Choosing Repertoire

Well, friends, I haven't kept track of my practice hours, and sadly, they have dwindled as I have finished memorizing my jury pieces. But now it's time to start working toward getting ready for the next semester, so I'll be prepared for lessons come January. I'm trying to decide what I should learn next.

I need to learn a sonata, and I've been stewing about which one to learn. A sonata is a major multi-movement work, usually 10-20 minutes long. It's a big commitment to learn one, because it takes a long time to learn one and you'd better like it because you are going to spend 6-18 months getting it ready.

My graduate recital is supposed to be one hour long and include works from three historical periods (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic, Contemporary).

Here are my concerns:

1. I want to like the music.
2. I want the average Joe in the audience to be able to "get" the music.
3. I want the music to be of such a level of difficulty that it is appropriate for competitions/doctoral auditions (for instance, I don't think I could in good conscience put "Claire de Lune" on my program, as beautiful as it is).

In spite of all of this, there are some wonderful pieces of music that I really want to learn that I'm not sure whether they satisfy concern #3. I hope someday I can earn a doctoral degree. However, what if I don't? What if my hand gets caught in a meat grinder and I never play again? What if I get hit by a bus and am paralyzed from the neck down? What if my hands get blown off in a hunting accident? I want this program to be music that I've ALWAYS wanted to learn, and may never have another chance at. This puts me in a position where I may have to compromise on #3. I feel like I'm slightly at odds with my teacher over this.

Here's what I have so far:

Chopin Ballade #4 in f minor (11:30) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_PBTGfhWD8 followed by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLyumz2jMZY
Copland Down a Country Lane (2:06) and Midsummer Nocturne (2:00)(not on my list of favorites, but learned out of necessity to satisfy jury requirements), and
Barber's Excursion #3 to complete the little American set(3:23): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-6LdUTX8xg
Granados El Pelele (4:13): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghQxWLvRz7s (probably my next project to learn)

Here's what I WANT to learn:

Beethoven Sonata Op. 2 No. 3
Allegro (10:31) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf0olqfc9V0 (I love this recording!)
Adagio (8:39) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euDNSrT2Z8M&feature=related
Scherzo (2:54) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWGqND-nZTw&feature=related
Allegro (5:18) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qb5f1fTKdw&feature=related (inhuman clarity on this recording!)

That leaves 10 more minutes, so I'll learn more Spanish music to finish it. My teacher has extensive experience with the piano music of Spain, having worked with the legendary Alecia de Larrocha. It only makes sense to capitalize on this experience and learn from his area of expertise.

The only trouble is, after I've learned all of this, it's really terrible programming. You can't really begin a program with a 30 minute sonata, and the Ballade really should be last. SO I guess I'll chalk it up to practicality and do it anyway.

What are YOUR favorite sonatas?

It's been a good practice day!

How many hours have I practice today? I'm not sure. It's really hard to keep track when you do it all piecemeal. But tonight I sat down after dinner to play through everything one last time. I'm about halfway memorized on Chopin's 4th Ballade, and about 3/4 memorized on Rachmaninoff's 4th piano concerto. For the third piece for my jury, I'm preparing "Midsummer's Nocturne" by Copland. I was thrilled when I finished practicing and my husband chimed, "You sound great!" He almost never compliments my playing, so I felt that was a real compliment. And I will say, I'm sounding great.

I have a new practice strategy that some of you might want to try. Because of the studies that I've read stating the value of mental practice, and that mental practice is almost more helpful than actual physical practice, I've decided to include it in my practice strategy in a more deliberate way. Some of you know that I practice my music in small sections (1/2 a measure to 4 measures, depending on the difficulty of the music). Usually I try to play each section 10 times perfectly before I move on to the next section. With memorization, this is very helpful for me. So I decided to take lucky 3 and lucky 7 and do mental practice on the 3rd and 7th time through a section. I don't always remember to, but when I do, I think it's helpful. It gives my hands a chance to rest, and gives me more focus for all the other times. Give it a try and tell me what you think.