Here are the practice diaries that composed the research object of Helena Piccazio's master's dissertation: "Tchaikovsky Project: diaries of a transformation process". All the diaries were originally posted at Papo de Violinista blog.
TCHAIK PROJECT 12 - The frog and the "hanger" tension
Issues appear, and I have to deal with them. In this period diaries it seems that playing short bows on the frog for a longer time can cause tension on my upper back and neck, a region of the body I call "hanger" because of its shape. Learning the actual amount of work my muscles need to do in order to play those frog strokes is necessary, and this is what those body awareness tools are for.
Forgot to mention that I started reading a new book, “The Body has its reasons”, by Thérèse Bertherat and Carol Bernstein. I don’t know what happens to me… I devour way faster the books about body than the ones about violin…
- C major 3 octaves scale, arpeggios and alternate scale
- C major double stops: 3rds, 6ths, 8ves, 10ths
Tchaikovsky 1st mov., recap (continuation of yesterday)
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
Played through with metronome at 120 = quarter note (medium tempo)
Page 17 is the part I’m playing worst. Nothing flows, many small detail mistakes that brake the fluency, usually on a fast scale up. Articulation is still sort of floppy, tendency to use too much bow on the crunchy bits.
I should do this kind of run through again, detecting and circling each of the micro-passages that I still trip over. I have to memorize the bar that is written in that not-flowing way (76). Also check and practice everything that is in double stops cause those passages are all very raw.
- Bars 215 and 216 (constructive rests between the trills and the sixteenths, in the octave jump in the end of bar 215 and between bars)
- Bars 219, the scale (subdividing the beat, mobility alla Benedetti, with metronome at 60 = eighth)
- Bars 238 to 240 (singing and checking, imagining and playing, mobility alla Benedetti , with metronome at 60 = eighth to see if I could imagine before playing - I can, but still not enough)
- Bars 245 and 246 (intonation, shifts and memorizing, paying a LOT of attention to the movements I do before things and between things, for example, the left elbow movement inward before a big shift)
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
- page 17, the last passage, bars 333 to 348 (trying to memorize because the way it is written really gets in the way…)
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov., page 17 (the one I played the worst)
- Bars 333 to 348 (memorizing, understanding, mobility alla Benedetti, already distributing the bow. Played with metronome at 60 = eighth)
- Bars 294 to 313 (memorizing, already distributing the bow. Played with metronome at 60 = eighth)
- Bars 318 to 325 (intonation, memorizing, I changed the written fingering to one that fits better the bow moves.)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov., middle section
- Bars 176 to 188 (I practiced REAL slow, with some constructive rests, first without metronome, then at 60 = colcheia with little bow and lots of weight on the right hand, left hand as light as possible. I tried to play faster, at 60 = quarter note. I didn’t work so well, the slurred double stops are still very slow on the left hand and I still do too much effort specially on the basis of my neck and in the back between the scapulas. I think it's because of the bowing in this part: NEXT TIME PRACTICE ONLY BOWING OF THIS PASSAGE!)
- Bars 288 to 290 (intonation, specially on bar 290)
- Bars 107 to 110 (intonation and shifts. It’s still not in tune and I tend to believe that it should already be good just cause I practiced it 2 or 3 times. No!!! I have to keep practicing, so it is in tune and solid.)
I found out this illustration here. (the red hanger is my addition though...)
I URGENTLY NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO PLAY ON THE FROG WITH A LOOSE HANGER!!! (I know, it sounds weird… but I call “hanger” the back part of the body that comprehends the upper half of the scapulas, high part of the shoulders and the neck, those parts together look like a clothes hanger…)
February 21st, 2020 - Friday, beginning of Carnival
- Bars 28 to 35 (played with metronome at 60 = quarter note; I sang playing open strings - always with metronome -; played with the notes and singing - it came out very out of tune, but the focus was the bow; practiced a little bit of intonation trying to make the left hand as light and fluid as possible)
- Bars 41, 42 and beginning of 43 (I practice a lot anticipating the 1st finger between 3rd an 4th beats of bar 42 so the rhythm is precise)
- Bars 51 to 56 (I played through once at 60 = quarter note to see how the passage is coming along. It was better than I expected, conscious and with some easiness; I practiced alla Sebastian Müller, got to 65 = quarter note. Have to work more on the following bars, 57 and 58, to even the passage.
- Bars 59 and 60 (worked on clarity of the notes using accents in different notes, alla Benedetti, then with metronome already thinking of bow and type of sound in more detail.)
