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Welcome back Saranoya, I assumed you were absent because you were intently learning new pieces to astound us with. Throwing yourself at the piano literally will result in broken bones.........I hope you have learned your lesson.

Btw, congratulations on the recital

paul1971, in the tradition of Monty Python......living in a caravan, you lucky so and so.

What got me excited was that I revisited a piece of music that I hadn't played for a while and was a bit rusty. I soon picked it up and played it like I hadnt stopped...

Yes, that's it, but that's not how mine sounds yet, unfortunately. I've been playing intermittently for a couple years now. Very intermittently, with sometimes months between practices. I've improvised extensively and learned tons of snippets from various composers, but I've had a problem of overreaching, self-doubt, and, sometimes, boredom with repertoire that I know would help me advance my technique but whose harmonies leave me feeling flat. I've also played scales, arpeggios, etc., as well as Blanchet exercises, which can be quite difficult. So I have an extremely modest appreciation of the very rudiments of playing.

And let me stress that I learned the piece, but I haven't mastered it yet. The middle section gives me quite a bit of trouble, especially the part where the right hand takes two voices--I either slow down to play it accurately or don't accent the upper notes enough. My mordents with the 3rd and 4th fingers could also use more consistency, and, overall, I need to play the middle section with better dynamics--it's a bit monotonous now, since it's currently at the upper limit of my ability. I'm quite far from having it up to a level I would want to share even with friends and family.

It's really exciting, though, to have progressed as far as I have, even though I have quite a ways to go yet. I know that I have been improving, but not actually knowing a complete piece was gnawing away at my confidence. So getting one under my belt is timely. Oddly, I'm having a lot more difficulty with Chopin's posthumous A minor Waltz, which sounds easier, on the surface. The distribution of notes, however, means that I need to be more precise with my fingering, and I'm realizing that my right hand is better descending than ascending. But, with my experience with 63 no 2, I know that if I just keep at something, I can meet the challenge.

Thanks for the kind words, SwissMS. I am very glad I didn’t try the Chopin since I barely managed to get through “Smile.” Oh, my. Shaking hands and a pounding heart … and it all got *worse* as the piece went on. In any event, I only had one flub. That was excellent as my practice the previous week was an ongoing train wreck. I believe (and my teacher nodded sagely in quiet agreement when I mentioned it) that I’ve rather shot myself in the foot by focusing so much practice time on specific pieces and abandoning scales, Hanon, sight-reading, etc. It’s back to the salt mines this week, lol.

I’m glad you’re making steady progress! It can be difficult to stay focused and on-track without a teacher, especially during the holidays when time is short and schedules are jammed.


Thanks for thinking of me, Carlos. I did manage to prepare … but it was nerve-wracking. Tell me it gets easier!
What an exciting time for you. I know it must be tough to have other responsibilities pull you away from the piano, but the payoff will be grand … Wait, I think that’s a piano pun. In any event, I hope you’re enjoying all the other activities. Getting to try out all the pianos in various locations sounds fantastic.

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I apologize for not commenting on everyone’s progress and accomplishments … It’s always so fun to read this thread and hard to keep up. I hope you are all having happy holidays and enjoying whatever time you can spend on the bench!

Saranoya, I'm sorry to hear you had troubled times and glad that you are back here!

My AOTW: I posted on Ecco Fatto Cafè. I still can't believe it.

Glad you are back Saranoya. I knew nothing could keep you away for too long.
Hope you have a speedy recovery from the injuries.

Meanwhile, this formatting business with all the posts being center justified is getting really annoying (see various threads in the past week). I can't believe the techs at PW can't come up with a fix so that those of us who work on IE can see things left justified as we always have.

WT-H?

Hmmm...I'm using Chrome and it is properly left justified.

I normally read in Firefox. Left justfied. Switched to IE. Still left justified! What are you folks getting?

I'd say that lessens the 'wow' factor. But not by too much . Congrats for sticking with a piece long enough to get to the end of it.

By the way, have you tried Burgmüller? I'm a huge fan. My teacher first introduced his opus 100 to me as "technical exercises that will make you feel like you're making music". So far, I haven't been disappointed.

I can't really see myself playing much Burgmuller.

What really got me into music was hearing late Scriabin, and that richness of harmony is what truly excites me. My ultimate goals are to be able to play Scriabin, Roslavets, Feinberg, the Krein family, Szymanowski, Ravel, even some Sorabji. It's difficult finding works from those composers that aren't juvenilia but are doable for me. It's going to be a long slog for me to get to that level.

