First, I never knew about the logic of tetrachords...in my ancient music lessons years ago, I just memorized scales. Love the fact that I can do any scale just by watchig the keyboard. Now, no need to memorize them! I just need to look at the keyboard! Actually, I think what I loved the most was discovering that there was logic in the scales. That math/analytical brain of mine loved this.

Second, I have a little free piano app on my ipad which has all 88 keys....love the fact that I can use this for my table top exercises. So easy to do every day. Also, I can use this for my theory stuff, so I can easily slip this into my workday

Yes, I much prefer the "work it out" method to rote learning.

Once you HAVE worked them out, of course, and start really practicing them up to speed, it's all down to muscular memory. Your HANDS have to know the scales.

First time posting on this particular thread. Since beginning piano last year (Using principally the Alfred's series) I've had many small victories but nothing that generated true "excitement".

Finally I have something!

Yesterday I'm was working through Alfred's book 3 totally frustrated with one of the pieces. I tossed it aside and noticed book two lying nearby. I decided to play an easier piece to lift my mood.

Well, I didn't care for book two the first time through and hadn't bothered with half the entries. Noticing the arrangement of "Canon in D" that I hadn't previously attempted I started playing. I was honestly shocked to realize I could sight read and play the piece with almost no mistakes at speed.

At last I feel that "something is sticking" in this ol' brain!

Yup! Work on harder pieces, perform easier ones. That's how it works! Well done!

Thanks!. But the initial excitement seems to have awakened a desire to practice much, much more. This sort of thing could turn my little hobby into an obsession!

I have graduated from the easier pieces in Bach's Anna Magdalena Notebook into Little Preludes and Fugues. Not that I won't still be learning pieces from AMB.

PianoStudent88,

Yea! I know that feels like a nice step forward because I seem to be at about the same stage. At the moment I'm taking a bit of a break from Bach, but I know it won't be long before my teacher has his name back on my working list. Hoping for an Invention. If not, however, another prelude would suit me just fine.

Wow, everyone seems to have so much accomplishments and excitement. I did not accomplish anything in particular except that I managed to forget about FREE performance by Norwegian pianist Knut Erik Jensen. I cannot believe it. I really wanted to go see it. How many times you can hear a Norwegian pianist? Besides, he looked very cute in the picture too, kinda like a prince in a fairy tale (LOL).

My friend Bob (are you looking at it?) thought I was busy with work but I was not even working when the performance was on. I was trying to cheer up my dog Emma who is totally depressed after our older dog Sarah died recently - she had cancer. Emma now stays under a bed all day, makes sad mourning sound "woouu wuuu" from time to time and does not come out until she is totally hungry. Yes, Emma is the one who plays (bangs on) the toy piano. I talked a dog behavioral specialist "dog shrink" and doing everything i could. Nothing is working. I was calling Golden Retriever breeders. I think getting another puppy is the only cure at this point. Anyway, it was not a good day for me.

Oh, FarmGirl I'm so sorry about Sarah, and my heart goes out to you and Emma. Time, and maybe a new puppy, will help but Sarah will always be with you.

Cathy

FarmGirl- I'm so sorry for poor Emma. Our furry friends are so loyal and loving, it is clear she is really grieving. It must be doubly sad for you to have lost Sarah and then see Emma suffering.

I don't have any real achievement going this week, but I'm having fun with my new jazz pieces. I have 2 on the go, and I can't wait til next week to try some (jazzy) duets with my teacher - plus I'm looking at the Clementi 36 N1 again, trying to work to get it to performance level. I've tinkered with it on and off for a long time now, I think it is time to pin it down!

Congrats nanette, tararex, and PS88 on your achievements. Sorry for your loss, FarmGirl.

I feel like I finally have got the Bach minuet down. By that, I really mean I'm hitting the right keys at the right time. I still need to work on musicality. Those first 8 bars I originally posted here seems like a long time ago. The second half of that piece seemed much harder! Anyway... I need to consult my teacher, but I think I'm moving on to Schumann's Melodie now.

