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Congrats yo everyone for your achievement. I had a very hot lesson yesterday in the college piano lab. I mean temperature hot. We needed two pianos to try the duet. The sweat was running through our forehead to my eyes. The building maintenance people turned the AC off too early in the evening. We run through the piece 3 times. That's all we could bear. I'm finding out that I'm a really bad page turner. My teacher nicknamed me as Violent Page Turner. I have to think of way to turn the page quickly and accurately. I lose spot and fall down miserably whenever i turn the page. She recommended to memorize at least two bars after the turn to give me enough time. I'm excited about increased public performance opportunities, monthly Phoenix Piano Club, also a potential piano salon with Spirit of Senses (a cultural group in Phoenix) and annual amateur concert in Japan. Piano opened up so much socialization. I'm really amazed. It was a solitary hobby of mine before. As people who participated piano parties experienced, friendship over piano, it is very special and intimate one. We communicate through music too. Lets enjoy practicing.

lol I can hear the narration in an old fashioned radio announcer voice...

Mild mannered pianist FarmGirl becomes (dramatic music) VIOLENT PAGE TURNER!!!!

Week 75: after the push to record for the recital I take a day off from piano. The next day, I hook up the computer and do some MIDI input, to notate the new piece, Avenue D while it is still memorized. I use the freeware program MuseScore which doesn't read duration from the keyboard. It seems difficult to do both treble and bass input in one pass, and not that easy to combine them when input separately. There likely is a better way, but I am not that fluent with MuseScore. After three lengthy passes, I get most of the raw notes input. Organizing the raw note MIDI files into notation is a bigger project and gives me a headache, so it is still in process.

I spoke to another piano beginner. She is currently in Alfred's adult-all-in-one Book Three. Been at it for four or five years, another late in life starter. The only instruction is at group class at the local adult school. The only prior music training was basic music and solflege in grade school in France. I told her that the solflege (singing of notes to teach pitch) background is likely a tremendous help. She doesn't think so, but she has gotten to book three, with only a group class and very limited instruction, so I think that is doing well. She has no interest in performing, saying that a piece is never learned well enough for that. For those that remember other threads about performance, that was one reason to make the effort. Performing motivates most people to reach for a higher level. A live audience is a different experience from a teacher, or friends, or people listening to a recording on the Internet.

I watch some Pat Pattison (Berklee School of Music) Youtube videos about songwriting. He is a brilliant teacher of songwriting and methods, among the best of the best. One paraphrase: your goal is to do something that is incredibly hard [songwriting and performance], and yet it just flows and feels effortless to the listener. Another paraphrase about song lyrics, verbs are what give the lines wattage, nouns are weight, adjectives give color. Rate each verb that you use, on a scale of 1 to 200 watts. For example "was" is a 1 watt verb, "shouldered" might be a 50 watt verb.

The recital is the big news on the forum. I listen here and there. It is always difficult for me to say anything intelligent because most participants are far more advanced than I am.

Have a good week everyone.

Everyone is so busy!!! Well, except Forstergirl who gets to sleep in now!! I can complain either since I'm retired. Piano is my main focus. So, I really should be cranking it out.

Big accomplishment today is that I got my second Grieg piece recorded and video made and submitted to my opled. Such a relief to have this done. I've got a big assignment for my first fall lesson of three sonata movements by Beethoven. Not all for the same sonata. 1st and 3rd movements of Op 2 no 1. And second movememnt of the Moonlight sonata. It's my very first foray into Beethoven's sonatas. So, I have lots on my plate. Glad that the Grieg is done!!!

Have only one more week for the piano camp. I'm excited. The Mozart sonata is coming but not performance ready yet. I could have used more time. Anyway I will do the best I could.

I am also going to perform at our local piano club starting this month. Very excited, however, I'm in between pieces and the only piece I can perform is the Bach prelude in f minor from the book 2 of the WTC. Will have to brush this piece up since I know I was not so sure about the left hand and balance between left & right. Grieg pieces - I need to start getting them ready as well. Hopefully I can report good accomplishment by the end of this week. I have my recoder ordered too. Settled down to ZoomQ2HD since Q3 is no longer available.

I just typed a long post and lost it. (the post, not my temper).

sigh. Here is a reduced version.

Farmgirl, you made me laugh! Violent page turning, who would have thought of it! If I didn't know better, I'd think you were just beginning to work on your Grieg pieces and I would be jealous of your ability to pull them together so quickly!

