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Well, my lesson today was wonderful. I played through my Kuhlau, and we spent the rest of the lesson on exercises to reinforce correct hand position, thumb crosses, and complete relaxation. And, she was not kidding about doing supervised practice. She was serious. So, we are setting up a Saturday for her to come to my home and do just that. Just the expectation of that should make me practice better. I feel very privileged to have this opportunity!

That's great! So often it happens we do something correctly at the lesson and then when we get home and practice we get "mission drift."

I'll find out in an hour or so, at my lesson today, whether or not last week's pedaling instruction "took." I'm doing it correctly (I think!) when I'm consciously paying attention, but whether that carries over to when my mind concentrates on something else--we'll see!

Good. Now play it in thirds .

Did you intend this as advice? If so, why are you advising it, for which purpose? Or, given the emoticon, did you intend it as a joke?

He intended it as a joke, keystring. Thought the video was cool though of course I will never get to that point.
Im already struggling on the small thirds section in my Eugenia future submission for the Joplin recital I mentioned on there, perhaps that was the reason for the joke. hehe.


I love Debussy , yes good luck to me, you got to have the right touch to play his pieces and it doesnt help I have a cheap digital as well. I listen to all his pieces and cry that I could have learned all of them to some degree, at least some of the children corner pieces , if I did not waste my previous 20 years neglecting the piano.

20 years. edit : 25 years..Can yoou believe that? I could have had my share of practicing both Arabesques, Childrens corner, B suite, some of the preludes, maybe some of the Etudes.

Next one I want to learn is Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum ... but not in thirds.

No, I haven't been reading the Joplin thread. I had just been playing through that Rosenthal arrangement earlier today and it was stuck in my head.

Gradus ad Parnassum is a worthwhile learn, and a crowdpleaser if you're asked to play a two-minute something at a party.

Definitely. Do you prefer playing at a party:

a piece that garners quick attention like Gradus ad P or any technical piece that makes everyone stop what they're doing and stand still during your play of that piece
or
a piece that is not really an attention grabber but more of a background music that instills a background mood for the party.?
I find classical more of the former type, and Jazz genre generally for the latter.

I currently prefer the latter, well, due to I am not technically sound at all, and any chance to play piano in front of others they say 'hey look someones going to play piano' and then I get self conscious and then shy away from it..if there was a way to just slip into the piano without anyone noticing and just provide a background music (with ambient sounds around to hide my slips and fat fingering) would be ideal !!

I prefer to start with a bang, as it were, and get people's attention, and once I have that then I lapse into something more background-ish. This all depends on the length of the performance, as well.

You perform?

Congrats, SwissMS.... got a lot of courage doing those ABRSM exams.

I had one of those lessons once. And out of all my lessons over the past five years, it was one of the most consequential. I hope yours is just as helpful.

That's interesting; I've had the opposite experience with Debussy. I think his music is terribly hard to read. But once I get past that hurdle, the playing part is not as impossible as I had first thought.

Your teacher is devoted to you! --- Very likely because you are such a dedicated and passionate student!

What a wonderful opportunity!

SwissMS, so happy to read that your lesson went so well after the frustration you had been feeling. And that is really something special that your teacher is setting up the supervised practice session. Hopefully it will prove as valuable to you as it did to MaryBee.

Sooo? I wanna hear about Moonlight sonata and a friend of yours in question.

Nice! Mine is a good teacher but not so sweet as yours. Of course I'm not so good as you as a student. I don't listen to her many times as I should.

She routinely grabs my hand, says, "no, what are u doing! Wrong notes!" , etc. she also demonstrates (exaggratingly) with a smile, "see this is what you are doing" and this is how it should be played. She pisses me off a lit and seems to know that it works. I can do this partly because she is my personal friend.

I don't know if this is an achievement, well it is...
I had lesson last Tuesday, and my teacher asked me if I want to play in the students recital at the end of May, all the other students being children and young teens (one of my sons also).
I said yes, last year I butchered one of my pieces but I survived. I don't like playing for people, but I know that I can learn something from the experience. And I'll have to play at EPP in July, so better to be prepared.

