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Thank you
I don't think she is a bad hearted woman. Just too much of whatever.

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone.

It seems to be getting better, but think I will stick to plan and not play with LH until at least the latter part of the week. I can type today without issue, and that wasn't true yesterday, so I am very encouraged.

Passed 4 more, 4 more to go.

We will start looking at Faber PA Level 3A next week. Also, my teacher will start integrating sight reading exercises into each lesson starting next week.

Pretty good week

Hello. I just found this Piano Forum yesterday when I was checking out comments about different piano models and came across the Adult Beginner Forum(s) I have been playing now two years in November. I started at 58.

Sometimes it is very frustrating especially when starting a new piece.

I just finished Fur Elise by Beethoven … of course there are two sections of the piece that still throw me but I will keep at it. I have started a Sonatina by Diabelli…. Opus 168 Sonatina in F Major. I haven't begun putting the hands together yet. This is the frustrating time.

I have enjoyed reading your alls AOTW. It has been encouraging to hear others speak of the obstacles that get in our way of practice etc.

Welcome RGibson!

I am just beginning Für Elise this week. My teacher has expressly forbidden me to go into the difficult section for the moment.

I agree that new assignments can be a struggle, but then again so can works in progress, and works so-so-so close to being playable!

Welcome Richard. This is a great place to celebrate every step you take. Keep us updated. Do you have a teacher or are you going it solo?

Malkin / JimF …… thank you for the words of encouragement. Jim, I have a teacher I work with once a week 30minutes. I realized how fortunate I was to have found her when she went away to France for the summer and I lessoned with someone new. Totally different experience. BUT on the bright side I did learn which is most important .

Welcome RGibson, great to have you on board AOTW!

JimF, glad to hear recovery is progressing. I think you are wise to take things slow and fingers crossed you'll be pain free and back to full strength before long

BrianDX, sounds like you are reaching a real milestone, good for you

I've just signed up for a second Schumann piece, longer and more challenging than the first one. I played it safe with my first selection so what I'm hoping is to have that finished (and even recorded) pretty early so I'll have enough time to complete both to a reasonable level by next March.

Welcome RGibson;

I'm 58 and just completed my first year of study. I think I'm going to have to kick some serious booty to try Fur Elise before my second year is out.

Well done.

BrianDx.....it still surprises me I did it . I still stumble over the two middle sections especially when I try to get some tempo going ... Just remember..... One measure at a time... and one hand at a time....

Good to hear from you all.

Yup. Separate hands, SLOWLY. Any time you find your hand in a position where getting to the next note would cause a glitch, sort it out. Then play it over, and over ... and over. SLOWLY. It'll come.

Not really MY achievement, but my old Chickering is getting - right at this very moment - a tuning, regulation, and hammer reshaping!!! I am so very excited; I had to save up a while for this and have looked forward to it like a 6-year-old looks forward to Christmas morning!

O.M.G. What a difference! Tech said he didn't know how I'd been playing on this, as far out of regulation and as sticky as it was. It sounds so nice and mellow now and the touch is a total revelation!

If anyone's looking for me the rest of the day, you know where I'll be!

It's been quite a while since I've posted, I've been taking a bit of a break from the piano for various reasons.

Welcome to all the new folks, I've not been keeping up on reading all posts, but noticed that we have some new participants in the pre-retirement years, so kudos to you for taking on the piano. You've come to the right place for encouragement!

Two achievements, the 2nd of which is off-topic from the piano:

1) I can still play. I was able to play in my favorite venue again, although on a truly lousy grand, not the splendid Yamaha that is there only briefly each year. Everything sounds better with reverb, particularly something atmospheric like Clair de Lune. I have hope that in a couple years I may be able to actually play it tolerably well, if I continue to plug away it it from time to time.

2) I've been getting interested in audio engineering, it's a fascinating area. I just love learning new things, and there is an endless learning curve to this particular world. Sort of like piano in that regard, except physical abilities are not part of it, which is a good thing. It's just your ears, musical taste, and technical/acoustical knowledge.

