Still here, Julius. Working away at meas. 15-18. But you are right, you can hear the crickets in this thread.

Still here. Worked on 15 - 25 today and still reviewing the videos. I think it works well to review the video, practice and then review the video again. I get a very positive practice that way. Now if I could just get the fingers to work together.
Measures 15 - 18 are now hands together and coming along nicely. I will work the left hand into measures 19 - 25 over the next week.

I think measures 17 & 18 have been the hardest for me so far.
Partly, because I keep changing the fingering for the left hand. Stop it!

I have been following Hugh's lessons from the beginning, only posted once, more of a lurker. Anyway I sure hope that he continues the lessons till the end, as they are very helpful. This break has been good for me as it has given me time to get much better, but I am ready to move on. If he doesn't however, I think he has given us enough tools regarding fingerings, pedaling, practicing, etc., that most people will be able to work through the rest without his lessons, of course it will take longer and be much harder, but it is possible. If you work through it, you can find the fingerings that suit you the best, and you can use Hugh's techniques like the cookie cutter hand pattern, recognizing octaves, and others to come up with ways to play this masterpiece. I think it also helps to listen to a professional play it while reading the music many times (I am partial to Leon Fleisher's recent recording from his Two Hands cd). Also take a look at the russian pdf that someone posted early on in this topic. It has fingerings that may help some, or it might give you ideas on working out your own fingerings. That being said, I still would love Hugh's lessons to return for the second half of the piece.

I'm still here also. Still working on 15 - 25 like your are Carl but it is definately going slow - both in time and speed.

Tiemco, I don't think that Hugh will be back. It's been a few weeks now since he has posted here and the last one didn't include a lesson. From what I've seen on his other sites on the internet,he now has financial backers and he may have been working that aspect instead of the free-bees given here. It sure was nice while it lasted.

Woody

I've made it to the end!
I now play it all the way thru. First 2 pages fairly well, next 2 pages better than 2 weeks ago(but still a long way to go), and last 2 pages are getting there since there is a fair amount that is similar to the first parts.
Tiemco is absolutely right. The needed information is there. Apply it to the parts after the last lesson.
Would this be easier with lessons all the way thru? you bet. But its doable with what's there.
I hope to be able to record after Christmas (with or without Santa). This will be the first piece I post. That gives me a month and a half to get it flawless (hahahaha!). Nothing like a deadline to help push harder.
Julius

Congratulations Julius! Looking forward to hearing your recording. Hope Santa is paying attention!

Congrats Julius, that's quite an achievement!

Well if he isn't coming back it was nice having lessons from a professional pianist of his caliber. I am still hopeful, and if you listen to his language from his last lesson (before the video of him describing the private lessons) it certainly sounds like he intends on continuing till the end. I totally understand if he is unable to continue the free lessons, as they must be very time consuming, but I think Hugh would have let us know if he was in fact not going to finish the piece, and I would be content with just a short note on this thread. I would be much happier with a note and a pdf of the score with the fingerings, both the traditional and his easier fingerings.

My apologies to the class! Between setting up my new online studio at Ashbury Music Hall and the increasing workload at Curtis (the semester is in full swing at this point!), I've been quite frankly overloaded to my eyeballs and beyond!

I'm not sure if I'll be able to update new lessons on a daily basis, but I'll try to do the best I can to plow through to the end. Many thanks for those of you who have used this "hiatus" to catch up and keep up with your study of "Clair de lune". I really appreciate all the words of support that have been expressed both here in this forum and via email/private messages. Let's do our collective best to cross the finish line together!

Lesson #57, m. 41, Part 1

We start with a portion of the right hand, including the extra notes that will be "scooped" from the left hand part. To make things a bit easier, I redraw the left hand notes on the same staff lines with the right hand part. When playing thirds (two notes at a time in one hand), try to lift the non-playing fingers out of the way for better connections.

"Hugh" made my day!

CMOHR

Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

Hugh, great to have you back. Don't worry about not posting daily, you have enough real work to take care of before this little project. I think it gives most people time to work out the newer sections, without worrying about falling behind. It has certainly given me time to work out the harder measures. I hope it is helping you in some way regarding your teachings.

Excellent! Thanks a lot Hugh

Hugh,
Please, take whatever time you need on the lessons. They are certainly appreciated! I'm certainly glad I was wrong about you coming back.
Woody

Hugh, you missed a trick there, these guys were willing to pay you for all this!

Now I've been lurking a little, and I'd just like to say, for better or for worse, I've recorded Clair and submitted it for the ABF recital. It's the first classical thing I've done for ages, and I don't play it nearly so well as Hugh.

