Day 12: More Progress and Notation Remarks

Day 11 sort of fell by the wayside.  That is ok, though, because I need a little break here and there to let things sink in.  I sat down and played, at tempo, those last 17 measures from memory this morning with no mistakes!  Today, I focused on probably the technically most difficult part of WDAT.  It is the few measures that lead up to "The Conversation."  The bass clef is particularly trying on me through this part.  I practiced for about 40 minutes, focusing on the left hand.  I will come back to this later today and practice it some more.  This will take a little longer to master than other parts of WDAT.  I still think I may have this under my belt by the end of next week.  If I do, great!  If not, I will still have time left on my 30 day goal.

Now, for the notation lessons of the day!

The notation fff represents fortissimo.  This is very loud.  As loud as can be played.  The notation fz is forzando.  This is not a notation I see very often.  In fact, of all the pieces I have ever learned, I think this is the only one I have ever seen this notation used in.  Forzando means to play with force.  In other words, these notes are to be played with a sudden emphasis or accent.

Here, we see poco rit. and a tempo.  Poco rit. is shortened from poco ritard and means to play these notes in the first part of the measure a little slower.  A tempo (say ah tempo, not a tempo) means to resume normal speed.  Pick up with the tempo you were playing right before the poco ritard.

Piu means more.  Since it accompanies the notation f for forte (loud), then the intent here is to play this measure "more loud."  As if there were a crescendo, but I believe the intent here is to play this measure a step up from the previous one.  A crescendo would be a gradual build from the previous measure, so I think this is more like jumping the volume up a step instantly.