Dynamobt congrats for getting your Grieg works wrapped up! That's a big deal indeed!

SandTiger, I really liked that analogy of lyrics being wattage - I can see how to use that in coaching my students on their writing skills! Is there a link to that discussion or text?

Dynabot says:
Everyone is so busy!!! Well, except Forstergirl who gets to sleep in now!! I can complain either since I'm retired. Piano is my main focus. So, I really should be cranking it out."

Having reported earlier that I retired on Friday, couldn't sleep Friday night, I am happy to advise all PW that I slept in until all of 7:30 this morning. What an achievement.

Forstergirl

Here it is, Electrify Your Writing with Verbs, Pat Pattison, Berklee College of Music, 5 minutes long:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKq9wdpugq4

Of course there is much more to writing than verbs, but Pattison makes them a point of emphasis in this short segment.

/edit to add: A search turns up many sites with examples. Here is one of many on how to use verbs effectively:
http://www.creativejuicesbooks.com/action-verbs.html

Cheryl, thank you for your kind words. I would like to learn your time management skills and English. I don't know how you handle everything from running your own business, maintaining this huge thread, to participating multiple recitals! You even managed to include cycling time.

Fostergirl, glad you slept in. How exciting to be retired.

Speaking of retirees I meet a lot of them in Arizona. I went to my friends home concert last night. It was held as part of the cultural salon events. I would say there were scores of retirees. My friend O performed a couple of Scarlatti sonatas, Bach concerto 2 piano version and Rachmaninoff Elegie which I'm still learning. Also a couple of her friends performed. Duet with her and separately a well-known Gershwin piece which I could not remember. They were all good. My accomplishment of the evening was that i listened the pieces attentively. I was impressed that all her trills came in very well for the Scalati a minor piece (don't ask me the Op #. It's a well known one). Also liked her voicing of the Rach piece. Those 3 against 4, 5 against 2 etc. she did superb job. She went with the score meticulously with the score for the B section with right hand pianissimo and left hand forte. From the overall balance I think I would bring up the righthand volume up a little. I take the position that dynamic is relative.

I had a lesson again after a month of my and then his being out of town. Why is it that I always play my worst for my teacher! I felt confident enough ot my Bach to think of recording it at last but it went to pot. He appreciated I had come a long way with it but we decided to put it away for a while, - at least until there is snow on the ground! He promised me that it would really be a good thing to do.
Then we worked on the Chopin and he had a million great tricks to help get the ornamentation and timing sorted out - that is why I go to lessons!
Got some old favorites out - Moonlight , and Pathetique . I hadn't looked at them for over 20 maybe 30 yrs. I remember how hard they seemed back then and how badly I played them and was pretty scared to give them a try. It wasn't as bad as I expected/ They seemed - dare I say it- much easier now! Muscle memory is real - cause I hardly looked at the score even after all this time!

Hey Farm girl! I just noticed you are trying the Chopin nocturne op27 #2! It's been just two weeks for me and I'm going really slowly after reading all the advice on PW. It si so beautiful I don't want to mess it up ever!

Palm pirate - Yep. It's the same piece. I started it a little then had to push it aside to make practice time for Mozart sonata. I love the piece as well. I was going to study Rachmaninoff first this semester but I don't know yet. It won't be ready for October recital (community college) but need to be ready for December recital. Rach one seems to easier, so I may do it first. You will get yours completed before me. Look forward to hearing your recording.

I had my first lesson after six weeks (my vacation and then my teacher's vacation). It was awesome. We spend nearly 1 1/2 hours on Valse Impromptu. She had lots of interpretive help. It is amazing to me what an experienced set of eyes and ears pick up that I am clueless about. This piece has been really hard on my left hand, and she had me move my hand closer to the fallboard eliminating the twisting. It instantly became more comfortable. Why couldn't I figure that out!

This piece is kind of a fun rhythmic puzzle, and with her help, I think I finally have it figured it out and can play it more musically. So, with a little luck, I think I can get a better recording this week. So I guess it is her AOTW, that she managed to get me straightened out with the piece, and I will have to wait to call it my achievement until a get a good recording!

Anyone else get the "back to school feeling" this time of year? I always do, and so I brought my teacher my wish list. So we talked about my next projects once Grieg is recorded. In addition to the Tchaikovsky "June", I am going to do the Scarlatti Sonata that has been on my list for a while (Sonata in F# minor L481). Playing this piece was one of my resolutions at the beginning of the year. I can't wait to get started.

