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Whoa! Carlos, that is what I call stepping up to the big stage!

We're going to need to find something like a AOTW Superstar icon for you.

That IS quite an achievement Carlos and richly deserved as well. Bravo! Of the finalists I enjoyed yours the most.

I remember this song. When I was assigned it (6-11) I wanted to skip it but decided at teachers urging to learn it. Well, when you posted this, I dug out my old book and looked at it and it's not nearly as intimidating as back then. This sort of thing brings to mind how much we do progress over time. Isn't it great when something clicks? You'll like it I'm sure.

My sort o` music Carlos. One might lose oneself in one`s thoughts to that tune . . .A peaceful place!

Really well done, Carlos.

Congratulations, Carlos!!

Got both pianos tuned last week, having first convinced my wife to move "Rufus" out of the sun and away from the heating ducts. Voila! It's now holding its tune nicely and is up for sale:

[video:youtube]HVf6FIBUwAo[/video]

If you fast forward to 8:42 there are excerpts (chopped up to remove the worst of the flubs) of me playing Clair de Lune. I resisted the urge to ask my tuner to play it to use for marketing purposes... he's fantastic and can make the thing sound like a Steinway.

"Mabel" sounds amazing, such a rich tone, I'm just thrilled with it. It still needs new key tops, hammer filing, voicing, and full regulation. There are some twangy strings, but I think this will be resolved when the hammers are fixed, which will be done with proceeds from sale of Rufus.

Mabel is good enough for the recital in... arrrrggghhh... 12 days, 12 hours, and 58 minutes...

@Tallguy, Rufus sounds pretty nice now. I was confused at first thinking the video was Mable. Good luck on your sale of Rufus, I'm sure he'll bring someone lots of joy.

Thanks Ragdoll. I hope we can sell him fast so I can get Mabel into tip-top shape in time for the 2/15 ABF Recital. We'll have to see.

Nice horse!

Congratulations to all that have already submitted for the recital, and for the many other achievements, great and small being reported.

Week 86: another week already? I don't feel ready or willing to record yet, even though I have been playing the piece for several months now. I record and listen to a scrap version of Tracks in the Snow. Ouch, it hurts to listen to the beginner problems. That said, the newly written tune haunts me at times, so there is some power to it. I never know how audiences or listeners might respond to a new piece. Most new pieces and songs have to be listened to many times before they have passed the test. However, virtually no one does repeated listens for amateur songwriters, except the songwriter, so no one really knows.

Onward and upward. In most of the U.S., we get an extra hour with the time change.

Oh thanks TallGuy, she was one of my best ever (out of five). Unfortunately I no longer have her and doubt if she's still alive. I got her as a weanling and sold her (and foal) 9 years later for 10 times what I paid for her.

Aside from CBTS and STWOM I have concentrated this week mostly on improvising from lead sheets and simplified versions of known songs. I think doing this has developed my understanding of voicing chords and harmony greatly. I have found this to be very rewarding and it seems to be a good AOTW to me. YMMV

I have survived pianoless for one whole week of house renovations.
The thought of a new piano when it is done is all that keeps me going.

Hey folks- you are all so awesome! Congrats to Carlos- good work!! Hope you get your house done soon Malkin. Well done Ragdoll as well.
Well it isn't that much ro report compared with all of you, but just been practising from piano for all- broken chords with crossing over hands and it seeemd so hard- but I finally started getting it and then improvising a tune with them. This exercise is hugely helpful to me as I have do cross overs in Fur Elise and that is helping me with that too. I hadn't done cross over hands before then, just the odd finger!

Not at all an achievement. On the contrary, after an extended week-end in Rome with the family (we had a great time) I returned to the bench but a pain in my right forearm stopped me. It's not strong, and I don't even know if it is piano related; I think it is not, because I did not practice much. Yesterday I just ignored it, but after the bicycle ride from work was slightly worse.
So I used the classic ice and rest therapy... no piano, no weights, no computer mouse...

Less than 2 months to MOYD 2013... I'm practicing a bit with the left hand only...

My achievement of the week is attempting something hard. I haven't been very hard working lately, as been so busy, so I went to my lesson with the intention to ask to do something easy enough that I could experience some success with it.

Came away with something hard instead. I'm not quite sure how that happened.

But I had better get started.

Achievement of the week was to get the recital piece recorded. I learned a lesson last recital to start the piece with plenty of time so I gave this one the full three months although did falter in effort during the time. Two weeks ago I was thinking of not submitting at all it was just not happening. However a bit of focus and perhaps a bit of statistical luck (usually takes far too many attempts) and I have a recording, albeit this ones never going to make the itunes store.

Earl - If your first two entries are any indication, I'm sure it will be quite good.

thanks aTallGuyNH, very kind of you to say

Like many of you, working on getting my recital piece recorded. I'm almost ready to submit. Here is my most recent recording (along with some notes on things I'm working on).

This piece (Chopin's Ballade No. 1) is fun for me for a few reasons:

1) It's the first piece I've learned by myself since I quit playing piano 10 years ago.

2) It's just a really pretty piece, and it's always fun playing beautiful music.

3) I don't know how many threads I've seen on this and other forums where people say, "the Ballade is too hard" "it's one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire." Well, I always like a good challenge.

4) I kept a practice blog of this piece. It's fun going back and listening to how I "played" months ago.

5) I've been using my new site Notable Scores Notable Scores to keep notes, tips; and it's been super helpful to keep tabs on practicing. I like making websites, especially one that actually helps me in my daily life!

I am really excited to hear the recital. I joined Piano World a little after the last recital.