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Haven't posted in a while... I went MIA when I got my new piano a few months ago.
Everyone seems to have come so far!

I had an AOW Monday at my lesson.

I seem to get stuck certain passages. I will drill them over and over until I get it right, and the next day when I try them again, it's like all my work the day before never happened. So I go to my lesson, and of course, flub the section. Of course, I am certain my teacher thinks I'm not practicing. She takes out her metronome and has me play it the speed I was playing it at, twice. I do okay with it the first try, and flub the second. Then she bumps it up 15 clicks, and tells me to do it again. I think she's crazy, but do it anyway and I nail it. She tells me to do it again, and I butcher it. She then explains to me that I know it, and my fingers know it, but I'm over thinking it. Since then, I find myself practicing a little better because I'm starting to recognize that I actually know these parts.

After reading Richard's post about pieces deteriorating from overfamilarity, I think maybe the picture is a little clearer. Perhaps I'm over doing it day after day, trying to fix these spots, and only frustrating myself?

New goal: after working on a fracture, I'll not touch that section for a day or two and see if that helps. (Thanks Richard!)

Richard, I like your idea of giving repertoire pieces a rest and coming back to them. It makes sense that each time a piece is refreshed in memory, it is more deeply learned. The concept of the musicality getting stale from over playing is also very true. If I find myself mindlessly playing through anything, I quit playing right then. If the brain is not engaged, I cannot make music!

I don't consider playing through finished pieces practice time, unless I have forgotten a section and need to relearn it. My pay off for all the hard practice hours is to sit down in the evening and just play pieces I know, or sight read from easy "Greatest Hits" books. I love being able to really get into the music.

On the other hand, with music in the polishing stage, I generally only work on individual sections or problem areas and limit the times I play the entire piece from memory. It seems to be a delicate balance. Sometimes, once I get a difficult section right, then it helps to leave it alone and let it gel. If I find it falls apart again when I play it in the larger context, I go back to slowly drilling the trouble spot. It seems to take a fair amount of time to train new movements, such as the runs on the second page of the Chopin nocturne I am working on, such that they can be played reliably at speed. I literally have to break them down into two or four note segments and learn those, and then combine them. Eventually it comfortably flows, but it does take lots of repetition!

Zrtf90, SwissMS, I'll try a longer break from the old pieces. I'll get a real chance for that as I go on a trip in the middle of the month.

Week 17 is a banner week for me. After nine weeks of working on Ashokan Farewell, I finally can work on it without the music in front of me. I recorded a practice session, and it needs a lot more polish. The left hand sounds too loud and harsh, and there are many hesitations.

The suggestions on slow practice and focusing on memorizing a small section each practice were most helpful. Zrtf90 and others are proponents of both of those, slowing down and focusing on memorizing a small section.

Putting away the music is a big step considering how long I have been climbing the hill. Now that I have it mostly memorized, at times it seems like such an easy piece. I'll remind myself of this moment, when I start a new, seemingly impossible piece.

After watching some TV program I decide to sound out God Bless America. It takes some doing but I come up with a passable melody line and clunky harmony. It typically takes me some time to sound out a melody.

I learn the term glissando, and play around with that (rapid sequence of notes usually generated by running one hand along the keys). I spend some time playing random notes and chords. The term finger painting comes to mind. Some might think it a waste of time, but especially for the slow players, free play is an interesting concept. The other thought is that maybe I can come up with a use for that glissando, without having to intellectualize it.

I don't want to work on the A Major piece Ribbon of Leaves any more. Someone on 50/90 posted the advice:
>> Don't waste your valuable time perfecting garbage.
Most of the time, the better songs, better compositions have a real spark fairly quickly. Getting to the end might take a lot of work, but if there is no spark, fiddling with it, usually won't produce any sparks. It tends to be more productive to move to the next piece, rather than rewriting something that isn't working.

I am not participating in 50/90 this year, but I am checking in and listening to some of the songs and reading some of the lyrics. I found a set of lyrics I may try to write music to, which would be a new and exciting thing.
http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/recent_threads

For those reading along, it isn't too late to start 50/90. My first year, I started a month late, and still made good progress. Again, I credit 50/90 as the biggest positive influence to my songwriting. I made the jump from someone writing about one song a year to someone who could complete a song or even two or three songs in a day. For those that don't want to do three months, they sometimes have what are called song skirmishes, where someone posts a song title or theme, and interested songwriters work for an hour then post the recordings of what they have.

Songwriting is like piano, in that consistent time and effect produces results. It isn't like piano, in that learning to work fast, and to make mistakes, are part of the optimal process. The inner critic tends to be the worst enemy of novice songwriters. Fire that critic and progress can be made.

