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Andy and Malkin who knows you might make someone's day LOL! That's cool you made up your own accompaniment Larry.



Oops not yet- too many stumbles and I can only play one paged Alfred's things. I may possibly be able to upload this Bach minuet in about 6-9 months if I keep working hard at it. Maybe an Alfred's in 3 months.

Or you can pick the nicest sounding Alfred tune and submit that

Participating is just as valuable when you're just starting out as when you're performing concertos.

Thanks for the encouragement Allard but I too stumbly and clumsy right now- my playing is horrid to listen to. This is how I "play"- plonk plonk, wrong notes, plonk plonk, stumble stumble, note notes etc etc!

It's been an awful long time since I've posted. I've been reading faithfully though, so some comments may be a bit dated since I'm thinking of posts from a while ago...

Toastie -- Glad to hear that you & your U3 remain together and happily committed. :-) It's quite inspirational to hear that piano playing has made such an impact on your life.

Saranoya -- It's an awfully tough stretch you've had to deal with for quite a while now, but you continue to attack life with the humor and verve that comes across so clearly, even though none of us (I think) have ever met you in person. It's great that you at least are getting to play the Boston finally! Every once in a while I glance over and notice your total post count, and do a double-take each time. Your presence is so much larger than that number would suggest!

Thanks to both of you for sharing this tough chapter in life with us. How dreary would it be if we stuck to 100% piano, 100% of the time, and none of us opened up about the rest of our lives?

FarmGirl & WiseBuff, your pic was just too cute. You look like you could be (half) sisters!

Ragdoll -- Transposing on the fly? Two different keys? Wow... I'm very impressed! You're on your way to becoming a session musician.

Cheryl -- I'll have to check out that "can't focus" thread, I think I need some of whatever it is that you did there to get "in control". Could you quit being so nice and encouraging though? It's getting a little old.

SandTiger -- nice job on your live performance... what a thrill to get applause like that, that would be fun some day. There is clear progress in your technique, some delicately played spots there really stand out and are quite pretty. I'd like to reiterate what others have said as well: it's really nice to hear all the detail about your journey on a regular basis.

ElleC -- Welcome, and congrats on your first recital! An acoustic will be much more difficult, particularly with the pedal, but so so so worth it.

Also a hearty welcome to all the other new names, too many for me to track.

Giant raspberries (of the puerile kind, not the food kind) to everyone posting pics of new pianos. I hate you all.

Congrats to all, soaring to new heights with the AOTW "chuffed"-per-post rate.

My update...

My playing (and PW/ABF/AOTW posting) time has been severely curtailed due to work demands, again. Not as bad as Dec & Jan was, but pretty bad. I've fallen off the wagon entirely re: my method book, just keeping up w/ old stuff and working on arranging a 2nd song for my wife, and taking a bit of time to work on Chopin's Prelude, Opus 28, #4 -- which is much harder than it looks, but I did know that going in based on prior ABF threads.

I reached a point of despair on song #2. I can't sing it in the original key (too high), so I was planning to just sing one octave below. The problem is that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. I can sing along with the piano, if the melody is there and not just the chords. I can also sing an octave lower with the radio, but with no other voice to carry the tune it is much much more difficult to sing an octave lower with the piano than I had expected.

Sliding down one octave on the piano, so that I'd be right on the same note between piano and voice, sounded AWFUL -- just so low that it was terribly muddy and dull, lifeless and dreary.

And, I was having the worst time with the fingering, jumps, etc. regardless. I was basically ready to give up... so I shelved it for a few weeks.

My AOTW... I decided to see if I could find a middle ground, a spot where the top notes of the melody would be near the top of my range, such that it would be singable (is that a word?) but not so low that it would be completely muddy. So, I dropped down from G, picking B (rather than Bb or C, the other candidates) based on the advice that it falls under the hands very nicely and is intuitive in that it uses all of the black keys.

One last problem though... it is still too much of a drop... the octaves in the bass are very low, getting as far down as B1 (counting the first B as B0). Still too muddy and very difficult to keep the left hand from dominating.

So... fine, let's simplify and get rid of the octaves, if I want a dramatic low note (an occasional feature of the song and hallmark of the artist), I can always bounce down there for a moment.

And... voila, suddenly the top of the bass octaves, that were played with my left thumb, can now be played with my left pinky, and the rest of my left hand is free to help out. So, I've slid the bottom notes of the right hand to the left hand, where it makes sense to do so.

