LAGRIMA Kevin's Practice Diary
H there,
I decided to journal my experience walking through the "Lagrima in 7days" tutorial by Thomas Viloteau. I have been looking for a good technique for learning new music and I think this is a very good lesson and approach. I was a bit surprised that the sheet music was not furnished with the lesson. I remember my teacher giving me a copy and I just buried it in my collection. Fortunately I was able to find it and rework the fingerings.
Having done the analysis (day 1) and fingerings (day 2 & 3), I am at day 4 practicing part A.
I will upload a clip shortly of me playing section A.
Thank you,
Kevin
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Kevin Mudd Hi Kevin, so great to see you here! I'll see what's up with that score of ours, but great that you already found an alternative! Looking forward to you playing that piece!
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Kevin Mudd Hi Kevin, here's the score for the course by Thomas!
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Martin Thank you! How did I miss it? I appreciate your help :)
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Martin Question: how should I upload a video clip? I was going to just attach it but it's very large or should I upload first to YouTube and share link?
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Kevin Mudd Oh, we just re-uploaded it, there was an issue with the link!
For uploading a video clip I'd recommend to upload that to youtube and share it with the "Add Video" button! File Sizes are only supportet until 50mb, that's usually way too small for a performance!
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Martin thank you, this is why I didn’t start this course. I couldn’t find the sheet music. Thank you, now I will begin!
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Kevin, you have made a good selection, because this piece is really amazing. Looking forward to hearing you play :)
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Hi,
So it's been a while since I updated my diary. I've gone through the 7 day course and a couple of things:
1. I couldn't be happier about the the techniques and tricks I've learned. I've had so many "a-ha" moments I can't even count. Thomas is such an amazing teacher. I have already been using this straight forward treatment to learning other pieces.
2. This course has shown me my own weaknesses in approaching new music. I don't mind sharing here: I didn't think through the piece before I dove in (analysis). And when I did dive in, I start with the beginning and just "run and gun" until I run out of gas. I have no plan, no sense of scope. I didn't break it down into it's logical parts (presentation - response)I I would try to learn and memorize large sections at the same time. I never wrote my own fingerings and usually go with what's written assuming they are always the best.
3. I now have a base to build upon. And I don't know how else to put this but Thomas imparts an urgency to get the front work completed (analysis, fingerings id, trouble spots etc) before digging deep and really practicing. For me this is imperative as it allows me to get through the piece several times so it's familiar faster and not a brand new piece every time I pick it up. Again, the pace says "let's not waste time. let's be efficient, keep moving and progressing". I get board easily and my mind drifts so this is a refreshing new insight :)
That all said, here is where I'm at. I've gotten through the piece and am practicing the A and B parts utilizing all of the front end information. Below is a recording of part A early in the course. I'll record and post part B hopefully soon.
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Kevin Mudd This is so awesome to read about all you’re learning, and then to hear the results on your recording! Lagrima is such a perfect piece for “learning how to learn” (not to mention that it’s really beautiful!). Great work, and I look forward to hearing the B section.
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Kevin Mudd This is a fantastic update! Not only am I delighted to hear your beautiful performance of the A section, but also that this piece led you to a new understanding of approaching new music! I regularly come back to these little gems (Lagrima included) as there is always a new layer to be discovered! We're super happy to have Thomas' intensive session as there are so many valuable insights that are applicable to many more pieces!
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Kevin Mudd What a wonderful post Kevin! Your discussion of how you have approached this piece and what you have learned is excellent (I should take note! as I tend to just plow ahead as you mentioned). Your results are wonderful. Good job.
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Eric Phillips thank you so much for your encouraging words, I really appreciate the support
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Martin Thanks Martin, I appreciate your words, it's been life changing here at Tonebase
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Jack Stewart Thanks John, your words are very encouraging.
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Hi guys, it’s been awhile.. 2 weeks fly by fast! I am presenting part B of Lagrima.
next steps are to be able to get through the piece without any/too many mistakes.
General questions about when to transition from learning one piece to picking up another new on:
- how many new pieces do you work on at one time?
- are they at different stages or will you pick up 2 brand new pieces and learn them together?
- how do you know when to bring a new piece on board if you are already working on a piece?
One of my primary goals is consistent practice schedule and I don’t know what that looks like yet. So I was thinking of making a “Practice Diary” post on just developing a plan.
what do you guys think?so until next time, thank you for letting me a part of this community and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Cheers,
Kevin
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Kevin Mudd Really good work, Kevin! Your sound is nice, and the rhythm is really solid. If possible, try to work on making the notes of the melody ring out for their full duration.
As for how many pieces to work on, and when to move on, there are no rules, obviously. Since, like me, you are an amateur, it’s probably best to work on one repertoire piece at a time and give that your focus (in addition to technical exercises and maybe some sight reading). Most of us probably tend to move on too quickly to new pieces, without really getting all we can out of the pieces we work on. (I am VERY guilty of this!) A general rule would be to work on a piece until it’s “performance ready”, meaning you can play it well enough to perform it for someone. That’s still a bit subjective, of course, but it gives us some idea.
I’m happy you’re a part of this community too. I look forward to hearing more music from you!
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Eric Phillips hey Eric thank you so much for your comments and the positive feedback! I think your observations are spot on and and they have made me realize that I don’t know the melody as well I should. So I went back to the piece and focused on playing and isolating the melody and it really opened the piece in a way that I didn’t hear before.
This issue really revealed one of my biggest hurdles when dealing with new music. I don’t take the time to reallly understand what’s being said in the tune. As I mentioned earlier post, I will hear a tune I like and then brute force my way through it. So this is all good stuff for me to work on.
Hopefully when I record the whole piece the melody will be well represented and each note held to its rightful duration.
As for the general practice questions, You confirmed my intuition. I think the point is don’t be in a hurry to move on before the piece is solid and performance ready…. Again thank you for your experience and time to help me
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Kevin Mudd Yes, if it’s a piece with a melody (which Lagrima is) it’s always a good idea to play the melody alone. Everything else is secondary to the melody.
Keep up the good work!
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Eric Phillips sorry for this question. I've been trying to think of or imagine a piece without a melody and cannot. Did you have one in mind?
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Kevin Mudd Some pieces in the repertoire are a bit more arpeggio-based, such as Villa-Lobos' Etude 1 or Brouwer's Estudio Sencillo 6. I'd be hard pressed to find a melody in either of those.
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Eric Phillips ah yes makes perfect sense now. Thanks
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Kevin Mudd Hey Kevin, sorry for being somewhat absent in your diary, but it seems that you're in best care with Eric Phillips valuable comments!
I'd recommend to analyze several different players and their videos to get an idea of how they chose their fingerings in order to make the notes ring in their intended length. Furthermore, you're having a wrong note in the B Major chord on Count 3 in the first bar, where your third finger lands on the 3rd string instead of the 2nd string (that renders the B Major 7 chord into a B-sus2 and taking out a lot of the musical tension that helps guiding the melody).
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Martin Ah Martin ! Good catch (I'm somewhat embarrassed ). Thanks for checking out my diary. I will definitely heed your advice and look at other people playing this piece.
I will keep practicing and refining this little gem and hopefully within a week I can produce a near perfect complete song.
I appreciate all the help here, I truly found my people here at tonebase.com thank you so much!
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Kevin Mudd No need to be embarrassed, this happens to all of us, I kinda recomposed a whole part of "Mazurka Appassionata" by Barrios because I didn't bother reading it properly, haha
We are super happy to have you here, keep practicing and keep growing
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Hello,
finally had the chance to record the whole piece.
I hope you enjoy , thanks for listening.
constructive criticism is always welcome
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