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Thats a great selection, Andy. I'm listening to it now as I type. Keep us apprised of how its coming along from time to time.

Today's achievement was using Sibelius 6.2 for the first time. Okay, it'll take longer to master this software than it will to master the bloody piano, but c'est la guerre and all that rot.

Today, I played about with some music - a midi of a piece I've wanted to play for a long time - translated it into sheet music (grand staff, obviously) and even made a shortened version (just to see if I could). I chopped out a middle page or so and stuck it back together so that the 'join' is unnoticeable, not only on the sheet music but even on playback via Sibelius.

Okay it's not EXACTLY a piano achievement...but in a skewed way, it is. Anyway, I'm feeling rather chuffed with myself.

Cat
Engaging smug mode...smug mode engaged.

Well, I got to play in front of a (captive) audience - for the first time ever!!! I was visiting my father in law who is 87 and convalescing from a broken foot at a local nursing home. I knew there was a grand piano in the dining room because several years ago, both my grandmothers (now deceased), had lived the last months of their lives there, and I visited a lot. Anyway, my father in law was busy with therapy so I had some time to kill. I asked around, got permission to use the grand for 10 or 15 minutes. When I got into the dining room where the piano is, there were 3 or 4 eldery residents in wheelchairs sitting there, waiting to participate in the next scheduled activity (some sort of bowling). I didn't have any music with me, but managed to bang out most of Joy to the World, and Carol of the Bells. (Wicked Easy Versions) The crowd went wild!!! I am invited to come back any time. I just might take them up on that, only next time bring some music. What a rush that was!

That's so sweet! :-) I hope you're able to play for them again!

Careful! Next time they might start making requests.

That gave me a warm smile di52, how lovely. I'm glad your crowd liked your playing. I like your signature l-l-li-ine by the way Wish I would come upon a grand in a public space on my travels. Never seems to happen where I live.

I have no achievements to report, it's a slow week where I am more focused on resting.

Well, its time to check in with some achievements for myself

1) - I have booked some lessons. I tell you, I am apprehensive, but excited as well! The teacher I have booked is just around the corner, is a 4th year student of the local Conservatorium (Elder Conservatorium for those who know) and a member of quite a few jazz groups. Anyhow....as long as he is good (I hope) and starts to head me in the direction I want to head!

2) - After putting it to the side after only a few days practice a few weeks ago, I have picked up the Minuet in G Major again (attributed to Bach, but apparently composed by Christian Petzold). This time I have finally started to get the second part correct. I now need to iron out the inconsistent mistakes I keep on making and start upping the tempo.

3) - So, after my extended 20ish year break, I am now playing daily. The only day I missed was last Friday, the night of my daughters dance recital (which she won the most outstanding achievement in Ballet for ages 7 and under... ). Heck, I even practiced some scales today!

Cheers

I mastered page one of Debussy's Arabesque #1! I was having a lot of trouble with the three against two section, but found a trick here on the forum, tapped the rhythm out on my desk at work, and when I got home I successfully played it! I was so excited I almost fell off the bench.

Lots of good stuff happening! Chopin, new software, captive audiences, Debussy...New teacher, Bach, ah, what a lovely list.

I don't have any real progress to report, but we did have a musical evening at home on Saturday - we had a few friends over and played/sang Christmas music - traditional English/French and Swedish! What a combo. It was great fun.

I'm nearly finished working on a movement of a Clementi sonatina. Duriing my lesson today, I played the exposition at what will be the final tempo, and my playing was even and expressive. But, more importantly, I didn't feel particularly anxious as I played. A year ago, when playing for my teacher, I would've felt anxious and panicked; the very idea of feeling calm when playing for my teacher would have been unfathomable. Until recently, when playing during my lessons, I felt as though I was running back and forth on a tightrope, expecting to fall off with every step.

Also, as I was playing for my teacher, I hit a wrong note (as I am apt to do). But, I didn't fall apart after I played the wrong note. Which is to say, I didn't fall apart mentally.

After one whole week of business trip, I am happily back to my piano and to the forum. I had to brush up my scale, arpeggio, hannon and all those fun stuff. It always takes hours to get back to my routine. But, hey, I have to make living too. I practiced hours on Sunday to my satisfaction. I did 2 hours today. Fun. I missed it. I have friends come over after Christmas and I am sooo looking forward to have captive audience. I need to brush up my Chopin waltz I played a couple of years ago since one of the girls is nuts about Chopin. I can play some Christmas tunes and we will be happy.

I got really excited when I put a parent/child learning system that I developed into test last weekend and started first lesson with my 7 year old daughter. She learned the names of the keys on the piano within minutes and now can instantly point to a given note on the piano.

