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

Andy, the Chopin Nocturne is starting in the Classical Sonata Analysis thread. Anyone else with an interest is also welcome.

MaryBee, those are just the coolest lamps! Very interesting to gaze at--mesmerizing!

Andy, bist wishes for the nocturne. I got the Alfred Masterwork Edition of Chopin: An Introduction to His Piano Works as a Christmas present from my DH (it was on my wish list). Most of it is aspirational for me (another way of saying it'll be a good long while before I can play it), but it came with a nice CD. We listened to it this afternoon while we made homemade raviolis.

With respect to Valentina Lisitsa's flying hands--I suspect she lets loose with the hands only because she first got controlled hands down to absolute perfection.

Not sure if this can be considered an achievement of the week, but my piano keyboard awareness has just increased tenfold (a figure I've plucked out of the air) purely by practicing my scales and arps with my eyes closed.
Never thought that would be something I could do as I heavily rely on hand watching everything I play. Wonder whether this could be applied to playing pieces? Small but steady steps......

It's also been a revelation for me to be playing on a proper acoustic instead of my digital, I didn't think my love for piano could get any stronger but it really has, I'm even enjoying the scales etc, always felt like a chore on the DP.

I've also just finished reading 'Playing the Piano for Pleasure' by Charles Cooke, an amazing read which I recommend to anybody looking for practice ideas. I've never in my life made so many highlights, bookmarks and notes in a book as I have in this one, its really inspired the way I'm going to approach practice in the future, I'm seeing the benefits already.

Hope this isn't too boring but it has excited me. Thanks for reading.

Neil.

That all sounds good Neil.

I'm not sure if I can explain what my accomplishment even is--for one tricky measure in a piece, it seems as though I have suddenly gotten some sort of map in my mind of my little finger landing in the right place. I have no idea what to call this or really how to talk about it. It isn't quite consistent and I hope it doesn't go away!

We are having the snowstorm that keeps on giving!
I'd rather stay at the piano or the forum, but I need to spend some more time with my shovel.

Checking out the BLOCK feature on the forum.
I like it!

What and why is that?

The feature makes it so a designated user's posts are no longer displayed. So if someone showed up and made weird and inappropriate comments you could block that user and not see those comments anymore.

The mods around here are pretty good at the long term solution to that sort of problem, but I was around on and off all day yesterday.

I think I know what you are talking about. I notified a mod when I saw what I thought was a very inappropriate user name, and then I reported several posts, and asked to have some of the removed. The mods are great - but I figure we have to help them and send up a red flag when we're concerned!!!

Exactly!

I know what u are talking about too. I thought it was very strange. Thanks for doing it. Next time I will do the same if I know it's inappropriate. I thought it was a strange name. Kinda like a back scratcher.

It all makes sense now, thanks.

Week 44: the new desk location for the Yamaha NP11 is better. I buy a sturdy stool at the local thrift store to meet the new height requirement. I work on a companion piece to Shimmer. The new piece is slower in tempo, lower in tone, in the same key, same basic arpeggio pattern, similar harmonies.

It is revealing to me, how relatively minor changes make for a completely different mood. I call the new piece Shadow, because it is pensive and brooding in places. Shadow is a work in progress. I plan to perform what I have next Saturday at Songmakers. I may also have another go at Ashokan Farewell in front of the group. The last attempt in September was a crash and burn, so it would be nerve wracking. We will see. I am shelving some other projects to prepare for the performance day.

I am now doing about 60 minutes a day, up from 15 to 20 minutes a day during the September-December period. The increase in time makes a big difference. It felt like minimal if any progress during the three-month long period of limited time. At least I didn't stop, and slip back. I noticed more than a few others on the forum had long stretches of limited time, especially during the holidays. I have to watch my practice time, because I can get lost in the music, and my hands and wrists will complain after a longer day. I have a history of chronic use issues (hands, wrists, neck, shoulder, etc, etc, etc) that limit what I can reasonably attempt on piano.

The possibility of a new digital now looks unlikely. The desk is 42 inches wide, which is about perfect for the 41 inch wide 61-key NP11. The 88-key models are 52 or more inches wide, and there is not enough clearance for five inches of overhang on both sides. Sad. The good thing is that I didn't order a new rig (I was very close) and then find out that I don't have space for it. It may be possible to squeeze an 88-key digital in, but for now it looks like a bad idea.