Now I feel brave, but in a couple of months I'll start to be really nervous...

Interesting thing, I'm not even sure on what I will play: Mozart or some dances from the French Suite I'm learning. And maybe a duet with my son (the teacher gave us the score yesterday for me to try, if I'm not able to learn it well she will play with him at the recital): it's an arrangement of Piazzolla's Libertango, notes looks easy but rhythm is not.

Okie Dokie? She told me she took tons of piano lessons as a child. But was rebellious and didn't follow through. She wants to hear me do it since I'm learning piano.




Dejavue?

Week 105: Two years and counting. Unlike my first anniversary, I don't have a lengthy progress report (link to old thread). It feels like I have a deeper understanding, but not that much forward movement.

My one-year anniversary project, The Passage of Time, feels at least as interesting and challenging as anything I have done in my second year. Does that mean that I did nothing in year two? Of course not. Like I said, deeper, not necessarily forward.

As for this week, I attend a concert featuring Samuel Nebyu on violin and Tania Fleisher on piano. Nebyu is an intenational contest winner. Fleisher is faculty at Loyola Marymount, Director of Chamber Ensembles. The composers are mostly unknown to me. Some of the music feels familiar, such as a piece from Bizet's Opera, Carmen Fantasia, by Franz Waxman. They are both quiet people and let their music do most of the talking. Wow.

I perform at Songmakers. I do a whistle tune, one on Irish flute, and another pass of my Pancake song on piano (on the old Roland synth). I do better with the pancake song, but still have some flaws.

I start on a new composition that has a spring feel. My "winter" project of a cover of the Zac Brown song, Colder Weather didn't make it in time. Oh well, so it goes. My spring project is my own work so has a better chance.

I upload my songwriting course project song Looking to Alaska to my blog. Here is a link to the piano track:
https://app.box.com/s/bwwj44wpq73af5c6umk4

It is simple by necessity. There was one week to compose, rehearse, record and do all the other work related to the song. The lyrics, some comments about the Coursera and a link to the version with vocals is at my blog.
http://sandtigerpiano.blogspot.com/

Thank you all on this thread and on the wider Piano World, for all your stories, input, help, pushes, prodding, even the criticism and brick-bats on my continuing journey.

Just really quick, since I am working today. I have to prepare for the meeting in UK. I will be on the road (or I should have said "in the air") from March 20 to March 28. Don't have so much achievement. I made one recording of nocturne which I can live with in spite of couple of mistakes and one hesitation. I don't have time to keep taking a video. I will try one more time on Wednesday, and that'll be it. Just chugging along with my Chopin etude and Bach fugue. My teacher looked at my etude book and said, " you might wanna do this too". WTF! I screamed. It 2 against 3 which is another one of the three sets etudes in the end of the etude book. I cannot believe it. Why do I have to do 2 against 3 after 3 against 4 when everyone else in her studio is doing good stuff like ballade, chopin sonata, rhapsody, etc. She said grinning (she is sure having fun", "I gave you Rachmaninoff elergie and you have been taking time to finish it. Its good for you to do this now. And look, it's very pretty". Yep. I had hard time with polyrhythm in that piece. She absolutely refused to make me play it through with incorrect rhythm. Anyway, I hope it will make me polyrhythm pro. Have wonderful week. I may not be able to write very much this week due to work next week.

I'm bored at the airport--c'mon people, post faster!--when I actually realized I have an achievement.

I put the ABF Joplin-themed recital to bed! I posted the threads, twisted my teacher's arm into performing Crush Collision, slaved over Rose Leaf, shanghaied my friends into helping with the audio recording, video recording, and editing, begged Sam S and Monica K for help successfully, and listened to 22 great performances from fellow ABF members! Feels good man.

But c'mon guyz, srsly, plz post faster!