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My piano is getting tuned for the first time today. I wonder if my inexperienced ears will be able to tell the difference.

If you can't hear the difference, your piano probably doesn't need a tuning :p. But I'm sure you'll notice and love it!

My new piano gets tuned for the first time tomorrow. I can't wait! It is definitely moody over its move from Germany to Switzerland. Hopefully a fresh tuning will make it happy!

SwissMs what kind of piano did you get?

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the piano tech the dealer sent to service my piano happens to be a neighbor who lives 3 floors above my unit. How funny! And convenient

It is a Bechstein grand, 160. I love it!

Wow!! Some day when I have a bigger place...I will get me one of those babies. I heard Bechsteins are wonderful pianos. Good for you!

I noticed at yesterday's piano lesson how badly the piano needed a tune (perhaps a match is more what it needs).

My piano teacher said the dreaded "M" word today. "Memorize". I made it clear to her when I started with her last year, that I have been horribly unsuccessful at memorizing music. It's almost like I'm missing some component of my memory. It's not simply difficult. I can memorize passages only to be unable to recall them even 20 minutes later. If I can't get the notes to stick in my short term memory, there's no hope of the notes making it to my long term memory!!! Oh well.

I'm going to try and memorize the Chopin Waltz in a minor Op 34 no 2. I know to some extent that I need not "try" but "do". My history of unsuccessful memorization does not have me encouraged. I'm not getting any younger either. My memory in general is not strong.

Anyway, I have a plan. I will try to do this. But, even if I am able to play by memory in a lesson, I'm not sure I would trust myself in a performance given the additional anxiety I will feel. Performance date i June 1st memorized or not. I don't "HAVE" to have the piece memorized. I'm already in a bit of a funk over this. I do seem to work myself up over the most stupid stuff. Just rambling at this point.

Carry on.

dynamobt, you are definitely not alone in your memorization quandry. I am worried how I will get on when I start longer pieces for my memory seems just as bad.

Years ago I started one of those memory courses, I guess it is common knowledge now that they are based on visual memorization techniques but back then it was a bit of a mystery. Anyway I was shocked how good you can recall things using internal visual cues. I will be investigating this further to see how it can be adapted to learning longer pieces but for now you might be interested in reading the following blog.

http://memorisingmusic.com/

I should of course have also checked the PW Forum first regards memorisation. There is plenty of previous posts on the subject with some interesting stuff.

A freshly tuned piano is distracting. I've been trying to write my midterm paper and I find myself taking (lots) of breaks to play with Johann. 15 more pages to go.

I love googling free music . . .without having to accept all the toolbars and hiccups you get. (Was looking for a "Pink" song; not a chance!)It`s like hunting . . . but without the blood! I like watching ebay auctions when they get down to the wire . . . digital pianos, caravans, they go for stupid prices often. But you can`t watch your own sales . . .

don't like watching ebay, too much of a chance I might end up with an unwanted caravan

I felt like that too, when I started lessons, having never memorized any music before. I remember the first time my teacher told me to memorize something. At the end of the lesson, he just kind of tossed this out, "Oh, and memorize the first page by next week." I felt like yelling, "What?! That's impossible!" But I did it. All I can say is that, like everything else, it becomes not quite so difficult the more you practice it. I still hardly ever memorize complete pieces, but I'll memorize sections now without even being pushed to do it.

Ha ha! My teacher had me listening to some Liszt pieces to see if there were any that piqued my interest. Nothing struck me until I heard "La Campanella". So I looked up the sheet music. Um... never mind.

I may have the opposite issue. I can memorize rather easily. My problem is trying not to rely so much on memory but actually "read" the music in front of me.

Well amazingly, the memorizing is coming along. I don't know that I feel solid enough in it to do more than play in my lesson because I worry so about my performance anxiety blanking everything out.

Now I'm aware that's it's going to be "interesting" playing from music on the sections I've memorized. I'm going to look likt a nodding fool as I go from looking at the music to looking at my hands!!

Bottom line is that I doubt I will trust myself enough to play the recital memorized. I want performing to be a reasonably enjoyable experience for me. I do this for fun not to create problems for myself.

Still, I'm surprised that I've had some success memorizing. I thought I couldn't do it at all. It's not quite that bad.

dynamobt, I had a similar experience believing a piece was to hard for me to remember, all those notes it was daunting. I think I have mentioned before I don't have a great memory. I learned early in my work career to have aids for memory. They invented those sticky yellow pads just for me, lol.

Anyway, I did memorize my piece and sounds like you are doing well too. I think it's quite common for people doing recitals to have their music in front of them, even if it's just a security thing.

Just home from my lesson... my brain's tired! More than a few years of formal lessons over my lifetime and none of my teachers every addressed chord theory until now.

I'm fixed up with a fake book, basic chord theory, straightening out sloppy/lazy fingerings (I have small hands and can only reach to 9ths), and am I slow at this!! I have to build the root chord, then work through all the inversions until I figure out the one that puts the melody note on top... diminished, 9ths, augmented... YIKES! Still, I like the sounds I make when I finally figure out the right chords.

Memorization? Well, that's not easy either for me. But with practice, things do get lodged in a corner of my head...I've gone from one memorized piece to four over the last six months, a biggie for me. A page in a week? Uh-uh. How's about a bar or two?



Because it's there to aspire to! I scored a major Craigslist coup not long ago; a music teacher's library of mostly classical sheets. A trunkful! (Well, OK, it was a small British car trunkful, but still...) For $10! Awesome stuff, some attainable, like the Clementi sonatinas I'm working on, to well... music desk "decoration" (when there's no white space left on the page). And all of her handwritten notes on the sheets is like having a second teacher!

Reality check. Showed my teacher the Grieg piece I'm planning to submit for the Grieg recital in September. I told her it's supposed to be one of the "easier" pieces and she gave me the most concerned look and said I better start now. At least she didn't completely say I'm nuts. She's concerned that I will have a hard time with the chords and octave jumping etc. guess there's no better time to learn than now.

It's a good thing ElleC to have something difficult as a goal I sure you would agree. Our problem as beginners is to find the piece that is difficult to satisfy our ambition, but not too difficult that it outstrips out technical ability.

I am mulling over a problem of tackling a very hard piece that will take several months of work. Can I do it, probably, should I do it and not do it justice is the question. I'll get back to you on that one.