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

I don't usually have an 'achievement of the week' but I do feel a bit chuffed at the moment!

A bit of background - last December I returned to the piano after ~40 years absence (initially buying a Techics DP to test the waters, then getting Kawai CA63 DP). Even when I was playing the piano, as a teenager, I was pottering rather than systematically studying. Subsequently I seriously took up the classical guitar and have played that off and on (more off than on) over the years.

Anyway, last week my piano teacher gave me Schubert's Minuet D334 to look at, in addition to continuing to work in the interpretation of Shostakovich's Prelude in C maj (from the Op 87 set).

I found the Schubert quite difficult - the fingering and the various voices made it a real challenge for me. I concentrated on the minuet section (which seemed to me by far the most difficult) and left the trio till later.

Last night I had my lesson and started with the Schubert, playing the 'minuet' section through.

At the end my teacher was quiet (ominous, I thought) and then said 'remarkable' a few times ('remarkably bad' I wondered). He then said he would bring his mother in to hear (who is also a piano teacher) but he, correctly, thought that would make me nervous, so didn't.

He said I had done remarkably well (it's Grade 6 standard)!

Kokomo61 - now that is great fun! I haven't seen Little Shop of Horrors for years, but remember being very entertained by it!


John, you must be chuffed indeed! Complimenti! Bravo! I'd be chuffed too!

(note: Canadians and Americans don't use "chuffed" - I only learned it a few years ago when I started hanging out with Brits and Irish folk!.....The first time I heard it, my friend said "I was really chuffed yesterday"....andI cautiously said "Oh, yes..?" with a question in my voice, inviting him to continue (I was wondering - angry?, irritated?, amused? I hadn't a clue. He went on to tell his story and all was clear - but it was a funny example of how two English speakers don't always communicate at first try!

Cas - thanks for the clarification. When I saw John's post I didn't know if chuffed was good or bad.

Chuffed.

One online dictionary gives "very pleased, proud or happy with yourself". I suppose it is all those things but, to me, there's also an element of "quietly very pleased, proud or happy with yourself" about it.

let's see these week I learned a new arpeggio and I almost have half of the 1st page of Heller op45 no1 : )
I'm feeling more motivated to play again... Bach was killing me... D:

I'm stoked.
Just got my results for Gr3 AMEB last night, A-Honours.

I had some lessons 35yrs ago when I was 12, not having touched a piano since then, now 48 and now had 7months of lessons, and loving it. I did put in lots of practice though. Now onto Gr4, and got to get a good result there. I guess its true, you get out what you put in.

Congrats! That's something to definitely be proud of!

I'm just thrilled that my arm's healed enough that I'm easing back into something like a regular practice routine, & I didn't lose that much - back to learning Festive Dance & Scherzo from Alfred's Book 2, working through Hannah Smith's sight reading exercises, some Hanon, scales, triads, etc.

Kudos!

Might I ask what was wrong with your hand that made you stop practice?

Getting this in an email from my teacher:



I love non-native English speakers. It always sounds so much better!!

I love non-native Enlgish speakers because my job is to teach English
Kidding aside, isn't it great to have such clear positive feedback from our teachers?

Lilyanna: I am not familiar with Heller OP45, but I'm going to look it up! Good for you for finding something that keeps your enthusiasm up!

Billy4030 - WAY TO GO! That's pretty exciting!

joyoussoung: I had to slow down playing in February as I was straining my forearms...it drove me nuts - I can imagine your excitement at getting back to the ivories!

Seems everyone is on the verge of wraping up a pretty good week! Well done!

My big achievement of the week: Now that classes are over for the summer for me, but the kids are still in school, I have had the luxury of being able to spend an hour or so each morning in a quiet house in an effort to get some recording done. I managed to get good takes of two different pieces.

Wow, what an up and down ride this piano thing can be.

Last week dogs trying to suicide on poisonous snakes and a lesson gone awry.

This week the Bach HT is proving much easier than the last Bach piece, my first sonatina is down to working on dynamics, and I've almost learned the new Tchaikovsky piece. Best of all, after the lesson I asked my teacher how hard is the Chopin A-minor Waltz and she suggested it be my next piece. Really looking forward to that.

I got my living room cleaned up after the re-roofing and the junk that came down from that

It's not piano, but it makes playing the piano more pleasant.

Cathy

I fell & cracked a bone up by my elbow about 7 weeks ago. Also mangled my wrist & the soft tissue in between. So I've been having physio & gradually getting it working again. I started back playing about 2 weeks ago, just for 10 minutes a day at first, mostly scales & working through old repertoire that I had been able to play. But now I'm back working on the pieces I was supposed to be learning. My teacher's on holiday right now, so I have about another 3 weeks before I'll have a lesson.
btw, sorry for the delayed answer - I'm in a different time zone, & it's been a really busy day. First chance I've had at the computer.

Big achievement this week, managed to find some sheets to the lovely Genesis song "Anyway", and to my surprise managed to get the right hand down in one evening without much trouble. (Not up to speed though! Some parts are a tad tricky, like spanning a minor fifth between my 3rd and 5th finger, and more awkward fingering I have to work out :D)

The left hand is proving to be quite bothersome though, but I'll get it eventually!

Here, have a listen to the original recording;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGUV5IkyLc#t=5m22s


Having progressed this far on Anyway, I think I'm going to put it aside for awhile and continue on with the musette from the Anna Magdalena notebook, and the prelude in C from WTC.

Let's see how well I do on those.

Carol;
Really sorry to hear about your arm, but it's good to see you are slowly picking up where you left again! Good luck with it, let's hope it all heals well quickly!

Monica – how satisfying! Have you uploaded the new recordings? Which ones are they?

Jim – I just started on the Clementi sonatina too! I have managed to walk my way through it a couple of times. I made this choice on my own and will be talking to my teacher about it this week, but I think it is a great project as it incorporates so many of the exercises she’s been giving me since January. I looked at the score and thought “hey, I can do THIS!”…. I can do it…s.l.o.w.l.y. but that will pick up. It is by far the longest piece I’ve looked at, and I’m very keen. Very cool that you are moving on to Chopin as well! Sounds like you’re really doing some great work.

Jotur, - Cathy, getting your surroundings in order makes for a more tranquil frame of mind! Good for you. What are you working on these days?

Joyoussong – Another Canadian! Which time zone are you in? I’m originally from Ottawa, now in Italy - so we’re Ottawa +6 hours. Be careful with your arm – don’t over do things!

Pianosaurus Rex (love your nickname btw) – Anyway sounds like a lot of fun to play. You’ll have to let us hear it when you feel ready to perform!

My satisfaction this week came mostly from doing a TON of sight reading – and feeling that I’ve made a significant improvement, in accuracy if not in speed . As I mentioned above, I’m also starting in on the Clementi Sonatina. I downloaded a very simple version of it in January and last week got the score for the “real deal” –I’m very UP about this!

Sure, if you want to I'll upload it, but it still needs a lot of work. The left hand is an *insert vulgar word*, and I'm still quite a bit from the original speed.
I may need to look for some better recording gear too, but I'll see what I can do.



Oh, dang! I really need to do that too, I was gonna go to the library for some sheets to practise this on but I keep forgetting. =/
Might do that this afternoon! Good luck on the sonatina, by the way.

I'd love to hear where you are with it. As for being at the "original speed"...I'm in slow motion for the moment, still very much just getting the feel of it.

Where in particular are you finding the left hand awkward?
Maybe we should start a thread for newbies to this piece!


I wonder if I can get pieces from the library? I will have to check.
I use the links in the sticky post at the top of this forum for a lot of my sight reading music.