I am so impressed with the pieces you're all working on!

I'm also envious of SwissMS and Palmpirate who are back with their teachers!

I still have a month to go before I see my dear teacher again!

I think he will be pleased with what I've managed to do over the summer- (heck, what is more important is that *I* am pleased about what I've been able to do these past 2-3 weeks - with particular thanks to my ABF buddies who have helped with suggestions and support!)

Ah well, vacation coming up and that will be a distraction from ....everything!

Well no significant achievement-- -it's only been 48 hours since my last check in here --- but ......I am finally finished teaching and get to have my down time now!

Yippee!

My achievement of the week has been doing an MRI to diagnose hands/arms pain that has made me miserable for the last year. ^.^

To make a long story short, I've done lots of medical testing and no one seem to understand where the pain come from so I hope the MRI can help me find where the problem is.

I'll have the results early next week so I'll keep you all posted.

I have not been able to play more than a few (30ish?) minutes of piano a week for almost a year.

My achievement of the week is getting all 5 of my pieces somewhat playable. Usually when my teacher gives me so much work I don't make it around to one of them, but not this week! I even have another 3 days to work before lessons!

Who knows, maybe I'll even get them all to sound good, though I don't have much faith for Blow the Man Down.

By the way, I love this thread!

Welcome Pierre-Luc and Bamburg!

Pierre-Luc - best wishes for getting some useful information on what the problem is and resolving it!!!!

Bamburg, I'd say that's a pretty good accomplishment! You have been practicing efficiently!

(p.s. I love this thread too )

AOTW.... Today in lesson. My teacher had me go back to one piece that I had been working on for any reason. Something I liked to play or couldn't let go. I chose one that bugged me. I went back to it alot. I played it and.... couldn't believe it.... got to a problem spot and played it perfect. I hesitated in my playing but kept going while telling her I couldn't believe I played that right....it's always been a problem. We came by it the second time and I just had to goof it up. She told me I couldn't resist goofing it up. I did that too many times.

Very excited!... Teacher told me she doesn't do recitals. She don't believe in them. Yes! Yes! OOOOhhhhhhhh Yes! She gave me ton's of examples of people arguing with her about doing recitals. Most all were for children. None of them held water. These kids play in front of the whole school anyways. How much of an audience do they need? Even piano. They give any piano learning players a chance to play a solo in front of the band at concerts if they want to. Only ones who come to a recital are mom, dad, grandma, grandpa. When the kid would play for grandma and grandpa when they come over anyways. No reason to waste three months working on one piece for a recital. If someone likes the piece they are going to play it anyways. No good to go arguing with a 30 year band director. She knows it.
Even an adult. She says an adult will play when they are ready for others. They will want to experience that. It's a whole different thing that being forced to do a recital. That just tears the person down. Too much stress. Too much wasted time on one piece while they could be learning and progressing.
She told me about one little girl. The teacher wouldn't let them have the music to read when doing a recital. Girl couldn't remember the beyond the first line. She kept going back to the start. Then get to that point and stop. Then she finally broke down and cried. Everybody felt so hurt for the little girl. The poor girl thought it was a disaster. When it didn't mean diddily. She says the same with adults. All these disasters. Too much stress. When it doesn't mean anything. People will play for others when they're ready.
She's heard too many talk about their recital disaster and say: never again. The greatest fear is that they will quit piano because of this.
Even in college. They allow the student to read the music if it is any kind of difficult piece. She said great pianists will have the music sitting there flat on the piano just in case. Some you can see they have the music there. With someone to turn the page for them.

Ron, sounds like you had a great lesson!

In a way I agree with your teacher. I don't think anyone should be obliged to participate in a recital - and I don't think you should be obliged to play without music if you want your music!

Obviously if someone is heading for a career as a concert pianist, they need to learn to perform in public. For the majority of us - (and I mean adults/hobbyists) - why put yourself through the stress if it isn't something that you really want to do?
I WANT to perform in recitals or for friends - but don't get much opportunity. I'd be happy to do it. I also realize that in order to do well at it I need to do it more often. I mean to do it as much as possible so that it becomes natural rather than a big deal. But... I'm an adult and I can decide when and where I will play. Kids don't often get that choice (and it seems some adults are "obliged" to perform too...that would really irritate me and I believe I'd refuse (as I did when asked if I wanted to play in the kid's recital this year! )

On the other hand, I wouldn't ever work on music exams - because for me, THAT brings a serious element of stress into something that is meant to be fun.