Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Masters, What Have You Accomplished?

So, we've talked about how many minutes we've played, how many days we've played, and how we were too drunk to practice. What have we accomplished after nearly a month with our fingers to the grindstone?

Have any of you done the minute waltz in 50 seconds? Anyone won the Liszt competition? My accomplishments:

1) Finally memorized a rag I had only been messing around with previously (The Pineapple)
2) Am about 80 % through memorizing a rag that is probably way too hard for me. (Artie Matthews pastime #5).
3) Worked through three books of the Piano Accompaniment series (unimpressed so far).

Doug

1. Finished method piece "The Entertainer"

2. Made excellent progress in learning Bach's Minuet in G.

3. Moving right along in method piece "Amazing Grace"

Doug--What's the Piano Accompaniment series?

Jerry--The Faber books also have an "Amazing Grace" arrangement. So now I've studied that piece in two different methods.

Brought back Gershwin Prelude II, Almost memorized Venetian Boat Song #2, well into learning #1, Can play all the way through Diabelli Sonatina #151, no. 1, working on expression in this piece and playing it up to speed at the end. Started CHopin Prelude 20 - can play the chords, but far from polished.

Mark-- The Amazing Grace piece is the last piece in the Alfred's book 1. It provides practice with triplets.

Excellent question! I'm on *fire,* I tell ya!

1. I've whipped my recital piece into shape, although I didn't initially think I had time to get it ready. I still have my June recital piece and my back-up February recital piece in my fingers.

2. I've started two new pieces for June (Humoresque by Dvorak and Malaguena for two pianos).

3. I've made two steps around the Circle of Fifths, including understanding the chords better.

4. I'm working through my "Learning to Play from a Fake Book" book.

5. I'm sight reading much more than before.

Hope I can keep this up. . . .

I need to work more on Chord Theory - Good for you, Cindy!

Oops. I mean the "Keyboard Accompaniment Course".


Doug

E _ B / c#- _ g#- / A _ E /

Hmmm...this must be Musical Jeopardy with your host, Bob Trebek. The question is, "What are fifths?"

Well, thats CLOSE, Mr. Jennings**, but the REAL question is phrased "How did Chopin end most of his songs?"


( An unacceptable alternative answer is "Who gives a rat's ***? " )


**I have forgotten that programmer's *** name ... how fleeting is fame?


***Opps, I meant "software engineer:"


Hey Mark, are you going to go to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole? They're pretty close to your path, but you didn't mention them in your post in the OTHER masters thread. You might check out Craters of the Moon monument in south central Idaho too. (Its the jagged remains of a huge ancient lava flow ) Wall Drug is somewhat of a tourist trap in my experience, although the Corn Palace, which is SOMEWHERE close by, has a certain charm to it. If you WANT, I can sell you some chapstick for $8 and you'll have at least a taste of the Wall experience.

There's a place in SW Minnesota called Pipe-Stone Canyon featuring cliffs of soft red rock that the Plains Indians used to make their pipes. Its not really a big imposing landmark, but I liked it as a kid. The Fancy Indians didn't go there because they preferred North Dakota's Plaid-Stone Bluffs . There's another place called Soon-Stoned Mesa but Larry can probably tell you more about that one. :rolleyes:

Bob ... " I'll take 'Places' for $1.50 "

Hmm... what have I accomplished so far this month? Not a whole heck of a lot piano-wise, but my dog training activities have been SWELL! Heh, heh.

Really, though, I am afraid I haven't put as much time into piano as I *should* but I am pleased with myself for sitting myself down at the piano every day for a minimum of 15 minutes. (There are even days I actually put in an hour!) And, I no longer want to crumple up the sheet music and throw it across the room while attempting to play the 1st movement of Beethoven's Pathetique.

What have I accomplished? I thought you'd never ask!

Thanks to the Masters competition, I have practiced for an hour or more every single day since the end of Dec, and because this is now just something I do *every* day, even when work has been its busiest I've still managed to get that piano time in. This is a fantastic accomplishment in and of itself!

