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Cathy, sounds like you are back in the grove. Enjoy!


For various reasons, I'm experiencing a big gap between lessons--which works out fine for me, as I've got plenty to do, both piano and non-piano.

Scales, arpeggios, cadences. Picking one key each day on a random basis.

Chopin Waltz in Ab major, Op. 69, no. 1. Measures 1-32 are feeling pretty good under my fingers, though m. 27 is still no where near acceptable. The con anima section is coming along. The rhythm is (for me) a little tricky, so listening to recordings has helped. I'm playing the remainder of the piece HT, slowly. I haven't added pedal yet and won't until my teacher gives me the go-ahead. This piece is still a stretch goal for me, but I like the piece and I like the challenge.

Beethoven Op. 49, no. 2, di Minuetto mvt. I've been playing with and without the metronome--with the metronome to keep me honest with the dotted eighth/sixteenth notes and with the sixteenth note runs.

Bach Invention No. 8. Measures 20-23 are still not solid, but the rest feels pretty good, though not up to tempo. Of the three Inventions I've done so far (the other two being no. 1 and no. 4), I like this one the best.

Mozart K.545. First mvt. and some work on the second. My intention is to keep the 1st mvt in my permanent (at least for now ) repertoire.

It's been a good week back. I joined the first two pages of the Raindrop without a hitch and the Clementi and Brahms pieces both picked up well.

I worked on Beethoven's Bonn sonata again this week, the second half of the first movement. It's mostly the same as the first half with a fabulous broken chord passage in the middle, very typical of Beethoven, and the whole is spiritually uplifting and joyful to play.

I've some work to do in the modulation section of the Clementi sonata this week and more preliminary recording work. The old recital clock ticks louder with each passing week. I'll be revisiting the last page of the Raindrop as well this week.

Its been a while since I checked in here. I have been working more on language (German) studies than piano, but now that the certification test is over, I am back to piano, full speed ahead!

ABRSM pieces - I am letting the Schumann rest for a bit, while I learn the other two. Somewhere over the Rainbow is a really nice arrangement and I am enjoying learning it. The 1st half is pretty firm. I hope to finish learning the 2nd 1/2 this week. Bach Sinfonia in G minor (#11), will start next week.

Chopin Nocturne in C# minor #20 - Making practice recordings preparing for the quarterly recital. The final recording will be after my tuning on the 28th.

Mozart Sonata in G (K283) - I am learning so much from this piece. I am doing detailed work on the "fractures", but it is about there. This will probably be the August recital.

Haydn Sonata in G (Hob XXV!:27) - Poor Haydn. He ended up low man on the totem pole in the last month due to time constraints. Back to very slow exact practice, with high drops for hand independence.

Beethoven Sonata in G Andante (op 79). Focus on the octave section to maximise good hand legato.

40 piece challenge - I am on schedule with this, and really enjoying these short pieces. I am working primarily from Celebration Series Level 6, and MasterWorks Classics Level 6. These are equivalent to ABRSM 5, and are helping consolidate my skills. This weeks pieces - Bernstein "For Susan Kyle", and Rosetti Sonata in G: Romanze.

I don't see how you guys can work on so many classical pieces at once - I'd go nuts if I were Stubbie or SwissMS! But good on you!

I'm still on track for at least an hour a day in April, tho sometimes it's a struggle. I'm still in the 40 pc challenge - up to 11 now.

I had 2 gigs this weekend - the one Sat went really well - ended up playing over an hour, and their piano is back in service, tho not tuned and with one iffy key. The one today went fine, tho I was a little spacey.

I've started on my Sept Great American Songbook piece - I'd like to learn it by starting at the end and working forward, melody first and experimenting to find the chords, and then maybe picking up some arrangement from the sheet music. A full arrangement for myself, rather than the simple ones I'm still using in the 40 pc challenge.

I'm still reviving my older repertoire and I still find it easier because of the "by ear" of putting together the 40 pc challenge. Much more aware of the chords, and more easily seeing their variations.

