I had so much fun working on my last project for the midterm display; however, now it is time the change channels and focus on something a little different… piano. For the second half of the musical growth plan, I planned on working on learning Sonatina in G major by Muzio Clementi. This piece is 4 pages long and is in 3/8 time. It has lots of runs and stylistic elements to it. I have included a photo below of the first page of the sheet music from my music book. I am a bit nervous for this half of the musical growth plan as I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I do not have very long to learn this piece and with the end of the semester nearing, there are lots of final projects due that will be taking up a lot of time. It is going to be tough, but I am still going to try! Stay tuned to see what happens!

To begin, I started by mainly listening to the piece a few times. If possible, it really helps to listen to a piece before learning it so you can get a feel for the rhythms and have an idea of what it is supposed to sound like. Because of this, I spent some time finding a good recording of the song that I could listen to a few times to get an idea of what the song should sound like. It will also be helpful as I’m working through the song if I get stuck on something or can’t figure a certain measure out. It is always nice to have a recording in your back pocket for this. I have linked the YouTube video that I have been using below if you are interested in taking a listen.

After listening to this recording for a few days, I sat down with my sheet music and began working on the right hand alone. It is definitely easier to learn a song, especially complicated ones where the right and left hand are doing different things, when you break it down and make it simpler. My strategy when learning songs is usually to begin with learning just the right hand alone, then learning the left hand alone, and then working on adding them together. So far, I have not made it past the right hand but that is ok. I am just starting to work on this piece and the right hand is usually more complicated than the left. It most definitely is in this case. In addition to breaking the hands up, it is also helpful to drastically slow the song down when you begin learning it. I have also been doing this. I am hoping by my next blog post that I will have the right hand down pat and can begin working on the left hand. I look forward to sharing my progress and some of the challenges I encounter in my next blog; but for now, here is a very short clip of what I have been working on. Enjoy!

Photo Credits: Header photo by Ebuen Clemente Jr