Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Achievement of the week - what got you excited?

Andy BTW you have a nice piano so between the 2 I would take the acoustic myself! Wishing you lots of enjoyment with it! And here's to hoping you can sneak in way more time than those 15 minutes you lost. How about 2 shorter sessions or more? I often play something short like exercises or scales just before the kids go to bed. Adds up to over an hour in a week and I can hear the difference!

On a different note does your family perhaps feel shut out of this part of you? Piano can be very isolating and perhaps this is the problem? Just a thought. I remember when my teacher told me this i said i know it is isolating and thats part of its appeal for me. I get to be in my own world for that hour or so a day. Anyway I do wish you All the best. Hopefully as with most things something will change for the better soon.

My achievement of this week was changing my mind about how to get both hands working together. Previously I've trained hard right and left hand independently and then attempted to use the same tempo and play with both hands. It worked well so far (as a beginner playing the most easiest training pieces so far), but kind of stopped working this week. After a lot of failures on one piece I've slowed down a lot (perhaps to 1/10 of speed of independent hands) on this piece and finally it started working again.
So achievement of this week is a saved rule in my mind: starting with slow speed, you will move faster forward. :-)
Indeed, nothing which people will not repeat over and over even to me, but sometimes its a sole responsibility of a man to control his own impatience and get some rules himself...

Hey if I never mentioned things that most people already learned I wouldn't have anything to talk about!

Today I picked up the 1st movement of Beethoven's Pathetique. I had been so confused about the allegro con brio left hand notes (half note and eighth note hybrid?), so even though I would have attempted to start learning it November 2011, I had given up and put it aside. I decided to bite the bullet and ask. Just as I was going to post the question on this forum, I did a search, and lo and behold, the question had already been answered in a previous thread:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1212205.html

Thank you to the original posters!

Now I can start working on it again without hesitation. I really like Beethoven Sonatas, and am hoping to be able to learn all of them in my lifetime.

I have also fallen in love with all the Chopin Etudes, especially since I started working on 10/3, 10/12 and 10/2. In particular, I am amazed at how much my left hand dexterity had improved after working very slowly on 10/12 (still working to get the tone and evenness to sound better, and getting rid of my lousy over pedaling habit). 10/2 is a very good exercise for my 3-4-5 fingers, but I think I might have hurt my pinky (my flesh got pushed further in under the nail..ouch).

These etudes are doing wonders for me. I still haven't perfected 10/3 yet, even though I had started working on it July 2011. I started working on 10/12 in September of last year, and just finished the whole thing this January. I still can't play it perfectly either. BUT, I did notice that after working on 10/2, parts of 10/3, i.e. the measure with ornamental notes that require the use of the 5th finger, sounds stronger and firmer. I dug out that old Mozart Fantasie in D Minor, which I tried playing last year, and to my surprise, even though I was committing so many mistakes from memory lapses, the presto parts came along smoother. I picked up Golliwog's Cakewalk again, which I hadn't touched for so many months, and I think my tone was better and my touch more relaxed, too! By golly, I think, after so many months of blood, sweat and tears, I must be finally improving!

I do feel a tad disappointed that I can't play the pieces I learned last 5 to 6 months ago because I concentrated too much on the etudes. I think I will ask you guys in another thread how you keep old pieces from getting rusty so I don't digress too much here.

Andy: I feel your pain! People at home also complain about my piano playing, too. I get embarrassed sometimes, especially those days I get carried away. I think you came up with a very good idea, that is, becoming more efficient with practice and memorizing away from the piano. I read that the best way to memorize a piece is away from the keyboard. I would like to do that, too, but I think I need to brush up on theory.

