I made myself sit down and spend a few hours' work through a particularly grim page of Granados' Allegro de Concierto that I've been avoiding. It's nowhere near polished, but is beginning to feel more comfortable, and there are some gorgeous themes that are starting to one out. Previously it was just a scary jungle of notes!

I"m also happy with how Mozart's Fantasia in D Minor is going. I am considering playing it as a companion piece with the Fantasia in C Minor, my favourite piano work, at a recital at some point.

Played the Hungarian Dance pretty good! Now working on Beethoven's Shepard's Song. I just played it twice, hitting all correct notes. Now I have to play it peacefully and with the pedal. I have to get it by Thursday's lesson.

You can do it warlock214 keep working hard at it dnt give up. :)

We would love to see a video of your progress

Beautiful!!!

Mark - Thanks, I will. Hopefully I can get a video or audio setup going very soon.

Thanks! It's very exciting. I barely played this weekend though, sadly

Pianostudent88 – getting started on a Chopin Prelude? Well, that’s exciting! Even better with regards to long-term progress is your newly discovered ability to play with the right delicacy! Isn’t it wonderful when something finally “clicks”?!

Rmaple: There are a lot of North/South marriages – tons of folks – particularly young men, came north after WWII for work, married and settled down here. You can call me Paesan if you like (my grandmother was born in Abruzzo actually) – but to be honest I’ve never heard anyone over here use that term! I think it is mostly “transplanted” Italians who use it! Your comments on the accents of the 3 singers is quite possibly bang on. Sometimes foreigners study a language so well that they are more precise than native speakers. So – you are studying voice and piano? Very cool.

Ragdoll – I have not yet listened to the Lanz version – I’ll have to check it out! I can see having to put the Canon aside for assigned work – but since you’ve got the basics of it sorted out, next time you pick it up you’ll find you make progress more quickly. Good luck telling your teacher you’re not going to participate in the recital!...and with the red dot!

TY beginner : Welcome! Claire de lune is lovely – good luck with your slow practice!

Maestro57 --- now that was a fun thing to do! And I bet you’re right : who would turn down listening to Mozart’s first composition . I googled Consolation –wow. You DO deserve a pat on the back! Pat pat pat

SwissMS –Prosecco and piano….delightful combination. You really are working on some lovely pieces right now. I especially like the Debussy Arabesque – will we hear your performance of it sometime? On your lovely new piano?

KBS 1607 – Welcome! And keep in mind that ATOWs are very personal – it is all about what YOU have managed, and what you’re feeling pleased about. One thing I like about hearing from everyone is that we’re at different stages in our journey – some folks are playing from Alfred’s 1st book, others are working on pieces by Rachmaninov – it is a real mixed bag. Congrats on finding a better way to practice – let’s see how you start to fly now!

Saranoya: congrats on making it to your piano lesson. We know that was something that you were struggling with! And your Impertinence was charming! I have to say I was a bit cross to see that my score doesn’t show any indication of trills and I wonder why? I started trying to add them in this week but they sound pretty lame – and I find it awkward getting the D/Eflat combo…but hey, it was my first try. Thanks for the inspiration!

UKPaulUK: I’ve got the Burgmuller collection, so I looked up N5. I’d say playing smoothly through that is certainly an accomplishment!

Heathermphotog – congrats on your new piano! It’s a beauty. And don’t you just love those “aha!” moments when something all of a sudden makes sense?—and your daughter is very sweet!

Malkin – now that is VERY nifty. I think that’s only happened to me once in three years.

Allard – I’ll have to check Night Song – not familiar with it.

Dulcetta – that sounds like you’re really on the right track !

Fordsnack – Wow, that’s wonderful. Congratulations indeed!

SandTiger – I admire the way you deal with a less than satisfying performance – you take it on as a challenge, an opportunity to grow and learn. I fear I’d sink in a mire of embarrassment and self-chastising.

Fifi M – Granados! wow ! I really like Granados, though he’s a “new-to-me” composer – I can’t imagine when I’ll be ready to tackle any of his work.

Warlock – good luck getting that pedal work under control for Thursday!

My AOTW is to have finally managed to get my current scales and arpeggios up to the playing speed and smoothness of my older ones. My focus work on the Heller piece seems to be working well. It is the first time I’ve really broken a piece up and only worked on the trickiest bits first rather than going through in logical blocks of bars. I’m very curious to see how it works out.

Apologies, I made my post a little -too- brief. Night Song was the piece of sheet music on Heather's piano. I just recognized it

That made me chuckle.

Wow so many achievements and I do smell new pianos! Congratulations to everyone.

