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The good news: I was able to use the webcam on the laptop to record video of my playing. The bad news: watching back those videos, because the playing is so-so. It is useful feedback.

As a relatively new beginner, I still feel overwhelmed by all there is to try and learn. I remind myself to measure progress more in terms of time and effort, not necessarily results, and it often is two steps forward, one step back. I sometimes will try to isolate and focus on one small thing at a time such as one phrase or one transition that sounds awkward on the video.

I also remind myself to keep it fun, and if it is giving me a headache or other aches, to move to something else. I also remind myself, at least it ain't the flute, where at some times the embouchure fails completely and literally no sound comes out.

Welcome back Farmgirl. I hope your life has settled down a little now. How is the puppy?

Sand Tiger, the first time I video'd my playing, I was aghast, but I learned a lot! It allowed me to recognize problems with my position, too low of a bench, etc. Hearing the playback I could hear little hesitations, over accented notes and other seemingly glaring problems. Of course, I think we are always over-critical of ourselves, but it is a great learning tool!

This week I had two AOTW. First, my teacher has wanted me to play the right hand arpeggios in the Bach Prelude staccato from the fingers with a steady wrist. She describes it as "like a sewing machine needle". At the same time she wanted me to not hold my hand in position for octave reaches, but move the arm. I finally managed to do it comfortably and accurately! I have worked on this for a couple of months, and it finally clicked. She is using this prelude to teach specific technique. I think I am finally seeing progress.

My second achievement is more of a "Ah ha!" moment. For the more complicated pieces I have been literally biting off more than I can chew by chunking in too large of sections. I started working in 1-2 measure chunks instead of whole phrases for the Rondo of K545, and it is coming together much easier. A whole phrase was apparently more than my poor brain could cope with at one time! My method is to go through a chunk seven times error free before going on. If I make an error before seven times, I start over with one. With smaller sections, I actually learn and memorize the chunk by the time I finish the repetitions!

First of all, I wanted to congratulate everybody for so many achievements. Thanks for sharing your successes on the piano. I always find this thread very inspirational.


About my achievement, at last I’ve managed to play Bach’s Little Prelude BWV 934 complete. I have still to polish some bars, but now I can play this beautiful piece without rude mistakes.

6 months into learning the piano, and last night I reached the point working on Einaudi's Limbo where I knew that with a little luck on my side, I could play through it up to speed without error. Maybe the luck will hit me tonight :-D

Well...after 4 or 5 months a struglle, just 10 minutes ago i managed to finish sight-reading mostly hand separated (2 voices per hand) all the 736 hymns from the good old hymnary book. I must say i improved alot my sightreading going through this and im pretty excited about it:)

"rude mistakes" I love your term!

Whew! Now that's an accomplishment!

My revelation is the wonders of playing slowly for accuracy until the hands know where to go and the rhythm is constant. My first part of Spinning is coming along nicely and I'm actually eager for next week's lesson (off for the Spring break this week) to show how it's come along. It's so tempting to try to speed up to early in the learning. Someday I look forward to being a pianist!!

My AOTW: I pulled the trigger on a beautiful Yamaha G2. The touch and tone were just wonderful, and I can't wait until the movers deliver it on Monday!! Unfortunately, I only get a few days with it before I have to go back to New York, but I'll be back eventually, (after the summer probably) and I'll have a beautiful piano waiting for me

Congratulations, Sam, that's awesome! I'm sorry you'll have to wait a few months to get back to it, but that's very exciting.

I do most of my practice on a Yamaha digital (P80), but we also have a nearly 100 year old american upright with dodgy action and other "features"... even with that rough and somewhat harsh piano, there's something so nice about the acoustic sound... I can only imagine how much you're going to love your G2. Have fun!

Welcome back, FarmGirl! It sounds like you've jumped to a new level of connection with your piano - wow. Inspirational - I hope someday to get there...

My AOTW... last week's lesson, with my teacher's criticism and honing in on sections of my sonatina (Clementi 36.2), has really helped. He forced me to work on those sections that I thought were good but weren't, and boy are they coming along. Gotta love a teacher who knows what they're doing.

Sam, that's fantastic. I still remember the day my grand piano came to my house. It's the most beautiful thing I have in my house. I know you are going to just love it. Please do post a picture of the piano. I think there is a thread... about it - I think Mr. S/H started the thread.

Bessel, I love the piece you are playing. You will have lot's of fun with it if not already. Yeah, teachers makes a big difference. i had my lesson on Wednesday. My husband asked me "did you go to lesson today?" i asked him if he remembered my piano day. He said that he could tell because it sounded so completely different from the night before. Teachers are amazing people!

