I followed you in the sheet music and I thought that you played it very well. The allegro section requires quite a lot of skill to be played at the correct tempo. I thought you nailed it. Well done imo.
This is one of the big reasons why I dont bother with grades and exams, they depress and dishearten, make you feel inadequate, and most of all they are nearly always sooooooo borrrrrrring. If I am investing time and energy into doing something I have to like it, it has to be fun or I simply move onto something else. The tunes I choose to learn and play well are those I like so that at the end of the process I feel I have achieved something. Thats not to say everything has to be easy, just that you have to like it.
I can definitely understand why grades and exams aren’t for everyone! I’ve always viewed the grades as a way to give a bit of progressive structure to my practice. I like being introduced to a list of pieces that I otherwise might not have found. However I know that just sticking to three pieces per grade isn’t enough to truly improve playing, or to give a rounded practice experience. I try to add other things in too, for learning and fun! I’ve been lucky so far, this is the first piece that I don’t really like too much. And I try to accept a bit of disheartenment as part of the journey, just as long as I don’t stay grumpy for too long, haha!
Ah, bonus comment for a personal recommendation as a recorder study: Try studying Telemann's Partita no.4 in G minor as a way to have didactic material to learn and at the same time playing a complete piece to learn. It's quite lengthty, it has 7 movements, but so far each movement it 1min up to 1:40min long to play, so it's about a 10min performance if you play all 7 in one go. But you don't need to learn them all in sequence like I am doing, nor you need to play all of the movements. I recommend this one because there are a couple of slow and easy movements to follow but they also throw at you some quick passages and, as in the 5th movement, they start getting you some tricky stuff to deal with. I recommend you to give attention only at the first 5 movements, as a means of studying (if you are comfortable, go for all 7 but some of them are hard), and I will give you my sequence of difficulty for the first 5 movements, from easiest to hardest: 1st - 4th - 3rd - 2nd - 5th 1st movement is the Grave. Very slow, tasteful, melody is easy to play. 4th is a short slow movement. Some tricky fingerings but not as bad as the others. 3rd starts to get hasty, this will be the gateway of the quickness of the Partita for you. Some tricky fingerings on it 2nd is hard not because it's fast, but it's because it has more tricky sequences than 3rd, in my opinion (maybe it might be easy for you!) 5th one is... By Zeus, Thoth and all the ancient gods, it's a hell of a task to get. It's fast, requires coordination, and double tonguing will be required if you want to play it. Definitely not easy to manage as a starter. Link to the Partita from IMSLP: ks.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/7/72/IMSLP249502-PMLP328524-IMSLP190513-WIMA.88b0-TP4_Trp.pdf This says "Trumpet in C", but it's because of the origin of this particular score. All parts I listed, besides 5th movement, can be played with an Alto recorder without any need to adapt (some parts have notes too low for the Alto, so you need to adapt some passages or practice with the Soprano, which is a whole other way of playing this piece)
Thanks for the recommendation! I’m always on the lookout for new things to learn… my list is getting longer than there is time in a day, but this one is a very good idea… it is hereby added to the list 😀
Tone and intonation is fine; I would go for more articulation variety with T, D, and R to make those fast values “pop” and sound cleaner. Values are not even in Baroque music; say “Wish I had a motorcycle”. Notice how all the syllables are NOT emphasized equally and how two syllable words go STRONG-weak, LONG-short …. Now say “TU-ru-Du-ru” or “Tu-du-Tu-du.” See how that works? ;). This is very important in Baroque music, and I would recommend you read historical sources on articulation for this matter. Quantz and Hotteterre are good to start with. Also, with slurs, start them all with a strong Tu - always use T for slurs - and don’t try to cut off the end notes with your tongue. Using T gives a strong and clean attack, and ever since my Dutch mentor