Thanks! I was self-taught as a teen (though I did take classical flute lessons and theory) but mostly just took guitar chords and melody lines and played piano with those. I started lessons with a teacher to play classical piano in May. I've learnt not to be embarassed about that question - although I've played for more than 20 years, I really never "learnt".

I had to read that twice - first time through I focussed on the fact that you started in May and gasped, thinking you must be a ruddy genius!....... Then I finished the sentence - whew- you're definitely good, but I'm not quite so intimidated now - and I'm still inspired! Complimenti again!

Ok this weekI seem to have made a bit of a breakthrough in getting rid of some tension in my arms.
I've been playing around with position and found that my moving slightly farther AWAY from the keys, I seem to have a more natural "fall" onto them, which is much more relaxed.
I had tried this before in the past, but always felt I was too distant and kept creeping back.

I'm also pleased to note that I'm definitely making progress in terms of "getting the hang" of my pieces. I can see that my fingers are learning where to go with a lot more fluidity and somethings are just .......easier to do. I also think I'm practising better, more productively.
It is most gratifying.

I currently have a 'sight-reading' bug... So my achievement this week was to practice 7/7 days, sight-reading pieces & exercises for the first 15 minutes or so.

I'm using "beginner" pieces from Pianist Magazine (but many of these seem to be level 2 to 3ish (although they do have some easier 'for starters' pieces but not in every issue).

Apparently to improve you need to practice sight-reading with material that you can read 95% fluently. So for some 'easy peasy' material I dug out my very first book from my very first lesson (this is so old it cost 3 shillings). I sight read through that this week. Off course, this was very very easy and sight-reading it was a doddle and I played each piece pefectly! Well perhaps not! It did show me how pants I am at this. This was a very curious experience, I vaguely remember doing it the first time all those decades ago (queue wavy line moment).

So I decided to get some sight-reading method books and start working through them from the beginning...

There's a lot of series available on Amazon, but in the end settled for ordering a bunch of material from the local public library. I just got back from collecting them. Although I only ordered book 1 of each series, the whole set of one came bound in a hard cover. So effectively I've got 12 or so method books in total for £0.00.

So my final 'achievement' was finding out that the public library is an amazing resource for method books and collections of graded pieces.

You're lucky! I'll take another look at ours but I'm pretty sure there's no method books.

Hmm, I'll have to have a look in the library again. I couldn't see anything last time I checked though.
It may not be the best idea, but I use Bach Preludes for sight reading practice, which is certainly helping, I am getting a lot better at it.

My 'big' achievement is bars 37-50 of 'Pathetique' mvt.2. Granted I can't play it up to speed, but I can at least get through it now.

The trick for me was searching the library catalogues online. The one I go to is part of a very large network. Several were in a branch 80 or so miles away but turned up in a couple of days.

I just finished working through the first (Sight-Reading for Fun, Vol 1:Preliminary by Peter Lawson). I could do this one.

Our library has an irritating tendency to be missing the first couple of books of the great majority of its methods (lots of volumes 3, 4, & 5...). :phooey: Since my actual playing level is still late elementary, my sight-reading level is pretty low.

But I've been on a sight reading kick too. My accomplishment of the week is that I've figured out how to alleviate the tedium of sight-reading beginner material in the key of C (G or F if we're getting adventurous) -- sight read it transposed into other keys! It adds a little spice to playing London Bridge... :rolleyes:

Unfortunately I live in the smallest (geographically) county in the US (though it has a really great library system). However, there is World Cat and that says the nearest library that has that sight reading book is ... Ottawa!

Actually I did a bunch of other searches and there are some basic primers that should provide good material in my local library. I'll check them out (pun not intended).

I was away on holiday last week, but my big achievement was sitting down at my cousin's piano & playing a few pieces from memory, & with other people in the room. They weren't sitting listening or anything, but they were there & I managed to ignore them.

My cousin, btw, is 83 & still an excellent pianist. Played in a few jazz bands when he was in university, many decades ago. I hadn't had a chance to listen to him in ages.

Andy,

I tried that World Cat search, it gave the University Libraries at Oxford and Cambridge as the nearest locations with that book to me (so I'd take it with a pinch of salt). These are further away from here than where the copies were sourced (Yeovil). Now why Yeovil (population 28000) seems to store much of the music books/sheet music for the local library network I'm not sure, since its a very rural location?


I'm glad you found some basic primers in yours. I'd also be inclined to send a list to the librarian and ask whether they can get others on inter-library loan or similar?

I had a great lesson this week! My teacher complimented me on the voicing on one of my pieces. And we worked through a really difficult section of another one, so that I understand how to approach it now. I was so excited to get home and start working on everything that we went over. And it feels like I'm making real progress now.

2 great things.

The first is, I think I've found a new teacher; I had an introductory lesson last week. He's a young guy, just finished his B of Music & is entering the (excellent!) jazz program at a local college in September. He has teaching experience, & from when I first spoke to him on the phone he seemed like a communicator (unlike at least one of the others I called...) He's more classically-oriented than my previous teacher, but I think that will be a good thing for a while - much as I loved my other teacher, she probably didn't push me hard enough about technique. He's got me doing Beyer etudes, Hanon as warm-up, as well as whatever else I want. Since I was doing Alfred Book 2 before, I'll probably keep on with that for a while, at least. Oh yes, & my lessons don't have to be weekly, which works better for me.

