In this practice clinic edition, Graham addresses memorisation strategies in the early stages of learning a piece, achieving a seamless ‘très lié’ connection in Mel Bonis’s Gai Printemps and offers approaches for taming the double notes and tremolos in Brahms’s 2nd Piano Sonata. He also demonstrates how to create effortless left-hand transitions and smooth tremolos in Coleridge-Taylor’s Deep River.
Practice clinic questions
How long should I practise with the score? How long should I practise from the score before beginning to memorise, and how can I balance developing reading skills with secure memorisation? I’m wondering whether I have been trying to memorise too quickly at the expense of developing reading skills!
Mel Bonis – Gai Printemps, Op. 11 No. 2 (as published in Pianist Magazine No. 143) – How can I achieve the très lié connection in the descending left-hand couplets in bar 68? Should I use pedal, or is there a another approach that works better?
Brahms – Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2 (3rd mvt: Scherzo) – What is the best way to practise the difficult double notes, tremolo-like figures, and mordents in the right hand toward the end of the Scherzo?
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Deep River (arr. for solo piano) – How can I manage the left-hand transitions between chords and tremolos in bars 29 – 32, and play the tremolos effortlessly while making the right-hand sing, especially when moving to and from single notes and with the accelerando?
Join us!
Our next live clinic takes place on Saturday 7th March @ 15:00 GMT and will take a slightly different approach by putting the spotlight onto piano technique. In this special edition, guest expert Fred Karpoff answers questions on technique and related topics from Online Academy subscribers and participants in his recently launched course.
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