taught me this trick, I have not had problems with sloppy sounding slurs. Fingers have some synchro issues; practicing slow motion is paramount in this, and carefully pay attention to what fingers go up and down. Finally, keep watching that jaw and throat so they aren’t tense and wiggling when you play; jaw needs to stay STILL, and if you see any movement in the tongue, you are not tonguing efficiently. Only use the very tip of the tongue and keep all other parts relaxed. There are no easy fixes for these situations; you must be patient with yourself, and if preparing for the exam is driving you crazy, take your time preparing for it and find other pieces to work on and reinforce the concepts you are struggling with. Here in the US where I live, we do not do graded exams, but in private study, we concentrate on customized learning, and I as a teacher (and most of my colleagues) will go picking repertoire based on your ability and needs to help get a solid foundation and help you get to your goals. If exams are your goal, go for it … but looking at the lists, I must say that as a teacher, there is much “in between” work to do between grades such that you develop the technical skills to pass those grades, and rushing anything will lead to bad habits. Trust me, I had to take shortcuts with some of my violin students for them to pass exams at school which contained repertoire well beyond their level, and the end result was often disaster with students needing much remedial technical work, being frustrated, and often quitting, which was sad since many of them were promising. I certainly don’t want that to happen to you with your beautiful enthusiasm and wonderful progress; take everything slow motion, be patient with yourself, and if you ever need me, I’m here to help. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions …
I think I’ll have a couple of days off this piece, and then try to come at it with a fresh mind and fresh ears. I promise I have been trying to relax my jaw as you suggested before! And also working on different articulations. But something about this piece makes me very tense, and the practice techniques go flying out of the window… Hopefully I’ll calm down about it and I can bring it all a bit more together eventually! I’m trying to make sure I treat the grade work as only part of learning, and practice. I’m also keen not to try and rush through them for the sake of it! My main reason for starting the grades was to bring a bit of structure to my practice. It also throws pieces of music my way that I otherwise may not have found. I do like the challenge of a set goal, but I know that the grades are definitely not the be-all-and-end-all. It suits me for now, but I’ll see how I go! I don’t believe that having a nice certificate on the wall that says ‘grade 6’ (or whichever) means that all your playing is truly up to that standard. I want to try to progress in a more rounded fashion, rather than just parrot- learning three pieces to get through an exam. But I do enjoy the grade work as a good starting point. Even if it did frustrate me this time 🙂 I really appreciate your advice on all this!
@@ClaythorpeMusic Excellent insight! If you like van Eyck, I would suggest Bravada … very sweet, only two variations. Get the theme down, then add the first variation when you are comfortable. Then when you are comfortable with that, go to the second with the sixteenth notes … try using did’ll double tongue or Tu-ru-du-ru on the sixteenth notes. Play around with how the articulation sounds … experiment and have fun! Just remember that ru (which is pronounced like a soft, gently tapped D … must be more subtle than D) always has to be paired with Tu or Du. Experiment. Listen to recordings of good players; Dan Laurin was my college recorder rock star, but now I also really enjoy the one and only Frans Bruggen, Peter Holtslag, and so many others. Listen to traverso players like Barthold Kuijken and Wilbert Hazelzet too … they really know how to play French music! Listen, read your sources, and experiment. Oh yes … the Dieupart Suite in E Minor is also another good piece for you, and I can see you trying the second movement of the Sammartini concerto. The fast movements are definitely beyond your skill level now, but the slow movement is very pretty and reachable for you. Rotate pieces. Take things bit by bit. Experiment and be patient with yourself at all times …. And trust yourself.
