Introducing my new series, On the Stand! Here I’ll share what’s on my music stand this week and how I’m practicing it. As I’m preparing for my first masters recital in March, I have quite a bit I’m working on.

This week I pretty much only worked on the music for my recital–Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, Hindemith Op. 25 No. 1, and Suite 1919 by Bloch. Linked below is my playlist of these pieces, if you’d like to listen along! I’ll also link recordings as I mention each piece or movement.

Bloch Suite 1919

Sunday, February 16th

Today I didn’t practice much, but when I did I focused on the Bloch, to prepare for a rehearsal with my pianist the next day. I looked at the first two movements and did some metronome work.

Monday, February 17th

The rehearsal with my pianist went well–we decided on some tempos and worked through the hardest sections of the first movement. We did the same with the second movement and then ran it.

First Movement

On my own, I practiced all four movements of the piece! I did a lot more metronome work in the first movement, I wrote in some piano cues (I second guess my counting when I’m nervous so I like to prepare for the worst, plus cues just make everything a little easier), and I changed some of my bowings–I kept ending up bow on diminuendos at the ends of phrases, so I worked things out so I end up on a down bow in those spots.

Second Movement

In this movement I worked on making the cadenza a bit more dramatic. I think Bloch could’ve made this cadenza a lot more spectacular, especially when he scored the work for orchestra, but I can’t change what he wrote so I’m just working with what I’ve got. I’m taking more time in between the ideas in the beginning of the cadenza, and I’m making the sixteenths more ponticello and sooner than I was before.

Third Movement

I’m still figuring out the third movement. I haven’t started using many creative fingerings yet–I’m still using practical and easy fingerings to get the melody and harmonies in my head. I like to start out this way because I find that when I really have the music learned in my head, “creative” or harder fingerings make more sense. It’s easier to find the destination when I shift because I have a clear knowledge of what the note is and where it is on my fingerboard. If I don’t have the note in my head, attempting a harder fingering is just that–harder. I know I need to work on this movement a lot more and get it up to a higher level very soon.

Fourth Movement

In the fourth movement, I focused on the slow section that I’ve been avoiding and have not practiced until today. I, very unaware of the genius move I was making, practiced this section right after working on the third movement, and realized that it’s built on one of the same ideas as the third movement!! This made practicing a lot easier.

Do yourself a favor, and when you start to learn a piece, connect the dots–what sections are the same and what’s different? Does anything connect between movements? I ask my students these questions but on a much smaller scale as they’re mostly beginners. I know it helps them and myself to identify what’s similar and what’s different. I do this with orchestra music to learn it faster, but I need to do it on a larger scale with my solo music to save some more time and practice smarter!

Wednesday, February 19th

I worked on the first three movements in anticipation for my lesson and studio class later in the day. I did a little bit (but not enough) of score study on the first two movements and then ran through them. Then I briefly worked on the third movement.

Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite

Tuesday, February 18th

I really focused on this piece today and it felt so good! I worked hard through the entire work and spent over an hour on it!

Introduction

I worked really hard on the dynamics, as they make this movement more interesting. The main theme comes back a lot so the dynamic contrast is necessary, plus there are quite a few exchanges between the viola and piano, which require different dynamics.

I noticed I was having problems with bow distribution–I kept ending up too far from the frog to get the kinds of articulations I wanted, so I tried an exercise I’ve used when working on Bach–I hold my bow just further out from the frog so right below the balance point is the new “frog.” After returning to a normal bow hold it should be a lot more comfortable to play at the frog! I had previously only tried this exercise with Bach, so I’m really happy to say it worked for me here!

The last thing I worked on in this movement was rhythms that are sometimes dotted and sometimes not. I really just had to take a close look and play the dotted rhythms to make myself aware of them.

Serenade

I’ve had trouble playing this movement as slow as it should be, so before I started playing I tapped the tempo I had in my head in my metronome app. To my surprise I tapped the exact tempo!! I focused on tuning the double stop sixths. I used my go to method of fingering both notes but only bowing the top, then only bowing the bottom, and it helped a lot!

Tarentella

I started by running this with a metronome, and I had such an inconsistent tempo! I went from falling behind the metronome to rushing in the span of only a measure or so. I’ve had trouble getting this movement faster, so I started the metronome at a dotted quarter = 90, which was slow enough for me to get all the notes. I was able to get it very clean at this tempo, so I bumped it up to 95, then to 97 before I eventually got frustrated over some stupid mistakes I was making and moved on to the next movement.

Menuetto

I started by just running this movement, but once I got to the double stops toward the end, I realized I was playing it too fast. After I started playing this in the correct tempo I discovered everything was SO much easier! I listened to an orchestra recording of this movement to get the tempo, and I noticed I had been playing my first line detached as my part says “non secco” the second time it occurs. In the orchestra version, the first melody is played by the horn, so it’s very legato. The second time it’s played by the violins, and it’s still smooth. I reconsidered how I played it before and I’m now playing the melody legato both times.

Finale

I didn’t spend too much time on this movement because I was getting tired, but I know I do need to work on a run of double stop thirds. I’ve been putting that off for a while…

Thursday, February 20th

I played the Gavotta and variations as a warmup before I had to leave for orchestra. I found that I was ignoring a few fingerings I had written in and previously practiced. I’m going to spend more time this coming week focusing on my fingerings and making sure that I stick to them unless I don’t like them. If I decide I don’t like them, I promise I will actually take the time to find something better and write the new one in!!

Hindemith Sonata Op. 25 No. 1

Tuesday, February 18th

I only practiced the fourth movement–I first worked on playing just the double stops, then the double stops with a few of the C’s thrown in, and finally I played it as written. I get tired quickly when I play this, so I didn’t spend long on it. I’m trying to figure out how to keep my stamina up through the whole sonata, especially since I’ll be playing it in the middle of my (long) recital program.

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Thanks for reading my first On the Stand post! Let me know if you have any practice suggestions or if there’s anything specific you’d like me to talk about in the future!