Half speed dictation

By Vidas Pinkevicius (get free updates of new posts here)​​​​​​

Have you tried to notate in notes your improvisations?

Sometimes it's worth it.

Usually not, though. Most of the time, my improvisations are not at the level of written down compositions.

But very seldom you get a result you are actually proud of.

Like this Meditation in D, Op. 35.

I first improvised it as a prelude for church service here at St. John's.

When I transcribed it to sheet music notation, I watched this video on YouTube at half speed in short fragments and wrote down everything I heard. It was like a long and complex 2.5 minute dictation.

Do you have some recordings of your playing that you actually like?

Perhaps it's time for you to transcribe it.

PS It helps if you place the camera close to the keyboards so that you could literally see your fingers.

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