@@hemiola07 I’ve been listening to Frans Bruggen’s recordings a lot, lately. He seems almost superhuman! I haven’t come across either of the traverso players you mention, so I look forward to checking them out. I’m going to listen to the Dieupart Suite in E Minor and the Sammartini concerto next- I’ve just listened and looked at Bravade and it looks like something that’s just about spot on for me to begin tackling. You have very good judgement, thank you ☺️
About the slurred semiquavers you commented at the first minute: I learned this trick with the recorder master Sarah Jeffery from her videos on Team Recorder. To practice this kind of quick passage, you need to practice articulation on the notes. Let's pretend you have to play something like this on the Soprano recorder: G-A-B-A / F-G-A-G / E-F-G-E In the same notation as you described. Firstly, you need to walk slowly up the tempo, so you first slowly play the first note of this passage: G / F / E You'll get the hang of the passages. Then there's the technique Sarah Jeffery technique that helped a whole lot to understand and play those quick passages: You do the fingerings of the semiquavers, but you only play the notes in odd numbers and leave silence in every other note (let's assume lowercase letters are non-played fingered notes) G-a-B-a / F-g-A-g / E-f-G-e and you change it up to play only the even notes (this is a bit harder) g-A-b-A / f-G-a-G / e-F-g-E The reason for this kind of exercise is that Sarah Jeffery says the trickiest part about quick passages is to get the accuracy right. Hitting every other note will ensure you know when to act in given moments. I tried my best to give advice from my perspective, but I highly recommend to check her video on the subject (perhaps she will explain what I'm trying to say better than I would!) ruclips.net/video/Ep3VPPvKvVM/видео.html Good luck on your Trinity College grades, and keep practicing!
Thank you! You explained very clearly, thanks for the help. I have watched Sarah’s video in the past, but it feels like a long time ago so i’ll give it another watch. This is the kick I needed to put it into practice 🙂
@@ClaythorpeMusic glad I could help! I'm definitely a step ahead of you since I'm playing more complicated stuff than you do, but I'm no better than a low-intermediate player at the moment - my hardest piece I got lately was Telemann's Partita no.4's 5th movement, which has a bunch of tricky quick passages that mainly require training on fingerings, I also struggle to keep the tone even and to clean out the blips, so I'm just of a student like you are
Sounding very nice. I'd use alternate fingering for c to b slur. 13 for c 134 for b. I've finally got my grade 1 exam date set for the start of august. There will be an accompanist provided, I'm pretty sure this the case for all ameb practical exams. I'm most concerned about my aural test as i have to sing or hum back a played passage I've been practising but It's definitely not my strongest skill. Have you been practising aural skills? And what would you recommend for this?
There is no aural part for the digital grades from Trinity. But I do make sure to practice it anyway! It’s a very weak area for me… but I’m not as bad as when I started, so going in the right direction, at least! There are a few aural exercises scattered in the ‘Red Hot Recorder’ method books that I started out with- you have to try to parrot back some notes from the CD. Or I will take a piece of music that I know but can’t play from memory, play from the sheet music for a few bars and then step away and try to work out just the next few notes. I don’t know if this is a good approach, but I am noticing small improvements! My husband will also randomly sing a note and make me sing it back. Which felt daft at first but has actually been very helpful. Having an accompanist provided is very handy! Perhaps this is the case for Trinity’s face to face exams too. Hope it goes well for you!
@@ClaythorpeMusic I'm a mess with my aural training no structure, i sometimes use a couple of apps to recognise intervals or just use the exercise examples in my exam book, I've also paid for a video series on intervals but that was more about intervals qualities than a teching method. When i play with my son we have a game where one plays a note on the piano and the other finds it on their recorder. But my ear training is so unstructured as I'm not sure of the best way to learn.
@@robbiepenfold9318 I do wonder how much it can be forced, at the end of the day. Maybe it’s just one of those things that takes time. I think anything you do towards it can only be good. I like tonedear.com (that’s ‘toned ear’, I always read it as ‘tone dear’ ha). It’s maybe similar to the apps you use, but you can choose whether you want to practice intervals, octaves, tones… etc, and you can advance difficulty as you go along. At least it is only one part of the exam! Best of luck with it.
Hey Matt, I will try to include more about it in a video one day, but there is quite a lot of information to take in, so I worry about explaining it well enough. The best place to start is probably this page on the Trinity website, if you haven’t seen it already: www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/digital/digital-grades-diplomas/classical-jazz It has all the various links to all the parts needed for the exams 🙂
I do practice double tonguing, but mostly with scales, not really got the hang of it to use well enough in pieces yet! This one is mostly slurred, so I don’t think I’d want to use it here.
I followed you in the sheet music and I thought that you played it very well. The allegro section requires quite a lot of skill to be played at the correct tempo. I thought you nailed it. Well done imo.