The 2nd thing that I consider an achievement is my downstairs neighbour, who has played piano for about 70 years, said my playing recently has been "beautiful!" She was referring to "Sakura," from Alfred 2 - she said when she loves hearing me play it, because it takes her back to when she used to sing it in kindergarten in Taiwan (that'd be 70+ years ago) She's commented on my progress before, but this was different. It's nice that someone found at least one of my efforts meaningful.

This was a rough week for me. First of all I never feel I am prepared enough or practice enough for my lessons. And each week I vow to do better.

But this week I unfortunately had a pretty severe reaction to a supplement my Dr. prescribed for me. I didn't realize at first that the supplement was the cause since it is something I only had to take once a week.

Over the course of the week, after I had taken my first dose, I could feel my muscle getting weaker and weaker and the fatigue was so unbearable I barely made it through the work week. I just thought this was a relapse of some sort because muscle pain and fatigue is something I've dealt with for a long time (although through various therapies I've had some improvement).

By the time Friday came I felt like I could hardly walk and so I canceled my lesson and left work early. I really felt bad about canceling and again vowed to do better.

On Saturday night I took my weekly supplement again. Sunday morning when I woke up it hit me. OMG! It's the supplement!!! That morning I was in the worse pain I ever felt (and I can tolerate pain). Sitting hurt, standing hurt, and I had not idea how long it was going to last. I was even thinking I might have to go to the Hospital. I just didn't know what else to do. Thankfully the pain subsided after a few hours. But I still felt weak and fatigued throughout the this week. I did manage to practice but not as much as I would have liked and as usual felt like I wouldn't be prepared enough for my lesson on Friday.

Then I remembered a little one page song my teacher gave me to try out. This was to work on my reading which is far below my playing level. It was about 11:00pm all my books where packed away for the next days lesson. I pulled out the page and decided I would give it a try. I was half way through the page when I realized... HEY! I'm half way through the page! I played that little piece almost effortlessly. It's a simple song called The song without words or something like that, but the feeling was very sweet. It was the first time I sightread a song without, worry or panic or criticism. So, that was my achievement for the week.

Thanks for "listening".

Marybee, how satisfying!!!! Isn't exciting when you feel something new has "clicked" and become easier to deal with?

Joyoussong - sounds like you've found a great teacher, that's super! And what a lovely compliment from your neighbour! I bet that really made your heart sing.

Kymber, what a rough week indeed - I hope the dr sorts out a med that you can take without these problems asap! Congrats on the sight reading, it must have been especially rewarding after your terrible week.

I've had a low-key week. My hands have been a bit sore - I think I've got a tendonitis situation to take care of - or something along those lines. I see a dr's visit in my near future. However, I am really pleased with how my Franck piece is coming along. I find that getting the hang of this piece (which is technically much more challenging than others I've tried) seems to be falling into place a lot faster than ever things have before.

I intend to keep polishing it, but my teacher has said she no longer needs to hear Gershwin's Someone To Watch Over Me. The version I'm playing is arranged by Dan Coates, who makes really nice arrangements. I got it from this book Top 50 Jazz Standards - Arranged by Dan Coates . When I showed this book to my teacher she liked it enough to order it for use with her other pupils. I hope the other songs are as nice as the Gershwin tune was because I've had a lot of fun learning it and its really fun to play. As Time Goes By is up next. My wife is starting to call me "the lounge act".

Kymber, that reaction to the medication sounds awful! Hope it's gone from your system, & that your energy & enthusiasm come back soon.

Cas, hope you can get your sore hands figured out. Glad your Franck piece is going well. Have you done any more with the OP book? I've kind of put it aside for a bit since my new teacher has introduced other new materials.

casinitaly: Yes it was definitely rewarding (as small as it seemed-I think I needed it). Please take care of your hands and congrats on your progress.

joyoussong: Thank you! I am definitely feeling a lot better.

Btw... I really like this thread. It's nice to focus on things we accomplish instead of what we can't do (yet).

just learned today what I need to do for a Chopin Prelude I'm working on. Thanks

Kymber, I don't believe this! I have been suffering with headaches for several weeks now which really effect my practicing. This morning for the first time in a very long time I felt well enough to practice for a full two hours. Guess what I finished up with? A song without words!

Really hope you are feeling better. Your post has given me encouragement.

I finally have the first 8 bars of my piece down pat and memorized.
I've been "almost there" for a while, but after my lesson last week, I really buckled down and FOCUSED. I can now play it with or without music and get it right over and over. I'm pleased.

I also did a batch of sight reading today and can feel a bit more progress. I found 2 pieces that I want to give some focus to, both fairly short, but lovely sounding. One is a Gavotte by Hayden and the other a Bach Bourée.

Deanne - good for you! Nice to pick up on a new technique.
JimF - I've been hearing a lot about Dan Coates lately - I like the pieces that you've mentioned - are you going to post so we can hear them?