So really it's just the struggle to get back to more time on the bench.

Finally a lesson after almost a month.

Technical:
Starting on dominant and minor sevenths arpeggios and diminished seventh arpeggios.

Hanon exercises. I've been neglecting them, so back to work.

Current pieces:

Bach Inv. No. 8. Measures 16-23 still need work. They are in the (for me) awkward stage of half memorized, half not. My teacher suggested slightly more separation (a phrase pause, more or less) between the sequences to make them stand out.

Chopin Waltz in Ab Major, 69/1. This is coming along. Some focused work on triplet timing and on m. 81-88 is in order.

Beethoven 49/2 di Minuetto mvt. Got a pass on this one. It was far from perfect, but I was ready to be done with it.

New pieces:

Bach Inv. No. 14 in Bb Major. This has a lot of 32nd notes, which are relatively new for me. Typical for the Inventions, I'll start out HS and then move to HT.

Haydn Sonata in C, 3rd movement. Lots of dotted eighth/sixteenth note rhythms in this one.

Stubbie - congrats on the new piano! What a picker-upper that is!

And, how/why do you practice Hanon? Many years ago when I was first starting back to playing piano I did them because I just didn't know what else to do. Now I never do. I guess back then they at least got my fingers moving, but that was pretty much it. What do you use them for, and how do you practice them? I have so many other things I want to do I can't see finding time for them for me.

whew! This was an allergy week, and I ended up skipping some work and not playing piano at all for 5 days. But yesterday I got 2 hours in and expect to get a bit of time in today, too. And what fun!

I started my 12th 40 pcs tune yesterday, and I had trouble just getting the melody down (another time when what I hear in my head just wasn't quite piano doable), and the chords were pretty spotty to say the least. Today, the melody was there, at tempo and with phrasing and accents. I was a little leery starting the chords, but many of them just fell in to place, when I couldn't find them at all yesterday :\ And the fun part was one high C that I just couldn't figure out the chord for (the tune is in the key of C, but that was definitely not the chord). I tried F and that kind of worked but didn't really have the dissonance that left you anticipating the rest. So then I was fooling around with just that note and what came after, and I liked the D7 there, so I asked myself how I could get to the D7 from the stuff leading up to that note, and found that, but then I didn't quite like the D7. But I got lucky, and tried the Dm7 and voila! that was it! I win!

I also reviewed two of my memorized repertoire, and used the hands separate technique on the intro one that I was chunking for memory and that was really helpful. I could sing the melody and play the LH, but couldn't sing the LH while playing the melody, tho I tried hearing it in my head and visualizing it on the piano. So I think that's more solid.

On the other one I didn't start at the beginning but at one of the transitions that I've been taking apart, yet again, and listened really carefully to the bass line, since it leads the RH, and I think that was a good thing for solidifying that part. Then I played the rest in waltz feel (it's in 3/4, but getting to a place that it might make people actually get up and waltz has been a long haul), and that went pretty well.

So now it's finally quit snowing out and I'm going to bundle up and walk to the grocery store. That'll get me refreshed for more music, I'm sure

My teacher started me on Hanon. Her instructions were to never play them for speed, but concentrate on evenness and proper articulation. I also make a conscious effort to relax my fingers, hands and wrists while doing them. It has helped me get my RH pinkie finger under control. I do about one a week (only in the key of C) and I do that one maybe twice. Now and then I go back and do four or five in a row. Doing just the one only takes a few minutes.

Cathy, what you do with improvising chords--I am totally inept in that department--someday, maybe someday, I'll be able to tackle that.

P.S. My take on improvising is that it's "planned spontaneity," if that oxymoron makes sense.

I hope when you tell us you've been hard at it in the bedroom, Stubbie, you'll be able to keep a lid on things and be careful with expressions like fingering, tickling and going full stick! Health to enjoy!
________________

I continued work on the Raindrop and the Clementi this week and revisited the Schubert Allegretto and Brahms Intermezzo 3 so that I can pick them up again for a spell.

