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I ended up learning the Prelude in C# minor in 4 sections: a few years ago:
1) the first part, with the quiet chords, (through about measures: 1-14 or so)
2) the agitato section with the accelerating rolling triplets
3) the manic alternating chords for about 10 measures at the end of the agitato
4) the 4 staves final part

I ended up learning the final 3 sections in parallel, after learning the first section, mostly because they are three entirely different techniques that all took me a long time to get working.

Keeping the manic alternating chords from getting ragged was probably the hardest part for me, along with making all of the jumps accurate in the 4 staves section.


It really is a great piece to learn - when else do you get to play at sffff level?

I managed to practice every day except yesterday. Such a beautiful sunny day in the country, picking kaki

- I have a first (digital) recording of the Tchaikovsky, at 110 bpm. I just sat down and recorded it, amazing! Then I tried with the metronome and couldn't hit a right note for the life of me. Will need to bring this to 120/130 and then record it on the acoustic, which (I know I repeat myself) sounds so much better! This week I will keep doing a short recording session every day, because I terribly need to get used to just play through something without stopping.

- Joplin. Ha! Still that B section. I can do it. It's almost there. I guess.

- Schumann's Melodie: I am finally learning it properly. I will keep working on the 2 trickier bars and on keeping my left hand soft.

- The Bischoff is definitely not a keeper, just a nice little exercise. And since Bach's BWV 939 is too infectious, I started a much easier Musette in G major which should be almost to tempo by the end of the week.

Oh, and the Xmas song. I'll have to spend more time on that, my violinist is making good progress! That thing no longer sounds like a cat being skinned alive.

Chopin Waltz in A minor --- adding the trills is messing up my rhythm. Not sure if there's improvement this week but I'll just keep at it and hope for the best.

Burgmuller Op 100 No 9 --- I've gone to memorize this piece, dynamics are ok, working increasing the tempo now.

Clementi Sonatina Op 36 No 1 --- Brushed up on the first movement. Started working on the 2nd movement this week, a lot easier than the 1st...so it seems. But I haven't shown my teacher yet, I'm sure she will have lots to say and I can't wait for her much needed critique.

Cristofori's Dream --- my hands & fingers are most certainly getting an exercise on reaching the octaves. I can reach an octave with no problem, the difficulty is having a series of them and it's hard to maintain that gap.

Things seem to be coming together better this week on everything, which is a surprise, because my over all practice time is down. Maybe there is a lesson in there somewhere.

Kuhlau Sonatina: The runs in the 1st movement are sounding more even, and I have improved on the fifth finger problem. I have sure learned a lot from this seemingly simple movement. I completed learning the Rondo in sections. Between the Alberti base, the runs, an fifth finger held while playing chords with the rest of the hand, this movement is going to be a good teacher too. This week I will continue to work problem sections and put it all together at 1/2 tempo.

Joplin Chrysanthemum: The C and D sections are finally coming together at slow tempo. This week I will work on finalizing memorization and focus on maintaining accuracy as the speed comes up.

Mendelssohn 30 6: This is in the "hold back and maintain accuracy" stage. I have managed to be disciplined enough to learn it without making errors for the most part. This is where my impatience usually leads me to playing to fast too soon. I should complete memorization of this one too.

Tchaikovsky March: OK, those 1/64th notes freak me out. In reality they are just played like a group of grace notes, or a little trill, but I am having trouble executing them and maintaining the rhythm. So this week I am focusing on mastering them and turning them into a bird call. It will happen.

Christmas carols: I received a new book "Christmas for All Time" that is really nice. I am familiarizing myself with pieces so I can play at family get togethers.

Signed up with a teacher, who has a harpsichord, and is very enthusiastic. First lesson is Saturday. Her scheduling is through takelessons.com, which I was a little leery about until reading the thread on it last month in the teachers forum.

Main focus this week is to prepare my current pieces for the initial teacher meeting (audition?!), when nervousness will make everything a lot worse.

Bach
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1. 1st 3 part invention (C major)
Playing through 5-10 times per day at a slightly slower speed to play in the lesson.

2. 2nd 3rd part invention (C minor)
Learning slowly with hands separate and hands together, and focusing on the 6 trouble sections (1-2 measures each). Each of these gets 5-20 repeats per night at different speeds.

Bach seems to throw in a new technique in a lot of the inventions. This one has:

while playing a trill with your 3rd and fourth fingers, play a second voice with your thumb using the same hand. Third voice is in the other hand.

This is the first piece I've ever had to do something like that, and my thumb is currently sounding like dropping an elephant on the keys while the trill is going on.


Debussy
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1. Prelude: The wine gate
Mostly wrapping up the notes, except for a run of thirds towards the end that I can't play fast enough.

2. Children's Corner: Serenade for the Doll
Memorizing, still working on the harder first two pages every night. It took a while to figure out how to play the grace note section at the start, which seems more like a bouncy, fling your hand at the keys kind of playing.

