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I'm out of synch again! argh.

Carlos - that is SO GREAT! I can't wait to hear the results of the next phase!

more later! It's a hectic day today!

Andy Platt and casinitaly, thanks!
It's a strange sensation because I only sent a video with a "slice" of INDACO (3:00min in 05:55min) and I wasn't expecting to be selected. Somehow, they select it.

In reality, it is difficult for me to get excited because it is a serious love affair with the piano - so you want the love affair to go well.

It is awesome though to just sit down and put your fingers on the keys and play - anything small or bigger than small, simple or not so simple pieces. I am trying to squeeze in a daily routine of working with scales apart from those scales mentioned in the John Thompson method book I am working through. Generally all the tunes/pieces are nice to play - but then I love playing anything so I guess I am not really saying much for others to know or undersand.

Swans on the lake has an impressive title but what is nice is that it is easy to play and so it is easy to play it smoothly - but playing smoothly is always difficulty at the best of times.

The Robin is nice for the ears but I go crazy when I have to move a hand - in this case the left hand - an octave to play a measure or two and then back to the original hand position. It is not that I can't do it, but hand moving doesn't help the playing of the piece smoothly.

The Chimes piece is a descending scale of C major which is fun to play - but only after you have learned the piece because you have switch from the rh - right hand and the lf - left hand all the way through the piece even though it is all written in the treble clef.

Stepping stones is the first pieces that was very moving to hear and play. The slower you play it, the nicer it sounds. The only thing I don't like is playing two treble clefs in one staff - so let me explain - I have to play a treble clef for the right hand and a treble clef for the left hand.

The Fairies' Harp is always difficult to play for a million reasons. I have to start playing broken chords all through the 50 measures. Half the measures you are playing hand over hand - or - left hand over right hand up an octave and back to the previous octave. So I am always trying to improve on my traveling time as my hand travels in mid air looking for a smooth landing one octave higher up on the piano.

The nicest piece I have learned is called The Knight and the Lady.

I actually got excited about the next piece but the excitement died minutes after playing the first measure. The excitement was after playing for a year - year and a half - this was the first piece that had a famous name attached to it, Mozart- "air" from Mozart. There was a comment on the page printed "Mozart was the most musical boy that ever lived." It took me many weeks - four or five just to be able to play it without mistakes and it was only 16 measures - 3 sharps.

My daily routine is that I play all the pieces I have learned in the book up to this point as a way of always improving my playing of them but the last 2 or 3 pieces I have learned - I spend more time because they are freshly new and need extra attention to increase their smoothness. So everyday I start by playing the 28 pieces so it effectively sight reading the stuff I have learned because I can only play the piano if I read the music Because it is a method book I am working through, everything in the book is a technique that must be learned well and reviewed. By playing the 28 pieces non-stop, it helps be build my ability to play almost an hour - but if I start making mistakes - I run from the piano for another time because it is a waste of time to play when you are tired. So it is always good being at the piano - no matter how rough the journey - because you are making music.

CarlosCC - Have fun! Congratulations!

warlock214 - congratulations to you, too. Playing "cheerfully" is no small accomplishment - it's way too easy to be ponderous, and to be able to play lightly and upbeat is wonderful.

JimF - I bet you wish you were still as cute as that baby What happens to all of us - we all start out that cute, but something goes awry

Michael 99 - Mozart! I love Mozart. Congratulations on getting there, and many happy moments with Mozart.

Cathy

I love camping in the city because I can leave a window open that is screened so I don't get the West Nile virus and criminals can't climb in while I am sleeping. It is awesome to smell the cool fresh air of the morning when you awake. Spoiled, of course, because I can crawl out of bed and play the piano. Through the open window, I can hear - not the sounds of wild animals, but the sounds of wild night people finding their way in the darkness of the city. I love the city. I grew up in northern Canada. It was great but I like the sounds of the city at any time of the day or night.

And what got me excited was that I didn't have to carry a digital piano and a generator into the bush to be able to play a piano in the morning! So life is good - very good - playing music on any piano - in the city.

Well, after I got going with piano again at the beginning of this year, I've only had time (work and family mainly) for about an average of 20min a day at the keys The other day I found time for over one hour! I accomplished so much! It almost breaks my spirit knowing I won't get many of those sessions in the near future, but I will plug away and adjust my expectations and goals accordingly and hope for better times ahead....

almost 3 months and I think Prelude in Em is finally decent enough to record. I can finally move on! Starting my Grieg piece today and River Flows in You.

My AOTW....I advised OperaColorado to do a: Les Miserables Opera.
They might take up the idea?