I finish viewing the Yale music appreciation lectures. I recommend it for those with the time. I found it much more interesting than most of what is on TV right now. It is free. There are 23 lectures each about 50 minutes. Can be viewed online or downloaded for later viewing.
http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112

Some fun facts from the Yale course:
Bach had to write 25 minutes of new music every week. Transcribe it, rehearse it with the orchestra and have it ready for Sunday services. Mozart's piano had five octaves, and each key struck one wire. Modern pianos strike three wires for a much fuller sound. Steinway is credited with the first to use cross wiring for the bass notes. Yale University, 17 Hillhouse Ave, has a large collection of early pianos and other musical instruments. Franz Liszt bought Beethoven's Broadwood piano, which the maker gave to him. The Broadwood has two strings per note, and is difficult to tune.

Hayden's orchestra was approximately 16 pieces. Mozart could muster about 30+, Beethoven 50+, Wagner 80 to 90 and that was the end as after that came electricity and amplified music and smaller groups could generate enough volume.

I was so thrilled when my Best of Einaudi book arrived. That's my AOW.

I whipped it open to the first item "Limbo." Then I realized - I am appalled - my hands just don't seem to be large enough to play this stuff. I mean the very first chord is an octave with another note in the middle, don't recall what at the moment. Really really hard to stretch to do that. and similar issues pretty much throughout the first few songs I looked at.

It's all I can do to stretch to play an octave and hitting another note in the middle of that is really hard. I never thought my hands were that small.

I think that my hands are about the average size for a woman. I wear a size 7 glove. I can play an octave but no more. Are others having this same problem? I am sooooo sad.

Congrats Sand Tiger.

- Thanks, that's good advice.

This week, I managed to start playing Gershwin's Prelude I at 90 beats per minute. It's an accomplishment considering that it's taken me a few months to get to this tempo - previously I was struggling at 60 beats per minute.

Oongawa, My hands are about the same size. There have been numerous threads about small hands, and our hands aren't necessarily small. The conclusion seems to be that if a person can span an octave, they can play the vast majority of what is out there.

I can relate my story with Ashokan Farewell. While it doesn't have full octave chords, it does have 7ths, which were new to me. When I started on the piece, it felt hopeless. My mind would freeze when seeing the 7ths, I would halt and then slowly try and play the four finger chords poorly.

After nine weeks of steady practice, and some left hand only isolation, including playing with eyes closed, the transitions to 7ths are now near smooth, almost easy.

Thank you! I will keep at it. Maybe to begin with I'll just play the octave without the middle note. The extra stretch to hit that middle key pulls in my pinky enough to cause a problem. There are other passages in the song that will require me to really move quickly since i can't reach but the music is so beautiful I will keep trying. Thanks for the pep talk!

Still working on the Pathetique sonata but during the lesson today we went through a bit of the second movement (first movement always takes up the entire lesson time). We experimented the musicality and it sounded so wonderful in the mind once I know how I was meant to feel it emotionally.

Technically sounds easy, it has 3 to 4 layers of lines that require a player to almost needing 4 brains and 4 pairs of ears to get the sound balance right, yet not letting any layer impede on the melody. Then it needs to sound like they go together, not seperate lines. To truly play this movement beautifully, it is just as hard as the first movement.

Mentally it is quite difficult to get into the mood of the 2nd movement after the first, after all the emotional roller coaster in the first movement. This piece is so challenging to the mind and emotion, not just the technical.

To start learning music at this level, it is such a joy!

I guess my AOTW would be dipping in to "page 3" of Rachmaninoff Prelude 32/12. I started looking at bars 24-30. This part seems tricky to me and I'm not sure I'll be able to get it going but that is the hope.

The other AOTW was just working on voicing the melody notes of the Ocean Etude. It's easy to get carried away with Ocean as it's so enjoyable to play and I want to play it over and over, but my arthritic wrists can only take so much Ocean each day!

I've posted this before (and hopefully will at regular but distant intervals) but I'm really happy with how my sight reading is improving. Yes, of course it could be better (and will be!) but it's very satisfying playing through pieces and thinking, yup - that is how it's supposed to sound!

A first a first!!! I've memorized 8 bars of my Mozart sonatina. We'll have to see if it sticks and if I can get the whole movement in my memory bank.

Bit the bullet and turned on the metronome, and.......it helped. I was not smoothly hitting the four-finger chords at the end of Canon in D. Using the metronome while concentrating on smooth and accurate landings helped.

Ah, Stubbie, the Ticko Bell!

(OT but topical!)

You know, when I saw the topic header "Taco Bell's Canon in D" I didn't get it. Then read the article in the WSJ and just about busted a gut laughing (and some deep-in-my-soul crying)--and finally got the Taco Bell reference.

I seem to be in a one step forward, two steps back phase right now, so I do not have any major achievements to announce. Since beginning with the new teacher, it seems every week she has more technique issues for me to work on. That means deconstructing works in progress and putting them back together. I am playing everything very slowly and trying to be conscious of all movement, where my wrists are, how does the tone sound, are my feet grounded, etc. The piece that she assigned when I started with her, Bach Prelude in C minor, is memorized and has come together pretty well, so that is an accomplishment. Now I can just work on refining my interpretation, which is the fun part. So, I guess there is hope!

