Ravel- Scarbo

[thorn]

I have been learning Gaspard de la Nuit for a while now, and I have fully learned both Ondine and Le Gibet.

Scarbo, I have played through and messed about with, but never actually worked on, because I wanted to do the "easier" movements first.

Now I've done them... so does anyone have any tips for learning Scarbo?

[franzliszt2]

I have never done scarbo, nbut my teacher has and I have disscussed it with him in the past

He said the main problem is getting the thing into your head. He said once you get going it's fine, but it takes a while to get going. He said that he used to spend 2 hours on it, and at the end of each day could play what he learnt great, and then he's play it the day after, and not be able to, and he said this happened for 2 weeks, then it all clicked into place. He said patience is the biggest key.

Also enjoy learning it, it makes life easier    I get frustrated because i know how I want things to sound, and it doesn;t happen striaght away, but I'm learning to just enjoy learning things.

[lostinidlewonder]

When I was learning the Scarbo I listened to a Midi of it almost every day and slowed down the tempo so I could hear every bar in detail. Appreciate the intricate sounds while the tempo is brought down, mark the phrases in the score. I always was tempted to play this piece at tempo while learning it but in all honesty playing it half tempo is harder, at fast speeds you can play decievingly sometimes miss a few notes without realising, but when you play it slower there are no excuses (this is a standard rule for all music really).

For tips on memory/excecution you would have to suggest bars you have troubles with because there is no way I (or anyone else) would describe every single bar in words. That's the thing about learning any piece, don't plan and prepare just jump into it and start learning it. THEN you can ask questions, I am going about it this way, but how do I learn/play this faster/effectively?