Also thanks to everyone's great ideas, I started keeping a piano-diary where I write weekly practice goals and assessments. With a better knowledge of how I'm practicing, I have been able to slowly overhaul my practice routine, and already can see the results. I feel like I am practicing in a very focused and goal-oriented way, and that in and of itself makes me even more motivated to practice.

And perhaps most importantly, because I am putting in so much consistent keyboard time, the pieces in my repertoire sound better than ever, and I feel totally full of joy whenever I play them!

Are we doing an info-mercial? I'm in!

I agree with ShiroKuro: CONSISTENCY! Not something that comes naturally but, lo and behold, here I am at Day 28!

Secondarily, Hanon's first five excersises at 108 M.M., with (hardly) no mistakes!

My goal is to finish all 60 of Hanon's excerises before the 2006 version of "Masters," so I'm right on track!

I'm not sure I count as one of the "masters" since I didn't formally sign up, but I have kept my promise to sight read at the piano every day. My reading is improving, and it's helping with my working pieces, too.

The last few days have been tough because I've got some horrible virus (not the computer kind), but I've forced myself to get out of bed and get on the piano bench!

I'm not a "master" either, but I've practiced practically every day this month. Here's what happened:

My teacher said yesterday that "I've really come a long way" on Chopin's Nocturne Op. 37, #1. I bought a pre-amp and experimented today on recording this piece on my computer.

I worked out a simple arrangement of Christine McVie's "Songbird" from a lead sheet, and learned to play it and sing at the same time. (Playing from a lead sheet is like pulling teeth for me--I'm a good reader and heavily dependent on music.)

I started trying to work out an arrangement of "My Funny Valentine" and found that "Songbird" had made me much quicker at finding major 7th chords. Now I'm learning some flatted-5-chords as I work out "Valentine."

I started learning Gershwin's first Prelude and I'm having a blast with it.

My youngest daughter and I have played duets for hours this month, and her playing and reading are progressing by leaps and bounds.

My college-student son came home to visit today and played the piano for the first time in a coon's age--he sight-read some easy duets with me and played some Chopin by himself. He heard me play the Gershwin Prelude and challenged me to learn "Rhapsody in Blue" along with him. Good heavens. He's got the big hands for it, but I'm the sight reader. Maybe we'll manage, together, if he plays one hand and I play the other.

Mary Anna
http://www.maryannaevans.com

Mary Anna-

Having more than one pianist in the family sure sounds neat! Right now it's just me. One of the reasons I enjoy this forum so much is that I can talk with other like-minded people.

Growing/cultivating pianists is fun. I once played a duet with my older daughter at a recital. Another time I accompanied my son on a trumpet solo at his recital. If you have another pianist in the house, you get to listen to someone else making music!

My accomplishments this month are similar to Shirokiru's, although I am not up to an hour a day -- more like 1/2 an hour, but that is better than none! My practicing is more focused and I can hear the results. I am thrilled that I can play passably the first 12 measures of Grieg's "Arietta (Op. 12. No 1) and am working diligently on the rest of it. At the beginning of the month, I thought it would be months before I could play it well.

Other pieces I have worked on and can now play well are two from Burgmuller's Op. 100: No. 1 and No. 5. I did not play Burgmuller when I learned piano, oh so many years ago, so one of my goals this year is to work through his Op. 100.

In addition to more time at the piano, I am spending more time on music related activities in general. We went to a local symphony orchestra concert, the Deerfield Estonia Event and I have read most of Seymour Bernstein's book "With Your Own Two Hands". I really like the story he tells in the last chapter of the book.

cg

More discipline and better organized practice times.
I've been able to practice every day since january 1st at least 3 hours a day and can memorize works much faster now.
It's something I really needed, cause like I mentioned in other MOYD thread, I usually would practice two or three days in a row, and rest one or two days.
Now I'm not at ease if I don't go to the piano (kinda like the "a clockwork orange" punishment effect)... but it's a really good thing, though.