Thanks! I usually enjoy going back over all the pieces I’ve worked on, but this is one I’m quite happy to leave behind! Maybe one day…
This is one of the big reasons why I dont bother with grades and exams, they depress and dishearten, make you feel inadequate, and most of all they are nearly always sooooooo borrrrrrring. If I am investing time and energy into doing something I have to like it, it has to be fun or I simply move onto something else. The tunes I choose to learn and play well are those I like so that at the end of the process I feel I have achieved something. Thats not to say everything has to be easy, just that you have to like it.
I can definitely understand why grades and exams aren’t for everyone! I’ve always viewed the grades as a way to give a bit of progressive structure to my practice. I like being introduced to a list of pieces that I otherwise might not have found. However I know that just sticking to three pieces per grade isn’t enough to truly improve playing, or to give a rounded practice experience. I try to add other things in too, for learning and fun! I’ve been lucky so far, this is the first piece that I don’t really like too much. And I try to accept a bit of disheartenment as part of the journey, just as long as I don’t stay grumpy for too long, haha!
Ah, bonus comment for a personal recommendation as a recorder study:
Try studying Telemann's Partita no.4 in G minor as a way to have didactic material to learn and at the same time playing a complete piece to learn. It's quite lengthty, it has 7 movements, but so far each movement it 1min up to 1:40min long to play, so it's about a 10min performance if you play all 7 in one go.
But you don't need to learn them all in sequence like I am doing, nor you need to play all of the movements. I recommend this one because there are a couple of slow and easy movements to follow but they also throw at you some quick passages and, as in the 5th movement, they start getting you some tricky stuff to deal with.
I recommend you to give attention only at the first 5 movements, as a means of studying (if you are comfortable, go for all 7 but some of them are hard), and I will give you my sequence of difficulty for the first 5 movements, from easiest to hardest:
1st - 4th - 3rd - 2nd - 5th
1st movement is the Grave. Very slow, tasteful, melody is easy to play.
4th is a short slow movement. Some tricky fingerings but not as bad as the others.
3rd starts to get hasty, this will be the gateway of the quickness of the Partita for you. Some tricky fingerings on it
2nd is hard not because it's fast, but it's because it has more tricky sequences than 3rd, in my opinion (maybe it might be easy for you!)
5th one is... By Zeus, Thoth and all the ancient gods, it's a hell of a task to get. It's fast, requires coordination, and double tonguing will be required if you want to play it. Definitely not easy to manage as a starter.
Link to the Partita from IMSLP: ks.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/7/72/IMSLP249502-PMLP328524-IMSLP190513-WIMA.88b0-TP4_Trp.pdf
This says "Trumpet in C", but it's because of the origin of this particular score. All parts I listed, besides 5th movement, can be played with an Alto recorder without any need to adapt (some parts have notes too low for the Alto, so you need to adapt some passages or practice with the Soprano, which is a whole other way of playing this piece)
Thanks for the recommendation! I’m always on the lookout for new things to learn… my list is getting longer than there is time in a day, but this one is a very good idea… it is hereby added to the list 😀
very nice melody
I think it could grow on me once I’m feeling a bit more confident playing it!
I'm waiting for this version
@@Grosvdywywa … me too!!
