What Are You Practising / Composing Now?

[Dave2002]

I've started practicing to play flute. I really like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlsN...heFluteChannel

Those Garibaldi studies seem like a good thing to try.

Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/20_Studies_fo...ldi,_Giuseppe)

You may also like a lot of the studies in Langey's tutor - see https://imslp.org/wiki/Tutor_for_the...angey%2C_Otto)

Also Altes studies:

https://imslp.org/wiki/26_Selected_Studies_for_the_Flute_(Alt%C3%A8s%2C_Joseph-Henri)

Good luck with your playing.

[Joseph K]

Irritatingly Rosie Bennet never got back to me about another lesson. No idea why she didn't want to give me another lesson, I am - or was, I've since got over it - genuinely puzzled why she didn't but oh well, I value the bit of advice I did get from her. But anyway, I decided that I'm in need of a lesson in person with someone rather than simply over Zoom or Skype, so I'm making the mission over to Ashby de la Zouch for a lesson with the formidable Chris Susans on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it - it can be tricky trying to demonstrate and/or communicate the often subtle movements and positions involved in playing an instrument, but less so in person and he has said that the lesson can go past an hour if necessary, so it should be good.

Not much else to report - for some time now I have been practising tremolo and my scale playing has improved. I've eased back on the Bach but overall technique has improved - think quality of practice rather than quantity. I've taken up studying harmony again and resumed counterpoint - though some will power required for these, one can feel fed up upon embarking on these studies but invariably end up feeling better for having spent time on it!

[Joseph K]

But anyway, I decided that I'm in need of a lesson in person with someone rather than simply over Zoom or Skype, so I'm making the mission over to Ashby de la Zouch for a lesson with the formidable Chris Susans on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it - it can be tricky trying to demonstrate and/or communicate the often subtle movements and positions involved in playing an instrument, but less so in person and he has said that the lesson can go past an hour if necessary, so it should be good.

Just back from this. I am pleased to report it was very much worth the journey - really getting down to the nitty-gritty of basic technique, and his advice was very useful and practical. I've been shown exercises that will form the basis of a sound technique (I am talking about my right-hand here) some of them similar to what I was shown by Rosie Bennet, but in more detail. But he said I shouldn't jettison the pieces I am already practising just because I might revert back to bad habits I've acquired to play them - rather, I should begin to see the correct technique start making an appearance in these pieces after a while, even if I only spend five or ten minutes devoting myself to practising the correct technique at the beginning of a day. I am reminded of something Mike Stern said about always thinking of technique when you're playing (whether Bach or improvising for example) is like always looking over your shoulder. Oh yeah, and of course always practise stuff very slowly - then at a variety of tempos after a while.

He is also a very nice man, generous with his time (the lesson over-ran considerably) and provided lunch and a lift back to the train station.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just back from this. I am pleased to report it was very much worth the journey - really getting down to the nitty-gritty of basic technique, and his advice was very useful and practical. I've been shown exercises that will form the basis of a sound technique (I am talking about my right-hand here) some of them similar to what I was shown by Rosie Bennet, but in more detail. But he said I shouldn't jettison the pieces I am already practising just because I might revert back to bad habits I've acquired to play them - rather, I should begin to see the correct technique start making an appearance in these pieces after a while, even if I only spend five or ten minutes devoting myself to practising the correct technique at the beginning of a day. I am reminded of something Mike Stern said about always thinking of technique when you're playing (whether Bach or improvising for example) is like always looking over your shoulder. Oh yeah, and of course always practise stuff very slowly - then at a variety of tempos after a while.

He is also a very nice man, generous with his time (the lesson over-ran considerably) and provided lunch and a lift back to the train station.

Well done with that choice of tutor, and good luck with the new approach, Joseph K. I remember, towards the end of my school, days, my teacher getting me the last book of Bartok's Mikrokosmos, after hearing some of the pieces on the radio, and her telling me that my exercises for the music I had been playing would be of little use for these, and me replying "Yes, I believe Bartok said the very same thing!"

[Joseph K]

Well done with that choice of tutor, and good luck with the new approach, Joseph K. I remember, towards the end of my school, days, my teacher getting me the last book of Bartok's Mikrokosmos, after hearing some of the pieces on the radio, and her telling me that my exercises for the music I had been playing would be of little use for these, and me replying "Yes, I believe Bartok said the very same thing!"

Thank you.

[Joseph K]

Feeling very happy with how my right-hand technique is coming on. A Giuliani arpeggio study which was proving intractable for quite some time I am now gaining fluency with - thanks in no small part to the info given to me by Chris Susans. To be honest, he really did impart a sense of what it means to be an expert in something, I was left wondering how I would go about acquiring that extent of knowledge - I guess I would have to consciously make myself, since while I enjoy playing classical guitar, and practice it a lot, I am not otherwise inclined to read up about classical guitar repertoire, history, and the various technical approaches of players over its history, nor listen that much to it. But he also had the more esoteric knowledge that comes from experience, or such was my impression..

[Joseph K]

On a whim decided to record myself playing the fugue BWV 998. (So much for reading my books...) Sort of comes apart a bit in the central section but otherwise it's ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-pmR7hPHcI

[Serial_Apologist]

On a whim decided to record myself playing the fugue BWV 998. (So much for reading my books...) Sort of comes apart a bit in the central section but otherwise it's ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-pmR7hPHcI

Well done - fantastic progress Joseph K - and to have played all that from memory! I only detected one actual mistake (towards the end) - the hesitancies you can say were you channelling JSB's thought processes on how to proceed!

[Joseph K]

Well done - fantastic progress Joseph K - and to have played all that from memory! I only detected one actual mistake (towards the end) - the hesitancies you can say were you channelling JSB's thought processes on how to proceed!

Thanks very much, Serial_Apologist, for listening and commenting! I thought it was ok because unlike previous recordings of mine I don't end up doing unintended staccato or clipped phrasing in the A section, so the A section is pretty good (or at least not bad) but I recall my right-hand starting to shake in the B section, and you can tell...

[Joseph K]

I posted a video I've just made of the Prelude BWV 998 on facebook but for those not on there or not active on there, here it is -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c29XhRhaYc

[Joseph K]

Fernando Sor - op. 31 no. 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZaGw2f6uE

[Padraig]

Formidable!, JK. I've just seen this, and the two Bach pieces which especially appealed to me, Thanks for posting.

[Joseph K]

Formidable!, JK. I've just seen this, and the two Bach pieces which especially appealed to me, Thanks for posting.

You're welcome, Padraig. Thank you for listening and commenting.

[Joseph K]

Practising lots, to the extent that it's eaten into the time I normally reserve for listening to some music! (i.e. the past hour). But, I've been made aware of the virtues of practising very slowly (and I mean very slow indeed!) and this in addition to trying out some sequential planting for arpeggios has seen an important boost in the accuracy and comfortableness of them. Everything has to feel very natural and easy - playing too fast is no good, it just builds tension in my right-hand (which is where I focus all my technical training on) so slow, relaxed and precise is the order of the day. I realised I was trying to run before I could walk.

[Dave2002]

Trying to play simple pieces George Shearing style following Aimee Nolte's videos:

The method is also outlined in Mark Levine's book on Jazz Piano.

I think this is going to take a while to become anything like natural.