Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Joplin-themed ABF recital signup thread

Mine`s recorded, blunders and all. Out o` tune piano. You get to see the LH! (Another blunder-shrug)

Well, I can consistently play mine through at 80% tempo error free, so there is hope. At tempo I still blunder a couple of spots, but I have hope that I'll get a good recording next week. Now it is starting to be fun!

YAY! I'll bet you do a splendid job SwissMs. Can't wait to hear your piece.

I am so looking forward to this Joplin recital despite my not participating. I forget who proposed this but thanks for doing it.

Like the general recital, I'm gonna open up submissions on the 1st (if Sam s or Monica k helps me) with the recital going live on the 15th.

Kudos to those who've already got theirs recorded. I don't! (Had another run through with teach tonight--ugh!)

Everything's up to target tempo - except - about 8 measures with right-hand octaves. Oh well

This evening I worked on those 8 measures very slowly, mostly to pay attention to releasing the tension in my wrists and shoulders, playing relaxed, knowing exactly where I get confused so that I can correct that and let *that* tension go, et al. I felt terrific when I was done - no tension anywhere! But those measures are not at tempo Still, the side effects of that practice were worthwhile. I think I won't try them at anything faster than I can do them without tempo from now on, until about a week before I submit. Then, if they're still not at tempo, I'll cut my losses and play them without the bottom of the octave. Practicality wins!

But you never know -

Cathy

Which measures are giving you trouble? The opening double-hand octaves, or something later on?

The pick-up and last 4 measures of the A part, and measures 9-12 of the D (second-to-last) part. I have very small hands and can only reach an octave off the ends of the keys, and barely that. I've been playing octaves in my left hand long enough that they are now flexible enough to have a little more width, but for the right hand they're still a real stretch. So I get a lot of tension in my wrist, and I have a long ways to go from the black keys to the edge of the white They are actually *much* better than I thought they'd be, but they're still so slow my metronome won't count them

I actually think at some point they're doable. After all, the left hand's gotten there. I'm just not sure they're doable in the next month. The slow-paying-attention-to-releasing tension is quite helpful, and exaggerating loose wrists is helpful, including in helping release tension in my shoulders. And of course knowing exactly where I'm going helps a lot

I'm not even trying the intro with octaves in both hands - just using 2 hands to do the higher octave

Cathy

Yeah, if you have small hands that can't really reach an octave, that's really tough. My grandmother was a fabulous pianist, but her hands were very small. As a consequence, she could barely reach an octave when she was younger and her flexibility was good. By the time she hit her 70s, she had to have carpal tunnel surgery, and her hands really stiffened up. She can still play, but not nearly like she used to. (When I was a kid, she was in her early 50s, and I don't ever remember her making a single mistake at the keys for the first 15 years of my life.)

In the last 4 measures of the A-section, you don't have to worry about black-to-white keys, but if it's a stretch, obviously that presents its own challenges! Have you tried messing around with single-note leaps? (Meaning, when you have to jump a 4th, for example, you play that as a single note, but the major 2nds you play as an octave. This happens on the 2nd half of the first beat in the 3rd and 2nd measures before the Section A repeat.) Also, drop the major/minor 3rds if you can't reach them (or consider playing the top octave with the 3rd, while dropping the bottom octave note).

In mm 9-12 of the D-section, consider playing the B# with 4 (dropping the bottom note) so you can keep the octaves on the C# black keys. The jump to E is a little tricky, but you get the extra "half-beat" to adjust for the return to C# so an almost imperceptible delay there in striking the E might help. (Usually, jumping on the C# a hair early helps delay the E by a hair, leaving just enough room to make the leap.. kind of like swinging the notes.)

Same thing in mm10. Drop the lower A#, so your 4th finger plays the higher note.

Do little tricks like that help you out?


Also, for the octaves at the intro -- consider splitting the hands by an octave to round out the sound. Mess around with it, and see what sounds best. I've never done it that way, and don't have a keyboard handy to try it myself, but your ear will undoubtedly tell you what's best.

I do hope some of this is helpful!

Oh, thanks! yes, those are some good ideas to try! That way I could still have some of that fuller sound with octaves, but not the all-stretch-all-the-time. I'll try it out and see how it works. Thanks again

Cathy

PS - yes, in The Entertainer I turn many of the octaves with internal notes into 6ths. Works for me

Anytime!

And if you're used to adding 6ths, consider adding them where you're dropping the octave. Great little improv that works in most places (just double-check your harmonies).

I would love to sign up for this didn't see this till now. I know the deadline to signup is past but can I still submit? or is this like the DMV or IRS where the policies are strict? I kid

Looks like all the ones I can play have been taken. meaning that I can play half or quarter decently.

I can do Easy winners though not sure how good I can get it by March but can I just submit one not in there , Eugenia?

I had Country Club for a while but was too pressed to continue with it - I'm fairly sure that's still free....join the party!

Thanks but the only problem is coincidentally Country Club is my least favorite Joplin rag , no kidding. Not that I can play it well or anything, just can't stay focused on it long enough to make a decent practice towards learning it.

Ah!, maybe you've just diagnosed the problem I had with it - not that I know many rags that I can discriminate but I was finding it hard to concentrate.

If you take a look through the thread and do a page by page text search to see if any that take your fancy remain untaken that should be quicker than reading everything. Or Whizbang will be along later to let you know.

I have the music to country club. Love it, but haven`t tried it yet. I`ll gi it a go tonight and grab it if everything goes ok . . . ! Not much time is there?

Of course, would love to hear "Eugenia"!

Ok thank you. Please sign me up for Eugenia.

Sorry for the extensive quote... Selective quoting from mobile phone is a pain. Folks who wonder what rags are taken don't need to look through all the posts. I keep the signup sheet edited, and it's the second post in the full thread.

Aha! I just played my 8 measures of octaves using Derulux's hints as a guide and immediately noticed less tenseness they are certainly not up to speed, because doing them this way is still new, but I think it's going to be a big help! Woot!

Cathy

Great! I'm glad to hear it's working out!