Clarke's Technical Studies Question

[MF Fan]

I'm on S.A. Lesson #4, which is the first that includes an assignment out of Clarke's T.S. How did Claude want this to be played? Do you play each chromatic once, with repeat? Or should you do multiple repeats, "eight to sixteen times in one breath" as instructed in the text itself? How about dynamics? I thought I read somewhere that first time thru should be more about accuracy, and not speed or soft-playing(?)

Thanks in advance for the input.

[ This Message was edited by: MF Fan on 2003-03-09 20:33 ]

[Bill Bryant]

The first time through Technical Studies, and really several times through until you get accurate, don't try for lots of reps, and certainly don't try to play ppp. Just take a big breath and play each study a couple of times at a moderate volume (stronger as you go higher), concentrating on lifting fingers high, striking valves hard, and making each line accurate. This probably means you'll need to slow down on some of the lines in order to make them clean, but that's fine. Don't waste your time doing the second study's line in F or G as fast as possible. Concentrate on the lines that are tough, like A, B, and F#, and of course learn them with alternate fingerings too. (Alternate fingerings are usually fingerings that use third valve instead of first and second.)

[ This Message was edited by: Bill Bryant on 2003-03-10 00:27 ]