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Hello everyone.

I've been busy and a little bit quiet lately, but have managed to follow along with all the AOTW's. It is always nice to hear all of your reports, and especially nice to hear from folks new to the thread.

It was also a treat to listen to all of your recital submissions. The hard work really shows, and you deserve major kudos for bringing your pieces up to such a high level.

I went through kind of a valley in my piano journey in the last few months, starting with a Bach piece that I just couldn't quite finish. It was BWV 999, a strange prelude that is all over the map harmonically and even ends on the dominant. Right from the start I found it unsettling and just never could wrap my head around it. Bless my teacher for being perceptive enough to suggest I drop it when my frustration was really building. I hated doing this though, as it really felt like a failure to do something millions have done before me.

I was also working on the Puccini Madama Butterfly arrangement, hoping I could get it in shape to record for the Bar or maybe recital. Then we started in on Moonlight (1st movement only) and a little Schumann tidbit (Wild Rider), plus some really challenging scale work (octave busrts), Hannon, reading, my little jazz pieces I like to play..... I just couldn't keep up with it all and started to feel quite pressured.

Now, I don't mind being busy, and I can put a lot of hours in, but when feeling pressured like this I start getting tense....and the very last thing my playing needs is more tension. The Beethoven with three voices (a first for me) and octaves everywhere is already a tension inducer. I think the low point came when I asked my teacher how much longer she thought it would take to get the Puccini up to recital level and she told me at least another month. With everything else I didn't see that happening so we set aside the Puccini (which I really love) for a few weeks, deciding that after that I would just continue playing it on my own enough to keep it in my fingers and just enjoy it while slowly making it mine.

Well, with a few weeks rest the Pucinni is now sounding better and the pressure seems lifted. Moonlight is finally hands together for the whole movement (slowwwwwww) and I'm having fun with getting the voicing correct and keeping my shoulders out of my ears. The Schumann was a little bon-bon teacher tossed me and it should be put to rest tomorrow. Oh, and I chose some Christmas music to play - some very jazzy arrangements that my teacher is playing for a gig at the local art museum in December.

Best of all, my teacher is going to help me on a project I have been thinking about for some time. I'm going to take a lead sheet for an old standard and try to make my own written arrangement for it, hopefully something that is jazzed up and professional sounding. I think the exercise will be good for me on many levels, and after explaining it to her she agreed with me.

Sorry to be so longwinded.

PS. Cheryl I can see why your tuner thought your playing sounded more relaxed...it does. The tone of your notes in the recital pieces was way different than before, very nicely done.

Nine... a real ball of energy, and emotion, and everything else that comes with that age!

OOOH it is home! Can't wait to see it- have you been playing it? Boyfriend reluctant to have Piano living with you?! Can't get that- pianos are stunning!I always loved them even when couldn't make a key sound good LOL.

JimF, good to hear about your progress. Nothing wrong with dropping a piece that just doesn't seem to be for you. It leaves you more time to work on the things you love -- like that Puccini. And as for setting that aside for a while, that can sometimes be the best thing. Besides reducing the pressure, it can give you time to think about it and help you approach it in a new way. Your new project idea sounds exciting. Maybe this will be in a future recital?

FarmGirl, 2-3 hours working with your teacher? That's going to be fun, but a lot of work! Sometimes I'll have 1.5 hour lessons, and I'm always exhausted by the end of those. Yes it is hard (for me) to play expressively. I always have this thought in the back of my mind: "Am I playing this right?" At the top of the score for Fur Elise, my teacher wrote: "Don't Think; Listen!" My experiment with that piece went some way in silencing that unhelpful thought, but it's something I'll need to keep working on.

For me, progress was slow on the Chopin Waltz, so my assignment this week was to set aside everything else and concentrate only on this piece during my practice time. That meant I had to leave the Mozart for "dessert", which took some discipline, because Mozart is just so much fun to play. But with 6 days behind me, I think I've just about nailed the rhythm in the first section, and I've increased the tempo by about 30%. So not bad for a week of work.

It's fall break!! And I sure need one...my accomplishment may be surviving this semester. As for music I'm very close to being able to play the 8 keys I'm working on (3 and 4 sharps major and minor) scales, chords, arpeggios, 7ths. They aren't as smooth or as fast as I need them to be for the level 5 exam but I'm closer. I put each key name on a small piece of paper and put them in a bowl on the piano. I choose one each morning to play and at first I couldn't connect the name with the hand position or the number of black keys and had to look it up in the scale book. This technical exercise has been much harder than I imagined especially minor keys (harmonic and melodic)...no wonder I never stuck with it in the past. Now whether or not it helps my playing remains to be seen. Happy Thanksgiving to all who enjoy the day

Jared - that's very a very nice point to have reached - a lovely piece and smoother (and extended) scales! Good for you!

