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This is a story of failure. Like many who have failed in the past, I didn't set out to fail. I'm sure when Columbus embarked on his epic voyage or Lewis & Clark set out on their trek across America they set out with only success as the beacon that lit their way. So it was with me.

My story begins a few weeks ago. While idly perusing the threads on the ABF forum in my ever vigilant role as moderator, seeking out evil wherever it may lurk, I happened to notice this . Hmm, I say. I've recently gotten a recording rig more or less working and I've been sort of working on an easy Bach piece. Maybe I'll whip it into shape and submit it. Thus, my doom was laid.

As attentive readers of my posts on this forum will recall, I generally work on an "easy" piece and a "hard" piece. The Bach was my easy piece. It's the Minuet in D minor from Anna Magdalena's notebook, BWV Anh 132. Since I've been working more on the hard piece (nameless, for now) the easy piece was getting short shrift. I'd open it up after playing Hanon (that Hanon challenge you know!) and play a few bars then move on to the "real" work I was doing.

Days went by.

Then, on Monday 12 Feb I thought to myself "Hmm (I do that a lot) I wonder what the deadline for submission is?" I look at the thread - WHAT midnight EST 14 February! How can that be? Where did the time go? Time to get busy! I abandon everything but the obligatory Hanon and work with a will toward trying to work through the Minuet - to this point I haven't even played it all the way through. OK, focus. By the end of the day on the 12th I can play it through HS more or less at tempo.

There's still time - I can do it.

I spend most of my practice time on the 13th on the Bach (had to do my Hanon though) playing it over and over one bar at a time. By the end of my practice I can play it HT at tempo with only a few mistakes.

There's still time - I can do it.

The 14th dawned. After the obligatory Hanon, I begin to play the Minuet - wait a minute! I can't play it at all! One mistake after another and that's with the score.

There's still time - I can do it.

I concentrate on committing the piece to memory and by lunch time I can more or less play it from memory without too many mistakes.

There's still time - I can do it.

Fire up the laptop, turn on the microphone, it's time to confront the demon of the red light. I begin. I make it to the end of the first bar and midway through the second before my first mistake. Start over. A little farther then another mistake. Start over. I play it through to the first repeat, then the second no mistakes - victory! The world is mine!. But that's not the end of the piece. I was so happy to have made it that far I stopped playing!

Start over. Play two bars before my first mistake. Start over. Make it midway through the first repeat before I make a mistake. Start over. Play both repeats and continue!. But in the back of my mind I start thinking "Hmm (there it is again), something's wrong". I stop. I dig out the score and realize I've been playing the 16th notes in measure 7 as another Schleifer. Oh, The horror! The humanity!. Somewhere in the process of committing it to memory I've introduced a mistake that's now ingrained.

There's still time - I can do it.

I play measures 4-8 over and over to commit the correct tempo to memory. I'm ready.

There's still time - I can do it.

I fire up the recorder. Play to measure 7 think "Remember to play those 16th notes" Argh. Start over, don't even get that far. Start over. By now there's enough tension in my forearms that a diamond would shatter on them. Get through the intro, through the repeat, into the second page, hit the repeat and make a huge mistake. Try again. And again. And again.

Finally, it's time to have dinner. It's Valentines day. I ponder whether I can trade 33 years of marriage in for a little more time with the recorder. "Yes, Love of my Life. I know I said we'd go out for dinner but see, there's this Piano Forum thing, and the deadline is today and I'm trying to submit something." I decide marital bliss must prevail.

This is a story of failure. As I have dinner, I think about two things:

• My unbounded admiration goes to those who have met the challenge and submitted something to the recital.
• Things didn't work out so bad for Lewis and Clark. OK, they didn't find an all water route across the continent. And Lewis shot himself. Clark died a failure. But other than that, things turned out OK.

I'll do better next time.

I failed too.

whatever doesn't kill ya only makes ya stronger

I actually started learning the piece i submitted tonight . Believe it or not, I learned it in 20 minutes tonight because i didn't like my originall choice of a heller etude. Never give up C7. The stronger you are the harder it is for you to surrender.

Matt

I don't mean this to sound flippant, but the next recital is in three months.

Post your piece in the forums after you get a good recording of it.

These suggestions don't relieve disappointment, but saying "sorry" won't help much either.

Sorry,

Don't sweat it!





But, if it happens again...........

C7 Player, although I realize this must have been a tremendously frustrating experience for you (I've had my own defeats at the hand of the Red Dot), maybe it will make you feel somewhat better when I tell you this: You have snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat with your absolutely hilariously and entertainingly written "story of failure." Thanks for the laughs.

p.s. btw, GOOD DECISION on the Valentine's Day dinner thing...

I've just submitted a recording to the recital. Not the one that I wanted to do but I wanted to participate and share the fun with all of the rest of you that submitted.

Most impressive Matt! I confess that I came up to speed on the Bach faster than outlined in the above story (call it poetic license) but freely admit that the recording thing has me stymied. I do find the Bach an easy piece to play - that's why I'm going through the pieces in the Anna Magdalena notebook - but when that red light is on it all goes to heck!

At this point, I'd have to say there's little chance of my playing a longer & more difficult piece well enough while recording to submit it. I know that like anything else it improves with practice but right now, there are so many other things I'm wanting to improve on that facility with recording is a fairly low priority. Oh well, on to the next recital!

An entertaining story? ... yes ... A failure?...no. You managed to get something in, even if it wasn't your first choice, AND you saved your marriage from certain death in the process.... well done!

You're two up on me!

Very funny story C7 that holds a little too true for comfort. I can certainly identify with it.

Instead of hijacking this thread I am going to start a new one but C7 player you just told a story of dedication and perseverance.

Just because you didn't get an entry into the recital doesn't mean you didn't supercharge your progress.

I read a story of fortitude and might.

Even Lewis & Clark thought their journey was a failure.