Member's Monthly Live Coaching - discuss!

RuthPower

Here is where we can discuss the coaching sessions, give any feedback you have, questions you thought of later, or requests!

RuthPower

What did you think of the Sensational Scales session? I'm keen to hear your thoughts:

Do you want a 2nd session on the more advanced scales & fingering patterns?🎵
Do you like the format as it is - or would you prefer a Zoom situation where you can speak your questions at the end (and we can all see each other). 🤓
And finally - what do you think of the Sensational Scales Challenge - and will you be taking up the challenge to keep this going DAILY for a full month or more? 🤘

Special thanks to @Joseph @noellah-jeannica @alexx88 @vkisamore and @monique who all came along live!

noellah-jeannica

RuthPower (1) A second session of Sensational Scales would be great! In fact, I was wondering mid-coaching if you will be teaching us multi-octave techniques / fingering for ascending and descending scales. I’ve been playing around scales for more than a year now during my warmups, but I was always stuck in single octaves.

(2) I like the coaching setup as it is, but giving Zoom a go probably won’t hurt.

(3) I think the Sensational Scales Challenge is a good spin to my recurring scales warmup routine! Will probably stick to it indefinitely. | (• ◡•)|

alexx88

@RuthPower Wow! You did it! You actually made scales cool!n I knew you would 🙂Basically that was a review for me. Other than my friend the metronome😆I done all the technical drills before, but never the sensational drills. I'm definitely going to do those, because that is huge for riffing. Those'll really up the game for that!

I would like a 2nd session mainly for the Db & Gb scales. I don't do much with those, so it'll be good to have a fun way to start playing & messing around in those.

I don't mind a Zoom session every now & then. It's fun to see everyone. Plus it IS easier to comment & ask questions that way v. in a chat. When you go full screen for the trainings, it's hard to keep going back & forth to comment, & then you miss stuff while you're trying to type & not make mistakes.

I am DEFINITELY going to really work at trying to do the Challenge each time I sit down to play. The 6 sensational drills can really up my arranging game, in terms of dynamics, ideas, riffs & fills.

vkisamore

I'm with Alexx on the sensational practice. That's something I never did in my classical piano training. I will add a scale warmup to my practice daily. I'm excited about trying # 4,5,and 6 creative/sensational drills.
Sure, I would benefit from a follow up of scales at a more advanced level. It's been over 30 years since I've done any harmonic/melodic minor scales or any arpeggios. Alexx is spot on saying that if we become fluid in these, it will improve our improv. I am neutral on having zoom meeting. I am equipped to do so if everyone else wants to give zoom a try. Have a great day and play it like you mean it.

RuthPower

Awesome, thank you vkisamore and @alexx88 for this feedback! Great, ok so a more advanced part 2 of Scales sounds like it is a goer - I might make it a little shorter than usual - and we'll try it in Zoom just as an experiment. What I will do is record my end of the video - but not everyone else's, so that only people who come live will see your lovely faces, and you won't be captured for eternity on the replay video 😁 just your voices - if you ask a question.
And yes to trying something new with our scales! Can't wait to see the progress you all make trying this every day -I've wanted to give you all a solid practising routine in terms of improving technique for a while - so that's the purpose here. Enjoy! & As Val says, play it like you mean it!

alexx88

Ok, so Day 1. I sat & went through the Sensational Scale Challenge before my practice time. I just did the Key of C, & I went through the 6 Technical steps, & the 6 Sensational Steps. I even put on the metronome for a few of them, playing around with different sounds for it, basically.

I must say, doing a two octave range with both hands & "proper" fingering v my often "creative" fingering is quite the challenge!!

RuthPower

alexx88 yay this is good news! Glad that it has challenged you! And that the metronome is going to whip you into shape! 😉

RuthPower

noellah-jeannica fantastic! Thanks for the feedback and sharing your experience Noellah! I'm hearing you guys, that you are not really fussed on Zoom- so maybe I will just do one every now and then so we can see each others faces- but on the whole we'll stick to the current set up 😃

alexx88

@RuthPowerSounds like a good plan!

RuthPower

Hey everyone, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow! It's a bit earlier than usually to hopefully accomodate our friends in the UK & Europe - I hope you can make it!

noellah-jeannica

RuthPower hello, has the link to the coaching been posted already? I’ve noticed I haven’t received any emails regarding its schedule yet, so I’m not sure whether I can attend the coaching or not. Thanks!

alexx88

@noellah-jeannica @RuthPower I haven't received any emails either. I will look around on Facebook to see if I can find anything about at the scheduled time. I already have a couple of things scheduled tomorrow (Friday 6/25/21). I need to see what time it is.

Evidently it's today! 6/24/21 in the US! 4:00 EST. I managed to find an email with an old link to the site, but I don't have a password. Bummer, because I'm here now & I could join. It starts in 20 min here 🙁

RuthPower

alexx88 @noellah-jeannica YOU GUYS! I'm so sorry! I've just sent you an email about it - will arrive in your inbox 11am Friday - basically I did the coaching, no one showed - I thought this is weird.. but continued anyway – and then realised afterward that my email provider had un-scheduled my email notifications to you!!! So.. imagine Ruth getting super angry at the customer service person and then finally we've sorted it out - I'm back on board with the emails and we're going to re-stream the coaching next week and have a zoom party while we're at it. So sorry for the confusion! #technology!

noellah-jeannica

RuthPower sounds cool, since I'm less busy next week anyway. Thanks for the notice!

RuthPower

noellah-jeannica Oh well that's worked out well! See you tomorrow!

RuthPower

Hi @all! As per the request of some students last month, I've done a quick follow up video explaining the fingering for multiple octaves of the Advanced Scales - you can watch that additional video at the bottom of the June coaching here:
Let me know if you have any follow up questions! 🤩🤘

noellah-jeannica

RuthPower thank you so much for this extra lesson! I’m so excited to get into it.

RuthPower

The coaching this month will be on the same topic as our new course releasing in 2 weeks 'Yoga for Pianists' - we're learning about taking care of our minds & bodies as pianists! But I want to know what you guys are doing at the moment - what do you do for the relief of your body & mind for playing the piano? Or if the answer is 'nothing', do you think you could be open to doing a short routine?

noellah-jeannica

RuthPower I do a set of finger exercises for dexterity and some basic full-body stretches every time I sit down at the piano. I also do a bunch of floor stretching routines regularly. However, it’s my first time encountering a yoga routine designed specifically for pianists — and done conveniently on a chair! Super excited for this new course 🧡

alexx88

I just watched the replay of Rhythm Station. I also plotted out the notation examples. I find looking at the notation & plotting out super easy. The grid exercise took me right back to the Riffing Pro examples. Very reminiscent.

I only had time to do one of the 3 suggested songs, (plus we did #3 in the coaching lol). I did Rhythm Nation. It was pretty easy to tap out the beats of the refrain, so plotting wasn't bad. I haven't had time yet to plot out a song of my own, but I will try that at some point. I don't think I will add the fingers in. That's sort of subconscious for me.

RuthPower

alexx88 Yes Alexx!!! So good to hear! Yes the fingers is an extra step - only really needed if you do have a difficult passage that you need to work out the fingering in advance. Super stoked that you drew the comparison to the riffing work of the Riffing Pro course! Just another way to look at those rhythms in terms of that 'conversation' that our hands are having.
Glad you found that one easy - I thought Rhythm Nation was going to be a difficult one, so nice work!