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PRACTICE TIPS #31: Starting to Work on a New Piece, part 3
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Brent Hugh
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Sep 10, 2000 20:45 PDT
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PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical
piano practice tips and ideas, by Brent Hugh
You are receiving PRACTICE TIPS because you subscribed to PRACTICE
TIPS at the Practice Tips Web Page or because you are a student of
Brent Hugh. To end your PRACTICE TIPS subscription, see the
instructions at the end of this message.
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PRACTICE TIPS #31: Starting to Work on a New Piece, part 3
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In the last two messages I have mentioned four ideas for starting to work
on a new piece:
1. WHOLE WORK: Get an overview; sight read sometimes; don't waste time.
2. LARGE/MEDIUM SECTIONS: Notice natural sections (phrases and larger).
3. SMALL "PRACTICE SECTIONS": Mark them in the music.
4. FINGER POSITIONS/FINGERING: Write them in, keep them consistent.
Here is another very helpful idea:
5. DYNAMIC/ARTICULATION/TEMPO MARKINGS: Circle, trace, or
highlight ALL markings in your music. Use a good music
dictionary to look up any musical words you don't understand
(keep your own personal list of new musical words). Many
people, including Yours Truly, have found it very helpful
to use colored pencils to highlight musical markings in
their scores, following a scheme like this:
* Dynamic markings (red pencil): ff, f, p, pp, cresc.,
dim., etc.
* Tempo markings (blue pencil): allegro, andante, rit., accel.,
rall., etc.
* Articulation markings (green pencil): staccato marks,
accents, slurs, "phrase" marks, tenuto marks, written-out
words such as "legato", "staccato", etc.
You can trace long marks such as hairpin crescendos/diminuendos and long
slur marks.
It is amazing how following this simple system can make these important
musical elements turn from invisible to visible.
Try it and you'll see!
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IMPORTANT NOTE TO MY OWN STUDENTS:
Now that we have covered this material, I *expect* all of you to
begin following these suggestions, starting the day before
yesterday. I should see finger numbers, red, blue, and green
marks, and clearly marked Practice Sections in *every* piece
you learn. When I take a stroll by the practice rooms (which I
often do), I should hear you practicing *mostly* section by
section and only rarely indulging yourself with a Slow, Bad
Concert performance.
Your grade depends on it!
NOTE TO THOSE WHO AREN'T MY STUDENTS:
Your grade *doesn't* depend on it, but if it helps at all, you're
welcome to pretend like it does . . .
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Happy Practicing!
--Brent
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PRACTICE TIPS is by pianist, teacher, composer, and internet nerd
Brent Hugh. Brent knows about practicing mostly because he *does*
it, and in fact is toddling off to do some of it just about now . . .
Please remember that this tip is but a small spot near the tip of the
elephant's trunk--it's not even close to the whole elephant that is
"how everyone in the whole world should practice the piano".
Practice Tips Archives (updated about once a month):
http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/practicetips/
You are welcome to forward PRACTICE TIPS to others as long as the
ENTIRE message, including this trailer, is forwarded. Friends can
find out how to subscribe to PRACTICE TIPS at
<http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/practice-tips.html>
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++++++++++++ Brent Hugh / bhu-@griffon.mwsc.edu ++++++++++++++
+ Missouri Western St College Dept of Music, St. Joseph, MO +
+ Piano Home Page: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh +
+ Internet Piano Concert: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/recit +
++++ Classical Piano MP3s: http://www.mp3.com/brent_d_hugh ++++
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