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I remember reading the post of how you would stuggle with the 7 ft piano to and from the summer cottage and back home every season. I wondered why. Well, I am a beginner and when I got my secondhand grand, 5 ft, I was intimidated by its size as I live in a summer cottage year round, 450 sq ft. and the grand takes up half the livingroom. With the Clavinova in the corner there is no room except for me - no furniture. When I got the piano, the couple gave me a beautiful cloth piano cover. Obviously, I cover the piano. I never opened the lid mostly for fear of dust. Well, as I posted earlier, I opened the lid and wow, what a awesome sound - forget the dust - and it was then and only then was it that I realized why you had a thousand men carry the 7 ft grand to and from the summer cottage. When I saw my piano, it was in a large mansion. The livingroom was at least as large as my house.

I got promoted to 45 min. lessons!

Malkin that is awesome! I remember I was excited when my teacher suggested that for me as well. Congratulations!

John Thompson 10. The Robin pg 17 3:00 am

The surprise is I woke up and thought about running through the piece I am working on. It is the first piece I have had to count through the measures. The piece is in 3/4 time. The good news is that the bass clef only has 1 dotted half note per measure. The treble clef has mostly quarter notes on count 1 and count 3 with count 2 always being a quarter note rest. So it could be a lot worse, but for a beginner there is plenty to deal with. I walked throught the treble clef measures several times and then walked throught the bass clef measures several times and the walked through the hands together through the measures, all, of course, very slowly. Then I added the timing/counting, 1, 2, 3 through each measure. It is like walking in a mine field because you don't want to make any mistakes through your very slow walk through. You don't want to lose your count. After about 8 times, it was shakey, but okay for me to go back to bed. It is fun to go from the piece just of notes and then very gradually pulling it together. Oh, I forgot. At measures 5, 9, & 13 I have to play a G with the 5th finger of the right hand - but - one octive apart and I always forget where my hand is, or leave the hand in the wrong octive. That has to be cleaned up, of course!

Casinitaly, that is a good idea. Just going to grab the piece every once in a while to practice little bits. Got to focus more on lesson content. Christmas soon!

Malkin, the music school in my town offers 20 minute lessons. Only 20! You can buy up to 10 extra minutes, but still nowhere near the 45 minutes you get now (sweet!) or what my private teacher offers. It still seems too short on many weeks. Lesson time just flies by, doesn't it?

What got me excited this week was singing at the piano. In between cussing at Philip Glass's etudes, I'm doing a couple pop tunes, including Radiohead "Pyramid Song" and the piano version of Coldplay's 'Yellow'. Really provides a nice break. Trying to sing over a C6 is improving my lungs too!

Toastie - we are waiting for the piano pictures!

A Tall GuyNH - I know what you mean about chores getting sidelines when a piano is around. I have a few delinquent ones of my own.

Michael 99 - Congrats on your Grand Piano. Have fun with it. Besides, all a piano room needs to hold is a piano! When I first purchased my M & H BB I had it in a small dining room. It more than filled the space. However, I found my practice time blossomed. A grand can be quite an inspiration! I now have an Avant Grand, but it gives me the same effect.

Casinitaly- I feel your pain on retraining scales. My present teacher has me playing them very slow and checking the position of each finger. I know it is worth it but it takes more patience than I have sometimes.

Sand Tiger - I use the Musician's Way time suggestions also. I downloaded his daily and monthly charts and use them to track progress as well.

I had my second lesson since returning to piano after 2 1/2 months, and I am happy to say I have all my pieces back up to where they were before my illness. My instructor was pleased enough to assign the next parts. The Chopin Waltz in close to being ready to record, the Bach is learned and entering the polishing stage, and I am learning the "stormy" section of the Chopin Nocturne. It will then be complete. Overall I am really happy with my progress this week, inspite of having house guests since Saturday. I have only been able to practice about an hour early mornings before they wake up. (Thank you silent mode!)

SwissMS - maybe we can both record the Chopin Waltz for the next ABF recital! Mine's not there yet, but it should be ready in time for a February recording.

MaryBee - I am thinking about it (Chopin Waltz), so maybe we can! I am between that and the Bach. It could be fun for us both do the waltz though!

I did create a separate thread re: my specific situation, which has garnered lots of great advice already: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1994852.html#Post1994852

Yes, full... and quirky in terms of the things I wind up doing. For instance, tonight I was doing electrical work until 1am for a family member who inadvertently ran through a cable with a circular saw. Oops! No injuries fortunately. Never a dull moment...