JimF --- so nice to see such a long post from you Jim.
I agree that when a piece starts to be frustrating instead of simply challenging, it is a good idea to put it aside. But certainly you needn't think of it as a failure, it is just a piece whose time has not come! Sure many have done it before, but think of how many of us have yet to approach this piece - maybe you'll end up coaching one of us as we struggle with it somewhere down the road!

I am not surprised you were feeling frazzled with so many "big" pieces on the go! I can imagine how delighted you were to see that a little time away from the Puccini allowed you to let it percolate and you found it improved !
I think working on the jazzy versions of the Christmas music sounds like a blast!... and working on your own arrangements!?? That's just beyond exciting! Good for you, what a fun project.

Thank you so much for your kind observation on my playing in the recital. I really feel I've made some steps forward with my new teacher and it is so rewarding for me to get feedback from those who've been listening to my efforts over the past three years!

ATallGuy --9 yrs old! Delightful! I have wonderful memories of spending time with my nieces at that age, and it is indeed simply a wonderful time of life!

MaryBee - sounds like you are making some really significant progress on your Chopin now! And having Mozart for dessert...well, that's not too bad now is it?

Wisebuff, what a fun idea with having the scales in a bowl to pull out randomly! You really are working so determinedly and with great focus in preparation for your exam. When do you think you'll be taking it?

Happy Thanksgiving to you too! We celebrate in October, but the sentiments are always welcome, aren't they?

I'm off to my piano lesson shortly and I will have to see what my teacher says about my German Dances - I'm really having trouble with some of the fingerings - especially with the stretches.

My achievement this week was I learned how to play "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

I had a major achievement this week.

I finally mastered Go, Tell It on The Mountain (Bill Wolaver's arrangement) and I must say that the jazz chords are quite hard but my hard work did pay off

I've also learned how to do glissando with this piece. Whoopee!

I'm going to play this piece for the Christmas recital and I can't wait to entertain the audiences with this piece. I swear to practice this piece like everyday because I have a major issue with stage fright when it comes to piano.

Thanks casinitaly! Did seem to come together- hope it keeps on like that! I think it is down to help on here, my teacher and Brian's e-book.







All good Jared! I'm still on 2 octaves on C Major!


Jim- sounds like you are working on a lot and doing well.


Mary Bee- how cool to be learning a Chopin waltz!






Good idea re the pieces of paper Wisebuff! Best wishes for your level 5 exam.






Are you going to play that at youir Xmas parties Warlock?





Well done on all that Evelyn!


I haven't looked on the recitals page on this forum- I should as I know people are working hard on their playing.

Congrats everyone! warlock I'm jealous.

I had so much go right this past week I don't even know where to start! My dynamics are back, I'm getting my rhythm worked out, I've gotten two songs up to speed. My sightreading has improved. I'm working on new metronome skills, level 2 songs.. etc.

Let's just say I'm thrilled!

That's brilliant Becca! You have obviously been practising well.

Good for you Becca.

I got tired of my lessons and started to look through my mom's old books. Got "Cuddle up a Little Closer" up to speed and have started to work on 'My Funny Valentine" No scales, no theory studies just plain fun

I've been loving playing some Christmas / Holidays music during the Thanksgiving break. Once again, another year gone by and I can see the improvement in my reading skills - playing most of the slower or simpler pieces at tempo

(Though for the faster pieces I'll drop back to improvising around melody / chords which is still much easier for me.)

So, AotY more than AotW

Week 37: I met a young man, Kim, from Hong Kong, and studying music in the U.S. Kim is a guitar teacher. As a guitar player, his preference is rock and roll and pop style. I enjoyed talking music with him and played my original Shimmer on a Baldwin upright. I also shared my Shimmer upload with my modest email list and got a few more compliments. Perhaps that is why I am one of the 10% to 20% of folks that actually like to perform, because I like the attention and don't mind the occasional crash and burn.

I found it interesting what the music student is learning. Many of his classmates are also from abroad, and many have dreams of making it big in the music business. His dream is more modest about being a better guitar teacher back home in Hong Kong. The stunning thing is that Kim plays guitar 8 to 10 hours a day, and started at age 14.

