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HAHA! Last year I didn't know who Chopin WAS! I started playing piano after seeing "The Pianist" last year. If you haven't seen it, you NEED to. It features both Nocturne in C charp minor and an abbreviated version of Ballade no 1. It's an unbelievably moving film.

Wow, you're cruising! I started in February, and just got that Clementi sonatina (3rd movement only) "done for now"... I can't imagine having tried it after one month.

My AOTW is to have survived another lesson where we worked on "groups and rhythms" on part of another Clementi sonatina, which I hadn't worked much on before that day. And, I have my assignments for the next 6 weeks - I'll be traveling, probably with rare/poor real internet access, but am hoping to have a keyboard to practice on when I get where I'm going. If not, I'm going to go into withdrawl... I do hope to be able to download the recital pieces once that's available, and look forward to listening!

I was hoping to re-record my own recital submission and get a better take, but that has fallen by the wayside with packing, and wanting to move on to my next piece(s)...

Sam, a great movie indeed! A true story also. Although the piece he played for the german soldier was actually used as the main theme in the movie.

Burt59, I think you do great after a month!

Farmgirl, good that you stand up for yourself. But I hope your lovely teacher won't be very disappointed. So I wish you luck telling her.

Well my AOTW is a bit strange. I tried to learn and play the first page of Dark Eyes Boogie of Martin. But the memorisation part I FAILED hopelessly.

For weeks I tried to learn, but the little variations and the two rythms against each other were to much for me.

It is also my first boogie piece. But I couldn't memorise it. I thought that was necessary because normally it is played at high speed.

So this weekend I dropped the memorise thing and tried to read and play, and not memorising it. In 6 x 30 minutes I learned the other 3 pages.

First HS and then HT at 15% speed, dead slow, with my eyes looking at the sheets. And no mistakes. Now I can play the whole piece!!!

I never learned 56 measures in 3 hours practise before!!! So fast...

And then I was stuck at the first 26 measures for weeks...

I am aware of that. I actually read his memoir a couple weeks ago. I learned Nocturne in C sharp minor as well. It's so simple and beautiful! I think they used the ballade as the piece he played for the German soldier in order to make it more dramatic, with Szpilman going from shaky hands to super fast hands in a short period of time.

Sam, yeah, I love the piece. I am gonna practice hard. It may save my life someday too.

I just noodled around my old christmas books. Oh what a fun it is to just sight read around! I love the one arranged by Jeanine Yeager. It would be so cool to have the skill to arrange music like her.

Paperclip, what's boogey? Is it a type of Jazz?

My AOTW so far is that I can finally getting the hang of the Hannon exercize #48 (exercize of scales in sixth). I can now play at metro 80 for a quarter note (4 x 16th notes). This exercise was horrible.. Even my dogs hated it. I hope my teacher let me move on to #49.

Started my first Scriabin piece

Wow, that sounds great.
Is it one of his early pieces or later ones? Whichever it is, I know you will handle it well. I like early pieces to listen to, but I have not yet developed mature enough music taste to appreciate his later ones. I hope I can understand his later pieces better someday.

At any rate, it's quite an undertaking. Let us know how it goes.

These Scriabin pieces are on my (ever increasing) to do list:

Prelude in E minor
Feuillet d'Album (Album Leaf)

Hi Bessel I hope you submit your recording of this because I am working on the same one I believe and would love to hear you play it! We appear to be at a very similar level based on the pieces you've mentioned. I've been working on the song for 2 months and can get through it with rough spots all over. I do have the first 49 measures memorized though. I am finding that is making easier rather than harder to get through the piece. So while polishing the tough spots I add a bit more to the memory bank each week. Not at a point I can record it yet though!

Lain, I'd also like to know what piece you are going to learn. I love Scriabin.

Zoe -

I did submit it... there are a few minor flubs in there, and a section where I somehow am obviously not synchronizing my hands well despite the fact that when I play it it sounds fine to me... the cruelty of the red dot! Testament to the fact that I still have some things to learn and work on.

It's boogie woogie. A piano blues with a typical bassline and shuffle to dance on it. Originated from the US and very popular in the 1920's.

But the 'Dark Eyes Boogie', I think, is only boogie without the woogie (i.e. without the shuffle), because it's played very fast and comes from the book The joy of blues and boogie. So a blues bookie... not a boogie woogie bookie.

Maybe better to understand with a vid though...



Lain, nice that you have choosen Scriabin for your next piece. I would love to play one of his pieces. Especially the Left Hand Only piece. But what piece did you choose?

