WEEK ONE DOWN
I had no idea going into this exactly how long it would take to complete the set I came up with and I was suprised to find that between me being able to play some things faster than I thought, and with the minimal amount of extra time I needed to spend on each exercize, I only spent about 45 min to an hour each day on this. I had a hard time getting all the way up to high D on the scales (mostly I had MAJOR problems between high B and high C#) so I am probably going to incorporate some kind of exercize for that into this coming week's set. Number 6 also gave me some hard times but not as much as I had anticipated! I started to notice problems more when I began playing around with the articulations and was also suprised that, to me, the flat keys were substantially more difficult than the sharps (especially G-Flat and...believe it or not...E-Flat). Although I am not revisiting this particular exercise this month, I am going to make SURE I include something similar to it in my Febraury challenge (to be determined in the last week of this month).
Keep in mind that I am also participating in the Etude of the week group on Facebook in case any of you did this week's challenge and thought it was too little. I need time for this, my etude, and all the other music I have to learn for work ;)
Let me know what you thought about this week!! If you want to read on about my week I'll have a more detailed description day by day next OR you can skip to the bottom of the post to be reminded of this coming weeks set.
Happy Practicing!!
Day 1: EJ1 and 2 I had a hard time getting up to high D...spent a bit of time working it. Had to take GFlat and above at 60 for this day. EJ5 ended up being WAY easier than I though starting at quarter note = 72. I also ended up taking both of them up the octave. EJ6 A - I had to REALLY work on the turn arounds at the top on B Major and E Major and set a goal that I would not stop near the high B each day for breaths so I could force myself to be able to navigate the awkward fingerings by the end of the week. B was easier than I thought it would be and the tempo was slow enough that I ended up doing this exercize on all breath attacks rather than with the first two articulations. A - Quarter at 66, B - Quarter at 60
Day 2: EJ1 Ihad a hard time changing the articulations between the lines but I was able to bump from GFlat and above up in tempo. on EJ2 I decided to start on low C (wondering why I didn't automatically do that in the first place). My fingers did NOT like trying to get up to high D so I worked on this so I could bump up the minors to the same tempo as the majors. I do this exercize with a tuner and see where I land at the end of each double line...that day I was SUPER flat for some reason. EJ5 I also took D chromatic up an octave. EJ6 A- Dflat Major I had trouble with the turn around. EJ6 B I had a REALLY hard time with Gflat.
EJ1&2 - 108 (Gflat and up 66), EJ5 - 72, EJ6A - 66 B - 63
Day 3: EJ 1 and 2 were SO easy EXCEPT for still high D and C#...having a hard time with B-C#...EJ5 was ok but articulation 5 (slur two tongue 4) was hard. EJ6A - I had a hard time with A Major and made sure to do this all slur again for fingers but did C Major as all breath attacks due to slow tempo and boredom. B - Had a bit of trouble with B Major and E Major...also did these all slured for fingers. C Major was done in all breath attacks.
EJ1&2 - 112 (Gflat and up 66), EJ5 - 80, EJ6A - 66, B - 66
Day 4: I had been over practicing a bit this week so I was starting to feel that in my chops. EJ1 I didn't worry about playing piano because articulation 7 (tonue one, slur two, tongue one) was difficult. I bumped Gflat and up to 72 and ended up getting it at that tempo but not consistantly. EJ2 I had an easy time of low C, C#. High Dflat was hard but going to high D in g minor wasn't bad. EJ6 A - I did a different articulation for each key. B - also did a different articulation for each. On A Flat Major I found that articulation 8 (Tongue one, slur two) was hard and I FAILED while doing G Flat Major and had to resort to all slur in order to get it.
EJ1&2 - 116 (Gflat and up 72), EJ5 - 80, EJ6A - 72, B - 66
Day 5: EJ1&2 I was suprised how easy articulation 9 (tongue one slur two) went considering how difficult it was in EJ6 the day before. This was the day I decided that I need to make an exercize out of high Bflat-B-Dflat because high B-C# is just NOT happening for me. EJ6A - I did a different articulation for each key and it went really well so I decided the next day to up the tempo again. B - the sharps are apparently WAY easier than the flats for me.
EJ1&2 - 120 (Gflat and up 72), EJ5 - 84, EJ6A - 72, B - 66
Day 6: EJ1 went well and I was able to comfortably get a rep up to high C#/D at 80! EJ2 went well but I had a bit of trouble around eflat minor. I was also able to get a comfortabe rep up to high C#/D! EJ6A went ok...but GFlat Major was HARD with articulation 7 (tongue one, slur two, tongue one) and I ended up needing to do it all slured to get it at the tempo I had set. B was hard for me. Eflat Major was meh...and for each A and B I did mixed articulations for each keyand it was hardest to do on B.
EJ1&2 - 120 (Gflat and up 80), EJ 5 - 92, EJ6A - 80, B - 66
Week 2 - January 9th - 15th
EJ3 - A starting at half note = 80, B starting at quarter note is 60. Goal: get A up to 104 and B up to 80.
*Take up to high D
*Monday, Wednesday, Friday = sharp keys
*Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday = flat keys
*Skip articulations 1 and 2 and do one articulation a day (start on articuation 3)
EJ8 - Quarter note = comfy possible goal 100-112
*Monday do A and B alternating articulation 1 and 2 with each changing key
*Tuesday do C and D alternating articulation 3 and 4 with each changing key
*Wednesday through Friday do ONE letter a day alternating articulations with
each changing key (covering articulations 5 - 10)
*Saturday is a break from this exercise
EJ9 - to be done EXACTLY the same way as number 8
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