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

So, looking for some suitable sight reading material I pulled out the first Czerny book I got when I started lessons (100 Progressive Studies). Now, admittedly, not really sight reading because I did learn a bunch of the pieces three years ago. But since I can't remember much beyond last week it's close enough.

And, what do you know - I could play them pretty well. I would wager it was better than I did three years ago after practicing each of them for a week or do. I love how my reading has improved!

How long I will be able to say that in the book is another question ... they are progressive studies!

* First time attending a ragtime festival
* First time -performing- in a ragtime festival
* I survived
* A couple more sets to do tomorrow

When you say this is about 'Achievement of the week' how do we think of the 'week'
Today is Sunday 19th. so I'll reflect on the past week.
I am so happy to have found another teacher!
He is a performance MA from somewhere in Canada and is a paid accompanist for three choirs around here and plays for visiting artists when needed as well as having a teaching studio and is co-chair of the local musicians union or representative group . Loves Listz and Ravel and is an amazing player .
So glad not to have bumped into an old fashioned ivory thumper who just goes through the grades.....
He's about my eldest son's age, 35, but that just doesn't figure in the equation, we are about music and that I'm probably older than his mother doesn't matter!
I played one of the studies I've been doing , a czerny something, and he picked up on my weaknesses the same way as my previous teacher so I know we are on the same wavelength. And he speaks Canadian! so much easier to follow than an Eastern European accent.
And that Bach prelude no2 from WTC i've been hackling with, he had some really cute tips.
Play every other note, then play 'off beat'. That was hard the first time but when I went back to give it a try the right way. Wow, I pretty much got it down!

Another thing I did that amazed me and is a lot of fun, is playing some of the czerny, long-short and then short-long. ant then for super challenge, emphasize triplets...... It 's mental gymnastics !

Welcome to the AOTW tribe PalmPirate. I also tend to post on the weekend.

Way to go Whizbang. Performing at a festival is a big deal, especially at a specialty event where everyone knows the music.

Week 62: I participate at Songmakers, a local song circle format music group. I do four pieces, Canon in D, Lightness of Being, My Favorite Things, The Passage of Time. Two are originals, My Favorite Things is a sing along and goes badly. However, by the time I fall apart, everyone else is playing and singing and they don't seem to notice all my wrong notes. I just try and hold some semblance of rhythm together and crawl to the end. The other three went better, though all had some flaws. I play on the host's 1990 era Roland D20 keyboard while wearing my full fingered practice gloves.

After practicing on my Casio PX150 digital piano, the 61-key Roland keyboard is difficult to navigate. Still, I get some compliments. Like Whizbang, I survived and I am better for it. As I have written before, I have learned to lower my standards for live performances. For a beginner on any instrument, just getting to the end is an achievement. There have been more than a few times when I could not get to the end during a live performance, and abandoning feels a lot worse for everyone than stumbling or crawling to the finish. At the places I perform, the crowd is on my side, and wants me to succeed. Sometimes the performers that make mistakes and limp in get more applause than someone that played straight through.

I am happy to report that the event host and his wife are now taking music lessons. I think my taking up piano keyboard 15 months ago, has helped them make and stay with that decision. The wife has always wanted to learn piano, but never actually got started. They have a beautiful used upright piano that has been sitting and waiting for someone to play the instrument. The wife just had her first piano lessons. Hooray, another beginner in the tribe. The husband plays drums and recorders at a high level, and started cello about eight months ago, and is now taking cello lessons.

I tend to believe that my continuing to show up at their home, at first stumbling and fumbling on the keyboard, and now progressing to the point of being able to play some beginner pieces at a musical level, may have helped them see that progress is possible. Thankfully, I am not shy about performing in public. One perspective is that as beginner as I still sound, as beginner as I still feel, I have moments of musicality that make a positive impression on other musicians. Many of them are accomplished life-long musicians that can rattle off beautiful music and vocals at the drop of a hat. I can be proud of that achievement, even though every performance had major flubs.

I am glad to see that Toastie has shifted into a higher gear. Like so many others, it feels like I am in a lower gear. Last year, it took me 14 weeks to learn Ashokan Farewell and another six months more before I could do it in public. It took 15 weeks to learn my level one arrangement of Canon in D. So it has been a relatively low gear for me. It is not any slower now than before, even if it feels that way.

Those that see me every two months at Songmakers notice a measurable difference, while my own daily observations can't see any measureable progress. Someone else might say, yes you might be a slow learner of pieces, but you can write original songs. Well, as I told someone else at Songmakers, the secret to that is to spend time on the task. Something will come out. Like beginner pianists though, beginner composers are going to sound like beginners (not so good), with very few exceptions. I came to piano with over 10 years of being a songwriter. I am thankful that I have been able to learn to write harmony, and explore some other musical concepts.

Someone sings an original song about old dogs, with the stray line from the title of this Robert Frost poem.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.

I have a long history with this poem, so hearing the line in the song touched me. Cheers everyone. Have a good week and keep those reports coming.

Cas--which version of Radetzky are you working on as a duet? We have one which I would like to play, but so far only in my mind, and not on the actual keys. So many pieces, so little time!

Since the recital we have decided to get a grand, and have made a plan to squirrel away some money so that there isn't such a gap between what we want and what we can pay for.

I think I'm finally getting the gist of rubato on Chopin's Prelude in Em! I was thinking of putting this piece down for a little while, but luckily I had another one of those light bulb moments when things just seem to click. Maybe it's just me... but, polishing this score can really be so frustrating!

very cool Whizbang! glad you survived cause we wanna hear it!