My teacher made me memorize left hand part of the piece I'm doing. Boy, it was hard. But it was really good for me because it forced me to listen to my left hand. She also helped me to understand spots where everything got so mushy and I failed to bring out the melody. She told me it's coming:) I was almost speechless since this is the hardest piece I have ever played. Hard - both technically and musically. I think only now, i am beginning to understand the piece...

Welcome back FarmGirl - and Congrats Sam on your new piano - that's exciting.

I love reading about everyone's achievements big or small - I think it helps us recognize that we share certain weaknesses and that helps us feel a bit less frustrated.

I really hit a wall with my Chopin (and missed a lesson, my teacher had to cancel) - so I was feeling a bit frustrated. Yesterday we worked on it a lot and I'm feeling optimistic again. It just hit me though that there are only about 6 weeks til the next ABF recital and I sincerely doubt I want to present my Chopin. I might be able to play it all by then, but I don't think I'll be willing to "present" it.

What will I play? hmmmmm.

Exciting Sam, it willcall you back to LA.

Farm Girl, glad you can settle back to play n post.
Cas good to know others hit stall points. In education we talk about learning plateaus, where lrng consolidates before progressing again. Patience with oneself is a skill all its own!

Manyhands, you are so right - I'm a teacher myself so I know all about plateaus, and I tell my students about them. It is just so much harder to be patient with yourself! I think that is the greatest "curse" of the adult student - in any field. We just don't know how to be as kind to ourselves as we would be to others.

I just realized you've got a total of 12 posts - and 6 of them are here with us That's really nice!

Cheryl,

No worries. The Chopin will be ready whenever it is ready. The nice thing about playing something beautiful like your waltz is knowing that even virtuosos play them for their entire lives. There is always something to improve. With that in mind it matters little whether you get there in any particular time frame.

Thanks Jim, for taking the time to say this. It is true, and I need to remember it.
I think I will print out your wise and kind words and tape them to the top of my Chopin sheet music.

Hi Cheryl, so which waltz are you playing? I agree with JimF. It will be done when it's done. You will probably spend some time on it. It's not a waste at all. the more thing you thought about, the more carefully you learn to play (I mean think about the balance of left and right while bringing out the melody, etc), the easier you get to play so many other pieces like your waltz, that's what I've been told any way:) Good luck on it and enjoy the process.

Well, my AOTW is not of my own volition, but rather that of my 11 month old niece who is completely enamored by the piano.

I haven't had the dad / uncle experience yet to notice any other kid (including my own!) sit and be completely enthralled with making music on the piano like my little niece, who would have sat there all day long if we let her.

This girl has music in her veins, and I guess my meager AOTW is just to have helped her experiment and enjoy the act of making music on an acoustic instrument.

My work is done. Or perhaps, just beginning! (another future member of pianoworld in the works, maybe)

A good week for me. I am one month in, averaging two hours a day, and am learning at a furious pace. This week has me exploring more about minor keys. As I learn, I compose, and am now working on my fourth original composition, two are in minor keys, two in C major. All are in the one minute then repeat range. I am pleased with all of them. Coming from a melody only diatonic (one key only) instrument world (whistle and Irish flute), exploring minor keys and harmony are new vistas. I am new to piano (keyboard), but have more than ten years in whistle and composing original tunes and songs.

With help from the forum, I am getting to a useful point on the harmony arpeggios. The comment above by Manyhands about slowing way down for accuracy is part of the progress. My playing still isn't smooth, but it now almost sounds like music. Fighting against my intense dislike for the metronome, I am counting beats as I play. The forum also helped with fingering for basic chords (most popular are rh:1-3-5 or 1-2-4, lh: 5-3-1 or 5-2-1).

Two discouraging things this week, I spent two frustrating hours trying to sound out the melody line from the West Side story song "Tonight," but could not get past the third note. I found out that the tune starts out in a pentatonic scale and then moves to a Western scale, so maybe that is why my ear can not pick it out. The second is the arrival of the book "The Musician's Way" by Gerald Klickstein. I was disappointed that there are so many sheet music examples peppered through out the text. I am not much for sight reading, but may brush up at least to the point of playing some of the simpler melody line examples.

The book did already provide some good feedback on structuring practice time. I was already doing similar to the suggestion of dividing practice into five parts: working on better technique, polishing up pieces for musicianship, basics such as scales and arpeggios, and trying other new things at a slower pace. I also try to mix in viewing Youtube tutorial videos, and now reading the Musician's Way book. Overall, I feel like I am making good progress and for the most part enjoying the journey.

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate the holiday.

Ben, that is great! It's lovely to spend time with children, anyway, and to share the music must be a treat

Sand Tiger - great post. What an adventure. I check the Musician's Way web site pretty much every day (thanks to Sam S, I think, that put many of us on to this book) and I, too, have found it extremely helpful. My library doesn't have it, and I haven't quite got the discretionary income to buy a copy, but one of these days. . . But it looks like the piano is absorbing to you

Cathy