Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Achievement of the week - what got you excited?

Thanks! I think I'm still under a year and a half.

About the lessons, it's a REALLY good idea. I did well on my own, but if you look at my old videos you can see the technical changes I was able to learn in just two lessons that I've had so far, and how that affects my playing so much (for the better). Beware of bad teachers, but otherwise there is no downside and a lot of upside to getting lessons. Go for it!!

Cathy, Cheryl, MaryAnn, bessel, BeccaBb, thank you for your kind words. This is not piano related but we finally found a puppy friend for Emma. The puppy came with a name "Tank" but I am pondering to change it to "Spencer". My husband like the name Tank. He says that it's not gonna be a sissy dog like Emma who likes to lay around to listen to music with me. He wants to be with a boy dog (=manly dog) when he is watching a football game in his Man Cave (more like a Man Corner of the living room). The woman who sold us the puppy is a sort of character - she has 2 horses, 4 other dogs (Puppy's father, mother, surrogate mother and a totally unrelated black lab). She says she was in the film industry in LA. Hmmm we both had to think about what it means (LOL) briefly. The best part was that she loves her animals very much. I am secretly hoping to turn the puppy a piano loving dog like Emma.

Sam, not bad at all. You are very musical and that is a gift. These recordings are incredibly precious not only because you can play the piece but I hear something very pure in it. I feel your incredible love for the music and Chopin.

Nikolaj - congrats to your first lesson.

My major achievement of the week is that I got a "pass" on The Clown by Kabalevsky . God, how I grew to hate that piece!!!! When my teacher first showed it to me I thought "Meh, its not anything special, but its not horrible either, I can play it if she thinks that there is something to learn from it!"
She was very particular about tempo, phrasing, and articulation and it took me 3 WEEKS to get it to where it needed to be. The piece looks SUPER easy on paper, but it was pretty challenging for me.

The worst part of it was that my family HATED it too. I would begin practicing a section of it and several members would sigh, moan, and even say things like "aren't clowns supposed to entertain us, aren't clowns supposed to make us happy? I generally like Kabalevsky, and I really look forward to playing several of his other pieces......but GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE CLOWN.

My achievement is that I can play Invention 13 by Bach now with no effort. A few weeks ago I was going to post here asking for advice because I couldn't bring the hands together. Now I'm working on voice leading which is my weakest point and the notes are not the problem any longer. I also have it memorized by now, I haven't looked at the score in 2 weeks and I can pretty much start from anywhere within the piece. I'm struggling to keep the tempo down because I realize I started to play it too fast for my current ability and it causes slips.

first time in this thread for me..... it's not so much of an accomplishment like you fine people share, but it did get me excited, so hopefully it still counts. I was playing "Blues for Wynton Marsalis" p.109 of Alfred's adult all-in-one.. and as soon as I started playing I thought 'YESSSS, this is more like it!' .. I just got super-crazy enjoyment out of it. It felt just right, you know what I mean?

Good for you, Teodor. I've been working on this piece too, and I'm kind of stuck at 85 bpm right now. Faster than that, and my hands get out of sync. I don't have it memorized, though, and play from the sheets. Do you think having it memorized would help to play it faster?

My wife has an AOTW ... she managed to finally wear me down and get me to agree to cut back to 45 minutes (from one hour) a night. This SUCKs.

I'm particularly annoyed because it was her who got rid of the digital which forces me to practice before the kids go to bed. And, of course, she then says if I practice for an hour I can't spend enough time with them.

But in the choice between piano and a marriage, I have to take marriage.

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that Andy.
Is it your wife's rule that you cannot play while the children are in bed? Both of my kids really love to fall asleep listening to me play (as long as it is not The Clown by Kabalevsky :D).
Perhaps you could find a way to eek those additional 15 minutes into your practice sessions in some other way (an additional practice session in the early morning hours of the weekend?). If I were similarly situated, I would make a list of all of the reasons my husband (in my case) wanted me to play 15 fewer minutes a day. Then I would try to find the equivalent amount of time where those complaints couldn't possibly be applicable (i.e., if the point is that you are neglecting the kids, find time when the kids are occupied by something they have chosen to do, if you are neglecting your wife, play when your wife is doing something that doesn't involve you in any way).
If this strategy doesn't work, (i.e., your wife still complains) then you probably need to address why she seems to want to control your time at the piano so much. Maybe she doesn't realize that this is what she is doing and maybe she has never real thought about what doing so means to you and your relationship with her.
I unequivocally agree with your statement at the end of your post, one should choose marriage!! I would just edit it a bit and say one should choose to work tirelessly to maintain a happy healthy marriage. Could you possibly give to your family in those 15 minutes each day something that seems worth the misery you feel making the sacrifice?