Right now I'm kind of focused on later works of Chopin, which, for some reason, resonate more with me. I can play some of his earlier works, like several preludes, without difficulty, but they don't touch me, so finishing learning the pieces is something I don't prioritize.

I also practice from Blanchet's "transcendental preludes", which are glorified exercises, at least in the right hand, but which often have interesting harmonies.

Paul1971, I'm intrigued by the living in a caravan...you mean literally a van? That would be close quarters. We lived in our RV for 5 months and it got really old. Made me realize how spoiled we are with the space of a home.

Welcome back Saranoya. Play long and prosper.

Lautreamont you have advanced level tastes for sure.

We had a piano party at my house last night and it was lovely. Christmas music. I performed the David Lanz "What child is this" and it went well...oh yeah a few glitches but mostly kept it moving and musical. My husband gave it his ultimate compliment "I almost fell asleep". At least HE says it's a compliment. A long time friend of ours has been listening to the group play for years and last night expressed his interest in playing. Our esteemed teacher assured him that he can, indeed, learn to play with our without natural talent. We're excited for him.

Finished exercise 100 of the Hannah Smith Sight Reading Exercises!

These exercises are perfect for me. I recognize that sight reading is slow to learn. But I like the pace of the book and the exercises.

WiseBuff, I too went to a Christmas party for our local piano club. On top of our usual prepared performances we had people took turn to play Christmas music. Had professional singers, Flute and Clarinet players among us. Many of us can can do part singing, so it was extremely fun. I performed a mazurka first time for the club. It was my club debut:). I made a mistake at one spot but moved on with the piece. Interestingly it was not the most technically demanding spot. Overall I think I rendered it better than the recorded submission to the PC mazurka recital. Listening to the recording did help. The club meeting is held at a members house every month. Club members typically fill up 30 chairs in front of a grand piano. I'm just about the least skilled there. Over half are teachers. So they sit still and listen to performances intently. It's like a college piano jury when I was minoring in music many many years ago. So you can imagine what a relief that was for me to complete my little mazurka among such like a full set of Schubert fantasie (yep that wanderer stuff), Beethoven Op 26 (sonata no 12 a flat major) and other big pieces. It's kind of addictive. I now cannot wait for next time.

I generally use Safari, and everything is fine...

Another busy week here in AOTW.... Welcome back Saranoya!
We missed you.

Welcome to the newcomers- it is great to "see" so many new faces

Rmaple - congrats on your new baby - I bet you're not going to be on line much for the next few weeks!

The last few weeks I just can't keep up with all the posts - I'll try to get back to my regular routine after (or perhaps during ) the holidays!

My AOTW was to play REALLY WELL for my teacher today! I had made significant improvements on the 2nd movement (Clementi OP 36, N2) and the middle of the third. He hadn't heard me play the third at all for a few weeks so there was quite a change. As I've said before, he's very sparing with his praise so when he says "Good, much better" that's my gold star for the week. Over the holidays I've got to work at slowing down a bit and getting rid of the tension and also working on the dynamics. This will be my piece for the recital in Feb. Gasp I've just committed to it!!!!



I gave him some of my homemade Christmas cake as a gift today.

WiseBuff, if only my fingers were as "advanced" as my taste!

Thankfully, there are some pieces that are achievable for me. I can slog through a single prelude by Grigory Krein, but the chromaticism of the chords becomes so intense that it's impossible for me to sightread without stops and starts, and just as hard to remember. That's something that just takes a bit of persistence. Roslavets has a fairly new edition by Schott of some easier, smaller works, but that are still at the upper limit of my ability. There are some pieces in late Scriabin I think can play but which I refuse to play for the moment, not wanting to taint them with my limited technique--I know I can get through them, but that's not what they deserve.

So for the moment, I'm simply building myself up, doing as many exercises as possible, focusing on my problem areas (an extensive list!), and learning Chopin. It's interesting now to compare how work is different in getting something I've learned to be performance quality, compared to actually learning a work. Different parts of the brain are engaged.

Wisebuff, yes I upgraded a few months ago from a tent to a caravan, it is only meant to be temporary due to my current circumstances. The caravan is 15 feet long so not huge. The only problem with the dp is having to set it up when I want to play it due to lack of space. Still, had awesome session tonight nearly cracked the can can, fave song to play is blow the man down though Will try to do some recordings. How do you guys/gals record and upload do you do it on your smartphones?

Paul1971, recording all depends on what you are technically capable of so recording to a smart phone is fine. Personally for my recording (and I know a few other use this method) I record direct from my dp to Audacity (free program) and if I want a video I will use my wife's digital camera and match the audio and video into one file using Windows Movie Maker.