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Dismal? Really? That's hard to believe, you do play very nicely. Just a moment in time...congratulations anyways. Glad to hear you're recovering from it

Well it's not much but I can now play all of the Dm part (16 measures) of Come back to Sorrento in both hands. Not very smooth yet but I'm so excited about it. This piece is trickier than I thought it would be.

Also, teacher gave a new exercise to practice my scale. I always ask her what is the purpose of this exercise (she probably get tired of my constant questions) as follows:

Metronome at 100 (glacial right?) one octave up and back 1 note per tick, then 2 notes per tick up and back for 2 octaves, then repeat one octave at 1 note per tick. She thinks this will help me to keep tempo steady where music changes from quarter notes to eighths. I agree and can see results from it, it's kind of fun actually.

No big AOTW but a little one is good I think.

Wisebuff - I'm sorry to hear you saying your exam was dismal... but glad you are recovering your equilibrium. Hang in there! Your new music sounds like fun - and piano camp! woohoo! I'm jealous! Will you be there when FarmGirl or any of the other PW folks are there?

Maestro57 - now that is indeed a lovely accomplishment! Congratulations!

FarmGirl - again I'm happy to hear how your teacher really helps you get to where you need to be on these challenging - beautiful - pieces. And you too are going to piano camp. Lucky lady!

Saranoya - 90 out of 100 - that is fabulous. Something to be proud of for sure - especially as you had not been able to play in the week before the exam. Congratulations.

JimF - Sounds like you're enjoying what you are doing ...ahem, once you get to it What's the exact name of your Canon? I'd like to look it up.

I've been coming along very nicely with First Loss - and I'm pleased at how the hard (for me) bit at the end is coming together now. I hope to play it at the EPP in Brussels

Congratulations Saranoya on your successful piano exam. That is a wonderful achievement.

Congratulations Saranoya! 90/100 is a great achievement. It sounds like you have really made a lot of progress in the short time you have been taking lessons with this teacher.

I don't have an AOTW, just a great piano experience. Yesterday my teacher came over to try out my piano for a recording she wants to make. She played Chopin Scherzo #4. I was blown away. It was mesmerizing watching her play such a difficult piece instead of what I usually see, which is her demonstrating part of my intermediate pieces. I certainly have a role model to follow! My Bechstein was happy too, I think, because it certainly sang for her!

Saranoya, congratulations! That's awesome! I would have been happy as long as I passed. I am not a degree seeking student so I am not going for grade (phew!). Had I done that, it's gonna be like my yoga class - I will get a D!! Of course my attendance is extremely poor too.

WiseBuff - Congrats on your recovery from s perceived failure (grin:). Sorry but I don't think you failed anything. If you didn't pass (I doubt it) it's not because of you - lack of info etc. you will go and pass the next one with flying colors.

Ragdoll - my former teacher used to make me do that. 1 tick per note one octave up and down, then 1 tick 2 notes for 2 octaves followed by 1 tick 3 and 4 notes for 3 and 4 octaves respectively. It helped me to play the scales evenly. In the beginning, many people play four notes per tick like triplets with a couple of notes played faster than the rest - sounding like tan tan detan rather than tan tan tan tan.

I do believe we have a case of perceived potential for failure, here . Having heard a few of your recordings, I highly doubt you have even the slightest chance of scoring a D in piano.

I would not have been satisfied with a mere pass, by the way. Had I gotten that, I'd have concluded that continuing lessons (and continuing to practice at the rate that I do) is a waste of my time and my energy.

C,

It is Scriabin's Canon in d minor, op. Posth.

I found this utube of it, but my teacher plays it much better...

[video:youtube]http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Tx2LjtmikWU[/video]

I think it may be transcribed from a non-keyboard work.

IMSLP has it link

Ragdoll, sorry! I missed your post earlier.
Congrats on your progress -and I think that is an interesting technique for the scales. I think I'll try it too! Thanks for mentioning it here.

Jim - I had a listen - and without looking anything up I thought - Ah, this is from the romantic period. He must be a contemporary or at least influenced by Schumann. Then I checked. How nifty to see I was right partially right - definitely from the romantic period (and moving out of it too) but not really influenced by Schumann, more by Chopin.