Tone and intonation is fine; I would go for more articulation variety with T, D, and R to make those fast values “pop” and sound cleaner. Values are not even in Baroque music; say “Wish I had a motorcycle”. Notice how all the syllables are NOT emphasized equally and how two syllable words go STRONG-weak, LONG-short …. Now say “TU-ru-Du-ru” or “Tu-du-Tu-du.” See how that works? ;). This is very important in Baroque music, and I would recommend you read historical sources on articulation for this matter. Quantz and Hotteterre are good to start with. Also, with slurs, start them all with a strong Tu - always use T for slurs - and don’t try to cut off the end notes with your tongue. Using T gives a strong and clean attack, and ever since my Dutch mentor taught me this trick, I have not had problems with sloppy sounding slurs. Fingers have some synchro issues; practicing slow motion is paramount in this, and carefully pay attention to what fingers go up and down. Finally, keep watching that jaw and throat so they aren’t tense and wiggling when you play; jaw needs to stay STILL, and if you see any movement in the tongue, you are not tonguing efficiently. Only use the very tip of the tongue and keep all other parts relaxed. There are no easy fixes for these situations; you must be patient with yourself, and if preparing for the exam is driving you crazy, take your time preparing for it and find other pieces to work on and reinforce the concepts you are struggling with. Here in the US where I live, we do not do graded exams, but in private study, we concentrate on customized learning, and I as a teacher (and most of my colleagues) will go picking repertoire based on your ability and needs to help get a solid foundation and help you get to your goals. If exams are your goal, go for it … but looking at the lists, I must say that as a teacher, there is much “in between” work to do between grades such that you develop the technical skills to pass those grades, and rushing anything will lead to bad habits. Trust me, I had to take shortcuts with some of my violin students for them to pass exams at school which contained repertoire well beyond their level, and the end result was often disaster with students needing much remedial technical work, being frustrated, and often quitting, which was sad since many of them were promising. I certainly don’t want that to happen to you with your beautiful enthusiasm and wonderful progress; take everything slow motion, be patient with yourself, and if you ever need me, I’m here to help. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions …
I think I’ll have a couple of days off this piece, and then try to come at it with a fresh mind and fresh ears. I promise I have been trying to relax my jaw as you suggested before! And also working on different articulations. But something about this piece makes me very tense, and the practice techniques go flying out of the window… Hopefully I’ll calm down about it and I can bring it all a bit more together eventually!
I’m trying to make sure I treat the grade work as only part of learning, and practice. I’m also keen not to try and rush through them for the sake of it! My main reason for starting the grades was to bring a bit of structure to my practice. It also throws pieces of music my way that I otherwise may not have found. I do like the challenge of a set goal, but I know that the grades are definitely not the be-all-and-end-all. It suits me for now, but I’ll see how I go! I don’t believe that having a nice certificate on the wall that says ‘grade 6’ (or whichever) means that all your playing is truly up to that standard. I want to try to progress in a more rounded fashion, rather than just parrot- learning three pieces to get through an exam. But I do enjoy the grade work as a good starting point. Even if it did frustrate me this time 🙂 I really appreciate your advice on all this!
@@ClaythorpeMusic Excellent insight! If you like van Eyck, I would suggest Bravada … very sweet, only two variations. Get the theme down, then add the first variation when you are comfortable. Then when you are comfortable with that, go to the second with the sixteenth notes … try using did’ll double tongue or Tu-ru-du-ru on the sixteenth notes. Play around with how the articulation sounds … experiment and have fun! Just remember that ru (which is pronounced like a soft, gently tapped D … must be more subtle than D) always has to be paired with Tu or Du. Experiment. Listen to recordings of good players; Dan Laurin was my college recorder rock star, but now I also really enjoy the one and only Frans Bruggen, Peter Holtslag, and so many others. Listen to traverso players like Barthold Kuijken and Wilbert Hazelzet too … they really know how to play French music! Listen, read your sources, and experiment. Oh yes … the Dieupart Suite in E Minor is also another good piece for you, and I can see you trying the second movement of the Sammartini concerto. The fast movements are definitely beyond your skill level now, but the slow movement is very pretty and reachable for you. Rotate pieces. Take things bit by bit. Experiment and be patient with yourself at all times …. And trust yourself.
@@hemiola07 I’ve been listening to Frans Bruggen’s recordings a lot, lately. He seems almost superhuman! I haven’t come across either of the traverso players you mention, so I look forward to checking them out. I’m going to listen to the Dieupart Suite in E Minor and the Sammartini concerto next- I’ve just listened and looked at Bravade and it looks like something that’s just about spot on for me to begin tackling. You have very good judgement, thank you ☺️
I've copied your entire comment into my practice book. Thank you!
About the slurred semiquavers you commented at the first minute:
I learned this trick with the recorder master Sarah Jeffery from her videos on Team Recorder. To practice this kind of quick passage, you need to practice articulation on the notes.
