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

My "achievement", if I can call it one, is that I finally reached the highlight of Alfred's book 2, i.e. an easy version of Chopin's Etude op. 10 no. 3. The good thing is I had the honor of listening to it played on my DP by a real piano teacher, a cousin of mine who is also an accomplished organist. Wow! The posture, the gestures, the dynamics! I'm starting to think I should really get a teacher sooner or later.

Oh Toastie, I'm sorry to hear that. It's good though that you have found a new dealer and piano! I hope the time flies quickly for you!

Yay Sin! That's a huge achievement! Don't let listening to anyone (even family) who are way ahead of you get you down! Think of it as a challenge to someday achieve the same level!

I felt that too- poor Toastie. I hope your piano is just perfect when it arrives.

Not quite the same but a similar thing happened to me- I saw an ad on freecycle for a piano, emailed the guy and felt very very strongly the piano would be mine the next day..BUT...he hadn't replied by the morning.
My eyes went to the previous month's piano on offer- I emailed them, a second later I got a reply and by that evening Piano was with me!! ( My neighbour was a van man which was so lucky and he didn't charge me)
Maybe this other U3 is the piano you were meant to have Toastie.

Brilliant Sin!

Playing for paws! That's so cute. I love dogs!

Today I tried my first ever chord progression C A F G, and was somehow able to come up with some melancholy melody for it that even sounded nice. Would never have guessed that I could do that.
I guess so far, that is my most exciting "achievement of the week" so far.

Congrats, anivace. I've heard numerous times that some ridiculous percentage like 95% of melodies can be harmonized by just the chords I,IV, and V (in the "key" of C Major, or the white key scale, these chords are C, F, and G) - crazy!

Anivace- that's no small achievement - Capturing the mood of a piece, plus doing some improvisation with chord progressions? Good for you - that is a pretty exciting step in a new, interesting direction!

j&j - what a great way to get experience playing in public - and for such a good cause too!

Diana, I'm listening to Chopin N10 now as I type. How exciting to be playing your first Chopin!!!!! It sounds to me as though you were inspired by your cousin's performance, that's the right way to take it. Many people here in PW don't have teachers and seem perfectly happy about that --- personally I really felt it was important. I know that I move more quickly over problem areas with help from my teacher, and I also know that there are technical points I would never have understood if not for my teacher. If you decide to look for one, I can ask my teacher (and my former teacher) if they have contacts /recommendations in your town!

Edward - what a great piano story!

I've made some progress on my Music Box piece, but still have a little section that is giving me grief. I'll see my teacher today and hope he will be able to nudge me in the right direction. Then I'll have to work on getting it up to speed! ack!

Well yes, for some interpretations of "melody" and some interpretations of "can"! :-)

Good start! But it's wide open. As well as thinking in terms of "which of the stock chords can I make fit?" you could try "what notes go well with this melody?" Even better "What other melody fits well against this melody?"

Maybe what you write will be describable in terms of chord names. Maybe not. No matter!

Achievement? Well not exactly BUT making progress. I'm studying scales and chords. Oh yeah I've cruised through them before but am now following the RCM exam list and working to make them fluid and fast. I had REALLY wanted to take the level 5 exam this December. My pieces are close but the technical side just isn't there yet. So...my achievement is my persistence in working on this. Passing level 5 will feel good in 2013 too. AND I still enjoy the 5 pieces I've been polishing down to the nitty gritty detail...and the suspense remains "can she play them in front of a stranger?"

Wisebuff - that's great you are almost ready for your exam! Excellent!

I've had to put my prep on hold as I am working full time again and have found my piano time greatly diminished. And I didn't have a teacher these last few months due to scheduling and my work. I will be starting with a new teacher on Sunday though and I am excited!

Toastie - don't worry your piano will be with you soon!! The one that was meant to be!

Sounds good. And I like your Bee.

Wisebuff - well, that is progress indeed - and heading to an exam... gulp. I don't know if I will put myself through that at some point in the future. I know I've turned down the "opportunity" in the past
Good for you though, I'm full of admiration at your determination and enthusiasm!

Zoe - I hope you have a wonderful time with your new teacher!
I'm loving mine.

Today we went through several of my works-in-progress and he really brought each one to life for me ! I am getting so much from these lesson, I feel rich every time I see him.