Sam: Wow..you had only been playing less than 2 years? I'm very envious. You must have put in a lot of work to be able to play like that in such a short time. And you memorize your pieces too! Pretty neat! What's your practice schedule like? I would like to imitate, if I could

KarelG: I hear ya! At the risk of being even more hated at home, I have to play very very slowly, hands separate. I have to be strict with learning proper fingering, too, and I get so impatient, especially when there's so much i want to learn. I think that is the cause of all my flubs. I will keep that in mind..patience..delay gratification for greater rewards later

Teodor - Thank you for the suggestions on the Bach Invention. I guess I do have some of it memorized, because I realize that I am looking at my hands during some of the tricky-for-me parts. I agree about needing to have the fingering completely figured out before speeding up. I had thought that I had it all set, but then when I started to speed up, I realized that I had to redo some of it. It's interesting what you said about making logical connections between the elements. I'm starting to realize that really studying and thinking about and understanding the music you're trying to play, ultimately makes it easier to play.

GlassLove - how is your Spiegel im Spiegel coming along?

Cas - oh, two months without lessons would be hard! After three weeks without lessons over the holidays, I think I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. But sometimes having that time to working on our own gives us a chance to explore some different areas, which can be fun. Enjoy that Jazz!

Andy - I'm sorry your practicing is causing some hardship in your household. I hope you find a way to still be able to accomplish your goals during your more limited time. I end up practicing a lot after my husband and grandson are in bed, and luckily they can sleep through it. I know the practicing sometimes drives them crazy during the day.

WannabePT - Learning all the Beethoven Sonatas -- what an ambitious goal! Now that is something to work for! I've also been working on Chopin 10/3 off and on. I think it is the most difficult but also the most interesting piece I have ever played. I got stuck on one section a while ago and set it aside, but one of my goals is to finish it this year. I can relate to your experiences with pulling out old pieces and seeing the changes. I recently did the same thing with the Mozart C minor sonata that I had learned last year. Although I had forgotten a lot of it and was rusty with it, the great thing was, I could think about how I wanted to play it, and was able to do most of what I wanted without a struggle. The trills were right on, I could control the articulation, and I could play with the dynamics that I wanted. It was a really nice surprise.

KarelG - yes, slowing down when I first put hands together works wonders for me too.

One of my recent AOTWs:
I started teaching my 7-year-old grandson to play piano. We have been having such fun! Counting keys, finding keys, learning the note names, playing simple pieces. When we sat down for our first "lesson", he said to me, "Nana, now the piano is yours and mine!" He also told me that he needed to decide how long to practice each day. He asked how much I practice, and I said about 1 or 2 hours every day. I think that took him aback, but he recovered quickly and said, "Well, you're a lot older than me, so I think I should practice for 10 minutes a day."

I think your 7 y/o has the makings of a genius! Haha. So cute, and lucky to be starting lessons at the age of 7 with a nice granny to work with.

Andy - it may be worth looking into adding the silent feature to your accoustic. They are indeed fairly common in Europe, -When I was shopping there were tons available. I'm really happy that the piano I "fell for" already had the option built in, straight from the factory.

KarelG - I think you are right - it doesn't matter if others have told us something, or we read it over and over. Until we have the experience ourselves, we don't really understand. Slowing down works ! Good for recognizing and setting your own rules!

WannabePT - It sounds like you are making wonderful progress. I heard the Golliwog Cakewalk for the first time just after I started lessons- my teacher introduced me to the Bergamaque Suite and I really liked it - it is very interesting to hear the hints of early rag-time sounds that pop up in these pieces.
As for keeping older pieces from getting rusty - well, in my case many aren't worth maintaining! lol... however, those that I really love, I tend to use as warm-up/cool down pieces. I am sure the neighbours hear certain pieces and think---ok, it will stop any minute now!

MaryBee, I have found that time after time I thought I had learned a piece only to fall apart with it when playing for others or trying to go faster. It is so hard to figure out HOW to really embed pieces in our brains.
I love it that your grandson claims a share in the piano now! That is marvellous - and his logic is delightful. You must be having a wonderful time.!


I had my lesson and it was great fun. My teacher got a big kick out of my new jazz books,and we played a jazz duet - what a blast!