This is just incredibly helpful... I can't overstate it. I am planning to use this as my basic foundation for how I will proceed. It is especially helpful to me given the variability of my practice time. If I start to think in terms of percentages of time that starts to sound more manageable and disciplined.


Well, we are equal opportunity in the department of "things we should do but don't". I didn't provide a list of her foibles, but it would balance the picture quite a bit, FWIW. This is a piano forum though, so...

I am the same way, definitely.


I agree, but it isn't quite as dysfunctional as I may have presented it. It is not as though I am sneaking around in the sense that my wife is unaware that I am engaging in "spousal rubato", if you will. She knows that I am working on the song for her, it's just that when she hears me practice (not the stuff for her of course) it bugs her in that moment. She is very supportive overall -- she definitely wouldn't have agreed to get the spinet tuned otherwise.


Agreed, piano is not the problem whatsoever. I didn't intend to imply otherwise, but rather that "my practice time is screwy, here's why, and how can an effective piano method/plan fit in?"

Regarding irritation from any activity, it seems that there are some activities that are more likely to elicit a negative reaction. Puttering on the computer for instance is better than puttering on the smartphone. Maybe a laptop just looks more like it might be work? I don't know...

History is repeating itself here. There was the same dynamic with my parents, except that he was a musician and playing (guitar) was not just something to do for pleasure, it was his vocation for much of his working life. There was always a chore that needed to be done very shortly after he started playing! He could have been hanging around doing nothing much for hours beforehand, no questions asked, but pick up that guitar and...

It's like playing an instrument broadcasts "leisure!" to everyone around us.


I know you are right. However, it all feels very Sysphean. There is just a never ending cavalcade of stuff that I'm quite sure would suck up 200% of time if I allowed it to do so. I guess that's life, I just don't manage it well.


How are your #4 & #5 doing? Frustrating as the first teacher retrospection may be, collectively your posts have made it very clear that your new teacher is dramatically more effective for you, so that's great! I'm very happy for you in that regard. I hope to "get lucky" in that regard at some point in the future when I can afford a teacher.

Hello again!

TallGuy - I'm sure that there are two sides to the coin and I know that in our household there is a lot of "give and take" - we each have our strengths and weaknesses (fortunately different ones, so it balances out!)... I didn't really think everthing was all one-sided in your home -- I was just responding to what you put out there A limited perspective, for sure.

With regards to the procrastination thing....something that have I tried is the idea that you can do anything for 15 minutes, and if you spend 15 minutes doing something it is better than never getting to it at all. On (very) rare ocassions that 15 min has stretched into more!

As for my n 4 and 5 fingers, - they are starting to behave a bit better, but I've still got a ways to go! I love my new teacher, I must say!

Malkin --- congrats on getting a longer lesson time! With my new teacher I've only got 45 minutes, and I'm hoping to get 1 hour in the new year....I hope he will have the time! I know it is just 15 minutes, but he's got back to back lessons for five or six hours.....we shall see.

Michael, what fun to get up early and work on music! It sounds like you've worked out your approach very logically and that it is starting to come together for you! For hitting that top G - are you jumping from a G with your thumb to the G with N5? Can you make the stretch or are you really "jumping" up? This is a good time to balance between reading the notes and looking at your hand, if you can't just stretch. I've practiced "jumps" simply going over and over the leap, even with my eyes shut, until the feeling becomes familiar.


Allard: A 20 minute lesson? That sounds absurd! Unless they are working with very small kids for the most part... What do you have with your private teacher?

Mark: Singing at the piano! woohoo!!! My dream......

SwissMS, thanks for your commiserations! It really sounds like you've made a wonderful recovery both in your health and your music! I'm so happy for you! (and a bit jealous of your work on Chopin!)

MaryBee - a double header of Chopin would be great fun! It is so interesting to see how different pianists play the same piece!

My ATOW was actually playing BETTER in front of my teacher than I did at home! That's a first. lol..... I had been so terribly frustrated with working on the scales, I feel like I'm going back to zero. I understand exactly why he is having me do this, but I feel so uncoordinated !!! I couldn't even play my scales hands together because I kept getting mixed up. I had a total melt down about an hour before my lesson...yes...it was sad.