There's plenty of mistakes, but I managed to get through it without collapsing (and the phone didn't ring like the first time I tried), so I've decided it's good enough.

So thanks to Hugh and all you guys here for the inspiration to see it through to the finish line!

As a reminder there is a donation avenue on Hugh's website.

Piano from Scratch

I have in the past and just again- thanked Hugh with a contribution. If you have gained a benefit from these lessons, I encourage you to do whatever you can as well.

Also, there is a new 4 week intro class that I am considering.


Hugh,

Do you know if the zoom 2 will work as a external mike?
Also, I have been considering the Zoom Q3 which will do video and sound. Will this work for your online instruction?


Edit: After looking at all of the connections ... I am pretty sure the Zoom 2 will not work as an external mike for my computer. Probably means the Zoom Q3 won't work in a live feed situation either.
Guess I will go shopping.

Wow, I didn't even know about that site or the donation function. I am sure a lot of people aren't aware of it. I just sent Hugh a little something for all his time and effort. Thanks Carl.

I was working on measures 25 & 26 today and it did not go well. I guess I have never tried (5) notes over an octave in my left hand. I did not get close to making the roll sound good. My 4th finger seem to be giving me the most trouble. Maybe I will try 4 notes for now and gradually work in the fifth note.
Anyone else struggle with this?

Thank you, everyone for your kind donations! They're really, really appreciated

Lesson #58, m. 41, Part 2

Now we'll take a look at the left hand portion. Since we have so many ledger lines coming down below the G clef staff for the left hand, I make a new set of mnemonics to help find those lower notes more quickly. I then cut out cookie cutter portions of the left hand to better show how to distribute your hand position across the run. Remember, we're using our right hand to "rescue" two of the top notes. We'll continue working on the last portion of the notes going down in the next lesson, as it will involve a slightly tricky fingering.

Hey Carl, yes those rolling 5 finger chords can be tricky. I had a lot of trouble with the second chord, but after much practice I have it in the hand now. For me it helped turning my hand a bit to the right so the fingers are not parallel to the keys (I have a smallish hand) and focused on relaxing the fingers so that it fits the chord better. To play it, for me, it's a combination of rotating the wrist and pressing down just a bit on the keys with my fingers. Also I like to practice things I have trouble with slowly with good form right before bed. This seems to transfer it better to the brain, and the next day it isn't quite as hard.

Tiemco

I practiced them again tonight very slowly- one note at a time. And yes, relaxing my hand seem to make a big difference. I think I will be able to bring the rolls up to speed in a couple of days.

Lesson #59, m. 41, Part 3

We start off by finishing the previous lesson on playing the left hand part, with a focus on a new technique called "thumb under". This enables you to reposition your hand with a smooth connection. We then work on putting both hands together. I try to show how the right hand aligns with the running left hand passage, as the right hand notes have differing time values. We finish by adding the pedal - the simplest way would be to just keep it down all the way, but you also have the option to change once in the measure if you prefer a cleaner sound.

Much better on he rolls last night.

Hurrah! Great fun to see results from practicing, isn't it?

Lesson #60, m. 42, Part 1

We start off with cutting apart the right hand line, and I show a unique fingering to accommodate the double notes and the low note at the bottom. The trick will be to transition smoothly between the different hand positions.

Hi there! I am new to this site. I love playing the piano although I took a lot of time off while having kids and with life in general. A little background, I began playing at age 5 and played until about 16 or 17. I still sit down and play occasionally, but not like I used to. After a break of about 11 years I decided to get back into it. Ironically the piece that inspired me is Debussy's Clair de Lune. As I would not consider myself a total beginner I'm not sure the best way to approach this. I have looked at a few of the tutorials and am very excited to look at the rest. I can play the first page fairly well, but then I start to fall apart and get frustrated. Any tips on where I should start the tutorials at? Thank you so much for the time you have spent on these tutorials!

Sincerely,

Tricia

Welcome, TrishJ! You may want to view the lessons on my site at www.PianofromScratch.com, where you can find the lessons listed by measure number - if you can identify the measure where things start to fall apart, then you can start with that corresponding video or just a bit before. So far, I'm only up to measure 42, but that brings us pretty well through some of the most difficult portions of the piece (still need to get around to filming the remaining measures...how to squeeze time from a rocky schedule! sigh!!)
Hope this helps!

Lesson #61, m. 42, Part 2

As we did previously, we cut apart the left hand passage into smaller portions following the hand groupings. I think you'll see that once you break down the passage this way, it won't be as difficult to grasp (both figuratively and literally!)