I think this is my non-achievement of the week. I have managed to avoid learning scales so far, but I decided I needed to add them to my knowledge base. So, I learned the first set, C, D, E, G, and proceeded to play them for my teacher. She immediately told me that I needed to count them 1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 1-2, 1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 1-2 etc. accenting the first beat in each group. Well correct fingering and counting correctly turns out to be more than I bargained for. Hopefully I will have it by my lesson time on Saturday!

Paperclip: I love the Boogie Video!

Paperclip, It's Americna made. No wonder it sounds so American. It makes me want to dance:) Thank you.

Andy - Like the plan for splitting up the Clementi and the duet in the middle. Sounds like a lot of fun. How is the Debussy coming along?

Burt59 - For a different perspective, by the time you are my age you will have been playing for more than 20 years! Can you imagine how insanely good you will be by then?

Paperclip - I'm with you... when I slow way way way down and don't allow any mistakes small miracles start to happen. Why is it so hard to follow this simple model? Even knowing this I usually have to fight with myself to slow it down enough.


Just got back from this week's lesson. Played Sarabande Second Variation and Scarlatti's Arioso. Got some nice compliments and just have a little more work on the last few measures of each to go. AOTW was playing Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered for her, which she didn't really know I was even working on. It went well and I had a big smile on my face when I nailed the ending. Felt so good I launched into a rendition of Shadow of Your Smile.

My wife has requested Over the Rainbow as my next self-study from the Coates Jazz Standards book, so that's now on my plate. Plus at lesson we talked about starting a new romantic era piece. We settled on Edward MacDowell's "Beauty in the Rosegarden" Op.4,No.3. She played it for me and it sounds wonderful - but it sure looks intimidating. I've a feeling this one will take a while. SOW is Db major.

Hmm, could be better! It's like a leaky boat that as soon as you fix one hole, water comes in another. It's not that bad but it could be a lot lot better. It is coming down to two sections that need more work so at least that's narrowing it down. The trouble is that comprises two fifths of the entire piece!!!

I practiced for two hours every day (not both hours at one stretch). So, some pieces I'm working on are starting to get there, and some new pieces that I used to play years ago--- some Scott Joplin rags--- I can play them better now. Part of it is that I can play better, and read better, and part of it is that now I have a piano that actually does something when you press the keys. Before, I played on some old beater uprights.

Anyway, it's better, and I'm happy about it.

I don't know... for ragtime, old beater uprights can give it some character! :P

Speaking of Joplin... finally passed The Entertainer last weekend! Even after 5 months it's not quite perfect, but I've been itching to get back to my RCM book.

"I don't know... for ragtime, old beater uprights can give it some character! :P Speaking of Joplin... finally passed The Entertainer last weekend!"

And old beaters were probably what the guys wrote them on and played them on back then. Character indeed, how could I argue, and they certainly proved you can go a long way with an old beater. But there is something thrilling--- to me, anyway--- with an instrument that has a real bass, a midrange that's not crappy as so many unfortunately are, and a treble that does more than plink (nothing against plinky pianos though, after all they've done for me).

I never learned Maple Leaf or The Entertainer. I have aspirations for the more challenging pieces, but I love the ones within my reach: Pineapple, Wall Street, Elite Syncopations, Bethena, Eugenia, Solace, Bink's Waltz, Magnetic, Scott Joplin's New Rag. And other composers do call to me. Two hours is only so long. Hey--- got to practice.

Ok, I went to my lesson today. The result is mixed, one up and one down.

Christmas piece - Yey, Merry Christmas to myself that I don't need to study Christmas piece. As I walked in, she was doing another Christmas medley prepared for me and it was very difficult to bring it up. But I did it and I got okay from her. I got lucky. She could not find a piece she really like for me:) Ahhhh I was blessed.

Beethoven - I played through the 2nd movement with a couple of mistakes. She was very pleased with the progress i made. So far so good. But when I said, "Can I move straight to Chopin.. I kinda got tired of Beethoven." It did not go well. She already prepared the fingerings for the whole movement... She said it's probably to finish all of them now since i worked on the 1st and 2nd movement... It's another 3 months with Beethoven before I can start Chopin Ballade #1. Don't take me wrong, I think it's a beautiful piece. My teacher is not a quitter for sure.

After Rachmaninoff prelude which will be complete in a couple of weeks, I will start English Suite. I kind of like #2 but I haven't really listened to all of them yet. So I will go buy the score and start listening to it now. It will be fun since I haven't done Bach for a while.