There is an interesting bit about colour related synesthasia in this link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin#Style_and_musical_influences


Sara - I see what you mean --- if you had had a significantly lower mark after all the time and effort you've put into your piano studies it would have been extremely discouraging.

And in fact, it was anything BUT discouraging!

My achievement of last week was how much I practised, which was LOADS. My achievement this week is how little time it took me to do my piece, so I have done another one too. Hope to finish the book in the next two weeks. My non-piano achievement of the week is that I joined a really nice health club and gym, so I can do other things in my free time apart from piano. Not that I don't love piano, but now I'm young, free and unattached I need to leave the house more.

Yah, it's very effective and BTW I have that 3 notes per tick to look forward to in a couple weeks <shudder> 300 bpm.
400 bpm?... never gonna happen for me I'm afraid.

Yeah It's not too awful to do at 200bpm (about a couple days it took) but 300bpm I'm looking at soon. I will probably not do the 4 notes per tick because I can't imagine any piece I would need it for. 32s freak me out just looking at them.

Sara, you are partially correct that i am not the person who would be live with less than 100%. Living with mediocity is something I had to learn in life. When I was younger, I aimed high. I wanted A+ or nothing at all. When I quit piano after 3 years of study since I restarted it, it was the reason. I could not carry on my daily practice because I got married, started working in a public accounting firm while preparing for CPA exam. I wanted to do well in everything! It was crazy. I was not doing great with piano and I really could not live with it. I always wanted to get back to it. I passed the exam then went back to graduate school and then study for statistics etc, years passed before I finally came back to piano again. This time I decided to live with imperfection. It's better to continue. Even if my progress is slow, so what! You still progress over the years. It's not negligible at all. My current teacher is actually the teacher who was teaching me when I quit. One of my old studio mate is still with her. This person was behind me in piano study. She also had full time work and did not have time to practice. Many times she showed up in our studio unprepared. But after 20 years, guess what, she has completely exceeded me. She played Chopin Ballade No1 very beautifully for our recital.

Toastie: what a satisfying week! Practice may not make perfect, but it sure makes a difference, doesn't it? Good for you for joining the gym - I know I should follow your example!

Ragdoll: for the moment speed doesn't come into the equation for me. I'm still working on correcting my finger position. I have been battling a bad case of "flying fingers" but not flying as in wonderfully fast, flying as in way too far up in the air as I move up the scale. I've made great improvements over the last little while but for the moment the focus is on controlling that and going slowly. I suppose my day will come

FarmGirl It is interesting to read about your ups and downs with piano and your change in perspective. I think you are happier now than before, aren't you? And the change in what you are able to bring to your music over the past six months or so is very very clear. I think you've found the right path.

This has nothing to do with me, but it is so cool.

My 11 (almost 12! ) yr old niece plays piano. She, like most of us, is a bit addicted.
She is on holiday in the UK (from Canada) and brought a roll up keyboard with her.

At the airport in Toronto she met a fellow musician who played the "Entertainer" on her roll up and chatted with her about her music (He seemed to be in his mid 20s)

After 5 days of no real piano, this morning she discovered a baby grand in the breakfast room of the B&B! They arrived there last night so didn't see the room until this morning. She is in heaven.

Isn't that just great fun?

Ragdoll, I chuckled when you labeled 100 as glacial. I realize that one thing that held me back for years was liking that tempo but not hearing how glacial it can sound. The technique also works to get a Mozart piece steady and consistent. I'm working to increase my tempo by upping the number every day. I do not have fast fingers LOL and I realize that may always keep me in the intermediate realm...fortunately there's lots of good music there.

Saranoya, I don't think I'll feel discouraged with low exam marks because it wasn't my time and effort that failed but my adrenaline surge. I'll find a new way to prepare for that.

FarmGirl and I are going to SummerKeys at different times. My week is the first week in July.

Casinitaly what is "First Loss" i.e. composer and story.

Good for you on the exercise Toastie.

Off for my cup of coffee and some scales (I'll be an expert on technical skills next time) before Mozart and Grieg. Then to enjoy a beautiful Colorado day with my puppies (already 8 weeks old and almost ready for their new homes).