Well, I did it!
I played a piece for my teacher the way I wanted to play it.
I didn't get nervous, I did make some wee flubs, but nothing serious AND I didn't freeze up over the flubs, but just kept on rolling.

whew.....:) That feels like a breakthrough. (Ok, don't worry, I'm not expecting this to happen every lesson - but maybe it will happen more frequently now that I've made it through once! )

I'm sure it will. It's now rarer for me to play worse at my lesson than at home. Even on the piano in the "little studio" which my teacher knows I hate!

Artur -- that's amazing that your daughter is learning so quickly. What a wonderful thing to share with her.

molto_agitato, casinitaly, and Andy P -- that's great that you are all feeling comfortable playing for your teachers now. I'm still working on that aspect of my playing. It's getting better, but very slowly.

I have a three week break from lessons over the Christmas/New Year holidays. I'm already missing my weekly lessons, and I still have a week and a half to go.

It has been fun playing Christmas music with my siblings at our family gatherings this past week. Nothing too fancy, just simple music that is easy to sight read. I noticed that some of the stuff I have been working on really helped my playing. A few week ago, we started doing chord progressions at my lessons, and it made it so much easier to play the Christmas music. I was also happily surprised when I was able to play a song in the key of E major with no hesitation at all. (One of my project pieces is in the key of E, so it must really be in my head.)

Happy Birthday Andy!

Memorization is difficult for me. This weekend I was able to memorize the first page of "Christmastime is Here" by Vince Guaraldi. This mini-victory feels great.

Hey, congrats Cheryl. That is an accomplishment. I wonder if working on your acoustic has made this an easier task (assuming teacher's instrument is acoustic)?

I played the Guaraldi "Christmas Time is Here" for my parents (in their 90's) at our house on Christmas morning. Managed it quite well despite three people hovering over my shoulder, and my Dad (always the engineer) actually leaning out over the keyboard to look at the back of my Clavinova to inspect the electrical connection while I was playing! Trial by fire! Also played the Chopin E-minor Prelude - and even got a few ooohs and ahhhhs on that one.

Meanwhile, I'm a little dejected over how the piano search is going. South Florida seems a wasteland when it comes to fine pianos - the dealers really seem interested in only the lowest end, and the used market ala craigslist seems like a swamp of the same pianos sitting there month after month, with lots of very shady sounding offerings. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to expand my search to dealers in places like Atlanta, DC, Philly, and NYC area, but I'm unsure of how best to implement such a plan. Don't mean to whine too much, looking and playing lots of pianos is really fun. I just want to have more fun on better pianos.

Enjoy your Holidays and Happy New Year everyone.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Andy - glad you're making progress on this front too!

MaryBee - I'm so envious that you get to play with family members.... "maybe"....I'll be able to do that next summer. Maybe.
Isn't it neat how (relatively) easy some carols can be with just a few simple chords in the left hand? I've been having fun noodling about with them too. On Wednesday I'm going to an afternoon tea with some other ex-pat English speakers and I'm bringing my DP with me to accompany the singers. This will be a first and I've got my doubts about how well it will work, but what the heck -they're all friends.

YellowDog - good for you - progress on the memorization front! That is NOT easy - but it does seem to get easier as you go along.

Jim, - my lessons have been at my house recently (but until today that has made NO difference to my nerves). It seemed that the moment I got MY acoustic I seemed to feel I had to all-of-a-sudden play better! Silly, but that's how it was. I have a small Yamaha upright, my teacher has a small Yamaha grand (C1? or C3, whichever is smaller, I honestly don't remember). I'll play at her place next week.

Playing for your family must have been great fun. I played over the phone for my mother-in-law last night (she's 92) - and my husband LOVES to open up the lid and see what is going on "under the hood" so to speak, so I get what you are saying about your dad.

I hope you start having better luck with your search for your piano!!!!!!!

Aaaaaahhh.....I'm proud to post the first "what go you excited post" of 2011!

I "re-started" (after about a 2 month hiatus from it) my Joplin recital piece about a week ago, and have really kicked the practice into overdrive. I was off today (the 3rd), and played through the entire piece several times at tempo...previously, I've just been working on various sections, so now I'm just stringing it all together Now, all I have to do is refine my dynamics and play it a bunch of times for the entire month. The "learning" part is over.

What excites me more is I can now move on to other pieces - another Chopin piece, a couple of movie pieces and my next Joplin piece, "The Chrysanthimum."

Moral of the story: It seemed hopeless a few months ago...I had issues with tempo, technique, tension, etc. Now it's well within my reach. Sometimes, you have to "brute force" a difficult piece and more importantly, never give up.

PS-my new Yamaha has re-invigorated my passion. I've learned that you have to love the piano that you play.

I did some work on my piano's action this week and now have only 3 non-functioning keys! I no longer have to choose what I learn based on whether or not notes from a certain area of the keyboard need to be played