Jumps: reduced, dramatically.

Fingering: much simpler now, fewer notes in the right hand, and I'm able to have a more stable hand position.

Muddiness: quite a bit better than dropping the full octave. It needs to be improved to make the song sound decent, but it's my left-hand & pedal techniques that are the primary problem. These will improve with time and focus.

In a word, I'm chuffed!!

It's not as rich and full as it could be, but it's doable for me and it's OK without having the "tink-tink-tink" sound that one gets with stripped down "Easy Piano" arrangements (just my $.02 worth on those in general, but for pop songs in particular).

I'm not fully committed to B though, Db has most of the same advantages as B with the bonus of being a bit higher, improving the overall tone. I'm also fairly comfortable with Db because of all my time with Clair de Lune. One drawback though, the tonic is on a black key, so for much of the song I'd have my thumb on Db instead of B. I'm a beginner, so yes, this does matter to me. I have to figure out if I can stretch my voice that high too. It would be pointless to have the dramatic high notes wind up squeaky or otherwise sound too forced.

I have to decide soon though, because I can't really learn to play it until the key is nailed down --- unlike Ragdoll that is

Thanks TallGuy, glad you're back; but you give me far too much credit. I believe it's because I spend tons of time on my scales and progressions/inversions that I was able to do that. When I have a certain key under my hands and recall how I played it in the original key it makes it easier for me to move it to another key. They were very simple pieces too, mostly simple melodies in the RH and broken chords in the LH.

I have not had a very good week due to some hideous family issues and so haven't had much of an AOTW. Mostly reviewed current and older pieces and the 12 minor scales this week. Family issues remain unresolved

I do have the first 38 measures of the Canon in D pretty well done, still struggling with the coming 16ths to smooth them out. Sally Gardens is coming along ok so that's about it.

Hi Everyone. I copied the following passage from a book I was looking at on Amazon. The author was laying out some typical problems that all students encounter in learning to play piano, and was making a point about children's problems being pretty much the same as adults.

I didn't know where to put this, but it sure sounds like something we all need reminding of from time to time. The bolded part is my emphasis for a part I think applies to me and many others at the ABF.

.

Hi Jim, interesting quote. Which book did you find?

Wisebuff - sounds like you're really focused on the work for your exam. I don't think I would like introducing exams to my piano life, but I do find it interesting to see how others seek this challenge.


FarmGirl - glad you are having fun with the duet - and hey, you can play the other movement at another point in time!
Speaking of Chopin, there seems to be a fresh flood of Chopin going on in ABF the past few days - what fun! I had a fried over last week to play and he was working on Chopin. It got me to pull out the Waltz in Am, (Post) and start to work on it again. Maybe I'll have it ready for August!!

ATallGuyNH: How to reply to your post. Hmmmm Ok.
So..you're back? Didn't miss you at all. I can't believe you took so long to figure out how to transpose from one key to another. Gee, what a slow poke. Maybe you should just face the fact that you don't have much voice range and drop the whole thing.
How do you like them apples?

AAAAACK ... that was really hard to write! LOL......

I bet you had great fun figuring out how to match the key to your voice range. Welcome back....:)

JimF: I second the request for the title of the book! That excerpt really does sum up what we go through!!!!!

Is the title of the book perhaps: The pianist's problems:a modern approach to efficient practice and musicianly performance by William S. Newman ?

Edit no1: Hmmm..... it seems to be that book, yes.

Edit no2: Aah, my local library has that one in the stockroom, great! That saves money. Can Someone pick that up for me and email me when it's ready at the desk. Oh, that's easy, just one click with my mouse, ok done.

I so really love the Internet.

Thanks Jim!

after 2 months of playing on my digital keyboard, i knew i wanted to get an acoustic piano. so I've re-searched and sought out piano stores for a month (ended up on this forum during my research!) and today he arrived! So everyone, please meet "Johann," my brand new U1(fondly named after the composer of the first classical piece I had ever played).

I'm beyond excited to play music and get better (and older) with this piano!

btw, i know it probably doesn't belong on this thread but purchasing my first piano is a personal achievement.

This thread is an awesome one to show off a new piano! Congratulations!!

ElleC, nice new Yamaha piano. Your progress is truly remarkable. You have already lapped me in terms of pieces learned. (I started in March 2012).

Augustina, congratulations on the A grade.

Ragdoll and AtallguyNH, good work on the transposing.

