How to get Mozart sonata to sound light and not laboured

[sandracb]

I have Mozart's sonata in D, KV311 as part of my ARCT repertoire. The problem is I've been playing it so danged long that I'm really getting tired of it (as in it's become a chore to practice) but there's really no other sonata I can replace it with for my ARCT program. The other Mozart sonatas are too long, and I feel like my program really needs the contrast and feel of a Mozart piece. (Beethoven's are both too long to fit and too 'romantic'.)

So how to practice it at this point so it's effective and efficient? I have issues pretty much with the whole thing in terms of lightness, and this sonata 1st and 3rd movements are pretty much an exercise in scale runs. I don't have problems executing chunks if I take it apart, or hands apart, but put it all together and I seem to have to keep stopping and stopping to fix things. It's so annoying! I don't like running through things and leaving ANY mistakes, but I'm so tired of spending 1.5hr+ in one sitting on a piece I'm already kind of sick of.

My big problem is I tend to tense up a bit in anticipation of the bigger swathes of technical passages and then (even if I get them right) they end up sounding dense/tense/laboured/forced. I want them to sound light and free. Also my staccatos in the rondo aren't anywhere near as light as they should be, maybe I'm too tense in the wrists but if I try to loosen up I hit wrong notes. Grrr.

So I would love some help on how to make this danged sonata sound light and airy and free like it should be, not grinding and tired like I'm making it! I'm just tired of the darned thing is my problem, but I can't find another similar sounding sonata on the ARCT list that's not over 16 min long. (Seriously, how the heck to people fit these giant sonatas in their 60 min time limit?!?)

[brogers70]

Not sure if this will be helpful, because I've never had to play something like that under pressure. My teacher would suggest trying to play mental tricks on myself. Don't care about some wrong notes; think to yourself "oh, this is the lightest easiest, most relaxed thing in the world." Think, "Who cares?" Imagine whatever light operatic scene you can to get in the mood. Think about moving your arms rather than about moving your fingers. Flap your elbows while you play; it may help loosen your wrists. Take a few days off from the piece.

[sandracb]

Thanks brogers. I think you're right.....I think it's a mental problem at the moment. I'm just psyching myself up with nerves telling myself it has to be 'perfect' when I run through it. I have the ability to nail those technical sections, but I just tense up when trying to play the whole piece through give myself too much pressure.

Sounds backwards from the principal about 'perfect practice makes perfect', but in this case I think I'm giving myself pressure that's unneeded! So maybe what I need is to just do a laissez faire run through and let the technical stuff fall where it may, just concentrate on the spirit of the piece. Maybe just think about working on the 'feel' of it and the phrasing/musicality for a week and if the scales are stumble-y, let it go. That could be refreshing and what I need, I think.

[hfmadopter]

Oh ya !! Some people hate Mozart around here. I always liked working on his music, I seemed to take to it fairly early on. But you have to do what ever it takes to get your wrists, forearms and fingers all traveling free. Controlled obviously, you can't turn into mush but can't have tension. That tension you mention has got to go somehow or it will sound labored for sure. I know this feeling so well, I create a lot of my own pieces these days and as soon as I hit the record button it's as if someone shoved a steel rod up my back to the top of my head and strapped me to it. It's worse than live performance. Funny, if it's on auto record I just save it but hitting that button kills my whole everything ! And what is the difference ? I'm not concentrated on the music, it causes a new entry to the piece, I'm stiff from the get go, knowing that, I then wonder how the recording is, if it caught it as bad as it felt. If I free up during the performance, I stiffen back up again near the end knowing I have to shut the recording off. I need to be completely untethered from any remote thoughts other than the music and my mood flowing on the keys.