I finally had time to listen to a few of the recital submissions. Again, it is amazing to me that the submitters self-identify as beginners. Again, for those that compare and despair, keep in mind that maybe 1% of folks reading this forum are uploading for the recital. Most of those that do are in the above average group, with more than a few in the exceptional group. Many have years of experience that they are discounting. I belong in that discounted group because I have over 10 years on other instruments and songwriting experience. It is now 9 months and counting since I got my Yamaha NP11 keyboard. Many others have many years of youth time on piano or other instruments that form a solid base to start from.

I had my long lesson with my teacher today. It was 2 hours of lesson but she was in my house about three hours. It was supposedly on thanksgiving day but she had migraine headache. I played through Brahms 118 #2 and the fugue part of the f minor P&F from the WTC book II. Nothing is memorized yet. Especially the Bach piece is I cannot even look at the keys at all. Seriously reading while playing. But I'm amazed how fast they are coming. It's only two months. My teacher is really good at fixing something on the spot. For example, she tells me to play from the third beat of the measure x to the next measure. Tell me to play twice more until she thinks good enough. Then she says to do the same from the second beat of the same measure, repeat this for the first beat, and it is magically fixed. She says that there are only 4 bars I have problems like that. Fix it this way. She also tells me to add dynamics on the spot, yes, when I am barely playing. So I try, sure enough I screw up. Then she spots inherent weakness right away and start making me fix it right away on the spot (of course she tells me how). It was very tough. But it's fast. I got the glimpse of why some people learn it quickly. For my Brahms piece she told me to add the pedal from the beginning. I was glad I did it. She fixed my poor (two quickly released nervous pedal ). It saves time too. In Bach piece I learned fancy technique called terraced dynamics. Google it. It was blast. She loaned me Schubert sonata book and told me to try andante sostenuto part of the B flat major sonata (D960). It's beautiful. We went out for dinner afterwards. She invited me to join in her master class at her community college next semester. I'm so excited. It was a good day.

Warlock - that is FUN! Good for you!

EvelynS - That's another lovely "good old favourite" - but in a jazzy format- what a blast! Do let us know all the fun you have at the recital!

BeccaBb - sounds like you are on a roll, improvements in so many aspects! You are so right to be thrilled! I'm happy to hear the excitement in your "voice"!

Ragdoll - I agree, there are times where you just say "to heck with the formal work". I love picking up old books and just playing about. I like to take my guitar books and see what I can do with the left hand (which isn't much, but it is a start to working with lead sheets!)

AndyPlatt - I hear you! Isn't it a fun sensation to look at material from 1 year ago and see how and where you've improved! I'm still not playing my carols up to tempo, but I'm definitely reading them better and I hope that next year I'll be closer to where you are now!

Sand Tiger - sounds like an interesting week. I think it is always fun to speak with young folks to hear their plans and ideas and strategies. I also admire your ability to put yourself "out there" and play in public. I haven't had many opportunities, but even just playing for friends at home I get very nervous.

Your comments about who participates in the ABF recitals have caught my attention.

I remember the first time I participated, when I started listening to the performances, I was mortified that I'd "dared" to submit something (after 5 months of playing) and I know I even started a post about "What is an adult beginner" . The upside of this is that even though my playing didn't greatly improve from my first to my second ABF recital, my mindset changed and I knew that I couldn't and shouldn't ! stew over the folks who were so much better. Even folks who started more or less at the same time as I did were and are significantly better than I am -- BUT -and this is a really important "but"... I received so much encouraging feedback that I never once felt that anyone else was bored or irritated or dismissive of my performance and efforts.

That's the beauty of the ABFer group - it is indeed a safe place to "put yourself out there" and get some feed back. I remember the first time someone gave me a bit of critique on how to make an improvement on my piece, I thought "oh, I must be getting better because now folks feel I can take some constructive criticism!"

The ABF recital continues to be my only recital experience (except for 1 at my former teacher's school) and it is a real thrill to participate -even more thrilling when people who have been listening to all my submitals make comments on where and how I'm improving. So, even without doing any analysis of the statistics, I would encourage any of those who are hesitant to join in to look at those who are ahead and see them as inspiration rather than something you can't "compete" with.

FarmGirl! Your teacher sounds marvellous! It is so much easier to fix things right at the beginning, and when you focus on the small steps you learn to add a bit of exta detail and depth that you would otherwise miss. I know my pieces are much less complicated than yours, but my teacher takes the same approach, and I can feel what an amazing difference it is making to my playing.
I can hear how very happy you are with your teacher and this new approach. I think you and I are both extremely fortunate and pleased with our new teachers this year!!!!!

