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Hey Andy!! Can I borrow your flying fingers? My Beach Buggy still does not have enough boogie power!!! I have moved beyond the Amish Buggy Boogie stage, but I still cannot play it (correctly!!!) at the proper tempo.
My AOTW is that I played to an audience of 6 sweaty 10 year old boys gathered around me (really so close that the stench was distracting). My youngest son still thinks that Beach Buggy Boogie (BBB) is the coolest piece of music on earth (despite the fact that I have been butchering it for the past 3.5 weeks). After he and his friends played an hour of soccer in our back yard, they came inside for refreshments. My son requested that I play BBB for them. I was very reluctant, but thought "hmmm....they are 10, almost anything I could play would impress......right??????? So I played it!! They responded very politely and several acted genuinely entertained. Then, the boy I knew the least sat down and played a Duvernoy Etude that knocked my socks off!!! YOUTH!!!!

Cool! I'm working on that movement as well, but I'm not sure what the "standard" speed is... my teacher plays it very fast, but I don't think I'll get near there this year or next...

Allegro vivace so that could be 160bpm or so. The recording that comes with the Alfred Sonatina book seems to be about 170bpm which is pretty snappy.

I probably wasn't that fast. I'll have to record myself (I have slower recordings) and find out - though I suspect as soon as I bring the Zoom out my fingers will turn to jelly and I won't be able to get them to fly.

Plus I need to do some super slow practice again to fix all the bad problems I just introduced!

Forgive my ignorance here... but is that the bpm for 1/8th notes?

No such luck!

Beats per minute always comes from the time signature. In this case it's in 2/4 time so the beat is a quarter. So it would be 170 quarter notes or 340 eighth notes. Really most of it are triplets so let's call it 510 eighth note triplets a minute!

Of course, as my teacher constantly tells me, it's not the speed, it's the feel ...

Oh, bizarre - in my version it's in 3/8 time...

EDIT - Just realized we're talking about different sonatinas! Ooops! I'm working on 3rd movement of #1 (Op 36)... My bad!

Sorry, my post appeared twice for some unknown reason, and I couldn't delete the duplicate.

What a story! The kids are always amazing.

My AOTW is that I'm almost finishing "Password" from Einaudi. It's a nice piece to develop "hands independence".
However, I started to thinking about the next PW Recital. The piece I choose is very enjoyable and I'm confortable with it (memorized, nice tempo and dynamics) and all I need is to make a nice record of it.

Edit: Oh, I almost forget this: It's not MY AOTW, but my daughter started to practice some Christmas songs and she's doing it well. btw: I'm her teacher, so I think it's my AOTW too.

Andy - It is fun to try and rip off a fast one every now and then.

Unfortunately, I seem to be the king of Ballad tempo. Andante is often described as "walking speed" - I just walk real sloooow. Your 340 eighths (and 510 triplets) are way beyond what I can sustain, although I might be able manage small bursts. I thought I was blazing when playing my little Schubert Ecossaise at 120ish to the quarter (it is 2/4 and basically all eighths). I have gotten four octave two hand scales up to about 80 or 85 per quarter when playing them as sixteenths (so 240ish per note), but at that rate errors sometimes creep in and evenness goes out the window. Anyhow, one thing I've learned is that playing without tension is the key to speed. If I could achieve that I believe the speed will come in its own due course. In that sense, when I push for speed it is actually somewhat counterproductive. But it is fun to try.

Christine - LOL at your story! I just about spat out a mouthful of soft drink when I read that.

My AOTW is finishing off the aforementioned Schubert. The Franck piece (which I like alot, Cheryl) is almost complete - working on pedaling it now. The Handel Sarabande is going to HT (and starting HS on the 2nd Variation). Betwitched, Bothered seems almost done but needs to be tested on a metronome for weak spots. Looking at possibilities for the next jazzy self-study. Maybe "On the Street Where You Live." SOW is F minor this week.

Christine, what a great story -Good for you for giving your performance! But my oh my, how humbling it can be to be in the presence of piano playing children........

Eglantine, I was just kidding you - I saw in a different thread that you hurt your self - how are you doing? Ribs any better? Take it easy and heal well!

Bessel and Andy - oh..I don't want to hear about speeds like that! I feel clumsy just reading those numbers!!!!

Carlos, great you are so close to being ready for the recital! And what fun that your daughter is getting ready for Christmas music! I bet you'll be playing some wonderful duets this year!

Jim, I'm absurdly happy to hear that you like the Franck piece. I really like "On the Street Where you Live" - go for it!!!!

My homework this week includes a Duvernoy exercise which is aimed at improving the Alberti bass ability in the left hand. Part of it has so many leger lines I had to stop and count them!!!! (and I'm actually not bad at reading those notes!)