The recording work for the Clementi will take precedence over anything else in the week ahead. I've just got two small sections in the Schubert to work on before adding it to my 40 piece list and the Raindrop just needs reinforcing to cover pattern changes after a week of rest.

The Brahms is difficult and needs an easy pace to avoid building stress into the piece so I won't be doing too much of it.

Well, all I can say is if I can't focus, it'll be because you put those thoughts into my head.

Stubbie - "planned spontaneity" sure describes what I try to do

I always start with block chords when I'm trying to learn a new piece by ear. I even play it at a gig with block chord if I haven't figured anything else out yet.

As for the chords themselves, I played in a band for many years in which the fiddles played the melodies and I played the chords from a lead sheet, which gave me a pretty good grounding in playing chords. Sometimes I just play a chord and all its inversions, one after the other, up and down the keyboard. The idea, for me, is to be able to "see" an inversion from wherever I am.

Then I do "changes" from one chord to another in as many varieties as I can figure out - from the tonic to the dominant (I-V) and back, or I-IV-V-I - common progressions. The idea is to have the nearest root or inversion available to myself when I play with the melody.

From there I start trying simple broken chords - arpeggios, alberti bass, or variations of those (in the key of C, for instance, C-G-E instead of a straight areggio, or C-Coctave-G - just any variation) and I'll use that in the bass all the way thru a tune so that it sinks in.

Then I start using little runs as 8th notes - something like CDE-G-C where the C and D are 8th notes "1 & 2 3 4" as the count. Then I try variations of that.

I don't usually do those all once, but over the course of several months I've been doing that, so now those kinds of things come fairly naturally when I'm comfortable with the chord progression.

So, like everything else, it's a series of baby steps. Once in awhile a variation I haven't used before comes spontaneously - always a nice surprise. I think it's an indication I've become much more at home on the keyboard.

As for Hanon and the evenness, etc, I'm trying to be much more aware of that, too, and long ago I'd sometimes try doing them with crescendoes and accents on different notes. But now I try to do those with tunes I'm learning. But you use Hanon kind of the same way I've been doing chords and LH patterns away from a tune. Seems like a really basic kind of exercise that all of us resort to when we need to get a particular skill under our belt. I'd bet we all go to back to that at every level when something new comes up.

It was hard for me to break the habit of relying on sheet music - not that I've totally broken that yet, but the 40 pcs challenge is helping. And I'm sure I'll still use sheet music for many new tunes, too. I just wanted to have some options. It's fun to try, but except for reviving old repertoire I'm trying not to use sheet music at all for awhile. But over the last several years I've "interleaved" it with new sheet music, so one can gradually acquire many of the skills, too.

Cathy

jotur, if you like "Softly as I leave you", tomorrow I'll start a thread about it, like a transcription thread. I have what I consider the melody (I've noticed by now melodies can change too), and I am on my way to learning chords but still can't focus on working on that for a particular song…first need to be on the receptive side (listening, practicing what is out there). But maybe you don't have a project now and would like to play with it.

I've also started working on the melody of "Moonlight Serenade".

Today I bought a book with 6 or 7 songs by Elton John. It will be good practice for me because the chords are in the Key of G :))) but there is a CD with it, and they sound a bit strange! It's ok…I am sure I'll learn something good

I missed reporting into FOYD last week. It has been busy around here! Things are moving along though.

Chopin Nocturne in C# minor 20 - This is recorded and submitted for the e-cital, but I still have some work to do. This will be my May 31st live recital piece. I am practicing starting from anywhere, playing HS from memory while humming the other hand, what ever I can do to build my confidence for the recital!

Mozart Sonata in G K283 - My teacher is very happy with where this is at, so now I am working on memorisation. This will likely be around for a while. In is my probable "A" list piece for ABRSM grade 7 next year. Fortunately, I really enjoy it!