Andy, if you were my dad I'd love to fall asleep listening to you play. I can't think of a better bedtime routine.

Good luck figuring out a way to find more practice time! I don't know what I would do if I had mine trimmed to such a short period

Andy, are your kids interested in piano, or another instrument? I wonder if you could spend that 15 minutes cultivating some interest in music. Just a thought.

Aimee

On the subject of loud pianos... if we ever get a nice acoustic I'm going to at least see if playing wakes up the kids after they're asleep... some kids will sleep through anything, so it's worth a try!

Good luck, Andy!

Andy,

Sounds like it is time to start the "get up an extra half hour early for 30 minutes of morning practice" program.

That way you end up going from your old 1 hour to 1 hour and 15min, and not down to 45 min.

You can then thank your wife for the good idea.

win-win!

I think you will have an easier time if you can see your hands playing it. There is a lot going on and you should work out what movements to use to play each section. Also you need to have the fingering nailed before you can increase the tempo. I can now play at performance tempo most parts, while I was crawling through it while using the sheet. I'm only ever looking at my left hand but it helps a lot. I've worked out all the technical problems already by dissasembling the invention apart and isolating each logical element. What helped me was to first make sense in my mind of all the motifs and their response in my head. After this putting the two hands together was suddenly easy and now I can't even remember what exactly was difficult technically. Make your own logical connections between the elements and the speed wall will crumble.

Sam - I'm always so amazed at what you can do at the piano after such a short time, you must have music in your bones Complimenti!

Andy - I think you are right to choose your marriage over the piano - but I also think that there could be some other solutions. I too wondered why not play a bit after the kids have gone to bed. I think it would be lovely for them to fall asleep listening to you play (obviously you may have to select specific soothing pieces for that time of day).... of course we don't know what your house is like, or any of the myriad details that have led to this decision, we just hope you can get back your full hour!

I see we have a number of new comers in the thread - I love to see that! Always remember, no achievement is too small to report and feel good about. As adult beginners we MUST focus on the small steps and take heart from them.

We have all experienced the sensation that when we try to add some new dimension to our music we take two steps backward....well, just keep in mind this thread is for when you take a step forward. It helps you focus on all the things that are going right.

My AOTW is two-fold. The first is that I'm going to have a lesson after almost 2 months of missed lessons. (for various reasons....) -- the second is that last night I was looking at my first Jazz book that I got in....September I think, and I tried out some of the pieces that I hadn't been able to coordinate. I won't say that I played them perfectly - but I was doing significantly better. It was very satisfying.

Thank you for all your input. I have had all your thoughts and suggestions myself and more. No, my family will not let me play earlier in the day or later. I'm not going to even attempt to battle that one. If there's one person who hates my practice even more than my wife it's my daughter and her bedroom is right over where the piano is. And no, I basically have no control over that either.

I already squeeze in a few minutes when I can, I'll have to try to do more of that. And more at the weekend.

I think the bottom line is that half of the people in my family just can't stand to listen to me practice. It's that simple. Blurgh.

Anyway, venting over. I had a discussion with my teacher and we have concluded I will have to be even more efficient with my practice time than before. And do more memorization away from the piano.

That's an excellent way to look at it Andy. I had my first son during the first summer of my tenure track job. I spent nine months "freaking out" about how I was going to get everything done once he arrived only to find later that I actually got more done in the years following his birth and this was because I quickly learned to become maximally efficient.

While half of the members of your family can't stand to hear your practice, I imagine I am quite safe in saying that all of the members of the ABF love to hear the results of your practice.

I think it is a safe bet:)

Andy I am sorry to hear your story. Maybe it's time to get a digital again. I haven't had anybody complaints about my playing yet but with all the scales I've played lately I believe I'm driving my husband crazy. I am soon to get a digital piano though so that should eliminate this problem and it gives me night time or early morning practices too. I did tell my husband that if he were playing I would have bought him a digital piano long ago because let's face it. Practice doesn't always sound nice. To the player you are perfecting a section or technique but to a listener it just sounds boring and repetitive after awhile. I hope you can find the time somehow. I would be devestated if I was told to play less by anybody so I can imagine how you feel!

Unfortunately it was my wife who got rid of the digital, insisting ...



All in all I've improved more having an acoustic than I ever thought possible so I have to stay with that. Perhaps it's time to look into adding a silent option but they aren't as common in the US as the UK and aren't cheap.