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After 3 days of being pretty swamped in work, and thus not getting my usual amount of piano practice, being a little lost in some problems in 2 of the 3 pieces I'm working on, and the last day feeling poorly.... I got a quiet weekend with plenty of piano time, solved the problems in those 2 pieces, and generally felt I made good progress in all 3. Wow, it's amazing how after being in a generally foul mood Friday night, a couple of good days on the piano put me right back on top of the world

My AOTW: Hanging in there until our teacher returns from a well-earned vacation.

At least I had a chance to fully transfer all notations and dates from my first edition Faber Level 3B to the second edition.

That includes re-learning two pieces currently in progress that in the newer edition were altered in many places.

I'm curious. What was the nature of the alterations?

Had my first 6-hour practice day this Sunday. I think this broke my previous record of a 4-hour Sunday. It included 30/70 acoustic/digital time. I spent time learning techniques on something that I couldn't on the digital, and a whole bunch of time on the digital learning the notes for a new piece.

Actually it's not all 6 hours of practice since I took 3 small 10 minute breaks and had dinner in between, so maybe 5 hours actually practicing, but since I was thinking about my music the whole time, I count the whole 6. I hope I could repeat this soon. It felt great.

I had many personal things that kept me away from piano this year, so I seriously need to catch up.

For one of them, the middle bridge section was re-written to be more in the spirit of A minor which is what the piece is written in. Now that I've re-learned it, I prefer the new version.

The other piece was slightly simplified (less scale flourishes between sections, easier left hand sequences). The annoying part is I had just learned the harder version at half speed.

Nicely done! I have had a few 6 hour weekends, but never a six hour day.

You are so brave! Well done. I would never do that but it's probably the best way to overcome the performance fright. You could do so every day or a couple of days and you will eventually have you audience


Me, I've corrected the prelude I tried last time (I shared with that in previous post):

Prelude No. 4, Op. 28

My skills don't let me do better than this. I think it's still an achievement (somehow) but I realised yesterday I am yet far from there. I still struggle with precision on chords, to play them gently and it's still hard to maintain proper loudness on notes while delivering proper dynamics. It's still work to do

Thanks for all the "kudos" on my playing in the train station. I don't know if it will still be there next time I go, but if it is, I will play it again. It was great and I suggest others try it too, if the opportunity arises.
The benefits are, that you really are playing in public - but hardly anyone pays attention! The station is pretty noisy, so unless they are right beside you, (which they aren't) the audience can't hear exactly what you're doing.
And... you get to find out, under a little pressure, where your weak points are in your performance.

It was fun, and made me feel brave!

I find work has kept me to a bare minimum with writing in this thread, I miss it, but I can't keep up. I do have it in my Watched posts, and get emails with all the new posts, so I read regularly, I just can't make all the replies I used to. I miss being more involved, but .. c'est la vie.

My ATOW is a major break through with my Tchaikovsky Morning Prayer. Some of you might have seen a previous post where I told you my teacher suggested "imagining" how I was going to move my hands for the next multi-finger contortionist chords? Well, that made a huge difference and now I'm playing parts of it from memory rather than struggling to read it --- it is falling into place!

For my Clementi, I've been having some troubles with fine tuning the third movement. I was unstable with my tempo and this past week I had to practice without worrying about dynamics, but with the metronome. So I improved on making the tempo steady but ran into some other wobbles. Instructions are to go on a Clementi-free diet for 2 weeks and then re-start during the lesson, with a prognosis that within 2 weeks it will be right where it should be.

On a non-piano related ATOW, my new course for sommeliers went beautifully and the students are clamouring for a second one, talks are in progress with the management and looks like I'm going to be very busy and having a blast. woohoo!

Spent three hours practicing today and feel like my work on Beethoven's Pathetique movement no.2 is coming together.

My AOTW is more like an achievement of my piano career, such as it is: our new piano will be delivered on Friday. It's a Yamaha C3X. I'm excited, to say the least, and also a little sick to my stomach at writing out that check......

