November 22, 2009

Today I'm back to the Mendelssohn, Songs without Words:

The Poet's Harp (Op. 38, No. 3): Was practicing to get the cantabile feel, particularly in the movement of the left hand. Was a bit rusty, definitely need to work on the chord section at the bottom of page 2. I played today until the piu forte section on page 3. The key was a little all over the place: I kept forgetting that D is flattened. Don't really feel that confident with this piece, and not sure if I'm ever going to get to a decent standard with it. I may well give it up for something a little easier.

On the Seashore (Op. 53, No. 1): Ah my favourite! Sounded lovely to be back with the Seashore piece, was concentrating on perfecting it today. Thinking about the pedal in the section with only right hand - need to rethink my pedaling here I think. Overall, though, it works well right now.

Reverie (Op. 85, No. 1): Nice. Need to watch the pedaling in this piece, which is frequently multiple lifts a phrase. Didn't adhere to the sf on page 2, and need to remember the pp at the final chord. I'm still unsure about the off-beats in the main melody**, really need an instructor to demonstrate what to do here. Also, would like to ask someone if the hair-pins above the treble clef are exactly that: for the treble chef only?** Hmmm. This piece just needs a little polish to complete.

May Breezes (Op. 62, No. 1): This piece is at a more advanced stage than I remembered, and actually playing reinforced the fact that The Poet's Harp is much harder than the other pieces I am playing, and I've decided to take it off the reportoire (post-it removed). Anyway, I enjoy this piece for the hand-swapping that goes on, its pretty unusual and fun.

As to what to play next, I've just googled 'songs without words opus intermediate level' and have these clues (in totally random order): Op. 30, No. 6 (definitely looks easy); Op. 38, No. 4 ('Hope'); Op. 38, No. 6 (interesting two melody piece); Op. 19, No. 6 (the other Venetian Book Song); Op. 53, No. 5 (Folk Song); Op. 38, No. 2 ('Lost Happiness')

And super cool!... just found a 'Mendelssohn Appreciation' group online that are learning intermediate songs from this collection. I'm going to join! :-)

Another question for instructor**: I want to understand how the whole opus numbering system works, why there's also a number to the left of the opening phrase? And why there is another numbering system in the book title as well?