My ATOW was to have another WONDERFUL lesson with my WONDERFUL teacher. We looked at the German Dances and I whined a bit about how hard it was to reach the top octave note while holding the 1st and 3rd notes with fingers 1 and 2. His answer was an illumination.
First, he acknowledged that it was indeed hard.(Bless him).
Second, he said it didn't matter if I got it this week, or next week or the week after and without using the exact words I was encouraged to "lighten up"
Then he showed me that I could actuall do it (just barely)... and that the issue is that I need to be more flexible about hand positions. I have to learn to turn my hand, to slide up and down the key and find the right position - in other words, I have to experiment.
He showed me a little exercise to do to work my way up to the octave position and that I didn't have to have my N2 finger right on the flat key, but that I could just touch the very very tip of it.

He also said that he wasn't really concerned if I played this piece at tempo or hands together. For the moment we're using it for learning some techniques.

So...with the stress removed, I've actually made some progress on the darn thing!

I'm also starting to work on a new jazz piece, which is great fun ...and a bit of a challenge with the timing.

And a non-musical ATOW is that we are making our Christmas puddings this week

Hi Cheryl, I agree we both have fantastic teachers. I have a new appreciation for my old teacher too. She helped me fix my bad habits one by one. She taught me just like 10 year olds (from sitting position, elbows, curved fingers, etc). I think that's what I needed at that time. I don't think I could have benefitted so much from my current teacher without three years with my previous teacher. It probably make sense to change teachers sometimes. As you sensed correctly i am much happier with her. You have made tremendous progress. No one believes you now if you tell people that you did not have years of childhood training. I'm not yet ready for recording but in December I will start. I have to be ready for my piano party.

Wow. So many good things happening here for everybody. Excellent. My life has become extremely busy by me recently starting full time work which in turn has greatly reduced my piano time. Because of this two things happened.

1. I couldn't continue lessons due to time issues.
2. I had to find better ways to practice,

So I spent a lot of time learning simpler/easier pieces and though that was pure fun I started feeling I wasn't progressing. I went in search of a new teacher and have had 3 lessons so far. She comes to my house so that's extra cool. I told her my goals. Half time on grade 5 prep and half on fun pieces. It's turned out we spent about 80% of the time on exam requirements but I'm ok with that as I feel this is where i learn lots and my progress is most apparent. It's also the biggest challenge for me. She wants me to get through 80% of the books (repertoire and studies) before I sit for the exam. This is different from my past teachers approach and I like this more. It is a lot of work as so far I have got a new study and new piece each week. But it is so motivating. She wants to get each piece to 80-90% and make sure I can handle the technical aspects of each piece. As with farmgirl she stops and corrects errors on the spot and finds solutions when I'm really struggling. It is hard working like this for an hour. Tiring and exhilarating all at the same time. Which leads me to my second part of this long post.

2. Extremely limited practice time has require me to change how I practice. I will play a piece through a few times and then I will have a pretty good idea of trouble spots. I then work hard to smooth those out. It's hard to practice in bits and pieces like this because it's not as fun. But it works. For a week things seem rough and choppy but then 'breakthrough' it starts to come together. It's really helped me keep up through these last few weeks when things have been crazy.

I'd been trying a Christmas carol from the Faber level 5 book and wanted to give it up last week. My teacher told me no. To just slow down and play one page. She made sure there were no trouble spots and said to try it for one more week. She felt it was because I was unfamiliar with the chords (and) jazzy sound that was giving me trouble but it was technically within my reach. She also suggested hands together and pedal right from the start as it will be easier. She was right. Adding everything up front made a huge difference. In the past I've done hands separate, hands together, dynamics and pedal last. She told me at this level the interplay of the hands is critical and likely it will be better to work this way from the start. A real breakthrough moment for me!

I am loving learning again and the new ideas from my new teacher!

FarmGirl, you are too kind! lol... Actually, in a way I DID have years of childhood training... only it was on the Bass Clarinet That might count for something

Zoe - your new teacher sounds inspirational! I'm so happy for you!
Wow, we really are a fortunate trio! I think it is interesting that none of us really had plans to make a switch, but when it happened it worked out so well.

I am also learning to practice in bits and pieces. In a way it turns out to be more fun, because the pieces come together more quickly!