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Just got home from Rapid City and with the exception of no piano time, it was a great weekend. First, the mammogram was negative so still clear (it's been two years). Second our girl, Mystique (a German Shepherd dog) was Best of Breed both Friday and Saturday. Very exciting. It's good to be home and Beethoven calls.

My AOTW is that I'm finally playing through the Ballade in one sweep! I'm still struggling with the middle section though, where it seems like the piece jumps from idea to idea in very rapid succession. I'm not sure how I want to approach this making these transitions coherent. This is the section I'm referring to:



Also still struggling with the second iteration of the second theme. My tendency is to just play this section as loud as I can, but then it sounds bland. So I'm working on figuring how I want to shape this section. I'm also noticing more and more of it is committing to memory. I'm more laxed about memorizing sections, relying that it will come as I practice more and more.

Last, I'm making good progress on NotableScores.com! I'm working on ironing out a few bugs.. unfortunately, they are all pretty mysterious and I can't replicate on my computer. I am now using it in my daily practice though (that's right.. daily!). I use it on my iPad to sheet music (implemented a nifty click to scroll thing that makes "page turning" a lot easier). I also use it to markup sections that I need to work on, adding notes on fingerings, musical shapes, what voices I want to bring out. It's great getting to the stage where I can actually start using things I'm programming.

I'm very happy for both good news.

Wisebuff,

Great news. And it is wonderful your girl got best in show too.

Wisebuff, very good news on both items. Especially glad to hear of your clear mammogram. Congrats to Mystique too...YAY!

That's wonderful news WiseBuff!

I'm practicing currently that section, (still far away to have it all in the fingers) and IMHO the best way that I visualize is like a sort of waves of sound, each one being louder ( starting and ending ) than the preceding one and pay SOME ( not too much ) attention to the accents.

( like pp < mf, p < f, mp < ff, ff > p, p <<<<< ff )

Wisebuff, I'm happy for your good news. Health is so important!

Thank you my friends. Cancer is such a dirty word and I never expected it to hit me so glad it's gone (although they won't promise for ever). Health is important and I've been living life quite fully these days. Passed my music theory midterm but still making little errors on the leading tones and diminished chords. Grrrrr. The Beethoven seemed to benefit from the weekend off and be more under my fingers. It's funny how that works...take a break after intensive work and it's improved.

I'm finding some good life results from the required sophistication of the nervous system in playing piano.
In doing a four corner balance drill for mobility. I'm finding better more sophisticated control of my foot for balance. This compared to what I used to do.
Tonight I decided to do some jump rope instead of driving to the college track for running. I was surprised that I just took to it. First impression was like I was at home. This is a little more sophisticated movement than...lets say...running. I never did do a whole lot of jump rope. Been years since last doing it. I'm very happy that it appears my base autonomic mind is just plain sophisticating the nervous system...period.
Am very happy with piano resulting in this. Ten years ago I had much nerve damage from diabetes. I dealt with much of that. Now I'm going higher in sophistication than I ever was. In every way. Thank you piano.
It is and has been tough. I'm picking it up though. Trudgingly....

Another thing I'd like to mention. I got into indoor plants. Partly because I had customers throwing out plants. I'm so happy with my success reviving some of these. I've lost a couple. Had one that was sitting in the bottom of a trash can. All by itself. Ready to die. It's leaves were at best, yellow. Right now, I've had to trim it. It's doing great. I also went out and bought some. One was a ficus that was on sale. Originally twenty something bucks. It was $5. Doing awful. They say it's hard to grow these. Once you get it. You've got how to do it right. Well.... That ficus is growing a bunch of new leaves. Am so happy with my success.
I did want to note. Seems to me that winter is the time for indoor plants. Not summer. What the heck? Summer you can open the windows and go outside. Winter you're closed in. Gee... have indoor plants to make it more alive inside. Besides...you'd be surprised at the chemicals differing plants will remove from the air. The plants along with three air cleaners make my apartment's air really good.

Wisebuff - What a joyful relief to get a clear test! I'm so happy for you! Congrats to Mystique too!

Neuralfirings - That music looks overwhelmingly difficult to my eyes! Wow - I can't wait to hear you playing it !
Ataru074- and you're working on the same piece! We'll have a themed presentation one day!

Rmaple - Ron, that's so great that piano is giving you such unexpected benefits in your general health! Even more motivation to stick with it! As for the plants, I have a "black" thumb. I'm terrible with them, but my husband is pretty good. We have 3 ficus trees, one of which is almost 20 years old now. They can be flighty creatures, and they do have phases where they shed their leaves, but they are such pretty additions to a room.

I had a great lesson. Got some good instruction on how to improve sideways movement more smoothly and am now doing micro focus work on fumbled areas on the Fughetta. I know it seems I've been on this piece for ages, but it is perfectly true that I still stumble more than I should in some spots (though not the original spot that gave me so much grief!)... My teacher has said we're using this piece to illustrate how long you "can/might" spend on a piece to get it just right. That's fine with me because I really like it and I appreciate the techniques I'm developing through working on it. Techniques of playing and of studying.
He was also complimentary on the work I'd done on my sonata - happy that I'd got it down (s.l.o.w.l.y) and that we could go ahead working without correcting mistakes of reading or fingering.