CasinItaly, seems like you have tamed that red dot dragon, and now have the creature working for you instead of against you.

EdwardianPiano, you probably have already read this, but to limit mistakes, many of us slow way down until the playing feels relatively easy. The tempo comes more easily after learning the fingering and the notes.

LarryShone, piecing together any music by ear is an accomplishment. I also saw your thread about getting a free method book.

Week 56: I attend an organ concert featuring Dr. Kyle Johnson that includes works by Bach and Pachelbel. I believe it is the first time I have heard anything other then the famous Canon in D.

I start to work on sheet music for Yiruma's River Flows in You (also from the Twilight movies). There are some long reaches for jumps. It is almost always one note at a time on each hand. The rhythm gets quick, but no quicker than Canon.

I am still doing the sight reading and ear training apps. I've dropped the reading out loud of notes, because I don't care for the Hal Leonard arrangements. I revived Shadow, and still enjoy playing Passage of Time, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I go back to musical exploration mode in the hopes of finding that next original composition. I am still doing the two and three octave scales, adding the key of A major for the new Yiruma piece.

I saw a bit of the movie The Eddy Duchin Story on TV. He gets the girl by playing Chopin. There are quite a few shots of the hands on the piano, so if anyone is flipping channels, the pianists will probably enjoy it.

Have a good week everyone.

Paperclip and Cheryl,

Yes,the quoted book was The Pianists Problems by William S. Newman. I've only read the "look inside" bits on Amazon. It is an old book, originally published in 1950. I may order it later, but right now I'm backed up two piano related books.

Congrats ElleC, Johan looks a handsome chap!

EleC, wow that's a beautiful piano!

Augustina, very nice, an A. Congrats!

Wisebuff and Farmgirl, that pic made me smile.

Sand Tiger, congrats for playing piano for a year!

Ragdoll, sorry to hear about your family issues. I believe that if the brain is too occupied to play piano, then it needs that to be. Although when it happens to me, I find it hard to be "flexibel" about it: I rather play piano, heh.

TallGuy, it seems that you need more raspberries. This topic is great to show new piano's.

Well Im practicing a difficult section of a song Im on, it has a walking bass line going from F to C while the right hand plays, well Im not certain what you'd call it, a 3 note arpeggio that descends. I have to play it really slowly to make my hands do their seperate parts. Finding it very hard but its good practice for hand seperation. Id record it but I need to concentrate and recording interfers with the flow. I'll get there...

ElleC Johann looks very smart on the rug and matches the curtains and decor! Sweet! His own rug!

Wishing you and Johann some happy musical times!

My mother came to my house for the first time since I moved in ( she came when I was moving a few things in but before I had moved in properly) so she saw Piano settled in and had a play of him. I think she is better than I who plonked about on Bach and Handel and some Alfred's pieces. She encouraged me to keep on with the lessons.

Sounds like you are all making good progress.




Yes I do Sand Tiger, but I could make a mistake on a piece as slow as a tortoise honestly LOL!

ElleC.... That is a ton to get excited about. I'm confident that U1 walks all over anything any digital can perform. To put that here is simply unpretentious. Most would create a thread for such a thing. You're humbly rich. Congratulations.

I played the Chopin Nocturne Op 32 No 2 today in a small recital at a local nursing home today. I played it about two weeks ago at a New Hampshire Music Teacher's Honors Recital as well. I felt more comfortable about performing today than I did a couple of weeks ago. One goal I have is to become more at ease when I perfom. I think these small recitals are helping me get over performance nerves. I am lucky in that my hands do not perspire! Sometimes my hands will shake a bit. It's kind of mind over matter to stay calm even when a mistake is made. Student evaluatons are coming up in May. I'm looking foward to them.

Dynamobt, playing Chopin is always an accomplishment. I'm impressed that you are sharing your music for people in nursing homes. I know they love it. And as Sand Tiger says, playing Chopin gets the girl. I wonder how it works for the girl getting the guy (not that I'm in need of one)? Just wondering

Edwardianpiano. Enjoy your new space with your piano. I share your pain of having mistakes even at painfully slow tempo. Ah well...our fingers must short circuit to the brain somewhere. As long as it's musical and we keep moving, it's an accomplishment. Sounds like Larry may share the same sentiment :-)

Thanks to all of you who appreciated the happy pic of FarmGirl and me. We really did have a good time. Piano World is a particularly enjoyable virtual place and taking those relationships out into physical place justs adds to the connection.