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That link to me to a practice schedule document...

Yeah, I goofed. Thanks Waltz. Check again.

I'm on to The House of the Rising Sun... the left hand changes chords in the following sequence: Em, G, A, Am, Em, D, G, B, Em, G, A, Am, Em, B, then Em!! Isn't that something? I see why no one had a recording of it.

This is one of my favorite "traditional" songs. You played it with all of the beauty it deserves. Great job MiM

Waltz, do you recall how The House of the Rising Sun went for you..it looks a bit challenging for me.

When will we play with ease like that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS_foc_NxI0

It's clearly not finger power or muscles, just control and the right touch.

If I recall correctly, I remember The House of the Rising Sun to be a piece of "average" difficult in A2 for me. But again, that was for me, I am not sure how difficult others found it. I liked playing it.

As far as Mrs. Lisitsa's playing of that Chopin Etude: I don't believe I will ever be able to play like that. When I first started piano I thought something like "the sky is the limit", but now I try to be more realistic about my potential.

I have been reading the Piano Practice book which I'm almost done reading. It's an excellent book, and I truly learned a lot from it. Most important revelation for me is the mistake I have been making for a long time with my fingers. I tended to press hard, even pound the keys, with stiff arms and tense overall. I noticed an amazing difference once I started to relax my hands, letting gravity do most of the work for me, yet never letting my fingers sleep at the keys. Now I feel I can play without much stress or fatigue.

So, to be honest Waltz, I feel I might be able to do something similiar to Lisitsa, as an example, but of course I will never be able to play exactly like her, but something of that type of playing. I think it's possible.

Another useful tip was the difference between playing with curled fingers and flat fingers (like Horowitz), as well thumbs under and thumbs over.

I thought I share that with you. Good luck all.

Yea, I know what you mean. I don't mean to imply that I (or any other AB) couldn't imitate her style of playing.

What I mean was she has probably practiced piano 5 hours per day since she was a child. Any Chopin Etude, played well (like Lisitsa), is a virtuosic piece. I just don't think I'll ever approach a playing ability like that... Maybe I'm wrong, which of course, I hope

I just stumbled onto Valentina Lisitsa today, never heard of her before...I wasn't sure how good she was, other than the fact that she swept me off my feet! I noticed that her fingers play like Horowitz, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that she is much better than Horowitz. As of today, she is the best pianist I have ever see.

Hi Waltz,

Please accept my apologies for the delayed responses to your very thoughtful question. Thanks for asking. I've been enjoying a beautiful and busy summer attending to different events, activities and other projects, so I haven't been practicing very much. Although, I've been continuing to practice and play all of my older favorite pieces whenever I can or whenever my moods fit.

I still love every moment that I'm at the bench and am looking forward to starting up Solace soon, and I plan on using Music in Me's wonderful recording as an example.

I hope that you've been enjoying yourself in book 3 and are making great progress. Now, I have to do some catch-up and listen to everyone's recordings.

Cheers,

Key Notes

Hi dukeofhese,

You probably have long been finished with this piece and moved on to book 2 by now. Congratulations if you have. But yes, this was also quite a daunting piece for me as well when I first encountered it. I definitely did a lot of acrobatics with the fingerings, but by learning one measure, one phrase, one bar and one hand at a time, I managed to learn it in approximately two weeks with lots, and lots of repetitions.

Hope you are enjoying your progress with book 2.

Best,

Key Notes

As Kawai, HI once said..."you're a riot." Thanks for the laughs...





How are you doing JF? Have you already finished or are you close to finishing up with book 3?

Best,

Key Notes

Good to hear from you Key Notes . It's nice to hear you've enjoyed your summer. It's been hot here (for me), but it is beginning to cool down nicely. I really enjoy Autumn here on the east coast so I'm happy about the upcoming season change.

House of the Rising Sun

You nailed that one; beautifully played!

And here is my Festive Dance. I have already moved on, but it took me quite some time to get a recording I didn't hate. And, (not to channel Montgomery Burns here or anything), I don't hate this one.

http://www.box.net/shared/esyf5pyv6i

I liked Festive Dance, and for the most part, didn't mind the time I took on it. On the other hand, there are about 3 errors I made over and over and over, and that is frustrating. "Ok, here it comes, do it right this time... ARGH!"

I complained to my PT about the Horowitz Scherzo next... I find it annoying. She suggested I use it as a warmup exercise, almost like a Czery or Hanon, and see if I could get to playing it really fast. Which, I must say, added interest, and appealed to my competitive nature. So I am working on that and Introduction and Dance, which is a horribly depressing piece of music.

Waltz, the house of the rising sun is a nice little piece with a very interesting chord progression, which I don't think we have seen any piece like it, even looking ahead. It was an all new one for me. Next is Sakura which is one I tried before, and it looks like it's going to take me 30 minutes to record, it's an easy piece any way.

AWPP, congrats, I think you played Festive Dance very well, and you speeded it up very well where needed.

Your PT is right, I did feel that Scherzo was like a good finger exercise for switching between two keys. It's fun to play, although a little hard to do it faster and faster! Introduction and Dance is a little jumpy with some challenging left hand, but do it HS and I think you will not find it too hard. Good luck.

Great job !! That was played with both dexterity and control. I liked Festive Dance as well; it's challenging but has a nice sound to it.

Does anyone else think that the beginning of IandD sounds similar to how "Paint it, Black" begins?

Sakura

Good news for all of us!

I haven't touched this piece in about 8 years...never seen it again, never heard it again (at least I don't recall that), never thought about it, never, never, never...yet played it and recorded it in 20 minutes! Now that is cool.

Enjoy and good luck to all.
Waves of the Danube

P.S. Most of the upcoming songs will be brand new for me, so that should be the real test