- Bars 63 to 66 (worked on sequence using Sebastian Müller’s trick, but my fingers still mix up specially on 3rd beat of bars 63 and 64. Maybe I change the fingering, maybe I just need more work.)
- Bars 71 and 72 (intonation)
Yeap, today it was only 1st movement.
I played a little the exposition's codeta, paying attention to see how it is. I decided to change fingerings in bars 114 to 116, and then I will need to practice it all over again, note by note. The bow will take some work, but I’ve already felt a small improvement after practicing the frog region of the bow today in the technical part.
The middle section practice today was a little messy. In the last practice session of this part I noticed that some notes, the lower ones on bars 162, 163, 170 and 171, were failing to sound. Looking in the mirror, I discovered that my bow was crooked and the bow part I was using - closer to the frog, was not helping. I practiced slowly and using the mirror. When I moved on to the second part of development, I didn’t worry too much about my left hand, I wanted to see if I got maximum freedom on my neck and upper back during the bowings of this passage. Have to search for sound and articulation on bars 186 and 187.
Played through the Cadenza. Last practice session paid off! I'm more confident and more aware of what I'm doing, but it's still not good.
Played through the recap and Coda. I say the same: the work is working, but I cannot relax because nothing is ready yet.
Here I stop to reflect on something interesting. In the first half of today I was dealing with writing the Initial Portrait, the first part of this master's dissertation. I was writing about when I studied the Tchaikovsky for the first time. I looked at the practice diaries of that time, I remembered how my violin lessons were, how I felt. This brought some of that time into my practice session today, a habit that I had in particular. I used to apply some practice tool and, if it had some effect, instead of keep applying it in the next days, I acted as if my body had an obligation to get the passage right from now on, and I kept just playing through the passages a thousand times, always missing something, repeating, insisting. Unsuccessfully, of course.
- A major scale and alternate scale in 3 and 4 octaves
- A major 3 octave arpeggios
- A major double stops, 3rds, 6ths, 8ves, 10ths (I choose 2 strings per interval and practice twice each double stop scale, each scale on those 2 strings only/ The first time I guide myself by and focus on the lower note, the second time I do that with the upper note. 8ves are exception, which I try to hear the gliss on both notes while shifting, so I keep the fingers in tune through the shift and learn the arm movement necessary for that. For example: today I practiced 8ves on G-D strings, 3rds on D-A strings, 6ths on A-E and 10ths on A-E. For each day I practice double stops I vary the strings I choose for each interval and the fingering on the 6ths. It takes 15 minutes to practice double stops like this.
- Bars 61 and 62 (with bow in staccato thinking of distribution and dynamics, reducing the rest to a 32nd to practice preparing quick for the next entrance, very slowly, with metronome at 80 = 32nd)
- Bars 63 to 66 (played in staccato thinking of bow distribution, to see if I can fix those spots that are not clear)
- Second theme (intonation, but I confess that played more than I practiced. It’s nice to see that nowadays I can play and vibrate without getting all rigid!)
- Bars 97 to 100 (first with metronome at 60 = eighth to remember, then with metronome at 80 = eighth, trying to memorize. Then I decided to play at tempo till bar 104 and I saw that, not only I need to practice those 4 bars, but to be loose when playing them, because right now I’m not and I get already tired on bar 105.)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
- Bars 107 to 110 (shifts)
- Bars 114 to 118 (since I’ve decided to change the fingering, I had to begin again the practice fo this part. To me, the new fingering sounds better, but it’s more difficult, which makes me doubt… I tried to find the tempo of this passage on the metronome and I guess 80 = quarter note is an ok tempo. I tried to play. Can you believe I didn’t find it that fast??? I was surprised because for the first time in my life I didn’t feel far away from this passage, it's already tangible and doable without despair - in spite the amount of work I still have to do. Anyway, I guess I’ll stick to the old fingering I and saw I need to practice to loose the “hanger” in short frog bowings here too.
- Staccato in the middle of the bow at 65bpm, subdividing the beat in 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8
- 3 octave major arpeggios in all keys (“waving" the fingers that were not on the string to loosen the left hand. I did that because today I was thinking about the passages on the Tchaik where my hand is still rigid and I noticed I good part of them are arpeggios. I though about how I practice arpeggios and maybe that is the key: usually I practice them only focusing on the intonation of the intervals I’m playing, and with all the fingers on [or close to] the string all the time the tendency is to get rigid. So I decided to practice more arpeggios than scales, paying special attention to the freedom and lightness of the left hand.)
The Tchaik Project is part of the Master’s Degree Research of Helena Piccazio, enrolled in the Master’s Program in Music at the School of Communication and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP).
No comments:
Post a Comment