Winter Break Project: Gaspard de la Nuit

[vsrinivasa]

So, as my winter break project (see the thread over in Repertoire), I am learning Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. I thought I'd start a thread in order to ask for advice and be motivated to keep up my progress. I'll be posting here with my latest updates and trouble spots and maybe some recordings if my equipment arrives. So anyway, so far:

ONDINE
Opening: Not too difficult, couple of voicing issues but that's about it.
My first real issues have to do with voicing in bars 19-23, the arpeggios seem to always be louder than the melody.

LE GIBET
Not really all too hard, maintaining the tone of the repeated Bb has proved to be the main difficulty so far.

SCARBO
Haven't looked at this one quite yet. Seems difficult though.


So anyway, that's about it. Post your current projects here as well!

[blazekenny]

The outer movements of Gaspard sure have lots of notes, but its more like "o fly my fingers, let the finger memory do all the work". It sure needs alot of pianistical experience with technique, but when I tackled this piece, it was no longer an issue to me at all (Although the Scarbo sometimes demands a bigger hand...) My biggest issue was the musical idea in Le Gibet, while keeping the "knell" sound there in a silhouette.
Good luck with this monster, Its an awesome piece full of melancholy and was Michelangelis warhorse.

[vsrinivasa]

The outer movements of Gaspard sure have lots of notes, but its more like "o fly my fingers, let the finger memory do all the work". It sure needs alot of pianistical experience with technique, but when I tackled this piece, it was no longer an issue to me at all (Although the Scarbo sometimes demands a bigger hand...) My biggest issue was the musical idea in Le Gibet, while keeping the "knell" sound there in a silhouette.
Good luck with this monster, Its an awesome piece full of melancholy and was Michelangelis warhorse.

I really love Gaspard. I haven't found Ondine too difficult so far, and Le Gibet is actually pretty easy for me, besides the voicing issue. I agree about the finger memory thing.

[chopin2015]

Ballades by chopin

I have 1 and 2 but i keep forgetting parts of 1 however the tempo is good.
  Ballade2 is at a considerable tempo, i am having trouble connecting the sections right now, and trying to speed up the end. Mephisto valse no 1 i just have te last page that i am too lazy to memorize because everything else is not at a fast enough tempo and some parts are still too new to me.
 Beethoven i probably wont get around to today. Winter wind etude i am still having some issues that cause considerable breaks in the tempo and i spent quite a bit of time on fixing that today, well see if it helped tomorrow. Dont expect videoz soon, i have terrible performance issues that i am also working on,  i think i have that becauss i prefer to stop and fix mistakes but i have been recording so i am getting used to performing a little more. Jeesh that felt more like a confession.

[vsrinivasa]

New update after some practice today:

ONDINE
Fixed my voicing issue. Stuck at bar 57 transitioning into 58; strange pedal marking which causes a slightly blurred sound. Bar 58 and the bars following it are hurting my hand with all the parallel thirds, but it's getting better. Struggling to get a clear sound and get my fingers around the arpeggios in bar 67. The two-octave broken intervals in bar 71 are a real pain to play properly while maintaining the nice right hand passage.

LE GIBET
Voicing is becoming really irritating. The whole movement seems to be at a piano dynamic marking, which is incredibly difficult to maintain. Also, the tolling Bb is still very difficult to keep constant while trading it between hands and adding intertwining melodies and chords. Although overall not too technically difficult.

SCARBO
Large uncomfortable chords in the right hand from the opening (Bar 2). Tried switching hands to take the repeated notes with the right, but then those became too loud. Unsure how to deal with this. Tremolos in bar 23 are very irritating. The right hand chords are somewhat uncomfortable due to their size and position and number of notes (5, which means I have to use all 5 fingers).

[vsrinivasa]

Next update:

ONDINE
Generally okay technically. I ran through the whole piece today without too many note errors. Fixed bars 58, 67 and 71. The ending is hard to maintain without slowing down towards the last chord. Now the main issue is getting it to sound good and fit my fingers, and musicality.

LE GIBET
Relatively easy, except for... VOICING! Very annoying. The Bb octaves are still being stubborn and I always make them too loud when there is a melody. Simple technically, a few big chords but nothing too difficult.

SCARBO
Didn't practice this one today. Same issues as last time, I guess.

[ajspiano]

This is good to see.. I really like these kinds of threads where you get to take a peek into anothers practice habits/thoughts/methods..

Is there any chance we can see short videos? excerpts from troublesome spots and such?

I'd join you if the rach wasn't so much of an all consuming beast.

[vsrinivasa]

This is good to see.. I really like these kinds of threads where you get to take a peek into anothers practice habits/thoughts/methods..

Is there any chance we can see short videos? excerpts from troublesome spots and such?

I'd join you if the rach wasn't so much of an all consuming beast.

Outin caused me to break my only camera that records video in the thread about Hands  But I am forgiving. I ordered recording equipment but it hasn't come yet.

[chopin2015]

Can't wait to hear it!

[vsrinivasa]

Can't wait to hear it!

I'm afraid to say you'll be waiting for a while.

[pianoplayjl]

I'm afraid to say you'll be waiting for a while.

At least I'm assured I'll be hearing you play. Good luck.

So, my project. hmm. I have a long break and I will not have a piano to practice on. So I guess my project is practicing my piece without the piano. Ha ha ha.

JL

[vsrinivasa]

At least I'm assured I'll be hearing you play. Good luck.

So, my project. hmm. I have a long break and I will not have a piano to practice on. So I guess my project is practicing my piece without the piano. Ha ha ha.

JL

You might not... I got my recording equipment yesterday and it is defective. Apparently I can't get it replaced. Do you mind not seeing my hands? My broken camera records audio, but stores video as a blank screen.

Nice project, by the way. Hope it goes well!


Now, for next update:

ONDINE
I have gone all the way through and solved most of my issues. Now I need to perfect it.

LE GIBET
This is becoming the hardest movement due to previous voicing and touch problems which I cannot solve. The notes are easy but the harmony and touch is hard.

SCARBO
Haven't practiced this one in a while. Still quite difficult technically but it is a pure show-off piece: not too many extremely expressive bits or difficult voicing.

[chopin2015]

Would love to hear your rendition of Ondine. Looks like I will be asking you questions! I am out of town and mostly out of touch until mid January. Let me know when you have a recording though!

[vsrinivasa]

Would love to hear your rendition of Ondine. Looks like I will be asking you questions! I am out of town and mostly out of touch until mid January. Let me know when you have a recording though!

I won't be able to post until mid-January either.

[vsrinivasa]

Progress as of today:

ONDINE
I can play all the way through at full speed, but it is nowhere near performance ready. Need to work on expression, touch, etc.

LE GIBET
I can get through the movement keeping the Bbs even, but too loud, or the piece quiet enough, but the Bbs uneven. This is the hardest movement by far for me. Reminds me of Alkan's La Voix de l'Instrument.

SCARBO
I can go all the way through at half speed, but at full speed the repeated notes are the most irritating parts. Needs practice...

[vsrinivasa]

Next update:

ONDINE
Sounding pretty good. There are some sound quality issues but not too many.

LE GIBET
Easy now that I figured out how to get the Bbs right.

SCARBO
Got this up to about 2/3 speed all the way through and 3/4 speed in some places. This is pretty difficult...

[vsrinivasa]

Ondine now sounds performance ready! Yay.

Le Gibet is very close, but a few voicing issues are annoying.

Scarbo is playable at 3/4 speed now, but not at performance level.

[vsrinivasa]

Got no practice in whatsoever on Gaspard today.