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

MaryBee, With great difficulty, i took screen shot of the composition and posted it to June piano bar. BTW, how do you provide a link to your post or anyone's post. I sometimes see people do that but I could not figure out. I am very bad at figuring out these things.. Maybe i should stick to pencils.

That's an interesting little composition FarmGirl. It seems to go through several key changes in a very short time.

John, congratulations on your exam results! I just finished up learning three of the Gnossiennes. Those are fun.

Eglantine, you are learning music from some composers I've never heard of before: Frescobaldi, Froberger, Croft, Blow. So I looked up some info on each of them and am listening to some of their music right now. Are you playing these on piano or harpsichord?

MaryBee, thanks. it is actually a song to welcome people to the forum.. I had words to go with it but could not figure out how to put it in. But the real finding is that, its far easier to do it on computer. I may have to pay real money to obtain a good one. It beats pencils and eraser. I like pieces with modulations but hey, this is just my first experiment.

Eglantine, I am jealous, i am so interested in Harpsichord too. I cannot afford it right now but I love the sound. It gave chill to my spine.

I've been very disheartened lately at the idea of never being able to play anything perfectly. I know in my heart that, at least with my current attitude, there is simply no way I will ever be able to play a piece of music perfectly, especially when I really try to put myself into it.

Well, I ran into a quote from Vladimir Horowitz that will help me change my perspective, and I thought it was so powerful that it was worth sharing.

“I must tell you I take terrible risks. Because my playing is very clear, when I make a mistake you hear it. If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake. Never be afraid to dare."

Sam, you will play any piece you attempt to play like a pro given a time and how talented you are. Many adult beginners won't reach such hight like Horowitz but I can totally picture you winning Van Clivan (spelling?) Amateur contest when you become old enough to enter, ahh..in 10 or 12 years. If you don't quit, continue to work diligently, you will get there. Believe it or not, the hardest part for adult beginners is not to quit when life happens (dating, marriage, work, more schooling, etc). Keep up with your good work.

a) that's always a disappointment.
b) I thought you had given up on Mozart! Have you had a change of heart?

Eglantine - liberated! I love it. I'm still very much looking forward to hearing these harpsichord pieces.

FarmGirl, I listened to your composition on the computer, but then printed it out, because I'm sure it is prettier than the computer managed- what a lovely idea!

JOhn - Congrats, that's quite an achievement indeed!!!

Sam - I'm glad you are giving up on the idea that you have to be perfect. As FarmGirl said, you're young and you're talented. You'll be able to make great strides- just be patient with yourself!!! (I know, easier said than done!)

MaryBee, I gave up on A.Mozart, this piece is by L. Mozart, Amadeus' dad ....you're very attentive

Lesson scheduled for Friday, .. fingers crossed that it will come to pass as planned!

OK, AotW was finally memorizing my pieces for the recital. Although I won't label them as 100% solid yet.

The Chopin prelude in E minor was the hardest - it has very subtle harmonic changes, largely chromatic, with no pattern to the beat that the change would occur on or how long the (repeated 8th) notes are played for. Some changes can be reversed without causing an obvious change in the piece and some subtle variations can, likewise, go unrecognized. Further, if you lose track it's hard to figure out any good rewind points!

Break a leg, Andy. We know you will play beautifully. The E-minor looks so easy and is soooooo hard to get just the way you want it. Have fun at your recital.

Andy,

in boca al lupo! (you have to say "crepi")

(in the mouth of the wolf!) (he will die!)

Then all will be well.
No, all will be well becuase of the practice and focus work you've put into these pieces.

I hope we get to hear them!
What is the date of your recital?

Saturday the 16th ... but I will lose this weekend's practice because we're away for the weekend.

By the way, I noticed your signature the other week - you can't imagine how touched I was by that!!!

I'm playing the three Chopin preludes I've been learning but I'm still not ready for the full Rameau so it will be the theme + four variations ...

I can imagine how delightful it is to work on three Chopin pieces at once!
I can also imagine how missing the weekend of practice makes you feel! I hope you have so much fun you won't have time to fret!

(I was wondering when you would notice the siggy line When I saw what you'd written, it just struck a chord (pun fully intended!)

Andy, you will nail it again. I agree with you on the assessment of 28-4. It's not easy to play it well. I love the mood of the piece. I am jealous too that you could get to study 3 chopin pieces. Good luck.

My Kawai cx-4 was delivered Monday and my 100 yr old Beckwith baby grand sold the same afternoon. I won't miss the tinny sounds of Big Bertha.

I sooooo look forward to practice now. That's my inspiration for the week!

That's a great quote, Sam. My teacher always rides me for playing tentatively where I am uncertain - he'd rather I play strongly, to get in the habit of making the right character of sounds, I think, even if I blow the notes.

How interesting to hear that Horowitz made mistakes (or so he says) when putting his dynamics in...

Good luck with your recital, Andy! You're playing a bunch of stuff now that I really hope to master in the next couple years... Fur Elise, Prelude in Em... I should listen to your other things since it seems like we have similar tastes! Have fun!

You don't need to take his word for it! Just go listen to many of his recordings on youtube (1st ballade, 4th ballade, and others) and, if you listen carefully, you'll hear many note mistakes. But the important thing is that the music NEVER wavers.

I've had a busy piano week or two, but am feeling like progress is as through through molasses...

I'm working on Schumann's "The happy farmer returns from work" from his "Album for the young"... which I'm finding devilishly difficult in a way similar to how Mozart's (oops, Bach's... thanks Andy) (really Petzold's) Minuet in G was... straining my two-hands coordination and brain. Looks and sounds so easy, and I'm finding it's not, for me. But it's coming along, slowly, hopefully burning new neural pathways that will help me with future pieces. In the meantime I have to remind myself to be patient in my struggles!

Inspiration-wise... we went to see a night of classical piano last Friday... two pianists, each first doing some solo playing then a Mozart concerto with a chamber orchestra. The second pianist was Daniil Trifonov, who was amazing almost beyond belief. His solo works were some things by Schubert and Schumann, transposed by Liszt, which were out of this world. He has an amazing ability to bring the emotion of a piece up through himself and sing it out through the piano... even when he's playing single notes, much less when he's really exercising the keys. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it was incredible to watch and to listen to.

I believe you, but I don't think I'd hear them! I'd have to listen to someone else's note-perfect version many times, or try to learn to play them... (that'll be a while!)

That is very cool to know, though.

Hello, I am new in this forum, nice to meet all pianist here.

Hmm, sad to say my piano playing is getting stagnant.

This new piano teacher of mine did not make me progress much, i know partly also becos i am lazy to practice, but... i just feel that my previous teacher is so much better. Am thinking of self-learn first.

Anyway, i am currrently learning the pop songs, i like!