Our latest Practice Clinic recording features answers to questions on works by Ravel and Granados, a demonstration of the thumb over and under approaches in scales and arpeggios, and tips for creating a personal analysis of pieces you’re playing!
Practice clinic questions
Benefits of Schenkerian Analysis – I’m interested in music theory. I’ve passed ABRSM grade 5 theory and I’ve studied up to grade 8 without taking the exams. I’ve recently started studying Schenkerian Analysis. It is complex and what I wonder is how useful it will be to help me understand music compositions and indeed to help me write my own compositions.
Granados Vals Poético in F# Minor (No. 6 from Valses poéticos) – I’m having problems moving from the dotted B crotchet to E Sharp in bars 11-12 LH. I’m also struggling with moving my RH from the first beat to the second beat. I’d be grateful for any tips!
The Thumb in Scales & Arpeggios – I have arthritis in my thumbs and try to find ways not to do “thumbs under” as much as possible. But I really struggle with finding a good technique. When I attend piano concerts I can hardly see the pianist using “thumbs under”. Ordinary scales and arpeggios will do as examples for a body-friendly way to play.
Ravel Sonatine (1st mvt) – I’m learning this piece because I find it fascinating! I thought it would be fairly straightforward, but the opening is really taxing me. I cannot seem to figure out which hand should be over and which under. I have watched some videos on YouTube and find a few different approaches.
Further resources & links
The following are links to resources mentioned in this practice clinic:
- Granados – Vals poético (No. 6 from Valses poéticos) – Click here to view Graham’s full video lesson on this work
- Ravel Sonatine – Click here for more information on our annotated study edition
- Click here for a blog post on Personalised Pattern Recognition or click here for more resources on building your music theory knowledge
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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.