Farmgirl - Losing a dog is a very hard thing - I wish you (and Emma!) the best in moving on to the point where the good memories dominate the sadness of the loss...

MaryAnn - neat that we learned that minuet simultaneously! I love to play it still, every time I sit down, and play with tempo/etc. Sometimes I play it very slowly, sometimes I try to rip through it at Mach 2, just for fun. (with errors, of course). It's much more musical (to me) than my Clementi pieces.

Speaking of which, I finally played through all 104 bars of my Clementi movement (sonatina 36.2 mvmt 3), though about 20 of them need serious serious work. But it's good to have at least played all the notes!

Finally, my real AOTW is to have dropped a bundle (gift card) on iTunes - I got Alfred Brendel's "Beethoven: the complete piano sonatas", which provides me with hours and hours of music while I'm working or doing dishes now... love it!

I don't know that it counts exactly as an "Achievement" but this week I found an excellent piano teacher who teaches in the building next door to where I work. Literally three minutes to walk from my desk to the piano and start a lesson. Can't ask for any more than that!

One lesson so far and I think it has already made a difference in my playing. Plus I now know what purpose a Secondary Dominant chord serves.

Brent H, congratulations on finding your teacher Secondary Dominant chords are great. I love knowing why accidentals are showing up.

FarmGirl
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss and Emmas as well. Grief is hard even when you know you're going through it. Blessings to you both

FarmGirl, my condolences. I don't even want to imagine the grief losing a beloved dog would cause.

I have my first AOTW! I am learning the 500 Year Old Melody from Faber Level 1 Performance book (hoping to polish it for the next recital.) I was just practicing it and I asked my 16 year old son what he thought. "It's very beautiful." Never thought I'd hear that in relation to me playing piano!

One great thing about the piano, when someone's explaining chords and harmony the notes are right there under your fingers and make perfect since. Explaining the same things on violin or guitar seems so abstract by comparison!

I got to play yesterday on this beautiful Steinway Model M (the owner said it's from 1942 and was never rebuilt, but it sounds and feels just fantastic!) and I recorded a couple bits of music with only just a little bit of red-dot-phobia, which is a HUGE accomplishment for me! For most of my recording time I totally forgot about the recorder! I'll share them here and I hope you like them

Sam that was amazing playing on a wonderful instrument! What a great way to start my day! I loved both pieces but the second one really is beautiful! You are very very talented!

Wow, that was beautifully played, Sam. I can't believe you started less than two years ago.

And to contribute something:
Today I signed up for my first real piano lessons ever to start in february! So far I've done reasonable on my own, but after reading some posts on this forum I decided to try it out and am now very excited about it.

Thanks! I think I'm still under a year and a half.

About the lessons, it's a REALLY good idea. I did well on my own, but if you look at my old videos you can see the technical changes I was able to learn in just two lessons that I've had so far, and how that affects my playing so much (for the better). Beware of bad teachers, but otherwise there is no downside and a lot of upside to getting lessons. Go for it!!

Cathy, Cheryl, MaryAnn, bessel, BeccaBb, thank you for your kind words. This is not piano related but we finally found a puppy friend for Emma. The puppy came with a name "Tank" but I am pondering to change it to "Spencer". My husband like the name Tank. He says that it's not gonna be a sissy dog like Emma who likes to lay around to listen to music with me. He wants to be with a boy dog (=manly dog) when he is watching a football game in his Man Cave (more like a Man Corner of the living room). The woman who sold us the puppy is a sort of character - she has 2 horses, 4 other dogs (Puppy's father, mother, surrogate mother and a totally unrelated black lab). She says she was in the film industry in LA. Hmmm we both had to think about what it means (LOL) briefly. The best part was that she loves her animals very much. I am secretly hoping to turn the puppy a piano loving dog like Emma.

