Nia Mutiara

Some tips to practice…

I guess these may be Mrs. Low’s teaching pattern…

Notes

If we don’t get them mostly correct, she’ll tell us to practice. Don’t ever think of playing perfectly correct. Striving for perfectly correct notes is very stressful… There are some other else besides notes…

Rhythm, timing

Counting problems (incorrect timing, rushing, slowing down, being not together, polyrhythm difficulty) are very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very common.

Mrs. Low may not be keen on highlighting them. I guess she will only say something like “You must count” or “You should hear each other” (= a polite version of “use your ears!”).

The following are my own translation of those two common phrases:

“You must count” = Let your head plays a metronome for a while and follow it, or check the notes again.
“You should hear each other” = Follow partners, remind your partners if they are rushing or slowing down by playing the correct rhythm. If they can’t be reminded, ...follow them.

I think a bar of pause can be used to check whether the current rhythm is correct.

Dynamics, techniques

The hardest to teach, the hardest to get, yet the most beautiful part of music... [I even don't know what I'm talking about... hahaha]

She can start to touch your hands/wrists if some notes does not sound with the correct amplitude (too loud, too harsh, or too soft). If you don't do pedaling, she'll point you some places to do pedaling [pedal here and there, put your foot on pedal, etc.]. She can also ask you to visualize certain parts of pieces (if they can be visualized).

Techniques are something to get as exact as possible, so she will tell a lot if you do not get them correctly. [oh yeah, I'm one of the victims :P] Errrrrr but notes and rhythms must be correct first.

On the other hand, dynamics may be...somewhat free. So, putting own's interpretation is somewhat encouraged.
"Is that what you want?"
"You don't seen happy with it."
"Does it sound like what you want?"
"We can do either this or ...this. Which one do you prefer?" 

Well, sometimes it's not that free... If you want to be safe, try to copy dynamics from a lot of recordings.

Tempo

I guess this is rarely discussed… She can definitely tell our maximum tempo, though.

The pattern really makes sense, anyway...

Coming up with our own 4 things will boost progress during master class or rehearsal with Mrs. Low. It’s similar to reading lecture notes and coming up with one’s own understanding before a lecture.

But... don't think about this too much. Most of us are not from music major...

If she doesn’t give any comment, a miracle happens! XD
Of perhaps it's not the time for her to give comments... 

Handling nervousness is not taught. Please practice in front of your friends or any strangers to get used with it.

Anyway... now you can try to teach yourself...

Tags: how to