Our latest Practice Clinic recording features answers to questions on playing softly in the left hand, practising a Bach Invention, pedalling in a piece by Maikapar and tackling some of the challenges in the 1st movement of Schubert’s monumental last sonata.
Practice clinic questions
How to play the left hand softly – Can you give some tips for achieving balance between the hands, particularly when the left hand has the accompaniment and needs to be softer than the right?
Bach Invention No. 1 in C Major, BWV772 – What is the relationship between the left hand and right hand and how does one practise to make each motif clear? Should I play both hands and try to hear the hand that has the motif at any time?
Samuil Maikapar At the Smithy, Op. 8 No. 5 – Could you please advise me on the pedalling for the piece? The IMSLP and ABRSM editions have different pedal markings!
Schubert Sonata No. 21 in B-flat major, D960 (1st mvt) – How should I go about playing the melody legato in the first theme? Should I do as much with my fingers as possible, sometimes doing 4-5 or 5-4 changes on the higher note? Or can I let go and allow the pedal to take care of that? Some passages, if performed as written can be challenging, especially in the right hand 4th beats in quavers despite the tempo being relatively slow. Also, I’d be very grateful if you can offer some advice on how to perform the left hand pianissimo trill!
Next practice clinic & new format
Going forward, our practice clinics are no longer taking place on Facebook live but are rather pre-recorded and published alongside our regular blog posts. Our next clinic will be published on the 19th of October. Please sign-up to our mailing list here for updates on future practice clinic dates and to receive links to the recordings when they become available.
Watch previous clinics
Recordings of past practice clinics are posted up on our blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel once recorded and you can also view our full archive of previous events via these platforms.
How they work?
Further information on how our practice clinics work is available here or please click here to find out more about the Online Academy.
Online Academy subscribers can submit questions for practice clinics up to two weeks before each session. This can be done using the link provided on the Online Academy dashboard under “subscription benefits” (click here to sign-in and visit your dashboard).
Further information on how our practice clinics work is available here or please click here to find out more about the Online Academy.