Let's pretend you have to play something like this on the Soprano recorder:
G-A-B-A / F-G-A-G / E-F-G-E
In the same notation as you described. Firstly, you need to walk slowly up the tempo, so you first slowly play the first note of this passage:
G / F / E
You'll get the hang of the passages. Then there's the technique Sarah Jeffery technique that helped a whole lot to understand and play those quick passages: You do the fingerings of the semiquavers, but you only play the notes in odd numbers and leave silence in every other note (let's assume lowercase letters are non-played fingered notes)
G-a-B-a / F-g-A-g / E-f-G-e
and you change it up to play only the even notes (this is a bit harder)
g-A-b-A / f-G-a-G / e-F-g-E
The reason for this kind of exercise is that Sarah Jeffery says the trickiest part about quick passages is to get the accuracy right. Hitting every other note will ensure you know when to act in given moments.
I tried my best to give advice from my perspective, but I highly recommend to check her video on the subject (perhaps she will explain what I'm trying to say better than I would!) ruclips.net/video/Ep3VPPvKvVM/видео.html
Good luck on your Trinity College grades, and keep practicing!
Thank you! You explained very clearly, thanks for the help. I have watched Sarah’s video in the past, but it feels like a long time ago so i’ll give it another watch. This is the kick I needed to put it into practice 🙂
@@ClaythorpeMusic glad I could help! I'm definitely a step ahead of you since I'm playing more complicated stuff than you do, but I'm no better than a low-intermediate player at the moment - my hardest piece I got lately was Telemann's Partita no.4's 5th movement, which has a bunch of tricky quick passages that mainly require training on fingerings, I also struggle to keep the tone even and to clean out the blips, so I'm just of a student like you are
Sounding very nice. I'd use alternate fingering for c to b slur. 13 for c 134 for b. I've finally got my grade 1 exam date set for the start of august. There will be an accompanist provided, I'm pretty sure this the case for all ameb practical exams.
I'm most concerned about my aural test as i have to sing or hum back a played passage I've been practising but It's definitely not my strongest skill. Have you been practising aural skills? And what would you recommend for this?
There is no aural part for the digital grades from Trinity. But I do make sure to practice it anyway! It’s a very weak area for me… but I’m not as bad as when I started, so going in the right direction, at least! There are a few aural exercises scattered in the ‘Red Hot Recorder’ method books that I started out with- you have to try to parrot back some notes from the CD. Or I will take a piece of music that I know but can’t play from memory, play from the sheet music for a few bars and then step away and try to work out just the next few notes. I don’t know if this is a good approach, but I am noticing small improvements! My husband will also randomly sing a note and make me sing it back. Which felt daft at first but has actually been very helpful. Having an accompanist provided is very handy! Perhaps this is the case for Trinity’s face to face exams too. Hope it goes well for you!
@@ClaythorpeMusic I'm a mess with my aural training no structure, i sometimes use a couple of apps to recognise intervals or just use the exercise examples in my exam book, I've also paid for a video series on intervals but that was more about intervals qualities than a teching method. When i play with my son we have a game where one plays a note on the piano and the other finds it on their recorder. But my ear training is so unstructured as I'm not sure of the best way to learn.
@@robbiepenfold9318 I do wonder how much it can be forced, at the end of the day. Maybe it’s just one of those things that takes time. I think anything you do towards it can only be good. I like tonedear.com (that’s ‘toned ear’, I always read it as ‘tone dear’ ha). It’s maybe similar to the apps you use, but you can choose whether you want to practice intervals, octaves, tones… etc, and you can advance difficulty as you go along. At least it is only one part of the exam! Best of luck with it.
Can you teach how to join or enter Trinity exams for recorder?
Hey Matt, I will try to include more about it in a video one day, but there is quite a lot of information to take in, so I worry about explaining it well enough. The best place to start is probably this page on the Trinity website, if you haven’t seen it already:
www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/digital/digital-grades-diplomas/classical-jazz
It has all the various links to all the parts needed for the exams 🙂
@@ClaythorpeMusic Thank you🙂🙂
do you use double tonging in the fast part ?
I do practice double tonguing, but mostly with scales, not really got the hang of it to use well enough in pieces yet! This one is mostly slurred, so I don’t think I’d want to use it here.