Scarlatti and Me

09 February 2019, 08:43 AM

jon-nyc

Scarlatti and Me

So about a year ago I started sight reading practice in earnest. Every day I read through a new Scarlatti Sonata. I chose Scarlatti because (a) there's a bunch of them and (b) they're about the right length, and (c) they're not particularly dense, so they're a good place to start for a poor sight reader such as myself.

I've been reading them in (Longo) order, and today I read through Sonata #278, which means I finally crossed the half way point. 277 more to go.

I've definitely improved through these exercises, though I'm not sure if I'm really getting better at sight reading, or just getting good at sight reading Scarlatti.

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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.

09 February 2019, 08:57 AM

wtg

You're so systematic about things.

Are you sight reading one and then moving on to the next one, or do you pause and work on ones that speak to you?

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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier

09 February 2019, 12:49 PM

jon-nyc

I haven't stopped to work on any, though I've been tempted. I've noted some of the gems informally (usually via messages to CJQ, remember him?). So I can always peruse those messages and get a short list to go back to.

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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.

09 February 2019, 02:05 PM

pianojuggler

Kinda jealous. I don't have much (any) time to practice these days.

I spent most of a year working on K.517. I never got up to even half of the prestissimo it's marked.

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pj, citizen-poster, unless specifically noted otherwise.

mod-in-training.

pj@ermosworld∙com

All types of erorrs fixed while you wait.

09 February 2019, 04:10 PM

jon-nyc

Funny, I just read through that less than 2 weeks ago (it’s L266). But at Andante, of course.

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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.

09 February 2019, 04:54 PM

Nina

Or largo.

I'm doing the same thing with my Scarlatti sonatas. I can definitely see improvement, though your caveat that I may just be getting better at sightreading Scarlatti may apply.