I entered a mix contest, wherein a band makes their raw tracks available for anyone to have at it. This was a very rich/rewarding learning process, which I'm looking forward to applying to future piano recordings: mixed song I submitted




I have to get ~40-50 "likes" on SoundCloud in order to get into the finals (by Sunday), so it's a long shot. If you have a SoundCloud account and can "like", that would be great.

Here's the original, by way of comparison:
[video:youtube]q9_qOv8LDGs[/video]

Week 127: the recital is the big news on the forum. I uploaded my original Pixie Dust. I also updated my piano blog (signature link). There is a PDF of the sheet music for Pixie Dust on the blog. I transcribed it a few weeks ago, so there are minor changes from the upload.

I print out an arrangement of Simple Gifts by Aaron Copeland. I am struggling with it. It has been so long since I've done any sight reading at all and I was never much good at it. I did a few minutes of scales, and it has been a long time since I've done that as well. Dedicating half my limited piano time to composition has a significant cost.

I start taking Glucosamine pills to try and help with the many chronic aches and pains all over the body. It seems to be helping some, but it has only been a couple of days.

My achievement of the week: made a plan, and sort of stuck to it.

My first Schumann piece is coming together quite quickly, I only had HS on the plan for the week but got impatient and started HT on some sections. Gold star for starting at the end of the piece with this though!

Chopin progressing slowly, slowly. I broke down the task into simpler steps for the section I was getting stuck on, and that helped a lot.

SandTiger, hope the pills help
TallGuy, good luck with your mixing comp

@barbaram, that's good news for the Schumann recital

@SandTiger, that sucks, hope the pills help. I'll check out the pixie dust, seems fun.

@aTallGuyNH, sorry I was to late, I do have soundcloud but only read it after the deadline.

@JeanieA, I know what the feeling is of having a fresh tuned piano (I can't stop playing after the tuning) so I can imagine it must be wonderful to have all this work done!

My AOTW was actually taking part in the Recital.
I have been practicing the Op 68 no 14 for some time now. I can play it with the right dynamics and so on but not at the appropriate speed. Also tried to play Op 124 No 6, works well but again the speed and the dynamics. I suppose it's just out of my league and dynamics need a lot of practice.

I had my first lesson after a six week break (teacher vacation, my vacation), and my AOTW is that my teacher was very pleased with how I had progressed on my own with my three exam pieces. All three are at the polishing stage, and she liked what I had done so far. We just have some finessing to do. I guess that means that some of her "how to practice" lessons have sunk in!

@TallGuy - that venue looks amazing!

Anybody in the south OC area (calif) interested in participating in a live recital? I talked to the activities director at a local Assisted-care center that has a yamaha grand piano in the lobby to see if I can play a recital for the residents there. She thought it was a wonderful idea and scheduled me in for Nov 15th in the morning for half hour.
After my delusions of grandeur passed and several weeks gone by practicing THREE NEW PIECES for this recital, I figured I will not be able to play all three. I dont know why I even thought I could. I am sure I can concentrate on one of the pieces and get it ready for a presentation that is respectable to the residents.

However that means I won't be able to fill the 30 min time slot. How is it going to be to do a one 3 minute piece for a recital? I am sure they won't mind but I won't like it.


So , if anyone nearby interested let me know. If you have a piece you're working on or can get ready by Nov 15th and interested in doing a live recital please contact me.
Nothing formal. this is all casually setup. No fee or anything. Just come with your piece play it, and then mingle and talk to the residents afterwards (they are very nice, they appreciate anyone playing piano for them, hardly anyone plays it).

Thanks

AOTW - I'm back at the bench with two hands again.

Eased my left hand back in slowly starting on Friday. So far no pain, so it looks like a week off did the trick. Thanks for the support guys and gals...that one really had me worried.