Jeremy Freer Self-Evaluation

Jeremy's Self-Evaluation

Moderato by Cornelius Gurlitt, Op. 117, No. 12

Page 173 in our book

My process for learning a new work has changed.  I used to try to learn new pieces by a "hands-separate" approach.  Although this technique does have its place, at my current level, I feel like it does not reinforce my weakness, or "hands-together" playing.  As I play the new piece slowly with both hands, I look for patterns rather than notes.  I chose Moderato because it stretched my comfort zone beyond the five-finger pattern.  Although there is a simple five finger pattern going almost all the time, underneath is a sparse, light chordal accompaniment that moves out of root position; another challenge.  The melody switches from right hand to left, as well, which was an interesting "gear-switching" mental exercise.

Playing this piece with dynamics was the other challenge.  I found that when I relaxed and tried to make music of this piece, it took my mind off the performance anxiety of getting all the right notes.  The dynamics were sectional and counterintuitive at parts, but I found that paying closer attention to them freed my subconscious and muscle memory to worry about the notes.  My conception of this piece definitely evolved, from notes, to phrases, to sections, to a piece of music, much like a language…from letters, to words, to sentences, to paragraphs, to a story.

Self Evaluation

The piece that I selcted for my self evaluation was Medieval Garden in the Music for Developing Musicians book that we use in class. This was the first piece that I have worked on in years that started to develop the left hand and right hand moving at separate times without block chords underneath it. Up until this point we have either been doing scale and or simple melodies with chords underneath them. While that has still been a challenge it was also quite a challenge to get left hand and right hand mobility at the same time in opposite directions.

The first task that I accomplished was playing both hands separately until I was comfortable playing them both without each other. The next thing I accomplished was playing one hand on the piano while playing the rhythm of the other hand on my lap or just tapped one note on the keyboard no matter what it sounded like with the other hand. This task was harder than I remembered doing but eventually I got it with both hand. After this I tried to put both hands together with notes and rhythms. When I did this I found that I also for the first time in a while had to figure out hand shift. Though they were not very big I did have to dive into figuring out correct fingerings for hand shifts, especially the ones that weren't marked. After this process I attempted to add dynamics and phrasing to complete the piece. I feel like the strategies that I used were what I have been taught in this class and in previous classes and though piano will always be a struggle for me I do believe that my strategies were correct and helped me learn the piece that I chose. I hope to learn more this semester on how to cope learning the piano more and look forward to bigger and better things.

Masrhall Jones

Self Evaluation Wayne Tympanick

The piece I chose to evaluate myself is “Menuet in G Major” by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750).

From the outset, this piece looked playable for someone at my skill level, however, it very quickly became challenging for both hands. The piece is very lyrical, with many specific articulation markings. For example, there are many mordents throughout the piece which are difficult to play for a novice piano player. The abundance of phrases and dynamics also make this piece challenging. Octave skips also present problems for both hands. To overcome these challenges my piano teacher has devoted some of our lesson time to working on the piece.

To address the two hand syndrome, my approach was to practice the first sixteen measures only using the right hand playing the melody (top line). After feeling comfortable with the right hand playing the top line I went on to practicing using only the left hand playing the accompaniment. Then problems started when I attempted to put both hands together. But as we all know, that is what piano playing is all about. It is frustrating; being a percussionist and a set player I have no problem playing independently with all four limbs, but using 10 fingers on two hands while playing piano is a challenge.

Another strategy that I am using is note direction: seeing the direction of the notes before you play them. Seeing intervals in a sequence and looking ahead is another example of note direction.

These strategies are proving to be effective, but I am progressing slower than I would like. I still have difficulty playing the first sixteen measures without stopping. The piece may exceed my ability at this time.

My overall conception of the piece has not changed. It is a wonderful piece of music but it will take more time for me to master it. I would like to continue working on it because playing it correctly, with proper technique and style, would be a major accomplishment for me.

One final comment: The everlasting problem of finding practice time will continue to haunt us.

Self-Evaluation: Graduate Keyboard Skills

The pieces I chose to study for the midterm are on page 43 and page 90 of Piano for the Developing Musician.

While studying the ‘Study in D’ on page 43, I first identified several challenges I would face while practicing for the midterm. At first this piece seemed simple since there are only two melodic lines that move in entirely stepwise motion. Since I am a flute player and typically read only one line of music at any one time, my primary challenge in piano playing is being able to read two lines at once. Sometimes the two lines in this piece are moving in parallel motion and sometimes they are moving in contrary motion. It was difficult to follow both lines at once to see which line was moving stepwise up or stepwise down. In practicing, it was helpful to mark the music to make it easier to see when the two lines were moving in parallel motion. This technique proved incredibly successful and produced immediate results. My perception of this piece changed drastically from the first time I looked at it to the first time I tried to practice it. It was not nearly as simple as it looked.

While studying the ‘Dance’ on page 90, I knew it would be a difficult piece for me to play. There are a lot of hand position changes to keep track of in both hands. Another challenge for me was remembering to play at the indicated dynamic level while keeping track of all those hand position changes. It was somewhat helpful to mark a few of the finger numbers for the chord changes in this piece, but it did not produce the same results as in the previous piece. I practiced each hand separately several times before I tried to play both hands together. This was helpful because I did not have to concentrate as hard on one line or the other. It also made it easier to focus on the dynamics and play more musically as I became more familiar with the notes. This piece proved to be as challenging as it appeared at first glance.