Not an achievement yet but I get to play in my church in April. Will do Bach and Brahms. My music director is putting together a little concert. I also get to take organ lessons from her soon. She just earned doctorate in organ performance. My church is planning to build a pipeorgan soon - so I may have opportunity to play in my church as well.

I have a new piece assigned to me. My teacher decided to let me do another pretty piece like Brahms Intermezzo. Since I declared to her that I'm not doing big & hefty pieces, she asked me how about Chopin nocturn Op 27 #2. It's only 6 pages, said she. Initally I had problem with making myself play another piece everyone knows - you see, when I make mistakes, it is obvious to everyone. I have NEVER played without errors. She hears none of my complaints. So I just slowly read the piece and actually fell in love with it. This not an achievement either.

Oh I started working on my Mendelssohn piece. Not so bad, given that this is the shortest piece there (lol). I am trying to put this one in shape this week. I played this piece 20 years ago. It is significantly easier now. I remember struggling to make the top melody sing at that time. I also had to use alternative fingering then. Now the fingering given by the book works. It's nice to feel like I made some progress.

Farm Girl, we'll be in your area next week (Scottsdale actually) for spring break. We wanted to see the Rockies play spring ball.

Casinitaly, you are SO adept at commenting on each and everyone. Thank you for that dedication and the summary for those of us reading later. I haven't stopped on this thread for a bit and I'm impressed with the accomplishments of everyone. New music, beautiful new pianos, tough challenges, piano teachers, and just perseverance.

My sight reading is improving. I have my teacher give me one every week and she critiques my thinking and my music. My tempo is better, my notes are better and I'm pleased with the progress. I can see that it is helping me learn new music faster. Have any of you played pieces by Melody Bober? I'm playing a suite (3 sections) called Postcards from Iowa. A nice break from classical.

Wisebuff - I PM' d you. Welcome to Scottsdale.

casinitaly - Granados in new to me too. My teacher studied at the Academia Marshall in Barcelona (which was founded by one of Granados' students), so she has lots of knowledge of Spanish composers. I am slowly chipping away at the Allegro... It's nowhere near speed, but I find it quite a soothing piece, despite the difficulty.

FarmGirl - I just listened to Chopin Nocturne 27 #2. It is beautiful, and sounds quite challenging! Valentina Lisitsa has a a really nice Youtube of it. Have fun!

Casinitaly - I expect the Arabesque to be the August AFB recital. I am targeting the Nocturne for May. Keep us posted on how your approach the Heller piece works out. Are you planning it for a recital also?

Saranoya - Great work on "Impertinence" for the piano bar. You piano sounds awesome.

I am trying to figure out how to do a good recording of my new piano. The digital was so easy! Just plug it in! I have a new Zoom Q3HD, and I am trying to figure out the best settings. If I get it right I will post something in the Piano Bar soon.

I have had a two steps forward, one step back kind of week. I am still struggling with scales in three's. I have only been doing scales for about 14 months, but I had learned them all and gotten them up to 120, 2per. I ran all the scales in chromatic order everyday. The majors were OK, the minors were still shaky. Then my current teacher wanted me to do them in three's-- down, up, up. The whole house of cards came tumbling down. I could not do it! I had been taught to count them differently by my previous teacher, and I just could not change. I have worked a couple of months on this. I finally figured out that it was number overload for my little brain. Finger numbers, previously learned numbers, and 123's. So I gave up numbers and just said Down, up, up, down, up, up. It worked! I finally was able to get the right motion and sound while still getting the fingering right. I am not back to speed, but at least I can do it correctly. Halleluja! AOTW!

SwissMS - congratulations on your new piano. Sorry for missing the opportunity to look at the pics with others. I have remember having seen it but could not comment on it as I was really busy for a while. I love 55 - 1. It's beautiful. It's taken by other student. I would've rather done than this one since its in my key! I love f minor pieces and tend to do lots of them. Even the scales. My f minor scale is fairly decent while others may sound like broken logo at times.

FarmGirl – I think it is great that you’re going to be playing in your Church concert –AND you’re going to learn to play the organ! That is (from all I’ve heard) quite a challenge! I don’t think I’d have the coordination to manage it, but I will be very curious
I just listened to Chopin nocturn Op 27 #2. – it isn’t one of the “most popular” played in the ABF recitals – I’m getting to recognize those. I think it sounds very pretty and you should enjoy it!
Is your Mendelssohn for the “BIG THEME” recital? How satisfying to feel so clear about how well it is going! I’m looking forward to listening to that series.

