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Topic: Practice Routine for the holiday?  (Read 1479 times)

Offline divided_loyalties

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Practice Routine for the holiday?
on: December 01, 2014, 09:21:21 AM
Hello all.

I need some help devising a practice routine for this holiday. As of today (1 December 2014) I have about two months left before the universities start on the 2nd of February next year.

My first semester pieces for next year are:

Piano:

1. BACH, J.S. Prelude & Fugue no. 3 in C-sharp major from WTC Book 2

2. LYAPUNOV, S. Etude no. 10 in D major, "Lezghinka" from 12 Transcendental Etudes, Op. 11

3. KHACHATURIAN, A. Piano Concerto in D-flat major, Op. 38, Mvt 1.

Accompaniment:

1. MOZART, W.A. Violin Sonata no. 4 in E minor, K. 304, Mvt. 1

2. VAN BEETHOVEN, L. Violin Sonata no. 4 in A minor, Op. 23, Mvt. 1

Chamber Music

ARENSKY, A. Suite for 2 pianos no. 1, Op. 15

And then of course a helluva load of scales and technical exercises

During the past examinations I managed to shoehorn in some extra work on the Khachaturian. I learnt all of the notes up to the recapitulation section.

My main goal with practicing this holiday is to learn as many notes as possible. As you can probably see, I have quite a lot of pieces and my reasoning follows that, hypothetically, if I manage to have learned all of their notes by the beginning of next year, I'll have managed at least a quarter of the hard work required by my practical subjects.

The only piece of the lot that actually terrifies me is the etude. If there's one piece that I'd already like to have in my fingers by next year, it's this one. My lecturer advised me to work at it systematically by dividing the piece into different smaller sections and practicing one section per day in rhythms. However, I'm scared that I won't be finished with it by the time that class starts next year. 

And on the other hand, I really don't want to ONLY spend my time practicing day-in, day-out during the holidays. That's usually my game during the academic year. This past year, with all my classes taken into consideration, I managed to practice 5 hours and study 4 hours a day (even on weekends) with one "off-afternoon" every week. I scarcely made time for social activities which unfortunately also led to a lot of burnout (something which I'm also planning to address next year). I really, really REALLY feel I could cut myself some slack this holiday. So far, whereas I haven't stopped practicing completely, I'm practicing less. That is 2-3 hours per day. However, I'm still filled with guilt when I compare it to the actual workload.

Any advice?
WORKING ON (Accompaniment)

Brahms- Violin Sonata 3 in d, Op. 108
Prokofiev- Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94
Debussy- Ariettes Oubliees, L.60
Debussy- Cello Sonata, L.135

Offline j_menz

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Re: Practice Routine for the holiday?
Reply #1 on: December 01, 2014, 11:03:10 AM
My main goal with practicing this holiday is to learn as many notes as possible.

As a pianist, there are 88 of them. Any you don't know already?

Any advice?

Find a dictionary. Look up holiday. Take the definition to heart. Unless, of course, you are actually intending to spend your first semester getting drunk/laid/whatever - in which case, 2-4 hours a day ain't gonna be enough - buckle down now, you've got a lot of slacking to pre-empt!
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant
 

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