| Before you actually begin
to play your new piece of music, look at it carefully. Look
at the title in the center of the page. Is your piece a concerto
or a sonata or a gavotte or a rondo? Do you know what those
words mean? Do they imply more than just a name? Is the title
also a form of music? If you don't know what the title means,
you should look it up. Try the glossary here in the site first
or go to the Harvard Dictionary of Music or the online New
Grove Dictionary. Knowing what you are playing can save
you practice time.
Is there a key listed in the title? If so, you already know
what scale the piece is based on; if not, you will have to
look at the key signature. Do you know where to find the key
signature?
Look at the right side of the music over the first stave
of music. This is where you find the composer's name and perhaps,
if you are lucky, the composer's date(s). Back to the New
Grove Dictionary to find out what period and what style or
styles your composer wrote in. This is important because you
will need to alter position, fingering and bowing choices
depending on the period.
Now that you know something about the piece and the composer;
look at the left side of the music and see if there is a tempo
marking or a character indication. Does it say Andante or
Vivace or dolce or con brio? If so, you will have a better
idea of general tempo and/or character. Look up these terms
in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Does your music show a quarter
note = 126 or a half note = 60? If so, you know what the composer
(or editor) thought would be a good speed for the music.
Don't forget to look at the key and time signatures now before
you start to play and don't forget that vital step of imagining
what the music will sound like. After you have imagined the
piece, try playing through to see what you can already play
and what you will need to work on to be able to play. If you
played everything perfectly first time through, skip to the
section that helps with performance. If there were a few spots
that need help, skip to Practice Techniques. If you are feeling
overwhelmed by your piece and you are wondering why your teacher
ever suggested it (or why you ever suggested playing it to
your teacher), read on here.
I suggest making lists of the different types of techniques
(rhythms or bowings or musical devices) used in your new piece.
Write down the measures containing the same rhythms (or bowings
or double stops, or chords or octaves or scales and arpeggios
or figured passages or sequential patterns). Once you do this
you will be amazed. It is likely that your piece contains
only 5-8 different kinds of material and this should help
you to feel that learning your new piece is a manageable task.
In addition, you will discover important organizational information
and will have a better sense of the structure of the piece.
Now that you have these wonderful organizational lists, use
them.
1) Put your instrument down and clap or say the rhythm for
one of your "list" passages.
2) With the instrument and bow, play the rhythm with the bowing
on open strings or even on just one open string.
3) Add the dynamics and phrasing to the rhythm and bowing.
4) Add the pitch to rhythm, bowing, phrasing and dynamics.
5) Try steps 1-4 for the whole piece. You will make interesting
discoveries about passages that are identical or at least
similar and you will also have a better idea of how the different
passages fit together long before you can actually play them
as a unified piece.
If you can't play it perfectly right now, don't despair;
the next section contains a collection of various techniques
you can use to master your piece.
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