However at the lesson my wonderful teacher reassured me that making changes does create confusion, and encouraged me to not get fussed about it, showed me strategies for working on the point. We also looked at my Beethoven (German dances 1 and IV) and he said he was pleased with my handling of the stretching issue I'd been working on - and he thought my hands together was fine. What surprised me though, was that he said he didn't care at all I completely ignore the tempo - what he wants me to do is focus on moving my hands into the right play first time every time, even if that means playing at a snail's pace or playing and virtually stopping.

So.... I'm still upset I'm having to going back to correct things - but the stress factor is out of the picture. Back on track.

Sounds somewhat familiar, except for me and my husband, the issue was money rather than time. We found a good solution by designating a monthly allowance for each of, which we could spend as we liked, no questions asked. This eliminates the need to explain and justify "unnecessary" purchases, and allows us to enjoy buying things we want, without guilt and bad feelings. Of course, if you exceed your allowance, you've got some explainin' to do!

So I wonder if that idea would work for leisure time. You know, like you have one hour a day to spend doing whatever you want.

Congrats Malkin on your increase in time! Bet you will find your covering so much more now!

Mark, singing is so much fun. Good for you!

SwissMS: congrats! Only a few lessons and back to where you were? That is fabulous progress!

SwissMS and Marybee: I'm looking forward to your dueling waltz's now!

Cas: Congrats on what I didn't think was possible! LOL I backtracked myself to fix some horrid playing myself. It was discouraging at first (and I made myself do it! LOL) but now that I've improved those areas I'm so glad I did. I'm sure you'll find the same thing.

My AOTW was making my first composition last night! It's only three bars long and has a terrible ending (it sounds like it just stops out of nowhere lol) but it's all mine and I'm just pleased as punch.

Teacher told me tonight that I can consider the Chopin Waltz done! I didn't think I'd get to this point so fast with it, because just a few weeks ago I was having so many problems with it. Concentrated practice really does work. I am still going to give it a few more weeks to get really comfortable with it, and finish memorizing it. Maybe I'll have my recording done very much ahead of time for the February recital.

Becca, that's very exciting about creating your first composition. Were you inspired by Nikolas' December Compositions thread?

I love to hear my teacher say those words. Congratulations MaryBee. Yes there is a distinct difference between practice and rehearsal. Can't wait to hear it

Congrats to you as well Becca. I have "composed' (and I use that term lightly) short things but never written them down. Guess I should though, however they sound currently. Thanks, you've inspired me.

Way to go Marybee! Nikolas's thread definitely had me thinking about it. Where it came from I have no idea. I was just mulling over chords and heard a little tune in my head, so I wrote it down.

Your welcome Maybe we should have a first compositions thread.. lol

C D E F G A B C
5 4 3 2 2 3 4 5

B C# D# E F# G# A# B
5-4--3--2-2--3--4--5
As John Thompson says: During this book, it is advisable to adhere to the above form-the scales divided between the hands-until scale construction in all keys has been thoroughly mastered. This obviates the necessity of passing the thumb undre and the hand over- a procedure which is comprehensively taken up and illustrated by examples in the second Grade book.

-almost achieved but for a few - but while I never counted sheep to try to go to sleep as a kid, I always slept on my side, left or right, but recently as I try to run the major scales through my brain before I go to sleep, I notice I now only want sleep on my back. When I was lacking energy to play the piano sitting on the bench, I played my digital piano keyboard on my back on the floor for a few months. Maybe that affected the brain and how it wants me to sleep. I don't know. It is sure a nice way to learn the scales though.

I've just today managed to pull off both hands going up together 2 octaves of C Maj evenly quite a few times. I've got to admit that it was a specific thing that I wanted to be able to do early so I'm happy. However I notice that the experienced members that post in ABF tend to advise that beginners should not be spending too much time doing scales. So when I want a break from my Alfreds book i.e. when I start getting frustrated with my fingers inability to do what I want them to do, should I practice sight reading or something else instead?

Week 39: A steady state week. I practiced every day. I did some scales, some exploring. I tried a new key for me, C minor. I am attending a choral concert later today. Shortest update ever from me, and it fits the mood and time constraints of the week.

Hello ABF! I'm finally back to 21st century, mainland of US and piano. Phew. That was hard. I'm going to have to ATP soon since the plane is going to depart soon.21century comment is not about Hawaii but about my parents! Aghh! I'm very happy to see them but t'was hard to live without air conditioner. It's too cold for them. I only practiced one day of all 11 days we were there!