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Post by Zi on Jan 19, 2023 17:43:54 GMT
Treble:
Greensleeves to a Ground Various bits of Susato from The Renaissance Recorder (Rosenberg). Really nice selection of pieces! Some Hotteterre from Baroque Recorder Anthology 3. Entree du bal, Bouree and odds and ends from The Solo Book for Treble recorder (Vol 2) Runge. I really like this little book!
Descant:
Bach Suite No 2 The Seven Dances of BMV 1067
I've been playing the Bach for ages! But it is wonderful to play. I especially like the Rondeau.
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Post by Zi on Jan 19, 2023 19:05:58 GMT
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Post by pavane on Jan 20, 2023 10:26:46 GMT
Thank you, I will have a look at that. I do love Bach, but it's usually a nightmare to play. I've tried the flute sonata of course on recorder. The easiest bit is the last movement which I think is a G8 piece. I can play it, but I don't think I'd pass! (I'm playing it on the clarinet now too, why not, though it's even worse than on the recorder.) A long time ago I started learning piano, mainly because I really wanted to be able to play the harpsichord, mainly because I wanted to play Bach harpsichord music. It didn't quite turn out like that. I could stumble through a couple of the things that were supposed to be for one of the sons to play, and the first couple of the 48, but stumble really was the word and I wisely retired from the fray.
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Post by Zi on Jan 20, 2023 11:52:23 GMT
It's played here in its entirety.
I've never listened to anyone else playing it because I didn't want to get all sad. My rhythm is an issue. However, just realised my timing on this is fine (Rondeau) but I need to sloooow down. They'd be disco dancing at the tempo I'm doing. So today, I'm all smug! I'm so pleased with myself that I'm moving on to semi quavers! The Polonaises I think... (We call them Bologneses here). I've improved a smidgen. Hurray!!! Eight years to get to semi quavers - at this rate I'll need to live a very very very long time! I'll try my best!
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Post by Zi on Jan 20, 2023 11:59:52 GMT
Thank you, I will have a look at that. I do love Bach, but it's usually a nightmare to play. I've tried the flute sonata of course on recorder. The easiest bit is the last movement which I think is a G8 piece. I can play it, but I don't think I'd pass! (I'm playing it on the clarinet now too, why not, though it's even worse than on the recorder.) A long time ago I started learning piano, mainly because I really wanted to be able to play the harpsichord, mainly because I wanted to play Bach harpsichord music. It didn't quite turn out like that. I could stumble through a couple of the things that were supposed to be for one of the sons to play, and the first couple of the 48, but stumble really was the word and I wisely retired from the fray. One of the very first pieces I ever played on the recorder was Jesu Joy etc etc. I used it as a dexterity and breathing exercise. It sounded awful! My poor husband loves Bach and it must have been torture. I then went on to the Anna Magdalena. I really didn't care how much I mangled it because the Bach I see has a sense of humour and was kind - I was sure he was generous enough not to 'mind'. But it's only now I've started tackling anything even remotely more complex. G8 stuff is well beyond me and might always be. I travel hopefully. But it doesn't matter does it? If one is playing and enjoying then improvement is almost bound to happen. No piece I play will ever be 'perfect' - even Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and variations. But trying has to make me happy or indeed it's best to retire from the fray too!
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Post by pavane on Jan 20, 2023 13:48:00 GMT
That All Of Bach series is brilliant - we often watch their videos. I think Mrs Pavane has developed a bit of a crush on the first violinist!
Nothing I play is ever perfect. I have absolutely settled into a "travelling hopefully" zone
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Post by Zi on Jan 24, 2023 11:11:48 GMT
I've steered clear of youtube but I've seen some in the last few days. I'm appalled by the adverts. But I have to admit that the vid above seriously impressed me. I never listen to pieces I play until I think I have them right and until recently I've always been bitterly disappointed so it was always something I did reluctantly because I didn't want to be too fed up with me!
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Post by pavane on Jan 25, 2023 9:35:09 GMT
I've started playing about with the B♭ Real Book which I've had for a while but not got around to doing anything with. They are aimed mainly at jazz players but would, I think, be a bit of fun for many others too. Basically, you get the melody plus the chord sequence, which is intended to be the basis of an improvisation, but with a lot of the effort taken out of it. There are various of these things around: they've been extended beyond the original jazz idiom to other genres - there's even a Christmas one! You choose the genre and instrument pitch. You get a LOT of music to experiment with: the standard ones have about 400 songs in them.