It's gotta be the achievement of the century. I actually overcame multiple problems with computer and sound to post my first ever recording to Ecco Fatto. And Ecco Fatto describes it perfectly!
Not real happy with the result. I did overcome and succeed.

Can you believe. My recorder still isn't recognized by my computer. I pull the SD card. Put the card in a reader. Computer recognizes it as the recorder! Name and all! Not only that. The software for my camera opens up and wants to download the recording as a picture! You should have seen it before when it didn't work. Doh!

Ecco Fatto all the way! I'm king of the world!

Probably you don't need the program that came with your camera - it just complicates a simple system. Plug in the card, it should open in My Computer as an extra drive letter. Open it, look for where the files are stored. If they're pictures, drag them into a suitably-named folder in My Pictures. If they're audio, put them wherever you want to. No need for a special program.

Tonight... I'm beat! I've been immersed in listening to and performing music since Friday afternoon. That's about 16-18 hours of public music, of which I ended up being drafted for about 3 hours as a very, very junior performer, and a good amount of side music in private.

It's all kind of blurring together now, but if this is something folks would be interested in hearing about, I could start a thread.

Joyoussong/Carol - I find contrary motion very befuddling! Good for you!

TwoSnowflakes: Congrats on not flubbing in front of the teacher- that alone can be a major accomplishment! Why DID you quit the piano? Well, it doesn't matter, you're back now!
I watched your video (Yes, Jim, it is flipped ) You may not be where you would like to be (yet), but you're off to a more than just respectable start - don't waste your energy bemoaning the 25 year gap, just get on with it and have fun!

FarmGirl - I think you are your own harshest critic. Again I say- sure there is room for improvement. There's always room for improvement. But "awful"? Really? So all of us who watched it and complimented you on it aren't able to tell the difference between a good effort that needs a little tweaking and something that is awful?
hmmmmm......I guess we'd better improve our listening skills

Andy Platt -- Going back to Czerny after 3 years proved to be an interesting experience for you! What a great verification of the progress you've made with your reading (and playing) abilities!

Whizbang: attending a jazz festival is fun. Performing in one must be a blast! Good for you! And why not start a thread, I'm sure that there would be a number of people who don't usually come here who would be interested in hearing about the event

Palmpirate - sounds like you've hit the jackpot with your new teacher! Congratulations

SandTiger - I admire your ability to put yourself out there in public and play. I have trouble doing that in my own livingroom! It is indeed hard to judge our own progress - but one thing that always seems to work is to pick up something you were working on a few months earlier and try it again. Or.. listen to your earlier recordings and compare them to what you can do now.
How neat that the hosts of your music get togethers are now taking lessons! I have no doubt that your dedication inspired them!

Malkin -- I don't know what the version is --- I got my half of the music from another student and I haven't seen the cove page! I will try to get it this week.Congrats on your decision to get a grand! Happy shopping!

ElleC... no, I don't think it is just you. I suspect most people have trouble polishing up a Chopin Prelude...especially those who've only been playing 5.5 months...

Earlofmar - that is an accomplishment! woohoo! way to go! Ecco fatto! Bravo!

Sand Tiger! Just about my favorite poem!! Right up there with Robert Frost's "Acceptance".

What I like about Frost is that in so few words he say so much!

I read his poems often. Thank you!!

I am also a big Robert Frost fan. I feel pleased that some of you are too.

After my positivity last week, I have hit a dip this week and have done nothing since my lesson on Friday as have been so busy with work. Well that's an excuse really because if I had wanted to fit it in I would have done. Am having one of those "I want to be good at this goddamit" tantrums where you want to be better so badly that it makes you a bit mad and then you don't practice which makes you more mad. I hate that. Does anyone else get that way sometimes?

My friend(actually my piano tutors son too... )

Came over for a catch up. First time for a long time. Crikey, dads doing his job... your well on your way...

That was his reaction after last hearing me play a year ago.



Its the little things that make me smile.

Plus i shot a rat and beat him 2-1 at pool.. a good day! :-)

Rats can shoot pool? I mean, is beating a rat wounded by a firearm really all that much to crow about? Or did you beat him and then, to add insult to injury, shoot him?

I must be missing something...

Lol, ok, ok mr funnypants! :-) with fresh eyes i can see i left myself open to that one!!;-)

We had our pre-recital adult student get-together/practice recital on Sunday afternoon. There were only three of us this year (one no show). It went ok for me....nothing great, but I got through my Chopin piece ok and still have two weeks to work on it. We all played a second and third time, so I got some good practice playing on a different piano in front of others, and even knocked out a decent All The Things You Are from memory.

I also did something that I forgot to do last year....and that is to wear the shoes I expect to wear at the recital. It may not sound important, but I usually practice at home without shoes. Last year at recital pedaling in shoes felt pretty strange and uncontrolled. I also practiced pedaling with shoes on a few days last week, so that helped too.

I'm glad we do these little rehearsals. It definitely takes some of the edge off my pre-recital anxiety.

I had a really great lesson today!! I played the Chopin Waltz, that was my recital submission, by memory. With some memory lapses. But, I got through it. And my teacher had very good things to say about how musical and sensitive my playing was. Gee, I even fixed the section I consistently got the counting wrong!! She said, that's because I was listening to myself.

I also played the Grieg Op 70 no 7 piece, Remembrances. Big improvement over last week. She said, "Now there's something there to really listen to"!!!

I'm playing both pieces in early June recitals. One on June 1st, the other on June 5th. I'll be looking for good times to start getting a recording of the Grieg. There's a lot to this short piece. I suspect that will be the case for all these Lyric Pieces by Grieg.

All in all, pretty excited about my playing today!!!