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I played at my Boy Scouts' Christmas Program last week! The boys were very excited! Of course that got me excited!!

@casinitalyL Thanks!
@CarlosCC: lol, You could also spell it as Schumann Op. 68 No. 3 but that sounds so pretentious for a level 1-2 piece

By the way, don't you have any stagefright with all these cameras?

Does anybody know why pianostreet rates some pieces much higher then for example Henle? (Pianostreet rates the Humming Song level 4 whereas Henle rates it 1-2).

Yesterday I had my first day without practice since my daughter was born so that could be worse. Very happy where I'm at since I started in October.

@Stubbie
My teacher is older and I don't know whether it is because of his age that he is a bit rigid or that he's just a tiny bit autistic. He's a good teacher though and his structured approach helps me keep on track otherwise I would be all over the place (I just like to pick out songs which are beyond my level and give them a go, some more succesful then others )

Merry Christmas!!

[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/alemosso_pics/11529758053/[/img]


Edit: sorry, my intention was to embed a picture but I miserably failed... Suggestions?

Thanks cas,
I think I'm doing OK with that. Of course that may be because my bench time has been less due to the holidays, visitors, baking/cooking, etc. I also notice less pain now if I do push too hard with the stretch. My practice is less than half what it was. I try to make every minute of it count though, no noodling around allowed just now.

I think your link points to a folder, not to a single image (no .jpg or similar at the end)

And here's your picture:

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Torquenale - your home looks lovely! What an adorable gingerbread house!

Wishing all my AOTW buddies a very Merry Christmas, may your hearts be filled with contentment, your days with blessings, and your ears with beautiful music!

I'm grossly inept at tech issues so this may be worthless but I think there has to be spaces separating the [img] and [/img] tags. Like:

[img] xxxxxurlxxxxxxx [/img] Try it, its free

If it doesn't work... no harm no foul.

Welcome back? Yikes, I haven't gone anywhere!

Hmm, very interesting photo you posted ...

That definitely won't work The problem was that she used a link to a page rather then an image.

Heh! Well I predicted that it might be worthless. I must have incredible insight

sinophilia, wimpiano (how did you do?), Ragdoll: thanks a lot! After Christmas I'll try and learn how to manage this sort of thing properly; now I'm busy preparing starters for Christmas lunch - a lot of relatives will be here tomorrow!
Cheryl: I did the gingerbread house yesterday with my son... had a lot of trouble with the snow but at the end we were satisfied!

Gingerbread houses are always adorable.
The funniest one ever was created by my daughter and a couple of her friends when they were 5,6,and7 years old. It looked like a candy factory had exploded next to the house. In fact, my whole kitchen looked like that, and was sticky for weeks!

I was scheduled to see a client today midday, but the family just cancelled, so I have extra time this morning--just me and the piano!

@torquenale. I had to get the URL for the image which (due to protection by Flickr) was not straight forward.

OK, I admit, it's a little early for AOTW, for me. But I have to take advantage of the fact that I have something to report right now that genuinely got me excited. There's a piano at my nearest railway station right now. And today, as I came back from my Christmas celebration, I stopped and played it for a while. I garnered applause from three bystanders. But more importantly, I played in public and didn't slip up. Not once. It was wonderful.

A belated Merry Christmas to you all, and an early wish for a happy, healthy and productive 2014.



Oh yeah, that's big. No question. Especially given the pieces you played! A congratulatory slap on the back is in order here. No qualifiers. You did good.



That's the point of this thread, isn't it? To help us find little things to be pleased about, even when we don't think there's anything to report. So congratulations on doing exactly that. Sometimes, progress is in the details.



I find it a bit strange that you would download videos for the purpose of learning to play legato. My first instinct on how to do it would mostly involve trying whatever you might think works, and then just listening. Try and listen, and listen and try again, until you get it right. The play-doh thing sounds to me like it's messy and a lot of work.

Re: playing legato using the pedal. Sometimes, there's nothing else you can do, given the jumps inherent in the way the music is written. But my teacher always tells me to play without pedal sometimes (and preferably, to play without pedal *first*). She wants me to be able to play legato without relying on pedal at all, except where it is strictly necessary. In order to make a lyrical passage sound truly lyrical, you have to *think* it lyrically, and move your hands in a way that will make it *sound* lyrical even without pedal. If you start practicing *with* pedal from the get-go, the end result may well sound more or less the way it should, but it could be that you're actually playing in a staccato sort of way.

Anyhow, I think the idea behind playing legato, with or without pedal, is always the same: make sure the previous note keeps sounding until the next one starts. Ideally, that means releasing the previous key (or the sustain pedal) just as the next hammer strikes the strings. I don't know how well that translates to a digital piano, though.



Well, if you're willing to come to Brussels and demonstrate to me that you're a halfway decent musician, I'll let you live in my basement and play my piano every day for free :P.

(Don't laugh. I've extended the same offer to a PW member before.)



I'm happy for you. Having major trouble finding focus, myself. I'm beginning to fear that I will show up at my first lesson after Christmas break without much of anything to show for it.



And you've been playing how long? It's a matter of months, right? I'd say you're probably doing very, very well. Congrats!



I'm happy to see you reconcile with someone who seems to have been a true friend to you, FarmGirl . And don't worry about "putting us through" your reminiscing. Those who are not interested will skip it. It's that simple.



Oh, yes you are, Carlos. The music you post here for the quarterly recitals speaks for itself. Plus, how can someone who "regularly tests and plays pianos at a store" not be a true aficionado?



Must have been a blast. Congratulations!

Wow, lots of playing for people!
That's wonderful everyone!!

Saranoya that's awesome! I definitely don't have the guts to do that and let alone no slip ups? More power to you =)

Saranoya- that's a great achievement! I'm really happy for you!

and speaking of happy....


Happy birthday Andy! Hope you're having a super day!