Is there a message in all that for you, I don't know. Maybe, don't let your mind wander to your audience unless it's in a positive way. Breath !! Something I do in live performance. I associate my piece with picture scenes in my mind during practice etc. day in and day out. Then call that up during performance. It might work for you. I can play for my wife sometimes better than alone or for individuals who appreciate my music, no problem. If it's I think there is a critic, I might get a little stiff. I find myself holding my breath. No good, you have to breath, it's the first step to relaxing for a good playing session.

Best of luck, live performance I can lick. I've been doing it long enough to find my methods. This recording stuff is probably closest to your issue. I need to take some of my own advice lol !! But understand something, you are not alone in this phenomenon. We used to have work shops and I watched it happen to others and even myself during live performance. But those really helps prepare for a recital. By the time a recital came around you had played these pieces a dozen times for a group of peers and your teacher. I then took that public, i played for a group of 125 people, I thought I was  going to barf up my dinner before I went on stage. As soon as I sat at the piano, calm came over me. A God send ! Keep that in mind, it can happen.

[sandracb]

Appreciate your input hfmadopter! Totally agree with you. It's all mental.....lol maybe I need to take one of those 'sports psychology performance' courses.

Freezing up (quite literally) on stage was always my nemesis though. Nothing worst for a pianist than nerves making me have ice cold stiff fingers!! Ughhhh. I don't intend to rush into the exam though. I'm not a kid anymore, I have no pressing timetable. I plan on doing when I feel ready and confident about being a musician showing her craft, not when I feel like it's some high pressure 'test'. And I plan on preparing by playing as many recitals/shows/drag my neighbours to my house to watch, lol, anything in front of people to get used to it.

I don't love Mozart, but unfortunately I need the credit for the ARCT. Stylistically Beethoven is waaaaay too close to my other choices, and Haydn isn't any easier technically than Mozart! It's so aggravating though, the B list for ARCT isn't very long at all, and then there are the time constraints for the whole program to fit into. It isn't going to do me any good to need to finish 6 pieces in an hour if the sonata itself takes up 20+ min. Yikes.

Well this morning's practice went better I think. I didn't obsess over the tricky technical sessions, really just tried to think about the 'feel' and lightness and looseness of the piece, and I think it sounded MUCH better! Unfortunately I still couldn't resist going back here and there to fix things, but overall I felt much more relaxed and enjoyed playing the piece a lot more. I also think it's key not to think ahead and anticipate 'trouble' spots - it ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy that way. Plus some of my technique issues is because I haven't quite memorized it yet so I'm just goofing notes because I forget what they are (I'm not sight reading fast enough to keep ahead of the speedy spots) ....so that is a memory problem, less a technique one.

Overall after this morning I do feel better about working with the Mozart. Unfortunately my Bach went all to hell, LOL, but I guess one thing at a time.

[kevonthegreatpianist]

You know, K 311 is a very long Mozart sonata. Try K 545, as it's almost easy enough to sight read at.

[sandracb]

Thanks kevon, but it's for my ARCT exam, so it has to be on the list of repertoire. The only Mozart sonatas on the list are: 284, 310, 311, 331, 333, 457, and 533.  Out of which, 311 is the SHORTEST of them all when played by pros!

[sandracb]

Oh and also, I can play K545. In fact it was such a cliche piece during my teenage study years I kind of never want to hear the first movement EVER again! 

[mrnhrtkmp210999]

Mozart is, for many people, a mental blockade which is difficult to overcome. Some things that helped me to get trough fast runs and to get them to sound very light in sonatas K. 284, 310, 311, 332, 333, 533/494 and 576:

- Rhythmical variations: playing the runs not evenly as (usually) 16th notes but as a dotted rhythm. After doing this with the same passage for a few days you should have it pretty much under your belt.

- Then when you've got the notes in your fingers, you should move on to lighten them up. Try to hear the passage in your head before you actually play it. Just each passage apart. No left-hand accompaniment. Just the right (or left-hand) passage.

- If you're also experiencing trouble with the Alberti-bass figure. Try to keep your fingers close to the keys. This surely helped for me.

BW,
Marijn