Wisebuff –thanks for your kind words. I’m a bit jealous that you’ll be in Scottsdale – you and FarmGirl are probably going to hook up and have a blast! Congrats on the improvements in sight reading. It just opens up so many possibilities when you’re good at it (I’ll find out some day !) I’ve never heard of Melody Bober, but I googled her and see that she has an interesting range of materials.

FifiM – I find it interesting that a difficult piece is soothing to play

SwissMS, I’m aiming for the May recital for the Heller piece and for August….well…I’m not sure yet. I’m going to lose my teacher for the summer in late June or early July so it will have to be something I can start with him and finish on my own I guess.
I don’t understand what you mean about doing the scales in threes? Can you explain that please? It was clearly a challenge that you were able to master…but I can’t quite figure out what you were doing!

C,


I think SwissMs means playing the scale as triplets. You set your metronome and play three notes to each beat. It is really not much different from playing any other scales. But as SwissMs said, it can mess you up a bit if you are used to counting silently to yourself or thinking about finger numbers.
When I do scales in triplets I just kind of make a little noise with my tongue touching my teeth that beats out the trip-o-let rhythm. The real trick is to keep it all even, as with any scale.

At least that's what I thought she meant.....guess she will tell us if I'm wrong. If so, NEVER MIND

Thanks Jim....

so it would be c-d-e f-g-a- b-c-d and so on ...tricky enough !!!

I've "messed about" trying to play scales with different rhythms, but it generally trips me up.

I don't really count for the fingerings though - EXCEPT - for my Bflat scale. I find starting with different fingers on LH RH has been very hard to coordinate Maybe as I get into the rest of the flats I'll count more...we'll see.

This was not triplets to the beat, though I have done that to try to get this learned. I really felt learning challenged over this. It is motion and accent that is important. Basically the hands drop on one, and then rise progressively on two - three, then drop again. Trouble is, my hand wants to drop on the tonic and does not want to drop on a black key. When done correctly, it kind of sounds like a waltz. It comes out even in three octaves. My teacher is having me do it to develop a better legato and better color in my playing. She could not believe I was having so much trouble with this - until I told her that I had only been playing scales for only a little over a year.

SwissMS: ok, now I get it. yikes. I can see that would be tricky --- but perversely, I can't wait to try it out

Lol, never mind

Ooo,playing in a little three note phrase pattern. Gotta go try that.

Had a really good lesson today and managed to get through telling teacher to drop me from the upcoming recital. She took it better than I had expected `though she seemed disappointed. We worked on the aforementioned back-burnered Canon in D and then Down by The Sally Gardens.

She encouraged me to not let the Canon sit too long. (more than 2 weeks) and she liked the work I have done with the melody line in ...Sally... So much in fact that she played the harmony along with me the second time around.

I had forgotten my music for Glad Cat Rag but played what I had learned of it for her by memory. I was having minor problems with bits of the rhythm. She demonstated the bits I was miscounting. Also since it's very short, we discussed ways to increase the overall length of it. Ragtime's such "happy" music to play.

At any rate, I had a lesson that made my day brighter and hopefully her's as well.

Like Ragdoll, I've had a very good lesson today. I did not play (much) worse than when alone, teacher was satisfied. So this is my AOTW.
Regarding the June recital (the one with only one adult, me), I promised my teacher to give her the definitive answer during the next lesson, three long weeks from now (Easter holidays in between). I think I will say yes, several posts in SamS thread on this topic gave me a lot to think about.

SwissSM, I'm going to try your new scales. Do you change your fingering?

Nope, same old standard fingering. That is part of what makes it a challenge!

What no achievement for this week? I guess everyone is busy. I have two piano related parties, Olga Kern performance, Saturday piano studio & lesson afterwards and church choir on Sunday. Phew.

As of now I need to get ready to go to the party #1. This is our local symphony's benefit - held in a private home. The main attraction is 2 piano duet performed by the symphony's pianist and the lady of the house. Also we get to hear beautiful songs during the dinner.

I would probably feel like achieved something after I enjoy this very musical weekend:). Next week will be even better - I get to meet with Wisebuff. Looking forward to it.

That sounds fun FarmGirl!

Week Two: as above and added D and E major scales.

My reasoning for learning scales first is I am a routine and pattern obsessive, , and scales and arpeggio practice fit perfectly.
Seriously though, as a ten year old, I was handed a theory book and scales to learn, two weeks before grade 5 classical guitar exam. Goodness knows how I passed, but I then knew I had a useless teacher and parents couldn't afford a better one at that time. I have learnt the importance of theory and scales and also think they are a good way to get to know the instrument and improve dexterity. I hope to be in a position where I can have a teacher before I start working on pieces.