<<I also did a batch of sight reading today and can feel a bit more progress.>>
Congrats!

I also continued to focus on sight-reading this week, completing some more sight-reading method books. In addition to these I started using Bartok's Mikrokosmos for daily sight-reading practice. I quite like these for sight-reading practice, there's no text with each piece as in many method books and they seem very mathematically/systematically constructed. They have individual metronome markings for each exercise.

I took a sight-reading test.
Using some ABRSM grade 1-3 specimen sight-reading tests, I went through the first two at each level. It was a mixed bag, Grade 1 was harder than anticipated, but conversely one of the grade 3 went much better than I thought it would (I haven't covered grade 3 in the method books yet). I'm going to repeat this every month or so to monitor "progress" (if any!).

Sounds like you are really giving yourself some interesting challenges Elwyn. Good for you !

Did you download the ABRSM materials?
I'm going to look into the other book you mentioned too. it is always fun to have more material to play with!

Finished study of Mozart's Minuet in F Major, K.6 (from the notebook for "Nannerl", his sister) - moving on to Schubert's Waltz in B minor, Op.18a, No.6.

JF

Now, because of the information you provided with your recital piece, I know that this is an early Mozart ! I had a listen on youtube to a couple of people playing this - it is charming! I bet you had fun with it.

I'm listening to the Schubert Waltz as I type. What an elegant piece - I bet you'll do a super job on it.

<<Did you download the ABRSM materials? >>
Nope. Got them from the local public library. I'm now a confirmed library fan because they have so much material and 4 or 5 full sight-reading method series.

I also found a useful pdf online called "sight reading skills - a guide to sight reading piano music accurately and expressively..." by Faith Maydwell. I haven't read it end-to-end yet, but it has a list of graded piano music (which starts off with the Mikrokosmos) and should be available via the library.

I have bought a range of ABRSM exam pieces, but intend keeping these for testing purposes to monitor progress, whilst using collections of graded pieces and works like Mikrokosmos for daily practice.

The one thing I've realised, is that to sight read an ABRSM grade 1 piece, you have to have basically completed sight-reading tests at ABRSM grade 3 (and so currently be working on grade 4). This means that whilst working up through the SR method books you have to pick pieces to practice sight-reading with carefully (Other method books or beginner pieces like Bartok's).

This seems to imply that either sight-reading is fundamentally hard, or that the examination boards (Trinity do the same) are biased against sight-reading and favour memorisation (since memorisation is encouraged at all grades including 1.

Matching up the requirements for sight-reading and those for pieces in ABRSM syllabus gives this 2-3 grade gap, in the Trinity system its formally stated apparently (expected to SR pieces two grades below).

Perhaps, the need to have completed several initial volumes of SR method books and be currently working on middle of the range volumes (e.g working on 4 of 8 ABRSM/Trinity) before attempting pieces explains why many struggle (particularly me) sight-reading beginner "easy" pieces?

casinitaly:

Yes, Coates' "easy piano" arrangements usually sound good musically and fall under the hands easily.

Although I do record on my DP, I've never spent the time figuring out how to do the whole transfer to computer, reformat, upload, etc.

I had something of a breakthrough with the Chopin A-Minor Waltz. Its been a work in progress for nearly three months and at times I've despaired of ever playing it well. Although far from finished and still below tempo, I found myself playing through it for pure enjoyment (versus practicing) this weekend. Do you ever surprise yourself with a note or phrase that you just have to shake your head at and say "dang, that was sweet"? Doesn't happen often to me, but it did this weekend.

Elwyn: I read through that sight reading pdf you mentioned. Good stuff. I liked her "blind" exercises. Also ordered the first two Mikrokosmos books, mainly because I'm a little bored with just reading the exercise book I've been working from.

Wonderful!
Yes! And I both love it and hate it. Love it because it just feels/sounds so good. Hate it because then I sit there admiring what I just did and totally mess up the next phrase.

Yup, I know that well!

Congrats on the break through Jim. What satisfaction!
I am going shopping tomorrow and if I find the Dan Coates book and the Mikrokosmos books I'll probably pick up both of them (at least vol 1 of Mikrokosmos)..if I don't find them in the shop I'll order them from Amzaon.

New music ....ahhhhhhhhhhhh what fun!

Casinitaly, it's really nice to see this thread continue. It shows people really like focusing on the positive!

I have an experience I want to share this week that I believe is positive (more so than an acomplishment). I've been back at piano lessons for about 1 year after a 5 year break. I was practicing 2-3 hours per day, approx. 5 days/week. I realized that my actual practice time on my lessons was going down and I was spending more and more time playing things I just felt like playing. For me I think this a first sign of burnout. I know lessons keep me learning and challenge me technically, but sometimes I just want to play for the sake of playing. So instead of burning myself out with lessons I explained to my teacher that I would like some time off to play some "less technical music" and just relax. We agreed that I would come back to lessons mid Sept. and I will definitely do that.

I believe the positive in all this is that I made the decision without any guilt(a first for me). I'm completely ok with stopping lessons for few weeks but still playing for fun. I feel this was a good decision for me and will help me from stressing myself out so much!

Thanks again, I appreciate this thread!!!