Below is my created 4 week plan for the month of January. While coming up with it I realized that there are many excercises in the Taffanel et Gaubert book I have never even looked at let alone practiced, so using the Moyse technique book as a guide I strung them together and this is what I got! Each week I have goals with each exercise listed below. Let me know how you play with this to fit your specific technique goals! This is ambitious so we might not complete everything each day or each week...lets see how it goes!
Week 1 - January 2nd - 8th
EJ 1 and 2 - Quarter note = 104 to start, reaching 120 by Friday.
*Take up to high D
*Two articulations a day; ex artic 1 line 1, artic 2, line 2. This gets you through
all artics by Friday.
*Play at Piano or Pianissimo dynamic (since I'm bad at it)
*Saturday just do all slurred at 120.
EJ 5 - starting at quarter note = 72 to start, reaching 100-104 by Friday
*Do two letters a day along with two articulations a day (meaning each letter
done twice aka repeated with two articulations).
*There are 6 days of this built in so Satruday is included.
EJ 6 - starting at quarter note = Comfy (for me somewhere between 60 and 72) and
shoot to get up to 104 by Friday/Saturday.
*Monday, Wednesday, Friday = all Sharp keys
*Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday = all Flat keys
*****Sunday the 8th is a rest day/tone day*****
Week 2 - January 9th - 15th
EJ 3 - A starting at halfnote = 80, B starting at quarter note 60. Goal to get A up 104
and B up to 80.
*Take up to high D
*Monday, Wednesday, Friday are sharp keys
*Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday are flat keys
*Skip Articulations 1 and 2 and do one articulation a day starting with
articulation 3.
EJ 8 - quarter note = comfy goalish 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 wih each changing key
*Wednesday through Friday do ONE letter a day alternating articulations with
each changing key (articulations 5 - 10 covered)
*Saturday is a break from this exercise
EJ 9 - to be done EXCATLY the same way as number 8.
*****Sunday the 15th is a rest day/tone day*****
Week 3 - January 16th through the 22nd
EJ 4 - starting at half note equals 120. Goal is 132 by Saturday.
*Skip articulation 1 and 2 and do one articulation a day starting with
articulation 3.
EJ 7 - starting quarter note = comfy
*Consider doing with all breath attacks...
*Do each indicated key a day (Day 1 - C, Day 2 - Dflat, Day 3 - D, etc)
EJ 10 - starting quarter note = Comfy
*Change the articulation at each double bar and don't always start with the first
articulation each day.
*****Sunday the 22nd is a rest day/tone day*****
Week 4 - January 23rd - 29th
EJ 4 - Starting half note = 132 and getting to 144
*Do same as last week
EJ 12 - quarter note = comfy getting to 100
*mixed articulations as wanted (maybe a different one each page cycling
through constantly during the week)
EJ 14 - starting eighth note = comfy
*Do two letters a day
*Consider all slurred or tongued and go for smoothness and speed.
*****Sunday the 29th is a day of chocolate because you're done!!*****
Congratulations you have now completed my 4 week January Taffanel et Gaubert technical challenge! This will be a learning experience for all of us so I will be updaing weekly on how possible it is to get all of this done, whether or not I was able to truly meet my metronomic goals, and if this does, in fact, seem to be helping. I would LOVE it if you did the same!
Happy New Year and Happy Practicing!!
XOXO
Brandon
