Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Achievement of the week - what got you excited?

This is fantastic news, good luck with your new teacher, I hope he turns out to be perfect for you. I don't actually know what I would do without mine now, she's simply a superb person and I am so glad I found her. She's a shiny, magical, enthusiastic, special person, just like I hoped she would be. It's worth the wait to find the right one and it's true that it happens at the right time. It's nice to have someone on the same wavelength as me with whom to share the piano madness that has overtaken me lately.

Cheryl, that's great news. Andy, it's great to see you here again! and congratulations to everyone on their AOTWs!

Andy, sorry, in my ups and downs I missed your entry yesterday! Welcome back! I'm so glad you're going to record your Rameau piece - after you've worked so hard on it and we've been hearing about it for a while, it will be a treat to hear the result of your labours!

Thanks for the good wishes for the new adventure with the new teacher. It is going to be strange having a different teacher - I really clicked with my first teacher right from day one. I'm excited and ...just a tiny bit nervous. I wonder how well I'm going to be able to play at the first lesson!

We had a chat last night and he was very enthusiastic when I told him I really like the Barocque period. He really likes Barocque too and has a lot of experience with it. I said I wanted to work on blues too, he said he had a bit less experience in that area but he was sure he would be able to help me.
He speaks English fairly well (we've met a few times) - it will be interesting to see which language we use during the lessons.

I'm feeling so much better now that my situation is sorted out.

Hi Cas, I am so happy you got a new teacher. He sounds like a good teacher. I think you wind up using both languages to study. Let us know how your first lesson was like.

I don't know that these count as "accomplishments," per se, but they are big events for me.

One, I finally got to restart lessons earlier this month; my teacher is semi-retired and doesn't give lessons during the summer. So, once again, every other Tuesday I fail to play as well at lessons as I do at home, LOL, and find myself re-energized with a long list of pieces to work on. (Currently, this includes, in various stages of doneness, German Dance and Allemande by Michael Praetorious, Canario by Joachim van der Hofe, Deck the Halls, O Christmas Tree and When the Saints Go Marching In.)

Two, my piano tech will be here tomorrow to tune the piano and install a Dampp-Chaser (Piano Saver) system. My older house has floor furnace heating and window ACs, so it's a pretty tough environment for a piano. The D-C system should help to stabilize the tuning and make practice much easier and more enjoyable. I've been wanting to do this for a long while.

My achievement of the week is... this DIY digital piano stand!



Before, the poor thing was perched high on a keyboard stand. Now it's the right height and the leg position is much more natural.

Next project: a matching bench

Very nice stand.

It really makes a difference to invest in the right tools, doesn't it? So worth the money!

Awwwww cute piano stand!! My achievement of the week is that I am ready for the next book. And also that my teacher said that I will be amazing one day. I know that isn't an achievement (I've got a long, long way to go), but it made me so happy that I am still smiling now. I must actually be emitting a happy glow that could be seen from space, I am so pleased with piano at the moment.

This definitely sounds like an achievement to me! Congrats!

Finally made "Comptine D'un Autre Été - L'Apres Midi" sound good :-)

This is one of those pieces that sounds impressive but is really quite easy to learn if you're up to the level.

Also, Clair De Lune is just really freaking hard. I'm determined to learn the whole thing, but it's a doozy. That said, I've got the difficult middle section 90% down, working on the remaining 10% and getting it all smoothed out and sped to tempo. The good part is the piece is so beautiful that when a section comes together it's a joy to play it over and over.

Thanks FarmGirl, my first lesson is on Tuesday... I am trying to figure out what to play for him to give him an idea of what I can do...How much of my material I'll bring....lol... I'm making myself a bit crazy!

Piano_deb, congrats on getting started with your teacher again. And I hope the installation has gone smoothly and it is working well!

Toastie...I was wondering what that bright light was-- your radiant smile! What inspiring words from your teacher! Way to go!

HouseHead--- I really like the Comptine d'un autre ete..... You must be feeling very pleased with yourself!

Claire du lune... well, yup. I guess that is a hard one to master but, despite your frustration it does sound like you are making some very solid progress!

New teachers, teacher comments, a piano stand, a damp-chaser, a lot of news this week. It is good to hear.

My week 28 was another wash out. A couple of days with zero practice, and on the other days practice time limited to 15 to 20 minutes. It meant zero work on new pieces, not that I have one that I am ready to work on. I am still recovering from the disappointment of a sub-par public performance.

