Week 10 assignment

I’m lucky in that I get a four days off this weekend!  So since I have a pretty strict policy of not practicing on my days off, I went ahead and recorded my video for week 11 this afternoon.  Aaaaaaaand of course I left my camera at work!  So I will have to wait to post my video until I have a chance to retrieve my camera.

But, I want to go ahead and post the assignment for next week, week 10.  We’ve been exploring our fundamentals and playing things slow and deliberate for the last couple weeks, and I’m ready to move on and start really woodshedding some of these excerpts.

First thing to do is divide all the excerpts on the list into groups, organized by practice priority.  I will use three groups: group 1 will be excerpts that need the most technical practice, group 2 will be technical excerpts that I already know, and group 3 will be the excerpts that don’t need much technical work.  Here is how I divided it up:

Group 1:  Dahl Sinfonietta, Holst Hammersmith (both excerpts), Borodin Polovetsian Dances, Bach Duet

Group 2: Gounoud Ballet from Faust, Mozart Serenade (all excerpts), Midway March, Beethoven 8, Grainger

Group 3: Brahms 3, Schubert Octet, Berlioz Symphony Fantastique, Mendelssohn Scherzo, Bizet Carmen, Mendelssohn Hebrides

I’m going to say this up front.  For the next four weeks, we’re not even going to touch the excerpts in group 3.  Relax.  You won’t need 10 weeks to practice them, I promise!  We’re going to model a three phase process throughout the rest of the challenge: woodshedding and technical practice, polishing, and “taper”.  The next four weeks is the woodshedding phase.  You can read more about this process here.

Here is this week’s assignment:

• Organize the excerpts into three groups as described above.
• Record a video of the following, focusing on technical perfection (play the excerpt only as fast as you can play it perfectly):
  • Mozart Concerto – Fermata to end of exposition
  • 3 excerpts (your choice) from group 1
  • 2 excerpts (your choice) from group 2

The next 3 assignments will be very similar to this, just FYI.

I’m swimming in the Waikiki Roughwater swim on Monday, so wish me luck!  Well as long as Hurricane Lester doesn’t spoil our fun.

Just a reminder not to forget your fundamentals!  Do them everyday.  EVERYDAY.  It will make everything easier.

Happy practicing!