Learning the notes - what do u focus on?

[green]

Have a syd learning mozart Aminor Sonate. We have spent alot of time on fingerings, ages in fact. Finding the best fingers, making sure he uses them.

At this stage he is 'learning' the notes and 'gestures'. But I wonder what other things we could be focusing on, as interpretation at this stage is premature as the whole piece has not been learnt, and so much changes as he s learning the notes.

Do u incorporate various 'stages' in addition fingers, and gestures. Harmonic analysis?

[bernhard]

I do not think interpretation would be premature at this stage. Certainly there is no need to wait until the whole piece is mastered to start working on interpretation. The main reason for starting on interpretation as soon as possible is that technique and interpretation are closely related. So a technique/fingering may prove unsuitable to convey a certain interpretation. Therefore you do not want to keep practising and ingraining a certain fingering/technique until the piece  is learned and then find out it is not the most appropriate for the interpretation you had in mind and then have to change it.

So how soon should you start working on interpretation? As soon as a full phrase is mastered. The phrase is the smallest unit to which you can start adding interpretative details, so go for it.

Analysis and things like harmonic analysis should precede any piano activity. Ideally the student should only go to the piano to start learning a piece once s/he is thoroughly familiarised with the piece (through score analysis and CD listening) and has a pretty definite idea of how s/he would like it to sound.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.