Haydn Sonata in G XV!:27 - I have rested this one a bit because I needed break from it. It has a lot to teach me, but I have burned out on it. So, this week I will take another run at it.

Bach- Sinfonia in G minor #11. I am just starting this piece this week. I am working phrase by phrase until each is secure before moving to the next. This one is tricky.

Over the Rainbow - This is out of the "new material" category into "development". It needs focussed work on phrasing and clear voicing of the chords.

Rosetti- Sonata in G: Romanze- I need to get this recorded this week for the 40 piece challenge.

Scherzo in C major JCF Bach and Calvery byKabalesky -Next pieces for the 40 piece challenge.

Most of my focus is on the playing-by-ear and my recital piece. I was astounded that a piece I "sort of" played in the past is coming under my fingers easily enough that I think I'll use it for my recital piece. I don't have a May gig schedule yet, so I don't feel pressured to spend a lot of time on old repertoire that I'll finish reviving for the first one.

As for the playing-be-ear - I played all of the first 12 I've learned, but with just block chords rather than the arrangement so that the harmony/changes get in "in my ear" and not just the arrangement. And then I played the first one - Battle Hymn of the Republic - around the circle of 5ths, both to "hear" the changes and to begin to be more comfortable with them in some less-played keys like Db. I figure I need to be able to play in any key by ear, because one never knows what a singer is going to ask for :\ . So the next day I played all the arrangements except for a different tune, and I played that one around the circle of 5ths. For whatever reasons I had more trouble finding the ii-V-I and the VI-ii-VI-I in a couple of keys for that one, so I slowed down and went thru the changes before I started to play the tune.

Then I had found a simple little boogie kind of bass in one of my books, and I tried it out with a couple of tunes. It went fine (read: silly) with Moonlight Bay. So that's my next arrangement. Keeping up the boogie pattern while hearing the melody in the RH was a challenge for awhile, but eventually got better. One of those nail the HS first pieces. Now I can hear other variations in my head so I'll try to incorporate that into the piece.

I also started the 13th of my pieces. This one also had fairly sophisticated changes (well, sophisticated in my world ) and I had to work backwards to find the chain of dominant 7ths, and in this tune the melody was often on the 6th. Velly interesting. I knew tunes did that, but this is the first I remember figuring out the changes when that happened. It's fun.

Other than that I've been - gasp - house cleaning. Nothing like having company coming to get you revved up

But when it's time to play piano I drop the housework and go play. I know where my priorities are.

Oh, and I worked on my Sept GASB piece. I'm also learning that one back to front, and learning the chords by ear. Never a dull moment.

Scales, arpeggios, and cadences. Doing dominant sevenths and diminished sevenths. Also added cadences in the 1st and 2nd inversions. My teacher has me naming the chords out loud to reinforce what I'm doing. This week I'm doing Bb.

Chopin Waltz in Ab Major, 69/1. I had a major hitch in measures 81-88 (in my score). This section is one of the simpler sections in the piece, but I had serious hesitations while finding the LH chords and I was also hurrying the eighth notes. Some focused practice is helping.

Bach Inv. No. 14 in Bb Major. The discipline of counting out loud and slow play is helping. The Bach inventions feel like exercises, and they are, but I am finding them fun to play and enjoyable to listen to.

Haydn Sonata in C, 3rd movement. Lots of dotted eighth/sixteenth note rhythms in this one. My teacher assigned this because she thought I needed work on them, and sure enough, I do. In my head, I think of a dotted eighth/sixteenth note as a unit, but the sixteenth note 'belongs' to the note following it and I need to play it more like that.

My sight-reading program has been defunct of late. It has gone by the wayside if favor of keeping several older pieces in my repertoire and bringing back a few even older ones. I do need to get back to the sight-reading. One would think, being retired, there would be time for everything. One would be mistaken.

Happy Birthday Richard/zrtf90! Many happy returns and many musical moments!