As for Claire du Lune, my nephew is trying to learn it. Unfortunately, he has zero formal training on piano and most would still rate him as a first year novice. His dad tries to discourage him, telling him that he needs to learn some easier pieces to get more of a foundation before taking on that difficult a piece, but the nephew has some sentimental attachment to the piece. I shared with the nephew the value of slow practice, and that he will learn something by trying to learn it. I've heard so many stories from the forum about folks learning isolated pieces that grade out far above their experience level, so that the passion may get him to a place where he is pleased with his progress. One positive is that he is poking at the piano after many years of not playing at all, and a detour into guitar lessons for two years followed by abandonment.

Yeah you could easily frustrate yourself trying to learn a single piece that difficult with nothing easier to work on as well.

I usually have one difficult piece I'm learning offset by a few easier ones. That's why I have Comptine, the slow movement of Chopin's Piano / Cello Sonata (which I'm hoping to play with a soccer team mate / cello player friend of mine) - in addition to Clair de Lune. Gotta give yourself something to smile about on your way up such a mountain :-)

Sand Tiger, sorry you're not really happy with what's happening this week - but hang in there. Don't let 1 abnormal public performance put you off.
Good luck to your nephew.

HouseHead78, great philosophy.... something to smile about on the way up the mountain!

I had my first lesson with my new teacher. Since I signed up with him last week I did some more "googling" on him and I found out that he's a conductor! He's conducted in France, in Vienna, in Germany....he works with a musical youth group, he has written monographs on several composers for the biggest national newspaper.....I was wondering why he would want to teach me!!
However, he has accepted me and we had a very nice first lesson.
I showed him a lot of my material to give him a feel for things I like to play, told him that I'm pretty dedicated to practicing, that I participate in our recitals, and I played a couple of pieces for him.
His idea is that before getting me started on something new he wants to get to know my abilities a bit more.
I'm to work on pieces I know and like, that I feel are "pretty well learnt" but that could be better. I'm going to do some work on Les Plaintes d'une Poupée by Franck, which I've never played 100% to my satisfaction, and we're going to do a bit of work on Gypsy Legend, which I love, and I think I can improve, making it sound smoother.

He's not interested in having me memorize - he is interested in making sure I am working with the score properly. This is something I'm wishy-washy about. I tend to use the score to start with and then as I memorize I abandon it...and then I can't find my place when I get lost or stuck.

He doesn't care how quickly I play - what he wants right now is accuracy.

He also spoke English for the whole lesson, which was a treat!

I'm feeling very good about this !

That is great news Cas! He sounds like a real gem. I hope the good feelings keep coming!

Wow you are all doing so well and sound like you have good teachers. I wish you all the best! Cas and Toastie- well done indeed!
I am feeling very good about my practise this evening- as I managed to play the peices my teacher asked me to from Alfred's and have got better on the Brahms Lullaby. I had my second lesson yesterday. My teacher is in his 20s and really very good- I feel I have made progress in just two lessons. Yes I am still a plonky player but improving. I am getting betetr with fingering- we were working on that.
I also am learning to play a pop song by ear- I found the chords myself. I am also working on the chords approach as well as sight reading. I am much better at chords I think.
This forum is awesome- us adults can learn to play piano can't we!!

Awesome! Did you get your new piano?

Not yet, am using one at work for practice currently. In three weeks time I am going to look at some and choose one. Am counting down the days! (23 to go)

I feel sick just thinking about it as I'm so excited.

I know what you mean- I got mine from freecycle. One day I had no piano and the next night I had one! Let us know when you get yours.

I am dying to play mine right now but it is after midnight and my neighbour is sleeping.

I will have to get a digital in the future for the night because I seem to come alive at night and want to play all night long hee hee.

EdwardianPiano, I have a digital and, although it certainly can't compare to an acoustic, I am really getting much more use out of it than I did with my previous (acoustic) piano simply because I can practice any old time I want. Even during the day when my family and neighbors don't mind the noise, I still love that I can keep my practice private. No one wants to hear me play and replay the same measure a zillion times. My piano is a Casio Celviano AP420 and it suits my current needs just fine.

My achievement of the week is making my first complete week of MOYD. I have to say that even in that short time, I can see how consistent daily practice is a huge help. Don't ever underestimate the power of even 10 or 15 minutes. It's a wonderful thing.