I had an audience today - a 12 yr old (who has been playing for 5 years!) sat in on my lesson to see how the teacher works! ack! (Yes, every one asked my permission first!) I said yes, feeling that it would be good for me to have an audience that I could "politely" ignore

I played scales and arpeggios for him for the first time, and my scales were fine, but my arpeggios were just a shade less certain, so he wants me to work on them.

Today he also suggested that I get a metronome so I can practice gradually working up my tempos.


He made an interesting point. He said I don't need a mentronome for keeping the beat or finding the rhythm, and in fact if I did, he wouldn't use a metronome to set me straight, he would use a different technique. I didn't have time to ask (because after our conversations earlier this week, I was curious)... but I am curious... I will try to remember to ask next week!

So... now I will be shopping for a metronome. I will get a mechanical one, I don't feel like having a digital one

Wise Buff - I'm so impressed that you are working towards your level 5 exam. Someone posted, somewhere :\, a youtube video of a student and examiner doing that exam, and there's no way I'd be able to do it. Brava!

casinitaly and farmgirl - how great that your new teachers are working so well with you. It's such an upper to read your posts - the enthusiasm and pleasure from you is wonderful.

I don't post often - I have lots more work (good for the pocket book, but alas for the time), and I'm trying to up my practice time, but I do read fast, so I check in every day!

I guess I'll post an AOTW, too - I have a twice-a-month paying gig at a new assisted living home. Talk about keeping me on my toes, tho - it takes about 20 tunes/songs a time, and I only know 40, and it usually takes me about 3 months to get something ready for publicly playing. And they want to sing, so they have requests. Yikes! So I've added a really easy version of Green, Green Grass of Home (they're singing, right, so it doesn't have to be frilly? ), and I'm working on My Country of 'Tis of Thee, because songs I've known since childhood are far easier to learn, and a couple of holiday songs from the Easy Piano book I use every year, because, again, I'm already really familiar with them. But to have a new one or two each time - whoa! I call them my 2-week wonders. But at least I can use them at my volunteer assisted living space, too. But it's a push.

Off to work. Sigh. At least I'll be able to pay my taxes.

Cathy

I just noticed that I've completed 100 hours of Hanon! I started just under two years ago. Currently I'm doing Ex1-20 HT daily (over 1 octave. I also do the weaker hand (left) alone using Anki (a time spaced repetition program) at a slightly higher tempo. It's fun!

Here's the study stats to date:

Study tasks: 1285
First date: 16/11/2010
Last date: 23/10/2012
Time(mins): 6003
Time(hrs): 100
Days in period: 708
Days of Practice: 424
Avg pract time: 14
Avg daily time: 8

I've made a point of not memorising them, so in addition to the well known positives they provide (strength, stamina, finger independence and dexterity), I'm suspicious that they also help with sight reading and recovery from hand issues (ulna nerve compression problems).

Jotur,Cathy! So nice to hear from you over here! Your work at the assisted living residence must be tremendously satisfying on so many levels!
I can't imagine getting something up to sing-a-long speed in 2 weeks....Something to aim for in the future!!

EJR - congrats - that's a significant amount of work!
It is also great that you've managed to build up your sight reading skills too. You must be feeling very satisfied with hitting this milestone and all the success that is "built-in" to it!

There's something wonderfully 'old school' about a mechanical metronome! It just seems so much more connected to playing than a digital.

I like that AOTW is as much a (b)log of the ins and outs of 'the piano life' as it is 'achievement of the week.' It's all very interesting to read. Kudos to the regulars.

My AOTW was to get an 8 min. 20 sec. rendition of Canon in D (Monica K's version from her youtube channel). I hit a few wrong notes (nothing major) and kept going to the end. My previous best was 9 min. (last week) and 10 min (last month).

For reference, Monica does it in 4 min. 07 sec. , so I still have to rev things up further to get up to speed.

Nevertheless, after I finished I jumped up from the piano and did a fist pump.

This made me smile! I've felt like doing that a few times, when I really nailed a piece.

My teacher said yes! She said it's a good solution. But also that I should learn to play it properly sometime and save it for chords that are more spread out. haha.

My left wrist problems have returned. It's kind of depressing, but I'm having fun playing with my RH, so ...

p.s. Toastie, I can't wait to see your piano! :-)