Poor Mr. Stubbie. First he says, "Have you ever thought of taking lessons?" so eventually I do. Then he says, "Have you ever thought of getting a grand?" He asked this once or twice, then gave himself a dope slap because, well, yes I had thought of it!

But he's good with the purchase. He also plays, and better than I do, so we'll both get to enjoy it for years to come. And of course many thanks to the people here at PW who have offered up their experiences and advice on all things piano.

Stubbie, WOW, congratulations Now, that IS an achievement. I'm sure you'll both have many years of enjoyment with this grand.

Hope you'll post some pictures.

Wow! Congrats to Mrs. and Mr. Stubbie on your C3X purchase.

As C2X owners Mrs. and Mr. BrianDX are thrilled with our C2X. It has brought up many benefits so far to our home and music education. Please send pics when you can.

That is very exciting...your grand will be worth every penny. Life is short...enjoy the most piano you can.

Jytte, BrianDX, WiseBluff--thanks. The piano is due to arrive this afternoon. I just went to take a photo of the empty space where the piano will go and discovered my camera has a near-dead battery (now being re-charged). Mr. Stubbie, on the other hand, has numerous cameras and will provide photo coverage.


That is the argument that won the day for both of us. Neither of us are big spenders and we've always lived below our means. Occasionally you have to step back, take stock, and, yes, realize that life is short and you should enjoy the most piano you can.

Stubbie, congratulations! Enjoy your grand piano. I bet you had a busy day getting settled with it and trying it out. =D

My Achievement of the week has been practicing every day. I haven't missed a day since I started playing two weeks ago.

Lots of ups and downs. Some days I feel like I'm the most hopeless person to ever sit in front of a piano and other days I feel great. Hehehe...all part of the learning journey!

I'm working through the Pathways in Artistry Book 1 by Catherine Rollin. I'm not that crazy about some of the pieces but I've been sticking with them. Usually by the time the piece begins to sound like music, I like it more than when I started. These are really simple so they're not the most beautiful pieces in the world. But I do have fun listening for the famous composers whose styles Rollin has adapted here. I've completed the first four and I'm on the fifth one, a piece inspired by Aaron Copland, which I am massacring at the moment.

I've almost learned "On a Grecian Isle" by Martha Mier. I just have to work on page two. It's very Romantic sounding and has been great fun to play.

And yesterday I started a Ragtime inspired piece that I absolutely love by Mona Rejino called "Carnival Rag." First page only; hands separately. It's harder than the other songs I've been working on but it's really not bad at all when taken apart. I can't wait to get the whole thing learned and up to speed.

Stubbie, that is so very exciting!!! Congratulations on your new piano! Pictures please!

Welcome Zerlona!
Sounds like you are having a great time!
As you are playing every day, why not sign up for MOYD? That is the group herein the Adult Beginner forum (ABF) where folks sign up and commit to playing every day all year.

My AOTW is some serious progress on my Tchaikovsky. Finally. I think I will be able to record it for the e-citak! I am also hoping to get the piano tuner in so I can record the acoustic instead of the digital!

Zerlina, thanks, and welcome to AOTW. Yes, it was a busy day! But I did manage to get in a practice and it was great!

Cas, thanks. Photos coming shortly.

Thursday I visited my second piano party. Twelve guests played the piano (a Steinway model B). I played three dances from Mathyas Seiber. I made some small mistakes but I managed to keep playing without hesitation.
One woman (my piano teacher) played two etudes by Scriabin. And another played a waltz by Chopin. The others played simpler pieces, such as sonatines and pieces from Burgmuller Opus 100.
I met a woman who asked me to play four hands with here. That was very unexpected but very nice.
Now we need to find only suitable pieces with equal parts.

Wow, Good for you! I've noticed a few 'public' pianos in my travels but haven't ever 'stopped in my tracks' to play one should I ever get up courage enough!

Oh do I know what you mean - just got back from a trip and feel absolutely stupid sitting down at my piano at the moment. Can't wait for a better day, which I know WILL come, the sooner the better.......