3. Suite Bergamasque: Prelude
Playing through 3-5 times a night plus 1 different focus section per day. I'll play this first for the lesson this week.


Others
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1. Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, December
Mostly learned, starting to memorize. I haven't played any waltzes before so that's been fun. The piece could have come straight from The Nutcracker, so it fits in with the season.

Still haven't figured out how to transition to the Trio section, which changes keys to B major from Ab.


2. Philip Glass: Mad Rush
Memorizing the coda section this week. Trying to minimize the thumb sounds in some sections, and trying to make the middle sections sound like waves crashing.

3. George Winston: Graduation, Lullaby, The Snowman's Music Box Dance
Mostly playing these in-between the Bach pieces during each practice session.

I have a couple of things to add.

I started the third and final section of my Maple Leaf Rag arrangement. This doesn't mean I have the B section done, but it's starting to sound like something familiar. And I'm still practicing the A section to make it smoother and faster. There is a four-octave run that wasn't good enough, so I just stopped and played it very slowly, and realized that my left hand wasn't in the right position at one point. I thought - okay, now I'll have to play it a thousand times slowly to correct this movement, but no! I played it once, then sped it up a bit, and it was still okay, and then faster and faster, and it was still right! Wow! So I just corrected the wrong movement like that. This has already happened to me a few times now, but never in such an obvious way. You gotta LOVE slow practice!

As for the Tchaikovsky, I am now playing it at 120 bpm, which is the minimum speed, and guess what? I no longer mess up the fast passagework, but the easier parts. Maybe I don't concentrate enough or it's just that I practiced the hard parts more. Now I'll have to balance that out.

So, a couple of self-teaching beginner realizations. Piano practice is always full of surprises.

Diana, your slow practice story is a good reminder. I need that reminder constantly.

My focus at the moment is to find a focus. I've been messing around with bits and pieces of random songs, and not even touching the piano for days at a time, since the ABF recital. Also, my daughter decided she doesn't want to sing O Come All Ye Faithful with me after all, and I don't have any interest in doing it solo.

If I start working on something for Feb 15th already, I'm liable to drive my family crazy in the interim. I may just focus on sight reading and fake book basics for a while.

My big goal was to get a handle on a healthy way of playing melody notes as opposed to chords, and move this to scales. When I self-taught as a teen, it was mostly Kuhlau sonatinas - so melody and Alberti bass (no chords i.e. notes played together). When I got back to piano before I had a teacher I thought scales were "safe" and spent 10 months heavily in scales. What I was doing was bad and entrenched: motionless hand where a penny wouldn't fall off, round fingers that kept that shape and went up and down like hammers. I got numb hands. The first thing I learned was how to use the wrists and arms and relax the hand for chords, but I didn't "have it" yet for melody notes. I literally didn't know how the fingers can move, and how this works together with the arm mechanism. I avoided music that had such notes. If there were melody notes, it was in slow music so that I could use the chord motion and just transport the fingers passively.

So that's what I'm getting a handle on now. In the last few weeks I've explored how a finger can relax in all its joints, and that the three joints can actually move. I've put a finger on a key and then swished the hand around in a circle, getting the joints and wrist to move. I've rotated the hand and forearm along the axis, and other things; gradually stuff started to unlock.

My big achievement: Itsy Bitsy Spider, in slow speed, accompanied by whole note chords. I got through the whole piece without ever having a moment where any finger felt like it was seizing up or turning into a piece of wood, for even a microsecond. It took huge concentration.

Itsy was partly correct, and partly I had the wrong concept, so back to the drawing board. The next piece was also a beginner piece, this one in Cm so I had one black key. This time I noticed tension in part of the arm. I'd been shown a way of relaxing the arm and flopping it into your lap - got that sensation and the whole thing came together. I got a "bye Jove, she's got it" type of response.

2. Debussy's Feuilles mortes (Dead Leaves) is a piece that I get at, up to my level, and leave again. I went at parts of it once before, and visited it now for a few days, a year later. I was especially interested in the melody-type notes where they occur, to practice what I had just learned. My reading improved, and so did "theory". It was easier to get a handle on augmented chords. Feuilles has a lot of a kind of cluster chord that is spaced in major 2nds (like CDE), moves along a whole tone scale, and it's chock full of augmented chords. I'm leaving it aside again, until I get more technique.

So there's Itsy Bitsy Spider and Debussy.

carlos88 - sfff! That's great. Even forte has been a long time coming for me - I was your local wimp piano player until just recently Good for you!

sinophilia - what a nice read! How cool that you "got it in one". i can't tell you how many times I slowed down this last couple of weeks on pieces I've been playing 3 or 4 years, to figure out exactly what was going on (yet again), and it paid off - I was totally out of it for a gig, but played pretty well any way!

SwissMS - When I was ski racing and something finally came a little easier without me noticing that I had done anything to make it happen I called it "grace" It's such a nice experience - one of Diana's little surprises. I always like your insights, too.