Hi friends,

Just checking in. Now that the school recital is out of the way, I'm back to four pieces that I'm working on. Chopin mazurka, a short movement from Schubert Sonata, Rachmaninoff Elergie and Bach P&F. Mazurka is going well - probably I should memorize it. I'm liking Schubert a lot. Love the harmony and like the way he modulates into different keys. Would like to do more of his works in the future, either 2nd movement of D960 sonata or G flat major impromptu.

My husband and I are having great time with violin and viola respectively. I did 3 years as a child but its coming back. Because I know the scales,?it's much easer to find the notes now compared with when I was a kid. My husband is doing amazing grace now. He is a complete beginner of music. So I'm teaching him how to read notes and accompany him with piano so that he can get the rhythm. I gave him the score in G major. Our violin teacher asked me to give him the score in D major for Viola on alto clef. I transposed the melody for him and both lines for my piano part. Haven't done anything like this since school. It's fun.

I had a nice practice session this morning but not entirely on pieces I'm supposed to be learning. I played through them all twice and then started to do some unrelated LH work.

I looked at again/played the Alberti bass line in 8 different keys and then moved onto some boogie bass lines (Hanon). I'm convinced that if I did this daily for a week or three I'd have a forearm like Popeye. Yikes it's tiring, but a good tired.

Still, it was good to work on something different for a change. Total time was about 1.5 hrs.

Wisebuff...congrats on all clear! I work at a cancer center here in Manhattan so I'm always excited when I hear patients doing well and my mom is also a breast ca survivor as well (going on her 10th year now and still clear) =)

Very big smiles to all of you. Another win for Mystique today and she's almost to her championship. I'm getting up extra early to play piano. Another student and I rebelled on the Beethoven and said we won't have it ready to perform in November. Set the date for Jan 13. Play play play.

Cheryl,

I must have missed some posts. Which Sonata are you working on?

Mozart and Puccini were both giving me fits last week, but we ironed things out at the lesson and I seem to have come unstuck so far this week. Progress sure feels good. Trying to find time to revive a few more things, but seem to have more projects than extra time lately.

Ciao Giacomo!

I'm playing Clementi Op 36 N2 -it is quite charming!

Today I played through the whole thing, slowly - but hands together - it was great fun.

My focus is on the first movement and my homework is to have all the first movement sorted out for next lesson, hands together, and to start on the second hands seperate. I feel just a wee bit ahead of the game at the moment (it probably wont' last long).

What I find very exciting is how much easier this is turning out to be than I expected. (Of course just wait til I start (trying) bringing it up to speed!!!


Congrats on your progress with Mozart and Puccini!

The extract you've shown is in the middle of my section 5 - M124-166.

The 'jumping around' suggests you're looking too closely at the right hand. Step back from the music a while and just listen to the section by Rubinstein, Arrau or similar. Pay particular attention to just the left hand.

He descends in M124 as if he landed on the wrong chord at the start of the bar and doesn't know how he'll get back to the chord in the middle of M162 so he puts the music on hold then at M130 he starts to build back again. From M138 the parallels with M36-67 cannot have escaped your attention and that three note figure that starts in M138, LH, (cf M9-10) and concludes with the three chord figures in M155-162 (cf the LH in M64-65). Don't let the improvisatory figures in the RH cloud your vision here.

I think when you go back to playing it, do the left hand on its own a few times and I think the musical coherence should come through. Adding the RH back should then make more sense.

This is much more passionate than the sotto voce from M67 but you must leave room the accents in the middle of the measures up to M178. Each phrase still needs to have its own climax and the con forza at M180 needs to reach a point that the ritard at M191 can come down from.

This is a tough nut to crack. I haven't done it yet. Good luck.

Yesterday I went and bought a ticket for a concert: Maria Joao Pires and cellist Antonio Meneses will play a program with Schubert, Brahms (both one of my favorite cello sonatas, n. 38 in e minor, and Intermezzi for solo piano op. 117) and Mendellshon. I have to wait several weeks, but I'm already excited!

Week 85: Most days I skimp on practice time, maybe 20 or 30 minutes instead of an hour. One day only 7 minutes. I spend most of that time working on the new piece, Tracks in the Snow. For me writing music involves, sitting and playing, repeating and repeating until something comes, or something follows. Changing one note, one chord, a couple of notes, and trusting my ears. Recording when I find something that seems worth keeping, though that often gets tossed or rewritten.

Writing music is something I enjoy. The creative process is an open road, a blank sheet of paper. For some that is scary (what do I play, there is no sheet music in front of me?). For the creative person, it is a place of wonder, a place where magic sometimes happens. The other reward is sharing the new music. This can be nerve wracking, because while I know what I might like, I never truly know how it will be received. The few times I hit the mark are worth all the so-so, the sub-par, and the train-wreck performances and/or compositions. Obviously, poor prep, lack of time, lack of practice, rushing, tends to lead to poor results.

I attend the church coffee house. One of the performers wrote a hit song that charted in Europe. It was a familiar kind of song, but found the right singer, and did well commercially. Many of his other original songs had zero commercial chance, but he enjoyed sharing them live.

For the recital I am leaning towards doing a cover of A Thousand Years from the Twilight movies. I have had it in my rotation for the longest time, so it is the best rehearse. Last recital I rushed a new piece in, just one week after I had decided on a final version, and it showed.

On Saturday morning, I go back to some of the pieces in the rotation after ignoring some of them for the week. Some are still there in good shape, others have some rust, some a lot of rust. For the rust, I repeat those short sections over and over, and that helps polish it out, though it takes more time for some than others.

Have a good week everyone. Recital submissions open on Friday Nov 1.