CD Review
CD Review The piece that I listened to for my piano listening assignment is a piece that I know and love. I conducted it last year with the GMU Chamber Orchestra and Min Son who is currently a piano student in the GMU School of Music. The piece is Bach's Piano Concerto in D minor, specifically the first movement. I did make it a point to listen to three recordings that I had not heard of it so I could get a new experience while listening to a piece that I already knew. The three recordings all contrasted in many different ways. The first recording that I listened to was of Anton Heller playing the piece on Harpsichord with chamber orchestra, The second recording I listened to was on YouTube and it was Glenn Gould playing the piano with string orchestra, and the third recording I listened to was of a 10 year old girl named Sophia playing it with a string quartet. All of the recordings including the "Sophia" recording were great. The piece itself is certainly not easy and it was quite amazing to see a girl who's feet barely touched the ground play it and play it very well. The one thing I did not like about the Sophia recording was that the orchestra was fine it just didn't work very well for me that they were a quartet. The other two recordings I had full chamber orchestra and it was much more effective with a full chamber orchestra. The Glenn Gould recording was very old, I couldn't find the year but it seemed very early in his career. The tempo he took was very slow compared to the other two recordings but his musical phrasing and overall playing was by far the best from the three recordings that i listened to. He tended to play with the tempo a lot and that is generally not what happens in a Bach piece but somehow Gould made it work to his advantage and made true music out of what is already a masterpiece on paper. The last recording that I listened to was Anton Heller playing the movement on Harpsichord which it was originally played written for and it was a quite good recording. Out of the three the orchestra was by far the best and Heller's technical performance was outstanding but his musical interpretation was the most standard and generic of all of them. I know it's much more difficult/impossible to play dynamics on a harpsichord but overall his interpretation was lacking. Overall it was very interesting to listen to and compare three very different approaches to one great piece of music. I think all three were a success and I look forward to listening to many more different recordings.

9/30/09
by marshallvjones
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Music Review - "Caravan"

CD Review


The song that I chose to compare with two other keyboard players is the famous jazz standard “Caravan” as played by the father of jazz composition, Duke Ellington. However, Ellington did not compose this piece; Juan Tizol (1900-1984) composed the song in 1937 while with Duke Ellington.

Caravan opens with the traditional Duke Ellington piano ostinato while a trombone solo introduces the melody. The style is definitely that of the 1940’s, swing. A clarinet solo introduces the new melody in the “B” section of the song. It continues with the piano accompaniment with solos re-introducing the melody.



Source: Naxos online, Duke Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige (1943-1945) (Duke Ellington, Volume 9)



The second version is Thelonious Monk’s rendition of Caravan. Surprisingly enough, Monk actually starts by playing the melody after a short drum intro and a short classic Monk piano intro which immediately has you wondering, okay, is this really Caravan? At that point, he goes into recognizable melody. The middle section does go into swing like the original, then to the latin style, then back to swing where Monk goes into his improvisation. A bass solo follows Monk’s improvisation, there is a little more improvisation and then Monk re-introduces the melody to the end. The ending is not just any ending, it is a Monk ending; two hard struck chords that sound unresolved. This is a great interpretation.



Source: Itunes store, album, The Best of Thelonious Monk (remastered)



The final version is that of Dave Grusin. It starts off with a very contemporary introduction played on the piano, followed by the drums playing the original Caravan drum rhythm to a crescendo, which leads to a fragmented variation on the original melody, with a heavy percussion accompaniment. At this point the song goes into a fast swing and then back to the latin feel, again returning to a fast swing. After a bass solo, Dave Grusin takes the song to a half-time feel, then back to a fast swing. Caravan ends with a recapitulation of the introduction. This is quite the contemporary version in comparison with the other two.



Source: Dave Grusin, Homage to Duke, GRP Records.

Posted by Wayne at 7:49 PM 0 comments

CD Review

Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor Op. 27, No. 2

I.  Adagio Sostenuto  ("Moonlight Sonata")

ARTIST: ALBUM: DURATION:

Alicia Keys Songs in A Minor 5:00

Maxim Shostakovich Sensual Classics 4:50

Seymour Lipkin Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas 5:55

I wanted to contrast three very different ways to package and market this very famous sonata by Beethoven.  For the a classical, professional recording, I chose one by Seymour Lipkin, who seemed to have quite a few albums dedicated to Beethoven piano works.  For another angle, I chose a recording by Maxim Shostakovich on an album marketed to people who would like intimate music for whatever occasion, but maybe not necessarily with any classical music knowledge.  Finally, I chose a recording from a hip hop album by Alicia Keys in which the sonata is included as a bonus track.

Tempos:  Maxim- 64 bpm, Seymour- 50 bpm, Alicia- 55 bpm

The most noticeably different of the 3 is Alicia's.  She plays it on electric piano with what sounds like a harpsichord sustain with a vibraphone tremolo/vibrato.  It adds an interesting dissonance to the minor sonata, creating a myriad of clashes among notes due to artificially sustaining longer than a natural piano decay.  The artificial vibrato adds little to the expressiveness and survives as a studio effect only.  Shostakovich's interpretation of this work, while beautiful and expressive in dynamics and the stretching and diminution of tempo, seems more rushed than either of the others, as evidenced by the faster tempo choice.  Perhaps there was only so much time allowed on a compilation cd of these "sensual classics" and he was forced to record it in a shorter time.   Lipkin takes his sweet time with the piece, almost a minute longer than the runner up and is by far the most expressive of all 3.  He is patient and caring with a piece that he is clearly very familiar with and transports Beethoven's composition into the realm of expression and art, rather than recitation.

In conclusion, Key's recording is the least expressive, impressive, or artistic.  the effects are the only unique feature to her performance.  Shostakovich seems like a studio musician on a mission.  Lipkin is the clear master of the sonata in this group and records an artistic and expressive interpretation that is a pleasure to experience.