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

Casinitaly, Sassy? Hard to say. I am originally from New York City, but there are many cities with an Avenue D, including my current city. The name feels like a good fit, even though I have a difficult time describing the music. It is hard to be objective after spending so much time writing, practicing and recording. In a year or two, I will likely have more perspective.

MaryBee, an original piece is a thoughtful gift.

Today I drop the children at the swimming pool, I left them with my husband because children are not allowed to stay there unattended; then I walked to the Yamaha grand and played from 5 pm to 6.30 pm. Nobody around, best time in The Netherlands this year!

I shared this with my hubby. He could not believe there was such a wonderful guy like your husband. He thought he was rather generous for allowing me indulge in my affliction. Yes he thinks all the pianists are complete nut cakes.

Thanks EdwardianPiano. I think of Mabel as Cecil's cousin from across the Pond.

SandTiger - I'm looking forward to your recital piece, regardless of the name. Avenue D makes me think of a smoky jazz lounge... smooth all the way. Sometimes simple is the most effective way to communicate, and can be very powerful and evocative.

MaryBee - that is pretty amazing! And very cool that you appreciate it so much.


Done. I spoke with my benevolent benefactor when I arrived last night. He was fine with me keeping the key for the duration of my stay this week. Sadly though, the Yamaha will not be back until next year. There is a 1947 Hammond CV though, so I might record on that. I just got my feet wet with it a bit last year after getting it going from being in a derelict state. It is soooooo much fun!


And... tonight I got to listen to a teenager play the ancient baby grand. Amazing what can be done with what I think of as a hunk of junk in the hands of a skilled practitioner.

TallGuy, a humbling experience....One I think many of us can relate to!


My AOTW (or day, whatever, I don't remember last time I posted)..... I got a reasonable recording of Watchman's Song. Not one that I want to post - but close. I feel very pleased about it.

I have been recording almost every day, and it is very interesting to hear improvements even in the space of such a short time. The most notable change was in the Fughetta - I'm now playing it much faster and more smoothly - I think I'm getting the hang of this focused practice -FINALLY!

MaryBee - What a wonderful gift and what a special husband you have!!

Tangleweeds - I do not envy you dealing with a move. I have moved seven times in the last 22 years, and I am never doing it again!

FarmGirl - your piano club sounds like fun!

My AOTW is I have a good recording of Grieg "Melody", and a passable one on "Valse Impromptu". That takes the pressure off. I think I will consider myself done with Melody, but keep trying for a better recording of the Valse. I have a stack of pieces I am dying to start, but I need to get these two off my job stack first!

I did begin Chopin Waltz in A minor, which is his easiest waltz. I was pleased to find out I could sight read it near tempo. I think in another week it will be presentable. I decided to learn it because I really like it!

I love this too and can do similar when reading. If you just work on those couple of tricky bits, the main melody wouldn't take too much work to get smooth I think. And it is such a wonderful piece!

Hi,

Main achivement this week was getting to play a simplified version of Beethoven's "ode to joy". Took me a bit to get it more or less right but plenty of practice did it.

Really looking forward to starting music lessons.

Wouter;

Simplified as far as the first piece of Alfred's method? It's a start

AOTW is not a specific milestone this week but a flow of dedicated work on several pieces. The two Grieg pieces for sure. They improve and then I notice more detail. I'd like to tell you they are memorized but as well as I know them, the sheet music still needs to be there as my prop. I'm still maintaining and pushing on the Mozart Viennese Sonatina. I want to have all 4 sections (I'm at 2 1/2). I've pulled up the Mendelssohn again and it's like I've never seen it. Same with the Schumann Traumeri. Maybe mine will be more an AOTYear and I'll realize progress in a longer increment. Maybe I should say my AOTW is buying the theory book for the class I start on Monday. My music colleagues on campus are letting me sit in on the Piano Theory class. The book was $220!!! No wonder my students complain about textbooks.

What textbook is your Piano Theory class using? I collect and study old editions of college music theory (and other music stuff) textbooks.

Glad everyone is doing so well. I've spent a good amount of time listening to the recital but also working on my summer piano projects.

I was very pleased to get a new recording of my Grieg that is perfectly acceptable to present....however, given that there are still several weeks, to the deadline, I'm going to keep working on it. I've fallen in love with it

I bolded the above, because I think it makes all the difference. If you don't love it, it is really hard to improve it! Congratulations on getting a good recording!

I agree - and thanks!!

3 hours of gardening, cleared the laundry basket and washed the car!

