1, My teacher has told me I muddy my scales. (I run one note into the other playing them legato.) I have a hard time hearing this. So without telling her, when practicing, I switched to playing all my scales and Hanon exercises nonlegato, figuring that after a couple of weeks of this, I'll hear the muddiness. Good idea?
DS is right. In order to solve the problem you must investigate what is causing it. Muddiness is caused by pressing down a key and not releasing it as you play the next key. You can try this by just playing CDEFG with fingers 12345 (so as to avoid the complication of passing the thumb). If you play the C and hold the key down, play the D and hold the key down and so on so that by the time you get to G all keys are pressed down, you will have created quite an overlap of harmonics!
This is the moment where one of the major superstitions in piano pedagogy raises its very ugly head. You will be told that you need to lift your fingers from one key as you depress the next one. This is of course non-sense, because you will create antagonistic muscle actions, and not only you will not be able to lift your fingers that much as you will feel cramps very soon. You will then be given exercises (I see you already wasting time with Hanon) to “strengthen the muscles in your fingers” (even though there are no muscle sin the fingers – and even though it has nothing to do with strength).
What you need to do is to learn to play a scale (or a five note passage as above) by using
rotation of the forearm to lift the fingers. This is the motion every experienced pianist – and most likely your teacher too – use. Most of the time they do not have a clue they are doing it, and because the motions are so minimally elegant, chances are that you will not see it either.
Have a look here where I have described these things in some detail, and come back if you have further questions:
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2619.msg22756.html#msg22756(unorthodox fingering for all major and minor scales plus an explanation)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7226.msg72166.html#msg72166(Thumb over is a misnomer: it consists of co-ordinating four separate movements).
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7887.msg79326.html#msg79326(why the lifting of the 4th finger is a non-problem)
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,7341.msg114168.html#msg114168(repeated note-groups for difficult passages – correct technique is never uncomfortable – rotation as the solution to 5th finger weakness – criticism to misguided technical exercises – trusting the unconscious)
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=17061.new#new(description of thumb movement when descending rh scales)
Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that requires someone who actually knows these things (and not just someone who “can do it” but does not know how they actually do it) to show you and correct your motions.
2. She wants me to sound the highest voice in all the chords in Weeping Willow. But she didn't tell me how. Any suggestions?
Yes, have a look here to understand the general problem and the basic solutions:
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2973.msg25970.html#msg25970(How to create a cantabile effect – several approaches: creating a mental image, outlining, the three basic ways to bring out a melody)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3530.msg31559.html#msg31559(how to bring out a melody – 3 different ways – Importance of a mental representation: hear in your mind and the fingers will comply)
As for your specific problem, I suggest you tackle it by flowing the steps below:
1. Simplify your score by getting rid of all the chord notes except the top (melody) note. Now it will be easy to bring out the melody since there will be no other notes to mask it. Play this new score repeated times – your aim is to memorise the sound of the melody.
2. Now add to each melodic note one and only one note of the chord you suppressed. Again play it repeated times and try to hear the melody. If necessary alternate between this step and the previous ones so as to refresh your memory of the melody.
3. Keep adding the deleted chord notes and at each step make sure you can hear the melody clearly. If you loose it, go back one (or two) steps to remind yourself how the melody went.
This is mostly a mental exercise: If you can truly hear the melody in your mind, your fingers will (perhaps to your great amazement) find a way to realize what is in your mind.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.