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OK, start of month 16, got a sticker tonight for Valsette from my teacher.

To put this in perspective, I've probably played over 300 pieces in all since starting last year, and this is only my fourth sticker.

Oh yeah...

My teacher is actually some type of miracle; she is strict, supportive, instructive, and kind all at the same time; never seen anything quite like her.

Yesterday we hosted our german shepherd club for the annual Christmas party. Huge feast, gift exchange (with stealing allowed), drinks and Broncos football. Two friends asked me to play the piano and you all know I am NOT the one to sit down and play in public (although I do play at planned piano parties). THIS TIME I sat down at my beloved piano and played several Christmas pieces and they were music and I enjoyed it and so did they. An achievement yes and perhaps a beginning to a new aspect of playing piano.

Add another to the successful recital list. Ours was last night and probably the best adult recital we've had at the studio I go to. Only one performance that really went off the rails.

My teacher "kindly"(!) put me at the end of the program, right after Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu played by an adult student who happens to be a piano teacher herself! Still I think I performed Liebestraume pretty well, a couple of measures went wrong but I skipped ahead and overall very nice. My runs are in better shape than the submission for the November recital.

So, it's gone from my active pieces but I will REALLY try to keep it alive.

AOTW for me was to play at my first live recital today.

My AOTW
I too had a public performance.(...)
I have one more performance today.
Phoenix piano club meeting plus Christmas party.
I'm going to play the same piece as I played in the college recital AND Christmas music violin duet with another pianist. I play the second violin part. I'm more nervous about it than piano. I also have to bake a cake now.

(...)THIS TIME I sat down at my beloved piano and played several Christmas pieces and they were music and I enjoyed it and so did they. An achievement yes and perhaps a beginning to a new aspect of playing piano.

Add another to the successful recital list. Ours was last night and probably the best adult recital we've had at the studio I go to. (...)

Not an achievement
I had piano club performance and it did not go as well as I wanted. Played it through but seriously sucked. I played the same piece very well the night before in a performance hall.

I probably should have but I did not try the piano before I played. There was dark shadow on the keys (due to the light placed on the stand) and it took me off guard. 20 excellent pianists breathing behind me did not help either, hahaha. It was easier to play in a big hall since audience was far. Many told me that the shadow bothered them too but they were able to play it. I just need to learn to overcome this. My teacher said that I probably forgot to look at the score And started solely focusing on my hands when I was shocked with the shadow. It's called brain freeze or something like that. Really common she said. Not nerves since I did not have shaky fingers or sweat type of things. (...)

AOTW for me was to play at my first live recital today. My teacher's end of year showcase concert was a very laid back event but thirty other students and their parents was a huge audience to me. It was all the more nerve racking since I was the only adult and I was keen to impress, playing my last two PW recital pieces. I chose to play Satie's Gnossienne No 1 as my first piece as it was the more secure of the two. Although I seemed to have control of my nerves I did not have full control of my shaking fingers. I made a couple of errors but played straight through by adding some notes and I doubt anyone except my teacher noticed. My Chopin Prelude Op 28 No 20 was always going to be a problem though, and I got thirty seconds in before the wheels fell off and no amount of playing through was going to save it. I stopped and restarted from the beginning cruising through the first and most difficult section, only to be tripped by a momentary lapse in the second section. I jumped to my reset point and before I knew it I was basking in applause. I really enjoyed the experience and can't wait for my next chance up on the stage.

Earlofmer
Congratulations on your first public performance. It's amazing you played through from the first time and enjoyed it. You maybe one of the "natural" performers.

My AOTW
I too had a public performance. It was my college final exam performance at the newly remodeled performance arts center. It was surprisingly well attended. Usually it's all students relatives and friends. I played my little piece (Schumann Warum) since it's the only piece ready. I can play through Rach Elergy but not in my liking. I love the piece and would love to do a super good job. The rest of pieces are two weeks old. I hit a few wrong notes first time in the section that has repeats. I covered it up with resolving into tonic of the chord I messed up and went back to the original chord to resume the piece. Basically using 5 - 1 -5 sequence. Second time around on the repeat I played all the notes, phew! People told me that it sounded beautiful. My teacher was pleased because I learned to voice well in the piece. It is not a piece assigned to me for the Schumann recital. It is the one before. I noticed the piece when I was reading through the pieces in the Op 12 book. Schumann had two personalities one is introvert and the other kind of extrovert. Warum is former and Grillen is the latter. So I decided to learn both. Anyway we went to a Mexican restaurants afterwards, then two dressed up people came to our table and commented on our recital. They were like "we saw you guys, you did great we enjoyed it". They loved the "free" evening of classical music. I kinda felt like a star.

I have one more performance today.
Phoenix piano club meeting plus Christmas party.
I'm going to play the same piece as I played in the college recital AND Christmas music violin duet with another pianist. I play the second violin part. I'm more nervous about it than piano. I also have to bake a cake now.

This morning I easily played through all the stuff I stumbled through at my lesson yesterday, practiced the stuff I needed to practice, did a little piano goofing off.

Then baked 5 dozen cookies.

Yesterday we hosted our german shepherd club for the annual Christmas party. Huge feast, gift exchange (with stealing allowed), drinks and Broncos football. Two friends asked me to play the piano and you all know I am NOT the one to sit down and play in public (although I do play at planned piano parties). THIS TIME I sat down at my beloved piano and played several Christmas pieces and they were music and I enjoyed it and so did they. An achievement yes and perhaps a beginning to a new aspect of playing piano.

Add another to the successful recital list. Ours was last night and probably the best adult recital we've had at the studio I go to. Only one performance that really went off the rails.

My teacher "kindly"(!) put me at the end of the program, right after Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu played by an adult student who happens to be a piano teacher herself! Still I think I performed Liebestraume pretty well, a couple of measures went wrong but I skipped ahead and overall very nice. My runs are in better shape than the submission for the November recital.

So, it's gone from my active pieces but I will REALLY try to keep it alive.