Stubble - like you, I am spending a lot of time on technical exercises at this point. I do all of the melodic minors scales and arps in four octaves every other day, alternating majors and harmonic minors on the other days. They are getting pretty consistent at this point. I also do the required contras (Emaj, E min, Bb maj, Bb min), stoacatto scales, staccato thirds, chromatic scales, and Dim7 arps everyday. My achilles heel right now is contra chromatic starting on A# - C#, but it is getting there. I guess a disadvantage of the exam route is how much time all of this takes, but I find it a fun challenge. I can tell that it is improving my overall playing.

Chopin Nocturne in C# minor- I am having a lot of fun with this now. I know it so well, that I am able to play with with it and make it mine. I will play it for the first time in a piano party next Saturday and then in Recital on the 31st.

Mozart K283 - I found I was getting sloppy with this, so I went back to slow, correct playing. I hope to record this soon.

Haydn XV1:27- I am having to hold back my speed on this, or I make mistakes. It still is a work in progress.

Over the Rainbow - My assignment is to strongly voice chords this week, and then back it off for a musical performance.

Bach Sonfonia in G Minor - This is currently my most challenging piece. I have made it through 1/2 of it, but I am keeping the tempo dead slow for correctness, trying to listen to all three voices. I love this piece, and I don't want to screw it up!

Bürgmuller - Sweet Sorrow - I chose an easier 40 piece challenge piece this week since I have a performance on Saturday. This one should be recorded by Wednesday.

My practicing is unfocused! I really want to get back to posting on FOYD more often.

My latest pieces for the 40 piece challenge have been a little too difficult for quick study. Perhaps I’ll just focus on getting to 20 pieces by the end of June (s`pose it doesn`t matter whether I get there or not, but that was my original hope, that I could do 10 every 3 months!):

Beethoven Bagatelle Op 119 No 4: couple of transitions were I stumble so work those out.

Prokofiev Waltz Op. 65 No. 6: Expression, jumps without stopping, expression 25-40.

Bach Prelude (No. 2 of Six Little Preludes): fluency and fingering, especially on page 2. Don’t worry about tempo.


Then other pieces I’m working on:

Liszt Romance Oubliee: Didn’t play at all the past week or so. Expression bars 1-7, Tempo 119-27, Faster to half notes bars 45 on, proper timing 81-83.

Schubert Impromptu 142/2: I love this piece. Work on even fingers during trio; tight chords page one.

Mysterious Barricades: Fingering for all sections! (something I should have worked out long ago when I started this piece!)

Raindrop Prelude: Page 1: Rubato, LH quiet, melody sings; page 2: tight chords and crescendos. Should I memorize this piece? Maybe I should start.

Someone to Watch Over Me: This is for the Great recital. I’ll start with bars 1-12. Lots of 4 note chords and jumps, and LH stride which is totally new to me.

Tico tico: Just play through slowly every couple of days. I’m only beginning this piece but the tempo is quite quick so if I want to get it going by the Great recital, I’ve got to start early!

Huh, lots of pieces. With all that, I’m still not sure what to do for the 40 piece challenge. I think I can get the Prok, the Bach and the Beethoven done by the end of June, and that will just leave me with one more piece to do to get to 20. Was thinking Edward Elgar’s Sonatina 1st Movement, which is out of an old Grade 4 book (RCM). But have not yet tried it at the piano.

SwissMS and Stubbie, I`m jealous that you are all so practiced up on your scales and technique! I wish I would practice such things as it would really help my playing. I`ve been putting it off because I know I will be terrible at it (as least relative to how I used to be able to play!)!

Happy Birthday Richard!

I'm taking a week to record the latest additions to my 40 piece challenge then I'll get back to my Bach Prelude and Fugue and the Brahms Intermezzo 3.

I'll have to get started on my GAS pieces as well soon and prepare for the August recital so it's nose to the grindstone, for me. Thankfully, I have another year's experience now.

Thank you, Doris and Valencia.

Hi all, little update on my pieces.