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Post by keff on Jan 25, 2023 10:28:40 GMT
Pavane, looking at the link to Real Book they appear very similar to what I have become accustomed to but known as "Fake Books"...quite the opposite choice of words! I have become to know the music contained within as lead sheets. Having said that I don't think I have ever tried to play from them but have thought about it often. I would have to get used to playing the block chords with my left hand and if it is jazz put in the seventh note. Would be useful though if playing lots of tunes in public.
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Post by pavane on Jan 25, 2023 10:54:17 GMT
They were indeed fake books! I presume the publisher renamed them. I have *never* played from lead sheets and can't exactly open the book at page n and go for it, but it's fun to mess about with. I did try once on a piano, and it sounded surprisingly good (all things considered!) playing the chords as simple arpeggios, complete without seventh, but I'm too slow for anything beyond the very simplest.
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Post by Zi on Jan 25, 2023 11:11:13 GMT
I'd never heard of real or fake books so obviously now I really have to see one! There's a mini fake book for clarinet by Paul Harris. It goes from G1 to G4. I really have to try it. There isn't one for recorder but there is one for flute which might mean the recorder can manage some of it.
On my music stand this morning is newly arrived from Hugh Gorton Bks 3-5 sight reading for the treble recorder. All flushed with success over quavers, I thought I'd try some semi quavers interspersed and Hugh is really good at grading pieces. I long ago stopped seeing his books as just for sight reading.
edit to add: Hugh's books are called Recorder Practice Book. He developed them to fill a whacking great hole in sight reading for recorders. He does two flavours - the first is for instruments in C (descant or tenor) and the other for instruments in F (treble, sopranino). But the books will work on other melodic instruments (violin, clarinet, oboe, flute etc). The start at Grade 1 and got to Grade 8. There are three sections: Sight Reading, Studies and Practice Pieces. The range of music is extensive so side by side with some Bach you'll find some folk music or a nursery rhyme. He has a very clear idea as to what each grade should include and each book tells you what to expect.
My love of sight-reading is down to Hugh! But I use the books for developing skills in particular notes or rhythms - not just for sight reading any more. If you're learning recorder (or other melodic instrument) and you want lots of diverse material then this might fit the bill. The books are wire bound so stay flat on the music stand.
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Post by keff on Jan 25, 2023 14:13:15 GMT
I have just found daughter's Eta Cohen violin method books 1-3 and it is tempting to put the first one on a music stand to start learning. Piano does take an awfully long time though and either I run out of time or patience or both. For the price we paid, it is a nice violin. The bow could do with a re-hair....much like me!
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Post by Zi on Jan 25, 2023 14:24:33 GMT
I have just found daughter's Eta Cohen violin method books 1-3 and it is tempting to put the first one on a music stand to start learning. Piano does take an awfully long time though and either I run out of time or patience or both. For the price we paid, it is a nice violin. The bow could do with a re-hair....much like me! Go for it! I bet it would be fun. I'm learning clarinet this year - zero pressure. 20 mins a day. I get where I get; though I'm hoping to be able to play very very simple carols by Christmas. If I can't then I'll try for the Christmas after. I have 5 notes at the moment. I never move on till a note is secure. So who knows I may have just enough for Jingle Bells by Christmas! On the ABRSM forum some people did a [insert name of instrument here] challenge and tried to get to G1. I believe some were sponsored so did it for charity. If you can do that kind of thing without getting too obsessed or competitive, it looks like fun. However, I guess some people end up in that weird place that isn't fun. It's sad when things start out as fun and suddenly become all earnest and competitive...
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Post by Zi on Feb 7, 2023 18:35:04 GMT
I have started more things... I really need to stocktake I think. The descant is playing Handel's Alla Hornpipe because I found it in the sight reading book and have got obsessed with it. It's also stuck on the Bach 7 Dances. The treble has a long, long list of Telemann and the clarinet is stuck with Now The Day is Over and When The Saints... and long notes. I'm finding it a bit hard to make a decision over it all so I think I will resort to a random decision generator! I do miss my teacher at such times because she could always find something and she wouldn't have let me hang around with that Bach for this long! Do the rest of you get to these places sometimes or is it just me?
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Post by keff on Feb 7, 2023 19:31:23 GMT
I certainly ebb and flow with my pieces and enthusiasm. I think at one time my teacher had an impression that I would pass from one piece to the next rather too quickly but I'm hoping she has changed her mind of late due to some of the big pieces I have been tackling; Beethoven's moonlight (all three movements apart from cutting the third movement short just before it changes key...life too short, Schubert Impromptu in A flat, Debussy 1st Arabesque and Girl with the flaxen hair). Having said this I probably am of the opinion it is better to play lots of shorter pieces than a few long ones.
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