In this month’s practice clinic, Graham Fitch answers questions on fingering, pedalling, achieving legato, interpretation and imagination in works by Albeniz, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Scarlatti and Schubert.
Practice clinic questions
Beethoven German Dance in G Major, WoO 8 – I would like to know if you have any performance suggestions, especially for the B section (starting with Trio). I am also struggling with two further things: 1) finding an easier fingering and 2) playing the LH in such a way that it doesn’t sound too “mushy” or detract from the melody in the RH.
D Scarlatti Sonata in D Major, Kp. 443 / L418 – Looking at several websites, it appears that some are crossing their right hand for the first note on the bass clef in bars 1 – 6. Is this good for small hands?
Albeniz Cordoba (No. 4 from Chants d’Espagne, Op. 232) – How would I practise bars 77 and 78 and bars125-132 in order to make the top line legato without losing the bass dotted quarter note or tied dotted bass note?
Schubert Impromptu in B-flat Major, Op. 142 No. 3 / D935 – I’m a bit stuck with how to figure out the pedalling for the theme. I would like to pedal half bars, but I assume the staccato dots and the semiquaver rests imply not to? I’m also struggling with the LH in the minor key variation.
Tchaikovsky June: Barcarolle (No. 6 from Les saisons, Op. 37b) – My teacher tells me I need more imagination in the opening of this piece. There are hardly any dynamic markings in my score, so I’m not really sure what I need to do to improve this.
Further resources & links
Click here to view Graham’s full video lesson for Tchaikovsky’s June: Barcarolle.
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. We will also be taking a break for the summer during August and will resume our clinics in September (dates and details for question submissions will be announced by email). Please sign-up to our mailing list here for updates on future practice clinic question submission 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.