That's what I think it's all about. That's when it really becomes music. It must come from the heart. Congrats Cas. I'd just leave that recorder going all the time. You already got good. No pressure. You might end up with something special.


My AOTW... It seems my teacher has faced the fact that I'm not at all like her children. Not all all like most of society. I'm not a parrot. I fight learning that way. I must control the autonomic nervous system with my heart/mind. Not allow the autonomic and the world to control me.
Yes I stumble through things badly. I could feel like a real doofus. Yet, at times, things will fall together and I go way way up on quality of music. She recognizes this. She liked that I told her that when I practice. I'll go back to pieces we did a month or two ago. They are so much easier. I'm not up against that wall of obtaining sophistication of my nervous system. They come together much better. I asked her about going back through pieces after we're finished with Alfred's One. She told me to watch out. She's known for doing that. She will focus on pieces I had problems with. I thought: Haha... I had problems with every one of them. She is really good at focusing on really teaching. Not requiring me to become part of the cookie cutter. Also she insists on talking about chords as: "Your 7 chord, or your 5 chord" Giving me understanding in referring that way.
Since we're coming up on the school year. The children are getting back into lessons. I asked her about them. She said there are alot of them. They are mostly first chair students. The band director doesn't have time to work with them individually. They want to obtain a scholarship. So they work with her to be their very best. She also has children who just don't get it. They don't know their notes. They simply don't put in the time is the problem.
She also told me she looks forward to the day I tell her: I'm ready to play Schindler's List as a performance for her. I admitted to her that I don't put in as much time as I'd like to or should on it. The reason is I spend time working on these new pieces in Alfred's instead. I know that is where my learning is at. I love playing Shindler's List. It's coming along.

Well my achievement was, after 25 years, taking early retirement as of yesterday.

Now I can't sleep!

Tangleweeds: The textbook for the theory class is titled "Tonal Harmony" authors Kostka, Payne, and Almen.

Congratulations Forstergirl on your retirement...hope that you enjoy it.

Casinitaly, I'm so impressed that you got a good recording of your Grieg. I love my piece(s) too but when I sat down and played them yesterday for a couple of guests, my brain disappeared and the music was riddled with glitches. Granted I had just finished hosting a party for 30 people with all the requisite cleaning, planning, and setup but I was distressed to see how easily it fell apart under pressure. BUT the achievement is that I DID play it in front of people.
LOL.

Tubbie, that was a very productive day! I bet you were too tired to play piano though!

Rmaple: Yes - now that I have a perfectly acceptable recording, I am calm - and if the red dot is on, I may just end up with something rather special....maybe...:) I am developing a special affinity with this music.

It sounds as though you have found a really good match with your teacher. I am a teacher and I know that you have to find different approaches for some students. Many will fall into the "you can do this standard stuff and they will learn" category - others need a completely different approach. It can be really stimulating to teach folks who push me into figuring out how to change MY style so that I can teach them with an approach that works for them. Stick with this one - she sounds like a gem!


ForsterGirl - welcome! and congratulations. Just think how much time you'll have for playing the piano now!

Wisebuff - good for you for playing your pieces. Try not to dwell on the fact that it didn't go as well as you would have liked, but maybe DO take some time to figure out what happened and analyse it a bit. Was it pure nerves? Were there spots you thought you knew, but it turns out you didn't and they lead to a crumble? I'm going to be working on performance issues with my teacher when we start up again in Sept (he says "performance standards"...I say "issues" lol...). I think the biggest "problem" is that most of us just don't have enough experience playing in front of others (except perhaps our long-suffering family members) - and we are too easily thrown off.
I am quite sure that for me, there is a concentration issue. Even when I am on my own, I feel I have lack consistency in solid -truly focused concentration.

On the other hand... I have noticed that the delightful sensation of feeling relaxed and having the music flow has repeated itself a few times this past week - with NEW pieces, not old familiar ones - this is tremendously exciting and tells me that something has changed for the better!

Casinitaly, I don't know what got over me today. I did all that and 3 separate hours of piano practice, including Rachmaninov's G# minor and G minor preludes, Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu and C minor nocturne... then I wondered off to Canon in D and 1-handed twinkle twinkle little star, which then turned into chromatic scales, which then turned into Fur Elise and for some reasons (probably because of the same key), started playing Michael Nyman's The Heart asks Pleasure First. Then I concluded the day with random chords and ended with C major arpeggios ascending to the highest note on the piano and then descended with C minor to the lowest C I could go.

I only had 2 cups of coffee today. I don't know what happened to me. Wish I could do that again tomorrow!