As an aside, I return to my weekly yoga class. I highly recommend yoga for pianists or musicians or anyone. Yoga helps with the minor aches and pains that seem to multiply in my aging body. Breath is a big part of Hatha Yoga. Of course for flute, whistle, choir, where I have been, breath is near the top of concerns. More than a few folks in the goals thread, talked about reducing tension. Yoga, meditation would be ways to approach the tension issue, and I believe virtually all would benefit.

I find a YouTube from Allison Nisbett about some simple yoga-style stretches that she finds useful for pianists. I also view two from Graham Finch at Pianist magazine, one on tapping, staccato and legato, and another on voicing chords (varying dynamics for different notes in a chord). The magazine topics are above my level, but seeing and hearing give me more to think about. There was a video from a guy named Torley on how to play romantic piano music. Torley deconstructs some Yanni, Glass, Tiersan and then teaches some of the simple techniques that they use. It is right up my alley. Not only does it give me more to think about in terms of playing and composition, but also about process, of listening, and composing.

I mentioned the goal derived from the John Coltrane quote:
My music is a spiritual expression of who I am

With the new piece, Shadow and the companion piece Shimmer, I am getting closer to that goal. I can feel it in my bones. We will see what the live audience says. It may fall flat. That sometimes happens, a song or instrumental that I feel strongly about, gets the equivalent of yawns.

SandTiger. I am very impressed with what you are doing and how you logically approaching things. I think you are doing everything right. I wish I had treated each practice seriously like there's no tomorrow. Maybe I'm a bit emotional due to a departure of our dear friend Apple. Anyway the way to go! This is the kind of approach only possible to determined adults.

Sand Tiger, I love those titles for your composition and its companion piece: Shimmer and Shadow.

Not really an achievement of the week, but I got a new assignment now that Brahms intermezzo 118 #2 is somehow operational. For classical piece I'm working in the last movement of Mozart Sonata for 2 pianos in D Puano 1 part by 8/25 (for Lubec piano camp) and Haydn's f minor variations the whole thing which will take me a whole year probably. For romantic piece, i will do 2 Chopin etudes, #25 and #3. My teacher thinks I will be able to perform 25 by July. I'm still working on Bach f minor P&F from WTF Book II so we haven't decided yet. I went my second performance class. This time I screwed up more. Somehow in the middle I reverted to the second page if the piece and I could not understand why. So I repeated the section twice in an awkward way. My teacher was very encouraging and told me that I actually played better where I played and told me that I need to make all the possible mistakes before I can perform for audience. Ok. I shall try again. It's nice to have onstage performance opportunities every week though. I am trying hard to memorize the Bach piece. It will free up my mind to try out the terrace dynamics on this piece. Happy piano week for everyone!

I am finally able to play the Carulli Vivace piece at 1/2 tempo and have begun to work on "I Wonder as I Wander" and "Linus and Lucy" .

Also started to journal my practice sessions to help my focus and be more productive with my time. I commited to increase my piano time by 25% (per 2013 Goals) but actually with the journaling it's about a 50% increase now... I notice a huge difference in my progress.

I had a great lesson today and received lots of praise from my teacher, which always makes my day! She was very happy with my technical work, and pleased with the progress on the Chopin Nocturne. The finishing touches are going on the Bach Prelude. It is amazing how she can see that small changes in movement can completely change how something sounds. I actually had an "I've got this!" moment today that solved the problems that I had with the flow of the 3/4 trills in the prelude. I think I finally can get an acceptable recording of this piece and move on! She must have thought so too, because I get to start something new: Bach's Invention #4 in D minor and Debussey's Arabesque I! Yeah!

Teacher gave the green light on the piece I want to prepare for the february recital. Woohoo! I had learned most of the piece before I started taking lessons, more than half a year ago, but it was quite a bit beyond my technical level and mistakes were all over the place. I've been practising a bit here and there, leaving only one very hard section. "Too bad about those four bars, you can play the rest!" Then with five minutes of trying, he was playing it. *sigh* I don't know whether to be jealous or inspired, haha.

One of my current pieces and one of my old ones! The arabesque has slipped from my fingers just now but I think it could easily come back (and probably be better). Just watch out for those poly-rhythms! I suspect you'll find the invention quite straightforward and impossible at the same time. Impossible - why? Because it's Bach and he always, always manages to trip everyone up!!

Ha! Don't I know that! When I first looked at the Kleine Preludium I just finished, I thought it was easy. It took months to get my brain and my fingers to get on the same page, and another month for it to start sounding like music. I learned a lot from it though. I told my teacher I always wanted to have some Bach in the works. I may regret that.....