Marybee, Thanks for asking about Spiegel im Spiegel. Its going pretty well. It is the least favorite piece of the cellist, but my favorite (of those we are playing together). We've managed to make it through about 2 pages without a mistake (always one made by me )
I must say that I have begun to question whether or not I want to continue playing with her though. Because I am so inexperienced, I have to genuinely memorize the piece to play with her effectively. Memorizing pieces that don't sound nice by themselves hasn't been all that fun. And....it does take time away from other things that I would love to play. My teacher has suggested that instead, we begin to play more duets together (or even to play more duets with my son). This way the work I would do to play with someone else could be more developmentally appropriate.

I'm sorry to hear that the duets with the cellist hasn't worked out as well as you had hoped.
Might it help if you tried simpler pieces? Or would your cellist be bored?
You've such made good steady progress since you've started, I'm sure you could have tremendous fun with duets - I hope you find the right solution for continuing to explore this musical path!

Thanks Cheryl. Finding things that we could play together was a REAL challenge. At our last session she suggested that we play pieces that I play from memory. I thought it sounded really unappealing (not the idea but rather our actual playing) because we were each playing the melody. I don't have any trouble pacing myself along with someone doing exactly the same thing that I am, and I felt that this really defied the point of playing with another musician. As we were doing it, I truly was thinking in the back of my mind....."I could be working on my other pieces right now!!!"
Easier pieces would bore the cellist. It was really nice to give it a try so I don't feel disappointed and I would definitely consider doing it again in the future, perhaps after I have become better at sight-reading and better at controlling my nerves.

This past week I had one of the nastiest head colds I ever had, and my nose was running like an open faucet. My biggest achievement is that I found a way to play the piano every day without flooding the living room.

My big achievement next week will be to devise a method on how to play the piano without taking my hands off the keyboard, while coughing up a storm.

Christine, I think the important thing is that you aren't disappointed and you're already looking at otherways to make music with those around you!

Singsong - I hope you feel better soon!

My "achievement" isn't really an achievement - it is ...... I don't know what it is...?

Tonight, I was playing with my headsets, (because it is 10.30pm and I am a good neighbour) - and I invited my husband to listen. I have 2 headphone plugs - so ... got him wired up and FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER..... he starts pushing keys. It was really fun to see him experimenting.
And he actually got a bit of a groovy bass line going. I was surprised, and and grinning away.

Then it's my turn. I start to play and he starts to laugh. I stop, turn to him and say "What????"... and he says "It sounds so different on the digital - no wonder you don't like it".

I am so glad he "gets it" all.

Hi!

Delicious anecdote, Cheryl!


My achievement of this week is a bit silly, but I’m proud of it. Until now I was fearful of putting my fingers between two black keys, I don’t know why, but I had to do hard movements to play some passages. But I’ve realized that if I do that, the black keys don’t eat my fingers!

How sweet, I hope my future other half enjoys playing the piano!

Hi I could not write to the forum for a while since I got a new Golden Retriever pup. I'm practicing but really could not find time to write a post. I do enjoy everyone's achievements. Hope I can post this weekend.

Achievement of the week? Enrolled in my Advanced Diploma of Music.

While my daughter was rehearsing for an ordination at church (she's going to be an acolyte - candle bearer), I was practicing / playing in the church hall. A friend was there waiting for her daughter too. After I have finished playing Debussy Arabesque #1, she asked if I wanted to become a concert pianist after the kids were through college!!

My non-achievement of the week ... I haven't got a recording of the arabesque for the ABF recital that I like. Grrhh.

Just came back from a concert with Bach, Schumann, and Liszt. Out-of-the-world experience! Hello~!

Oh . . . I should probably make a start on my own video.

I didn't know what this was, so I did a quick google of it. It sounds like it covers a huge range of topics. Is it something you do in a classroom setting, or through an individual teacher?