Thank you all very much. I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and kindness and encourgement I've received. I wish I could give you all a hug. Every one of you. I'm back and ashamed of all the trouble I've caused.

I only intended to disappear. I never intended to give up the piano. That would be no loss to the world at large but a very great personal loss to me.

I'll still be posting here sometimes and helping to organize the Chopin ecitals and though I may no longer be participating in them I would like to remind all those who listen that no matter how rough and unrefined such recordings may be, each is a gift of someone's personal best and should be respected accordingly.

That's great!

I dont know you, but i know how disapointed you are / was when you discovered that you are not as good as you thought.

But it seems that you can play at advanced level (if i recall corectly, you were mentioning some harder chopin preludes in one of my thread's)

Beside, what matters is that you enjoy your playing.

Who cares if you are playing correctly or not, what matters is that you enjoy playing.

After all, you are playing for your soul, don't you?

I think we can be very self critical. So, you are much better than you think you are. When I had my first lesson and I told my teacher my reading was very poor. At the end of the lesson she said "you read better than you think you do" and she said I play better than she originally thought. I have moments that I feel I am on top of the world and other times I feel like me and my piano are a waste of space-LOL.

I am grateful for PW and I value all of the members here. SInce joining pw I have done more work in the few months I have been a member than I had in years. And it's because of everyone here. No matter how insignificant one may feel their input is-it's important to me.

You know...this whole thing could possibly turn into a discussion about what it means to be an amateur musician in this age of recorded perfection.

For now I will just say that I think it's a horrible loss when yet another adult amateur decides their imperfect playing is "not good enough" to be performed in public. And I am not being dramatic about it. I really think so.

We need more people to take up the banner of performing music (even imperfect performances) rather than listening to the "professionals" play!

-Frycek, So glad to hear that your good spirits are back, and that you are still with us.

Key Notes

Fyrek,

Thanks for deciding to stick around, I am very happy to see this posting!!

That is great, Frycek. I’ll bet you never realized you were so popular around here.

I can’t play a piano too well, but I love the PW forums. This is a fine group of folks if you ask me. (Whether you can play a piano or not )

Take care,

Rickster

Gladly accepted.

That's one of the mysteries of music. The times we think we are great, we probably aren't; other times we may feel totally inept - yet those flawed performances seem to be the ones that move the listeners the most... at least in my experience.

Hi Frycek -

I'm glad to hear you're staying. I think it *would* have been a loss for us if you disappeared. I don't think our forum-paths have crossed very often, but from the posts I've seen, you seem to be very thoughtful and reasonable - and we need to keep the the thoughtful, reasonable people around for some sanity

I think your second point is important too. It's easy to forget the people behind the typing, or to not realize how harsh we can come off sounding when it's just text with no face-to-face interaction...

Lots of good thoughts to you, and hugs right back at ya

-saerra

Although I've never participated in the Chopin threads, and thus missed the original difficulties, I'm glad to see that you're going to stick around.

Glad to hear the good news!


Sophia

Glad to see you back!
Good to see all the support and encouragement pouring together! We piano players need to stick together!

Yoke Wong

Glad you're feeling better!

Welcome back Frycek. It would have been a great loss to the forum if you left us and did not return. Your love of Chopin has really inspired a lot of us.

As far as your playing. Wow. I wish I could do as well with the Chopin Revolutionary Etude. After I mangled the first few measures, I gave up. But only for the present. As my overall playing improves, I intend to tackle it again.

Will I ever be able to play it (or anything else) at a professional level. Hardly. But I will have great joy in learning these compositions, and that is what counts. Gaby tu

Yes, yes, yes!!!

Welcome home

Dear -Frycek,

I’ve always found enjoyment reading your posts especially your contributions in the ”totally devoted to Chopin” thread.

When you purchased your Kurtzmann, I shared your delight since I could relate to the ownership of a golden age era piano.
The first time I listened to one of your recordings on PW, I thought, how lovely.

I’ve been trying to convince myself (for quite sometime) to purchase a Zoom but I took 10 steps backwards on wanting to join ABF’ers for online recitals when I read your initial post. The disappointment you expressed had me questioning whether I might not want to proceed and that it probably would be a mistake to do so.

For the past 5 years I’ve been attempting to step out from the privacy of my home and share my piano enthusiasm with other PW members. It’s been a struggle filled with fears but there is no way I could ever go back to the how it use to be. The friends I’ve made on my new piano adventures are a joy and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to have met them.

At 55, I feel a strong desire to enjoy my musical adventure surrounded by friends. I’m glad you do, too! Welcome back!!


Now, perhaps I can convince you to join us for the Grand Events Weekend in 2009???!!!

Welcome back, dear Frycek! A big hug to you too.

Toadly Ossum!!!

Hi Frycek,

I went back and read the prior thread after seeing this. Welcome back!

I wonder what's actually up for you? You mention "lacking some fundamental musicality": I don't believe it. That is, I think music is there, waiting to be found perhaps, in all of us. It's like our heartbeat, we may not notice it, but we've got it, by virtue of being alive & human.

On the other hand, there may be limits to what we can do, especially within a given time frame. But that just translates as a problem with expectations & self-judgment...

And on the other other hand (it's easier to play with three hands, after all), there may be problems with your methodology or practice strategy or something. It might be worth shaking it up. That, I think, is much of the value of a new teacher, but you can do a lot of that yourself: try using methods you have previously considered unlikely to be helpful, perhaps, or play your fave classical piece with a boogie-woogie swing, whatever.

It seems to me that 1/2 the battle is the self-judgment issue, and it probably shows up elsewhere in your life. Which is to say, any leverage you get on it through music, might help more generally in your life. At least, I think I see a bit of that effect in my life...

Anyway, good luck, and I hope you have fun and feel supported!

Keith

Fantastic !! So glad you are back. And very glad to hear you never intended to give up the piano.

Glad you are back. As others have said, you are better than you seem to think.

i have to tell you Frycek,..

i would never ever even attempt the Revolutionary Etude... well I did, but I quickly decided it was too much for me. you are very accomplished. I too have immensely enjoyed what one can learn from Chopin by delving head first into some of his most challenging pieces.

Welcome back!
Frycek, you are very brave to have tackled the Revolutionary Etude. I tried it three years ago but developed severe pains in my left elbow owing to tension and faulty technique. You have motivated me to go back to it, so last week I started my revolutionary journey again, but this time under the watchful eyes of a good teacher. I am going about it very, very carefully, watching for any signs of tension, aiming for absolute accuracy, following the dictum in your signature line "Slow down and do it right." And I've been watching Youtube performances by some of my favorites, including Sviatoslav Richter and Freddy Kempf. It is so much more fun this time around!
Kempf
Richter