WiseBuff - you got puppis? Pictures, please. Can you PM me?

Cheryl - yes, I'm much happier now with my music. I can only do what I can do. I love piano but also love my hubby, puppies and nature! Off to hiking now.

Speaking of other things in life, my piano teacher / friend decided to yoga. So we found the cheapest in town and went yesterday. It was very good for "always sitting" people like us. What was funny was that it was yoga class for women getting through relationship crisis. It said crisis center. I thought it was awfully relegious for yoga. The instructor was praying throughout the lesson. But at one point she said "oh Ever Loving God Please free our mind from performance anxieties". So my friend and looked at each other and decided to stick to it. $6.00 session is very reasonable too.

>What was funny was that it was yoga class for women getting through relationship crisis. It said crisis center. I thought it was awfully relegious for yoga. The instructor was praying throughout the lesson. But at one point she said "oh Ever Loving God Please free our mind from performance anxieties".
>>>>>>>>>>>

Sounds like the wrong religion for Yoga anyway!

If it had been for MEN with relationship problems "performance anxieties" could have meant something rather different :-)

Ragdoll 100 bpm and 200 bpm is quite good, and something to be proud of. Some instructor on the internet says 60 bpm and then 120 and 240, so if you are at 200, 240 is in reach. Saranoya, congrats on 90 out of 100. Farmgirl, many of us aspire to be as mediocre as someone that can play Brahms after a few drinks, and hold their own at a piano party with three piano performance degrees, and a DMA in attendance. By the way, taking up yoga is one of the best things I have done for myself, it helps with piano and general health. Toastie, another thumbs up, we know what a long road it has been for you away and then back to piano. Maestro, being able to play one of the sonatas is a distant mountain in the mist for those of us early in the journey. Hooray for you on reaching the top of that mountain. Teodor that must have been a tremendous day for you.

Week 65: I attend two music events, a concert of virtuoso violin and harp, and singer-songwriter friend performing at a local venue. There is a Nord sighting, and after my exposure to the digital forum, that gets me excited. The name of the venue prompts me to start work on a new song with lyrics. For now, I shelve the two other original works in progress. I write a few good lines for the new song, but then it gets stuck, starts to feel forced. The ideas need time to bake, along with more time and effort. The good news is that I am getting more comfortable with MuseScore (freeware composition program). This would be my first original song with my own lyrics for piano. The ones I have on my blog have adapted lyrics, or are collaborations.

For my piano time, progress and enjoyment are sometimes at ends. I aim for a mix, so there is progress by putting in work time, but still allow myself time to lose myself in the music. Writing original songs and tunes has always been what drives me, with an occasional cover piece in the mix. My arrangement of A Thousand Years is close, but I am no where near being able to play it at speed. My arrangement is very simple, because simple fits my piano skill level. Even so, it takes me weeks to learn these easy covers with simple arrangements.

I can speak on the topic of averageness and exceptionality. I do a lot of volunteer work in mental health and in my program the concept of averageness is an important one. So many of us want to be exceptional and fear that we are less than average. For so many, exceptionality leads into depression and anxiety. If I were only content if I were a high achiever at piano, I would have already quit. There is a tonic quality to being average. By definition most people in any hobby or group are in the average range. Anyone regulars posting on this thread are among the most dedicated on the forum. Anyone participating on a piano forum is above average in enthusiasm. Most are content to read and say nothing. I know the survey says there are only a few lurkers, but my experience on other forums tells me otherwise. Typically there are ten readers for every poster.

By the way, for those that haven't already done so, please participate in the 2013 ABF survey:
link

SwissMS- sorry - missed your post too---! How nice that you were able to host your teacher. It is fun to hear what your piano sounds like while you're not playing and instead you get to be the audience. Not only is it a different perspective on what your piano sounds like - it lets you (and any less experienced player) hear what the piano is capable of. I find it inspiring.

Wisebuff: First Loss (sometimes translated as "First Sorrow") is from Op 68 Album for the Young. N. 16. I haven't found any background history on it... I doubt there is anything specific. Congrats on the puppies (pics??) !

FarmGirl - your yoga class sounds entertaining!