Ack. It seems I've been falling behind again on keeping up with this thread. But I still get a kick out of reading about everyone's progress. Thanks, guys!

I had a rough week, health-wise. Eleven tonic-clonic seizures, and counting (for the uninitiated: those are the 'fall down kicking, hit your head and various other appendages on the floor over and over, and then wake up bruised and disoriented' kind of seizures). Two of them happened in front of my piano teacher, along with the first cluster of absence seizures she has ever witnessed (or noticed, anyway). Her reaction was something along the lines of "how do you live with this every day ...". I told her that sometimes, I really don't want to. She didn't run away screaming.

So although it has very little, if anything, to do with playing the piano, this is my achievement of the week: that for once, when someone whose opinion I very much care about asked me 'how are you doing with this?', I gave an honest answer -- and the person I talked to chose to stick around anyway. Because of this, I plan to still be going to piano lessons next week, and for many weeks after that. Which, as I've said before, is kind of the mother of all AOTW's.

I also have a small AOTW that's actually piano-related, which is that I finally figured out how to make sixteenth notes come out smoothly and evenly, even when playing really fast (for me).



Way to go! It took me two solid weeks to iron all the kinks out of that piece, and even then, my sixteenths were very uneven. I finally figured out this week how to make them come out smoothly and evenly while playing fast, but it took some doing.



Uh ... I would offer my sincerest congratulations, except ... I don't really get what you are talking about. Is it that you didn't understand, before, what first and second inversions are, and now you do?

Oh, what the heck. You get my sincerest congratulations anyway, if for nothing else than finding something to pat yourself on the back about this week. And here's another one: lovely, lovely picture of your daughter at the piano!



Lovely is the right word for it, I'd say. Why don't you just try whatever version that is in the YouTube video? It doesn't sound 'too simple' to me. But maybe that's because I am still a n00b .

In any case, if you can't find a score that corresponds to the version in the video, but you want to give it a try, just learn it by ear, or transcribe it, or ask someone to transcribe it for you (if you PM me, I can do it!).



Yay for miracles of the week! I guess you got 'into the zone'. Maybe it has to do with the piece you were playing? Is it something that comes especially easily to you, or that resonates more than other things on an emotional level?



Huh. I've never met a beginner who seemed more excited about practicing chords and scales than you do. If it floats your boat, though, good for you! And congratulations on getting back into the saddle.



Well ... I think 'achievement of the week' might be a bit of a misnomer here. How about 'achievement of the month'? Or year, even. Well done!



Not gonna quote your whole thing, because it's long and winding, but thank you, first of all, for posting such a detailed account of your progress each and every week, Sand Tiger! It makes me feel like I am really looking over your shoulder as you progress on your piano journey, and because you report the good as well as the bad (but never in a despairing tone), it gives me (and others, I think) a real sense that we are not the only ones moving along this path with lots of ups and downs and bumps and stumbles. Your Songmakers group sounds delightful, and could perhaps be a viable alternative to performing in a live (children's) recital for some of the other people here who don't seem to like that kind of formal setting. Also, major cool points for writing and performing your own original music!



Congratulations on the end of the avoidance period .



And? Did you get it by Thursday's lesson? I'd like to hear you play it!



I don't know. My source was a Carl Fischer book (Classics, Romantics & Moderns -- Solos for the Intermediate Pianist), compiled and edited by Paul Sheftel. The 'edited' implies that maybe the trills weren't on the original score. But I tried to find the original score on the IMSLP, and it isn't there.

I like the trills, but they were a challenge for me too, at first. I don't have a D/Eflat trill in my score, though. There's one on a C in measure 7 (down from D, and then down to B flat), and then one on an A in the second-to-last measure (down from B flat and down to G). The first one was especially awkward in the beginning, because for me the most natural way to take it seemed to always come down to 4 on D and 3 on C -- and I can tell you from experience now, there's nothing easy or convenient about doing a trill with 3 and 4, especially when you've never done trills before. Now, I just make sure I get the D at the end of measure six with my third finger, and then it's relatively easy.



Yeah. I can imagine. Good for you! Have fun at the party, by the way!



That's awesome!



Nice! You inspired me to try to play scales in threes (well, actually scale, singular, since I can really only do C major), and I had some fun with that. Thanks!



It does feel like a major achievement when that happens, doesn't it? Enjoy the feeling before it goes away again!

I do not usually write in this thread but if there was one thing that amazed me was the Einaudi concert in Lisbon, yesterday. Do not miss it. It's fabulous.

PS: I often read your stories here, and I apologize for not participating in this thread (I've tried!), but there are so many interesting subjects that I can not follow them all decently.