- Sonata op110 Beethoven
as suggested by verqueue. It's addictive to say the least. What a great piece of music this is. I feel almost unworthy (maybe that's good :)). The Klagender Gesang and Fuga I have the most trouble with. It has so much going on in there. Love it!

- Chopin Nocturne op9 no3 is going pretty well. Need to practise those fioritura and the left hand in the middle section. sloooooowwlyy.

- Etude op72 no1 Mozskowski
This is taking too long... I need to get that speed in there. Not practising enough of this. So get this going Paul!

- Chopin Prelude op28 no 17. Wanted to learn this so badly. One of my favourites! Tricky business that the hands meet and entangle each other on more than one occasion. Sometimes the right plays over the left and vice versa. Looks pretty goofy when you're wrong

- Novelette op21 no2 Schumann
Still on ice...

Had a gig today which I found out about day before yesterday :\ Two more next week and one the week after.

The one today was tidily printed on the activity calendar, as background for a chocolate sundae social. So I get there, and voila! the piano is hidden behind some painting and remodeling supplies and no one knows about music! (They hadn't heard about the sundaes, either.) Fancy that :\ I'm really better off in this particular gig to just figure they're never ready for me - I'd be a lot less off-put. The one time I did that the gig went really well. Today - not so much. Tho I do think I bobble at a higher level than I used to, which has been part of the goal

Next Saturday is Armed Forces Day in the US, so since I know 2 of the 5 marching songs I'm learning the other 3 by ear this week. I figure this is my Lawrence Welk show (I've been meaning to do it on July 4, but this will work). I'll play them in the order in which they were established - Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force - and then probably end with the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. There won't be a dry eye in the house The rest of it will just be my regular reportoire of old stuff, with a couple of my newer "by ear" pieces - my 40 pc challenge should jump quite a bit ahead after this gig!

I continue to try new LH patterns with my by-ear tunes - now I suppose I should also try some RH/melody variations/ornaments. I've been having a really good time with the 40 pc challenge, and I think my old repertoire has been much easier to revive than it would have been otherwise.

I think I'd be nuts if I tried to do all the technical exercises SwissMS and Stubbie do - tho I do run thru scales and cadences in less-often used keys before I try to play by ear. Sometimes, too, my playing at a gig is more musical because I've been paying attention to dynamics, phrasing, accents. They have to be pretty ingrained to actually come out at a gig, but it's getting there. Fortunately the foot-tapping part of it keeps at least some interest.

I've had better luck in making time for piano, too, so maybe this won't turn out to be my least-piano-time year.

New for the coming week:

Scales, arpeggios, dominant and diminished 7ths, and cadences plus inversions for Eb major and Cminor. The inversions of the cadences require the most work on my part. Saying the chord names as I play them helps.

Hanon #10. I occasionally review some prior exercises.

Beethoven Op. 49, no. 1. 1st movement: My goal for this week is to get the first page (to the repeat sign) in hand for my next lesson. The left hand legato thirds will require attention, as will the RH turns.

Chopin Op. 64, no. 1, Waltz in Db Major (the "Minute Waltz"). I spent almost an hour on the Minute Waltz last night, but it was time well spent--my first look at it, so I wrote in the names of some of the chords, checking fingering, and did some HS and HT practice. Getting to "Molto vivace" will be the main challenge for me.

Bach Invention #13. For this week, m. 1-8, first HS, then hands together.

Carry-over from last week: Bach Invention #14. I still have a few places where I hesitate, so those spots need work, and I'd like to get the tempo up. Chopin 69/1. Need to bring out more in the right hand. The various tuplets are not there yet, so those need work. Haydn Hob. XVI:35, Finale. Got my dotted eighth/sixteenth note issue largely dealt with (for now). I'd like to get my tempo up. I enjoy this piece and it's a lot of fun to play.

I have a full plate. My challenge for the week will be to manage my own expectations of how much I should accomplish before my next lesson. My own concept of 'should' is always greater than 'can.'