I went to Denver this weekend to see the North American Tour of Les Miserables. I confess that I was not impressed. I paid over $100 for one seat. Just to have a stack of PA speakers right in front of me. Blaring a mixture of a recording, live singing, and a small orchestra live. I paid for quality. I did not get that quality.
So...on my drive home. Takes 6 hours. I can't help but be constructive. I thought up the idea of Opera doing Les Miserables. If they do what is going through my mind. They will create a splash in the live arts/theatre industry. Think of how Andre Bocelli does dynamic range. You'll get the idea. Also, when it comes to the chorus...if they get seven Opera singers out there...They won't need no 500 person chorus in the background.

I was impressed with the theatre. I wasn't sure when I booked. Only generic map of the theatre. I ended up in the second row from the stage. Small Orchestra under floor level between me and the stage. My eyes were almost at knee level for the people on stage. It was a beautiful seat. Looking around. All the seats were beautiful. The place is built up and "over" the stage. I had a very intimate seat with the stage. Could see everything great. If it were not for a stack of PA speakers 15 feet in front and to the right of me...Doh!
I won't criticise the performers. I couldn't hear themselves well enough.

All in all I had a good time. Donated to the Opera. The Arts complex in downtown is beautiful. I need to go there more. See more good live performances.

What got me excited was:

I read a posting that was applicable to me. It said playing old stuff is a waste of time. So I ventured forth turning the page to a new piece.

Now I always read through a new piece to see what I will face or if there is anything like a symbol, etc. that I don't understand.

As the new me, I play the piece once slowly - hopefully without mistakes - else I circle the mistakes and move on and only practice the mistakes.

So now life is fun because playing the piano for the first time is like walking in a minefield trying to read and play the measures as I work my way through the measures without making a mistake - Because when I do, I have to circle it to mark it to learn the measure so it can be played without errors or mistakes.

So now it is a new experience but hopefully I will become accustom to the new way of learning new pieces.

The most awesome thing I learned is to be able to play note by note as I walk through the measures pausing to check if I have correct fingering, if necessary or going on. So it is like being a player piano in slow motion. What is good about it is I can make sure I am not making a mistake before it happens - but being a cautious driver on the piano highway.

We went to the inauguration of a new trattoria, owned by friends. They had a piano. There were about 40 people having lunch (about half of them good friends, and one third of those musicians). I played the piano while everyone was talking and eating. My buddies were closest to the piano and could actually hear me (It was pretty noisy in the room) - and I got applause. That was fun.

You mean you can actually play the piano cas ... just joking ... top marks to the brave virtuoso ... what did you play? ... hope you got in a strain of Gershwin.

Hats off!

I guess so Cheryl, what fun. What sort of things did you play? Was the piano a good one...in tune I hope.

JimF - My instructor warned me to practice in the shoes I planned to perform in, so I guess comfy shoes are really important. You probably cannot get away with barefoot, (or looking like the baby) though!

Saranoya - Good luck on your exam. Is this an ABRSM exam? Your vision problem sounds really scary! It is amazing that you could just keep playing!

MaryBee - Getting praise from a teacher is really special. They are paid to critique you, so praise means you are doing really well!

Micheal - Mozart Air is a pretty piece. Have fun with it! Your new approach to learning a new piece sounds like it is effective.

Floydthe barber71- With a busy schedule and a family, getting even 20 minutes of practice regularly is an accomplishment. You can make progress with regular short practice sessions.

ElleC - Will we get to hear your Chopin Prelude in the piano bar or in the next recital? Congratulations on completing it to your satisfaction.

rnaple- I hope the Opera takes up your idea and does Les Mis. That would be cool!

Casinitaly - Congratulations on your public performance! That is great! It takes some bravery to do that in front of friends and other musicians. And you even received applause. Well done!

My AOTW was receiving confirmation that my polyrhythms, (3/4 and 2/3) are working. I played Liszt Cons. 3 in my lesson today and my teacher said the rhythms were good. This piece is all 2's against 3's with a few 3's against 4's thrown in for good measure. I still have a lot of work to do on the piece, though. I cannot smoothly do the LH jumps anywhere near tempo yet, and it is not yet fully memorized. At least it is getting closer.

Ingraining polyrhythms such that I can count either hand separately, or sing one hand and play the other is still evading me, though. I can only hear them as one entity, and I play them correctly, but I have work to do to be fully independent.

Still no achievement with Mozart sonata. My goal is to play it as smooth as possible with at least 80 for a quarter note during the weekend. Good piano week for everyone.

Must give SwissMS a thumbs up plug for choosing
Debussy's Arabesque no. 1 ... charming.

No, not ABRSM.

