Our latest Practice Clinic recording features practice suggestions and exercises for Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz, Liszt’s Romance in E Minor, a Scriabin Prelude and the Funeral March From Chopin’s second Sonata.
Practice clinic questions
Strauss Blue Danube Waltz (arr. Ernest Haywood) – I’m struggling with playing the tremolo in the RH with two fingers against one in the opening intro (6/8 section) of this piece. The two fingers are not playing together and I have too much tension in the hand. This makes it difficult to play it evenly, up to speed and to control the volume. Any practice suggestions most welcome!
Liszt Romance in E Minor, S169 – Everything is going well until the second section (Bar 38) when the left hand arpeggios from the first section turn into triplets, which means they are played much faster. Can you advise as to the best way to practise to get them up to speed smoothly and evenly please?
Scriabin Prelude in E Minor, Op. 11 No. 4 – I am looking for some pointers on how to go about tackling this piece. 1) I’m not too sure about the best fingering for the LH, 2nd system; 3) I’m not sure to what extent the RH chords need to be legato – I see several legato marks, however when I listen to recordings of this piece, though not quite staccato, the chords sound slightly detached; 4) any tips on pedalling would be great; 5) finally, I can see I’m going to struggle with bringing out the melody in this piece, because the RH chords seem to take over, so any tips of achieving balance would be good too!
Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2, Op 35 (3rd mvt) – I have difficulty coordinating huge chords in RH with LH Ornaments in Bars 27 & 28. It would be much appreciated if you could advise on some simple exercises to practise this spot!
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 in April 2024. 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.
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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.