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

My achievement this week was finishing up my Haydn sonata and performing it for my teacher. And I did it with no major flubs! This is an unbelievable accomplishment for me, because I usually get so nervous playing for someone that I feel like giving up halfway through. Well, I was still nervous, but I got through it, and it was probably 12 minutes of playing non-stop. I'm thinking I might try to record this one for the next ABF recital.

I also started working on some rhythm exercises this week. I began by tapping 2 against 3 and 3 against 4, but then I thought I'd use the keyboard to try it, so it would be more realistic. So I began playing middle C with the left hand and the G above it with the right, and from time to time would switch which hand was playing the 2 beats and which was playing the 3 beats. I guess I went on with this for a bit too long, because after a while my son came into the room and said, "Mom, what are you playing? That song is terrible!"

lmao

Your son is very musical!

A few days ago, I played a really awful digital piano in Costco - the biggest public place I've ever played in, with hundreds of people milling around. I was waiting for the pharmacy to fill a prescription, wandering around the store, killing time not-shopping (since I'm not a Costco member & had never been in there before - just found out their prescription drug prices are MUCH lower, & you don't need a card, but that's OT). And I found a terrible Casio piano on display, plugged in & ready to play. It only had about 60 keys, the keyboard felt like something you'd find in a Dollar Store, & I had to play it standing up. First I played a really short Beyer étude that I've been playing for ages. When I didn't mess that up, & hadn't been overwhelmed by any sort of nervous spasms or anything, I played the Bach piece I've been working on (The Musette? from Anna Magdalena's notebook). I have no idea whether anyone even noticed I was playing. My back was turned, so I was oblivious to who/what was happening behind me, but it was so noisy in there that it's quite possible no one could even hear me. But the important (to me) thing was that I felt not even a whisper of nervousness - without thinking about it, I just seemed to tune out everything around me & just play.

Great job, I could never do that! I would be too self-conscious

Hi. I would love to hear your recording of this. When you mentioned level 4 Faber I went into my music stash and found it! I gave it a try and it seems quite nice. Let me know when you post it. Thanks.

Yeah! That is awesome! Remember this moment next time you feel nervous playing for somebody. I bet people did notice, stopped and listened, end enjoyed every minute!

Wow! 12 minutes playing non stop! That is truly an achievement! I've been thinking about my goals and learning and memorizing something beautiful (and long) is now on my list of things to get to! (except long for me would be something longer than 1-2 minutes! :-))

Congratulations MaryBee. That is so cool. I don't play a single piece that exceeds 2:20 or so (Amish Buggy Boogie doesn't count because while it takes me longer than that to play all of the notes, played at proper tempo its duration should be around 2:00). I bet you felt remarkable!!!

Way to go, Carol. I shop at Costco (they have a lot of nice organic products for reasonable prices) and both my young son and I play the pianos when we are there!!! Several costumers applauded him once (very reinforcing)! I also recently played the digital pianos at Best Buy. I was with my 15 year old and he was mortified. You could tell that he was looking around in fear that he would see someone he knew. When I started to play Amish Buggy Boogie (was testing out all the cool background sounds), he even said "Puhleeeez Mom, don't play that." I made it a million times worse by saying quite loudly after finishing (8 minutes later :D) Thank you thank you, I will be here all week!!

You should give it a try, Lain!!!! You might surprise yourself.

Gracious I can hardly keep up with the posting today! Everytime I look at my inbox there are more replies here, I love it!

MaryBee - how wonderful you did so well on your Sonata. 12 pages! ack! How many minutes? (maybe it is REALLY BIG PRINT lol...sorry, couldn't resist!)

Loved your son's remark about your terrible music. I remember when I was practicing scales just after I'd started with my teacher - my husband came into the room and said "Um, could you please play some MUSIC?"

Carol - what a fun experience! (I am working on Musette, I like it a lot). You were very courageous. I am going to have to let myself be inspired and play the next piano I see in a public place!

Christine, I read "I shop at Costco (they have a lot of nice organic products for reasonable prices)" - and the first thing I thought of was that they were selling organs, organ pipes, organ brass polish,.... then I cracked up laughing!
I LOVE you line "I'll be here all week!" - Sometimes kids need to be shaken up a bit and realize that what their folks are doing is actually pretty cool, and nothing to be embarrassed about.

I'm pleased to report my teacher was VERY impressed with how relaxed I was when playing this week. This is not a baby step, this is a HUGE LEAP FORWARD for me.

I'm feeling rather exhuberant, as you can tell by my madcap caps!

ciao for now a tutti!

Amish Buggy Boogie?????? Never heard it, but I love the title!!

Congratulations! I think I tend to be tense during lessons... I'm much more relaxed when I practice at home.

What makes it even funnier is that he is a drummer.

LOL MaryBee.

When my wife says something like "oh, you are very persistent today" I know it really means "I'm going to stick an ice-pick in your ear if you play that measure one more time".

The actual title of the piece is Beach Buggy Boogie but I don't play it at the correct tempo (much slower), thus I call it Amish Buggy Boogie!!!

It is a Martha Mier piece.

My family is a little less polite in these cases. They ask me: "Can you use your headphones today?"

Reading these "family comments" makes me glad that I do most of my practicing on a digital piano, late at night with the volume turned down... because it takes me a *lot* of reps to get something anywhere near close.

Today I had the fun of stopping by a practice room at the university I work at, to play on a Steinway B... much fun, and a great way to recover from a 2 hour meeting. I'm trying to stop in there every week or so to get some good acoustic time in - the feel is quite different.

And on the AOTW front, I just had my lesson, and I have my sonatina almost up to speed, though with many hitches in spots where I can't yet transition well... but it's been a great week!

I had a few lessons over the summer with the head of our studio while my teacher was on vacation. He was not very happy with the speed of my progress on the Debussy Arabesque #1 and, on my last lesson's comment sheet with him he wrote "Arabesque ... hmmm ...".

This last week my regular teacher went back to that comment sheet and wrote "Ha ha ha" next to it ... guess she thinks I've shown him! (Still rough in spots but almost all memorized).


Oh, and on the family thing: My wife says today, "Why do you always need to play the same two pieces?". Well, it's not two - there are also two Czerny etudes plus sight reading pieces ... but yeah, she doesn't get that practice makes perfect. Well, she does, she just doesn't like it!!

Not 12 pages (thank goodness) -- 12 minutes. It's only 8 pages long.
That would be nice if it were really big print. I'd have a much easier time reading it.

This is great! Everyone is so upbeat today: making progress, feeling good about their playing, able to laugh at unhelpful comments from loving but slightly irritated family members. Way to go, fellow ABFers!

Congratulations, Andy. I hope your wife will understand your practice routine.