I had a long chat with my teacher about how to get some ability to "join in" at my own piano parties when people are playing pieces that are way beyond my skill level (for example this weekend we had another pianist, a guitar player and an accordian player doing some great work - both improv (which is totally out of the question for me at the moment) but also playing material out of MY BOOKS that is too difficult for me, but a breeze for them.

Teach and I are going to work on 10 minutes per lesson where I really focus on "team" sight reading - even if I'm only using one hand, and she plays the other - so that I can build up confidence to jump in and not be a wall flower

My achievement of the week would be to start getting things together and play

I am still working on the minuet in g from bach and i am getting better at it. Today my teacher noded that i could learn clementi sonata op 36 and i am excited about it

Let's be clear that I never said I was succeeding! Unfortunately I'm still at the "almost but not quite getting all the notes in time" phase... despite concentrating on the dynamics. (concentrating does not guarantee success there either)



That sounds fantastic. My teacher has two pianos side by side, and occasionally we play duets - it's quite different (and exhilarating), listening and trying to play along, rather than going solo. My biggest problem is when (not if) I make a flub, I am very very challenged to ever rejoin. Have fun with it!

Ok, you aren't succeeding with the faster than light keystrokes .....You're still making great progress Bessel!

As far as flubbing and joining back in.... I flub a lot, for sure, but I'm actually not bad at joining back in. I played in the highschool band for 5 years and I played bass clarinet - so there were a) a lot of places where I didn't have to play but had to jump in at the right spot and b) some situations where I couldn't get the hang of the music and just had to "wait" til I could re-join the group.

I know some tricks - play the first note of a set of 4 8th/16th notes, play the first note of the bar...... what I'm hoping to achieve with my teacher in these practice sessions is a higher comfort level on the piano, more confidence about joining in, and managing everything at a faster pace!! I know it will be fun!

casinitaly, ribs still very sore. I'm taking it easy, and taking the drugs, and feeling very tired. Thankfully, sitting at the piano causes no additional pain.

AOTW: playing through an Invention (No 1 in C) for the first time. At half speed, yes, but hey, one step at a time. I never imagined four months ago (when I couldn't even read the bass clef and turn it into notes, having forgotten a lot over the last 30 years) that I'd now be more or less successfully wrestling with an Invention.

Eglantine, in only four months you are able to learn a Bach’s invention, impressive!

This week I’ve begun to work on the little prelude BWV 926. I’m studying the first page and still play it at very slow tempo, but at least I already hear something similar to the reality of this piece.

And I continue working on the Hanon’s exercises. Now I’m trying the No 2. This has been a discovery for me. As I’m playing these exercises, I feel my fingers become a little stronger and get a bit more of confidence.

Christine that is such a funny story! Good for you for doing it especially for your son! Having two boys of my own I know they don't always immediately react to things but then days later they will talk about it so don't be surprised if you hear more from this. And isn't it amazing how young children can play so well! It always stuns me too!

Hi I don't have any achievement..

just frustrated with Hanon #48 Part 2. It's the exercise of the 6th. My teacher told me to put 4 16th notes to met 86. My friedns, I am having hard time. It's driving me crazy. I must be getting old and cannot keep up with the directional change, contrary and similar motion etc. She also told me to play the whole thing in p (=quietly) slightly detached (not stacatto). I am not complaining.. I know I need technique. It is apparent. If i had technique, I won't have hard time to do this.

I also realized that my scales were no good as well. She told me that I have to perfect each scale this time before we move the speed up. So, I am playing at 80 for 4 notes for 4 octaves scales for all three forms of e minor. She wants me to ace the scales. She marked where my hands wern't quite together. Ahhh there were too many.. She had me start in the middle of the scale with the met. I missed the beat since I was not used to start the scale any old place. Now I hear how bad mine actually were. I cannot believe that I did not know this until now. I must have gone through the motions to play the piano. Anyway, it's time consuming. I did not know practicing scales would take 30 min.. Hope I have something good to tell next week.

FarmGirl -

I may be weird, but that sounds rewarding. It's going to feel so gooooooood when you nail it.

Recently my teacher said - after seeing I was having trouble reliably hitting a descending G major scale fragment in a piece - "Ah, yes, I can see that we have not spent as much time on scales as we should have given where you are..." Oh.

Good luck!

Oh no... I think this is a un-achievement...
My laptop doesn't boot and I suspect this is an hard-drive problem... that means my recent .WAV files gone to trash... that means I lost some of my piano records... that means I lost the record I made THIS weekend of the piece I was going to send to the ABF Recital...
I'm really sad and disappointed.

I love that "something similar to the reality of this piece"! That is perhaps what we are all aiming for?
So well done, Recaredo.

Apparently, I'm playing Invention No.1 "like a beginner". Well, given I'm only a few months back at the piano, I'd say I am a beginner, so I'm not taking this as a complete insult (though I think that's how it was intended). It's clear that I am getting more from the piece (hand independence etc.) than the piece is getting from me. And if I begin to approach "something similar to the reality of the piece" I shall be overjoyed.