Lesson #99C (11/4/12): Eb Maj scale, position piece

This was a fun lesson!


1) New Scale: Eb Major 
Learned a new scale!

• Eb Major = F Dorian Minor 
• 3 flats: Eb, Bb, Ab

Fingering:
     IV     III                           II           I  
    2   4   0   1  2  4   1  2  4   1  2  4   1  3  4  0
1st pos                    4th         3rd        2nd

Things to work on:

• Shifting more smoothly - I need to make sure my notes are "connected" 
• String crossing with left hand - make sure available fingers are moving to the new string while the current ones are in play. This allows for more accurate shifts since there is a reference point. Clayton wants me to be more aware of opportunities to move fingers over to the other strings when possible. 

Fanfare from Position Pieces
I really enjoy working on intonation because it's difficult to work on intonation by myself. Even with a drone it's difficult to hear if it's correct; that is, I can't recognize if something is correct if someone doesn't point it out to me first. Now that we've been doing these intonation exercises I'm starting to hear the beats more easily and recognize when notes played together are in tune.

• Ringing tones - Clayton recommended that I work on ringing tones before starting this piece so I can "get it in my ear" 
• Play with a drone - I typically play with a drone, but I think what I will do is record the second part which is an easy chord (open D&C and A&D) 
• We worked relative intonation and hearing the clarity of each note and making sure that it rings 

Minuet No. 1
We went through this pretty quickly, the primary thing I need to work on is getting ringing tones for the notes, especially the C on the G string.

• Shifting 
• Clayton wants me to shift more smoothly since I tend to be jerky and rushed. 
• Also, I tend to leave my finger behind which causes my shift to be sluggish and jerky, so he had me shift to 2nd position and play C on the G string, hop my pinky to the D, and then make sure the rest of my fingers move to the D string before starting my shift. 
• I discovered that it's difficult to reach over and "hop back and forth" between the two strings which made me realize that my hand may be too tense, and that I may possibly be squeezing a bit...I've got to test this out... 

Minuet No. 3
I really love this piece! This is going to be fun to work on!

• Extensions - in measure 17 he wants me to keep my hand extended. Surprisingly, I'm getting used to doing extensions! I know in my previous posts I complained a bit about them, but now they're not so bad... 
• Shifting - I'm having the same issue with leaving my finger behind so we worked on this a bit on this piece too. 
• Intonation - same as always, listen for ringing tones. I'm always a bit timid on new pieces that I haven't played in front of my teachers so my intonation wasn't as good as I normally play it at home. 

I think after this piece, I'm going to request that we work on something other than the Suzuki Book and go back to learning Jazz, or doing ensemble work, so I keep my two lessons more separate.