wasn’t meant to be about the teacher…
So back to CdL… I feel like my rate of progress is a clear sign that this piece is too hard for me. With other pieces, I can move through an entire page in a week…
But could it just be a sign that my other pieces are too easy for me? Is this pace (2-4 measures of new music per week) how most people move through learning new music?
For comparison, one of other pieces I’m working on is Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The internet tells me it’s maybe a grade 6-7 piece, while CdL is grade 8. And compared to CdL, MCML almost feels easy, so obviously that’s part of it.
Anyway, part of the point of this post is to ask, is CdL too hard for me, or are my other pieces too easy?
The other point of the post is to say, my god, CdL is hard, but I’m going to keep working on it till I get to the end!
But wow my progress is so slow with this piece! I am working through the first 4 pages so far, well not even, since I’m only up through the first two staves of page 4.
That’s after 6 weeks of (literally) daily practice on the piece.
In my edition the CdL is six pages long. If yours is the same, you're over half way through. It would be worth checking to see how many more pages you have left in your edition.
Also, once you get past the "Calmata" section the material is similar to what you've already played. Not identical, but similar and maybe they'll go a bit easier than what you've already covered?
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But wow my progress is so slow with this piece! I am working through the first 4 pages so far, well not even, since I’m only up through the first two staves of page 4.
That’s after 6 weeks of (literally) daily practice on the piece.
In my edition the CdL is six pages long. If yours is the same, you're over half way through. It would be worth checking to see how many more pages you have left in your edition.
Also, once you get past the "Calmata" section the material is similar to what you've already played. Not identical, but similar and maybe they'll go a bit easier than what you've already covered?
@Bernard thanks for these comments!
My score is 7 pages, and I am up to 38 measures out of 72, so just barely over half.
The new part I'm working on right now is the first two measures after the key change. That section is only six measures, so if I can push through that relatively, then the next section is Calmata, which is only eight measures... And then, as you say, hopefully the last bit will be easier.
I also wonder if I'm doing something "wrong," and maybe it's taking me longer than it should to work through new measures. Like if I changed how I approach each new section, maybe it would go faster??
Maybe I need to do some listening and reading away from the piano... I just got this Alfred edition from the library, and it has a CD with it. Maybe the recording will be a little "pedagogical" and that might help. (I feel like listening to the pianists I like play this doesn't help me because their performances are too advanced, and too original).
I need to sit down and get the CD onto my laptop, since we no longer have a CD player set up to listen to. That can be something I make it a point to do today! (Yay for Saturdays!
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@shirokuro
Somewhat like you I have been distracted, learning two other pieces, probably because CdL ain't easy(grade 8 ABRSM)
It's one thing being able to play faltering through it, and quite another to get it to a musical level.As for the other two, the first is a recent Diana Krall transcription of Pick yourself up; the second a transcription of Carole King You've got a friend as she played in NY Central Park 1973.
Both are comps. I sing, but a bit like Burt Bacharach when he was 75 if you know what I mean.Ventosa viri restabit
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@shirokuro
Somewhat like you I have been distracted, learning two other pieces, probably because CdL ain't easy(grade 8 ABRSM)
It's one thing being able to play faltering through it, and quite another to get it to a musical level.As for the other two, the first is a recent Diana Krall transcription of Pick yourself up; the second a transcription of Carole King You've got a friend as she played in NY Central Park 1973.
Both are comps. I sing, but a bit like Burt Bacharach when he was 75 if you know what I mean.It's one thing being able to play faltering through it, and quite another to get it to a musical level.
So, so true!!
The thing that bugs me is that, I haven't been distracted. I work on CdL every day, in the same systematic way I work on all my pieces. And right now, I'm only working on 3 pieces, and not spending much time on maintenance of rep pieces, no sightreading practice etc. My practice time is very focused on these three pieces.
And I'm zooming through the other two, but CdL moves at a snail's pace.
Ah well, moving at a snail's pace is still moving...
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@shirokuro
Somewhat like you I have been distracted, learning two other pieces, probably because CdL ain't easy(grade 8 ABRSM)
It's one thing being able to play faltering through it, and quite another to get it to a musical level.As for the other two, the first is a recent Diana Krall transcription of Pick yourself up; the second a transcription of Carole King You've got a friend as she played in NY Central Park 1973.
Both are comps. I sing, but a bit like Burt Bacharach when he was 75 if you know what I mean.he first is a recent Diana Krall transcription of Pick yourself up; the second a transcription of Carole King You've got a friend as she played in NY Central Park 1973.
Nice! I don't recognize that title from Krall, but I love her music.
And Carole King's singing and piano are great! I have the full scorebook for Tapestry but have never played anything from it. Yet!
BTW my voice is kind of right in the range for her songs. When I used to sing a lot, I thought I would sing "So Far Away" and accompany myself. It fits my voice really well. But I was living in Japan at the time, and I couldn't really sing it without getting choked up!
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She is very accomplished, served her time in the business, I think working for years in cafes etc before 'coming out' around age 40? I'll reread her bio...
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