As I've explained before on this thread somewhere, we have an art education system that's basically a part of the public school system, though it operates outside of normal school hours, and it is not compulsory.

This system comes with fixed expectations of what a student should learn, just like 'regular' (daytime) education. They take the form of what, for lack of a better translation, I will call 'end terms' (goals every student should reach by the end of a grade), which are determined by the ministry of education, and enforced through regular inspections (not standardised testing, like in the US or the UK).

Schools are theoretically free to write their own curricula based on these 'end terms'. But in practice, there are really only three different curricula in common use for primary and secondary schools, and just a single one for art schools.

I actually don't know what the 'end terms' for first year piano students are, though I'm pretty sure I've leapfrogged them already (because of where I started, not because I'm such a prodigy). But we do sight singing (both with practice beforehand, and prima vista), dictation (melodic, rhythmic, and melodic-rhythmic), music theory (which key is this song in, what does 'allegro' mean, circle the base chord, etc.), and then, of course, repertoire in whatever instrument we chose.

Adults are actually not obligated to do an exam most of the time. They only *have* to do one in the third, the sixth and the final year of their music education, and then there are rules about what they should play (one pre-determined work that everyone has to play, and then a study from a given collection of choices, depending on the level) other than the two or three repertoire pieces they chose.

So that covers most of the ABRSM bases, I think, except that there are no scales at our exams .

My vision problem is becoming less and less scary as time goes on, by the way . I guess I *am* learning to live with it, after all.

SwissMs, can't say it's to my satisfaction. I've heard way better versions but it has certainly matured compared to a month ago. I think this prelude will be one of those that I'll be playing over and over until I find just the right dynamic and just the right keystroke to be completely satisfied. But for now, I am happy that I can at least set it aside to focus on new scores. I'll post it for the June piano bar thanks!

Week 63: Thanks Toastie and Dynamobt for the comments on the Robert Frost. Dynamobt mentioned a second Frost poem, Acceptance. I looked that poem up and it inspired a song. After all these weeks of moving slow and documenting limited progress, this week it felt like I was moving fast. I knocked out the gist of the song in a short period of time. As I continue to work on it, the project consumes most of the oxygen for this week. The exciting part is that there is sheet music and MIDI. This is the first sheet music and MIDI that I have produced for piano. The title, Acceptance, is almost the perfect message at this time in my piano journey, as I take some of the constructive criticism on my recital piece and try to incorporate some of the suggested changes to Canon in D.

For the curious, here is the link to the PDF sheet music.
https://www.box.com/s/pmzxaaixi4z7nykwsgzn

It is a simple and spare arrangement for a short song.

Here is the MIDI link to hear the music.
https://www.box.com/s/meiq5vsgp97aty7r75no

This is the second time during my time on piano (15 months) that I felt inspired. The other inspiration was two bars of melody for The Passage of Time that I heard in my head. Some other people hear entire pieces in their head, and the work consists of transcribing and recording. I've never had an entire piece come to me in that way. My inspiration tends to be a glimpse, a phrase or two, or a line or two of lyrics. From that I start building, working long hours using the craft that I have learned by doing. Most weeks, I devote significant time to the creative process and am always trying to find interesting bits to use.

When inspiration comes, which might only be once a year, that's when all the time spent pays off. Without putting in the time to develop the craft, inspiration can be like seeds on dry hard ground. A seed might wait for some day, or perhaps wait for the muse to do more work on the next visit. Unfortunately, my muse doesn't work that hard. If I waited for inspiration to write original music, I wouldn't have eleven original piano pieces. I would have two bars of inspired melody line that would have floated away if I didn't record them, and an idea to set a poem to music.

My adapted lyrics follow:

Acceptance
The spent sun throws up its rays on cloud
And goes down burning into the gulf below
No voice in nature cries aloud
With the change to darkness in the sky
One bird closes fading eyes
Or overtaken too far from the nest
hurries low above the grove
Swooping to remembered tree
Now let the night be dark for all of me
Too dark to see into the future
So I can let what will be .. be ..

The original poem:
Acceptance by Robert Frost
When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud
And goes down burning into the gulf below,
No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud
At what has happened. Birds, at least must know
It is the change to darkness in the sky.
Murmuring something quiet in her breast,
One bird begins to close a faded eye;
Or overtaken too far from his nest,
Hurrying low above the grove, some waif
Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.
At most he thinks or twitters softly, 'Safe!
Now let the night be dark for all of me.
Let the night be too dark for me to see
Into the future. Let what will be, 'be.'

If I make more changes, I'll post them to my blog (signature link).

Thanks! I am really enjoying it. It should be my August recital.

I finally got a teacher.