The Life of a Piece (do they die?)

February 14, 2007 at 3:54 AM

The life of a piece....birth, growth, attitude, humility, decline, frustration and denial, and death.

I really feel that my pieces have followed this lately. For example: Bach suite no.3. THere was a point where it was sounding really good. Then I lost the joy. And then the musical aspects left it. Then I tried frantically to get them back, without the joy...with something hardcore. And then I just couldn't get it over the technical hurdles that were un necessary to start with.
So I've stopped playing it and started suite no.5. I am excited every time I start to work on it, and have a lot of joy while working on it. And it sounds a millino times better than the 3rd does at this point, even though it is merely past sightreading phase.

I wonder, with the 5th suite die, too? Or will it continue to hold me in it's palm for years and years. What about a piece makes that distincion?

I've wondered if it is a weakness of mine. Not to completely polish a piece. But that isn't it. I've played many recitals and worked certain peices (like Beethoven concerto and some bach and Mendelssohn etc. etc.) for two or three years, and not lost the desire to play it better.

Anyway. I'm exhausted. We're moving right now. Get the keys tomorrow. I've been packing and organizing. Which means lots of time spent in nostalgia land and scanning throuhg sheet music. I found a stack of my practice logs. Wow. There was a time where I'd print out discussions or responses to my questions from V.com and paste them in my practice journal. He he. Some even because themes.

Well. Off to work on orchestra music.

Sals,
Jennifer

From Mendy Smith
Posted on February 14, 2007 at 4:21 AM

Don't give up on the 3rd! The technical part that throws you off on Prelude is the bowings. Take those out for awhile until the shifts are mastered. The Bouree's are really nice and not so technically challenging. Gigue is a study on drones (much like the 1st Prelude - there is a repeating theme on this on the other suites). The 5th is good for when you are sad or depressed. I especially like Prelude on this Suite.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on February 15, 2007 at 2:16 PM

SImply leave the 3rd alone two months and it'll be fun again. I don't know if this is good professional advice, but it's good amateur advice :)

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

The Life of a Piece (do they die?)

Subscribe

Laurie's Books