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

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.