My result of the TWI on tonebase. What you can't see is my brain's CPU running at 100% 😆 So much to think of. It is far from perfect yet, but I am really really pleased. I know my tone and interpretation is mich better than it would have been without the course. Now I need more practice to gain better note security, so that I can listen better to both hands. And then apply what I've learned on the second part of the piece.
What I learned so far:
- singing the soprano out loud helps tremendously on finding the right dynamics, rubato and phrasing. We started with this, and I came back to it quite often in my practise whenever I felt a glimpse of insecurity, especially about how to phrase, where to increase intensity and how long I want a pause to be.
- singing the bass was ... ugh.... so challenging! I needed to really practice it, which felt like lost time at first, because I wanted to practice piano, not singing. But it was worth it. Now I hear the bassline, that it also has a melody and direction. I can identify it better when listening back to my recordings and work on shaping it better.
However I find this to be the most difficult thing. My hand independence is not yet where I need it, and it takes a lot of concentration to focus on BOTH hands.
I am very sure this was excellent training for counterpoint as well!
- The intense work on tone had the side effect that I cared a lot about how to move my hands and stay relaxed. Also I managed to play softer, which is a thing my teacher quite often points out I should do more.
- in this tonebase group, I think I was by far the most unexperienced player. I feel very proud that I didn't run away but fought to keep up. I really practiced hard and I think it took me hours for things others could just do on the fly (especially the singing parts). Having all those experienced players was intimidating and inspirational at the same time. I felt like a child looking at all those grown ups, thinking "this is me in the future".