As I noted in my last blog, I am now in the process of 'test driving' the program to see how it will go. I gave my initial test performance last Thursday (today's Monday) and did another one on Friday. On Saturday I gave a lecture-recital on Beethoven and played portions of the program I'm giving on April 24th. And yes, I broke my own rule and played only the first movement of the 'Moonlight.' This was a lecture-recital in memory of one of my first piano students when I came to Palomar College nearly 25 years ago, and it felt right to close the concert with a performance of the quiet first movement. He had recently passed away. His Sister told me that he used to play the movement late at night, and that it brought back very tender memories for her. So, I broke my own rule and there was a rightness to doing that. Ordinarily I wouldn't play just one movement of a Sonata, nor would I end with quiet piece, but in this case, it seemed to work. Then on Sunday, I tried the program on a Fazioli concert grand in a private home. The piano was magnificent, and it was a good workout to try the program on a new instrument in a new setting, without any warmups.
Of course, having a first-class piano to work with was very inspiring - the piano I played on the pervious day for the lecture-recital was a Steinway 6' grand that had been rebuilt. It was serviceable, but nothing to write home about. I own a 7'4“ Falcone grand, which is a lovely instrument I've had for over 15 years. However, it's very important not to practice the program on just one instrument, and then move to another hall and instrument to perform. We can get used to the sounds of a particular instrument and its idiosyncracies, and moving to another instrument (especially if it is inferior) can pose problems - we may hear things we've never heard, or we may lose things that a better instrument brings out.
The concert on Sunday the 24th will be on a 7 foot Steinway, about 6 years old, in a hall the seats 500. (This is the Escondido Center for the Arts) The acoustics of the hall are excellent, and the piano is very good (although I must say not as good as the Fazioli from Sunday.) Most unfortunately, however, I will be unable to rehearse in the hall until 11:00 am the day of the performance. I'll have one hour, and then the tuner will come in. This poses special logistical problems that I'll deal with in another blog. It's doable (fortunately, I've played on the piano in that hall before, so it won't be a total surprise) but I need to plan very carefully in order to bring it off.
At any rate, I'm now “off” tryouts for today and tomorrow. On Thursday I'll try it here for a friend at 2:30 in the afternoon (Nota bene: the program is at 2:00 in the afternoon, so it's always good to schedule a tryout or two at that time. The Sunday tryout was at 2:00 also.) I'll also try it on Friday morning for two students - also at home. On this occasion, the students will follow along with the score, which adds a little 'pressure.' That will probably be the last tryout - Saturday I'll just practice quietly at home.
So exactly how am I practicing these last few days? First of all, I'm not playing the program fast, or at concert tempo. I'm working in tempo meditando using the metronome to establish a tempo of a quarter note = 72. At this tempo, the piece moves, but does not run. I use the score, noting any deviations that may have slipped into my memory. I note the dynamics, any expressive markings I may have overlooked. I also run continuous 'body scans' to see if there are any places where I'm tightening up. For me the indicators of tightening are:
holding my breath
tightening at the shoulder
pulling up on the sole of my left foot (don't ask me why, but it's a sure indicator of tension)
When I note one of these symptoms, it's like a yellow light indicating insecurity and tension. I may repeat that passage to make sure I'm as loose as possible.
In the case of the 'Moonlight' the tempo meditando applies to the last movement. It's very helpful here as I can notice how even at the slower tempo, there are places where I tend to rush. In general these are places where there is a repeated figuration, such as measure 33 and following, where the figuration winds back on itself. This is also a passage where the rhythmic/metric structure of the 16th notes is tricky. We have to be very careful that we don't inadvertently accent the first 'e' 16th note afer the A Major chord - doing so will make the rhythmic structure be unbalanced. The first metric accent is on the f-sharp immediately after, and then on the 'a' which begins the fourth beat. Metric accents are not conventional accents in the sense that we play louder, there more a felt/thought sense of where the beat and its subdivisions precisely lie.
I also tend to rush in the passage that begins on measure 53 - again a pattern of repeated notes. There is a natural tendency to accelerate anytime the same information is repeated - I've seen it over and over again in my students. We have to be very vigilant not to let any accelerando happen unconsciously. I'm all for speeding up as an expressive device - but it must be applied with full awareness of what we are doing.
Apropos memory, I want to share one observation about the second movement. I've been insecure in measure 13, and just today figured out why. The last beat of ms. 12 and the entire next measure is varied in ms. 28/29. The notes are exactly the same, but the rhythm is different. Furthermore at 28/29 the same varied rhythm is repeated, whereas in measure 12/13 the rhythm appears with tied notes. By virtue of repetitions, we'll play measure 28/29 and its following repetition in 30/31 a total of six times, and measure 12/13 only three. If we're not careful, we'll want to apply the 28/29 pattern in place of the 12/13 as it is actually written. Again, making this pattern change conscious makes it less likely I'll 'mess it up' in performance.
Now apart from these kinds of specific observations, I'm spending some time each day just looking at the scores. I'm also beginning to hear the pieces in my head without the score. Yesterday while driving I went through the entire fugal development of the last movement of op. 101 several times, and also working through the last movement of 'Moonlight.' It's a good way to use up driving time!