SwissMS - You know those steps back are necessary and often bring the big forward steps in the future. Isn't it interesting when you really slow it down and examine the very minute details of our hand positions, balance, posture....even examining where your eyes are and where they're going next. There is just so much going on at once. Our brains are truly incredible computers to be able to process all of this, much of it below the conscious level.

My AOTW is to have quieted my inner critic enough to finally post in the July PianoBar some recordings made back at the time of my recital in May. The recordings didn't get any better in the ensuing month and a half, but not being so close to the pieces for a while softened my view of their flaws. As I keep telling my teacher...hopefully, some day I might completely get over myself

Swiss Ms..I feel your struggle and know that you will emerge with better technique and beautiful music. I've been studying the scales...I mean focusing on my sound and my fingers (the pinkie STILL wants to stand up instead of stay down) and their evenness in hitting the keys. Thumb is getting better...hope this is an accomplishment...sure feels like one :-)

JimF...you named it. "hopefully some day I might completely get over myself"!! Now I'm inspired to try the monthly piano bars too

SwissMS it often feels like one step back, one step forward for me.

My Week 18: I mentioned last week, finding some lyrics via the 50/90 forum and wanting to write music. This is a first time for that kind of thing for me so a big step forward.

mp3 file for Sunset original lyrics by Toni Cerna, this is an instrumental version:
https://www.box.com/s/9ccda56265c68f9bcd48

I haven't had the time or nerve to sing as a separate track, or to even to attempt to sing and play. I am relatively pleased with the music. I haven't heard back from my collaborator yet, so that is a nervous feeling. Overall, I worked hard on writing, rewriting, rehearsing and then uploading a version of Sunset. The adapted lyrics are as melancholy as the music feels. This is my 7th original piano piece, the first that is a song with lyrics.

As for the hill of Ashokan Farewell it is ten weeks in. I tried recording it, same session I did for the Sunset upload. Could not get a clean play through, or maybe one, but typically people play it twice through. Typically I do make at least one minor mistake when playing it, but the red dot added pressure. My recording process and setup is not near optimal, but neither is the instrument or the musician.

Listening to the recordings tells me how far I have to go. I have hesitations, harshness, that a more experienced, more polished musician doesn't have. That will eventually come, but it feels so frustrating, especially when the red dot is on.

I downloaded some sight reading apps for my Android tablet. I will leaving for a trip on Monday and will be away from the keyboard. Those that have followed my reports have seen nothing about practicing sight reading. That's because I have done zero in that area in my 18 weeks.

Sight reading is a serious weakness, a hole, a ditch. I have done zero work with traditional sheet music. I have been using ABC notation, writing out scores by hand (I don't own a printer either). I can do pretty well with ABC, playing decent known pieces such as Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Ashokan Farewell, as well as writing seven original pieces. Still, most pianists work with dots on lines. It definitely would not hurt to learn it, though it would take away time and energy from much more satisfying pursuits, such as writing new music.

I am so impressed with everyone's achievement.
But I have made no progress.

I have been just polishing up the Rach piece I am doing to be ready to perform in front of my old teacher who now lives in San Jose, CA area. It's getting old though. One thing about my current teacher.. she would not let you move forward until she is satisfied that I learned something she wanted me to learn through a particular piece, scale or hanon, you name it. In the scale's department, I have been doing 3 set of minor scales for each key. for g# minor, my teacher passed me natural and melodic, but told me to repeat harmonic one more week. I have to clean up the dodgy turn around at the top. I know it's the right thing but oh boy, I am at it for the third week. She says, "every sound should be together, play into the key in the middle of the keys and make me hear all four notes with the same volume". But this particular scale has a gap on the top cut to f double sharp and it's not easy for my left second finger to hit e and my left third finger to move from g# to d# above a certain speed. She does not listen to my wining at all. She also says, "how can you play an advanced Chopin work if you cannot play the scale into the keys at that turn. we cannot press the speed up unless I hear all the notes as clean and together as possible.". Arpeggio was ok, which was a saving grace..

I also started volunteering in my church choir as a singer and backup pianist. Because of the fear that my music director may not arrive to church on time, I have been sort of forced to do a bunch of sight reading and putting accompaniment to melody where there is none. I can sightread slowly but it would not get it if you are going to accompany a live session. It changes every week. I am learning a lot but I never knew what a commitment that actually is. It has lots of syncopation and I have to sing and play harmony parts to warm the singers up. I can see how good it can be for someone to develop strong sight reading skills. Nothing like FEAR.

FarmGirl
My teacher (who is very talented and can sight read anything) started as a teenager accompanying the choir at church. She credits that experience with her confidence at reading and keeping the rhythm even if missing a note here and there. She teaches me to leave out notes if necessary (and which ones) to keep the piece going. I tried accompanying once last December...played while my husband sang. It went pretty well but is a very different experience than playing a solo piece. FEAR...what was that phrase? "Foreign events appearing real" or something like that...