Sam, not bad at all. You are very musical and that is a gift. These recordings are incredibly precious not only because you can play the piece but I hear something very pure in it. I feel your incredible love for the music and Chopin.

Nikolaj - congrats to your first lesson.

My major achievement of the week is that I got a "pass" on The Clown by Kabalevsky . God, how I grew to hate that piece!!!! When my teacher first showed it to me I thought "Meh, its not anything special, but its not horrible either, I can play it if she thinks that there is something to learn from it!"
She was very particular about tempo, phrasing, and articulation and it took me 3 WEEKS to get it to where it needed to be. The piece looks SUPER easy on paper, but it was pretty challenging for me.

The worst part of it was that my family HATED it too. I would begin practicing a section of it and several members would sigh, moan, and even say things like "aren't clowns supposed to entertain us, aren't clowns supposed to make us happy? I generally like Kabalevsky, and I really look forward to playing several of his other pieces......but GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE CLOWN.

My achievement is that I can play Invention 13 by Bach now with no effort. A few weeks ago I was going to post here asking for advice because I couldn't bring the hands together. Now I'm working on voice leading which is my weakest point and the notes are not the problem any longer. I also have it memorized by now, I haven't looked at the score in 2 weeks and I can pretty much start from anywhere within the piece. I'm struggling to keep the tempo down because I realize I started to play it too fast for my current ability and it causes slips.

first time in this thread for me..... it's not so much of an accomplishment like you fine people share, but it did get me excited, so hopefully it still counts. I was playing "Blues for Wynton Marsalis" p.109 of Alfred's adult all-in-one.. and as soon as I started playing I thought 'YESSSS, this is more like it!' .. I just got super-crazy enjoyment out of it. It felt just right, you know what I mean?

Good for you, Teodor. I've been working on this piece too, and I'm kind of stuck at 85 bpm right now. Faster than that, and my hands get out of sync. I don't have it memorized, though, and play from the sheets. Do you think having it memorized would help to play it faster?

My wife has an AOTW ... she managed to finally wear me down and get me to agree to cut back to 45 minutes (from one hour) a night. This SUCKs.

I'm particularly annoyed because it was her who got rid of the digital which forces me to practice before the kids go to bed. And, of course, she then says if I practice for an hour I can't spend enough time with them.

But in the choice between piano and a marriage, I have to take marriage.

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that Andy.
Is it your wife's rule that you cannot play while the children are in bed? Both of my kids really love to fall asleep listening to me play (as long as it is not The Clown by Kabalevsky :D).
Perhaps you could find a way to eek those additional 15 minutes into your practice sessions in some other way (an additional practice session in the early morning hours of the weekend?). If I were similarly situated, I would make a list of all of the reasons my husband (in my case) wanted me to play 15 fewer minutes a day. Then I would try to find the equivalent amount of time where those complaints couldn't possibly be applicable (i.e., if the point is that you are neglecting the kids, find time when the kids are occupied by something they have chosen to do, if you are neglecting your wife, play when your wife is doing something that doesn't involve you in any way).
If this strategy doesn't work, (i.e., your wife still complains) then you probably need to address why she seems to want to control your time at the piano so much. Maybe she doesn't realize that this is what she is doing and maybe she has never real thought about what doing so means to you and your relationship with her.
I unequivocally agree with your statement at the end of your post, one should choose marriage!! I would just edit it a bit and say one should choose to work tirelessly to maintain a happy healthy marriage. Could you possibly give to your family in those 15 minutes each day something that seems worth the misery you feel making the sacrifice?

Andy, if you were my dad I'd love to fall asleep listening to you play. I can't think of a better bedtime routine.

Good luck figuring out a way to find more practice time! I don't know what I would do if I had mine trimmed to such a short period

Andy, are your kids interested in piano, or another instrument? I wonder if you could spend that 15 minutes cultivating some interest in music. Just a thought.

Aimee