Practice plans on ToneBase

I haven’t had a lot of time there later but I see there is a new tutorial on trills (this is good news) and I answered the questions for a practice plan. This resulted in a list of 8 courses to follow:

  • How to sightread with both hands
  • How to play repeated notes
  • How to play arpeggions in inversions
  • How to use the left pedal
  • Playing Short Trills, Mordents and Trills
  • Pavane pour une infante defunte
  • Controlling the 6 Primary Dynamics
  • Illuminating Beethoven.

That last one is with Seymour Bernstein and I really like his delivery.

Anyway, it’s not a bad set of recommendations. I’m not saying I can’t sight read with both hands (I can) but if there are useful tips, this would be good. Repeated notes I need to practice, and the arpeggios in inversions I used to do as a teenager. One thing I have found is what I did as a teenager is often described differently by the American teachers (which is basically ToneBase, from my point of view). For the pedals, yeah, I use the sustain a lot because I love the echoing sound it produces. I typically used the left pedal on my acoustic to shut myself up as a teenager so probably that lecture is going to be illuminating.

The surprising one is the Pavane. I honestly thought that was probably beyond my level. It is on my to be learned list although not on my Learning List playlist on my phone – I must rectify that – but it was for later. I’ll give a listen to that lesson as well later on.