Mr Tall - post season let-down? I get like that sometimes, too. Enjoy the time off

And yes, for me, the slow practice, the awareness of detail, etc, really did pay off in a gig yesterday. I knew going in I was pretty fragmented, so I didn't expect much (which, in itself, is a good thing to remember - expectations will kill you ), and even tho one of the residents spit on me/the keyboard (at least they aren't drunk bar patrons) which was distracting - hmpf - and I cut short the gig by about 10 minutes by leaving out a couple of pieces, I played really well! Even forte in a couple of appropriate places!

So soldier on, all, there are good times ahead!

This is a great thread -

Cathy

Feuilles mortes is fascinating to listen to, and is one of the next 6 Debussy preludes I'd like to learn next year.

Your analysis is quite interesting - in my first attempt at sight reading it, it seemed like a completely alien language, and I didn't initially grasp any of the underlying patterns in the sheet music.

Hi everyone! This weekend I am focusing my practice time preparing for my Tuesday piano lesson. I expect my teacher will give an evaluation of what's next over the next several weekS. Stay tuned for more!

Right now, I'm doing far less writing and more time at the piano keyboard. That's a challenge for me as a writer!

I will not make any of my goals for this year. I listed them back on page 1.
The biggest reason is the trouble training my autonomic mind/nervous system. It has been a much bigger issue than I ever imagined.
I also lost my M8000. Found corrosion on a major PC board inside it. I knew I could ruin it by cleaning. Perhaps keep it going a little longer by not doing anything. I decided to clean it. It's all goofed up now.
So I'm playing on my CDP-100. It has thrown my coordination for a loop. I loved my M8000. Tons of feel. The CDP is light. Not much feel to it. I'm rationalizing that this is helping me actually learn. Scrambling my autonomic mind/nervous system to not be hooked on one key mechanism/type. At the very least. It is causing me to take a step back in my training.
I wanted to upgrade to a VPC anyways. I have to wait for the first of the year to see how my finances work out with Obamacare. Rumor is it will cost me money. I must get me that VPC. I thrive on feel for doing things physically.

What I have done is to break through a complete block of playing both hands. Have started into well using both hands. I wonder if I have had the perfect combination of songs to work on? The Entertainer did much to break this barrier. That combined with a completely different song I love which is the Theme from Schindler's List. Then I have about three songs at a time I work on in Alfred's One. As you all know, Alfred's is a progression of training.

So this is a month of regrouping. Re-focusing. I hope to be better focused afterward.
I may even be posting more on this thread in the future. Maybe set closer goals and focus.

How is everyone’s week so far?

Here is what I will focus on in the next week:

Mazurka 17/4-When I get to my mum’s place I’ll try a recording on the better digital piano there. If I can get a better one I’ll submit it to the Mazurka recital. If not I’ll submit the recording I have now.

Bethena-I’m a bit worried about this piece. I know it’s only December, but this month my practice will be disrupted by traveling and visiting family. At this point the piece is somewhat of a disaster. I can’t practice it too intensely because it is a very stretchy piece (lots of octaves) and so my hands start to hurt after awhile. If there wasn’t a time limit then I could take my time and I think I’d be ok, but if I have to push it to get it ready by March then I may run into trouble. And if I don’t push it and proceed at this pace then….what if it is still a disaster?

Moonlight3-Still working on getting all parts of the exposition up to 88-92. And still trying to get those two problematic spots into my memory!

Tchaikovsky Nocturne 10/1-Focus on M25-40, especially 29-32 where I may redistribute some of the LH notes to the RH.

Beethoven Op. 109 Theme only-just enjoying playing this through. It is short, beautiful, and slow.

Mozart Sonata in C major-To help with alberti bass and trills. For now I'm working to bar 28.

Chopin scherzando-working on memory (which is needed to be able to play it!).

Valencia - Do you have trouble reaching an octave? Or can you reach, but are locking your hand in position, causing tension?

Ron - Keep plugging away my friend. I would encourage setting short term goals. I'm impressed with Richard and others who can plan out their year ahead, and arrange to work on a particular piece at a particular time, months hence. For me though, short term goals are the only thing that allow me to do anything at all on the piano.

Ooh, lot's to read this week. That's good.

It's nice to achieve goals, Ron, but it's not as important as having them in mind while we're practising. The thread is about focus because that reduces unproductive time. With a long term pursuit such as piano, better productivity makes a big difference.

I've continued Beethoven's 10/3 Presto and Tchaikovsky's Album Leaf this week and detailed progress in their respective threads.

Chopin Nocturne, 27/1, I started memorising the più mosso this week and expect to finish the section in the week ahead.

I resumed Scarlatti's Kp. 159 and Child Falling Asleep and will keep them on now until they're done with a few back numbers that I'd like polished up for the year end.

I'll also return to the Joplin pieces and the Beethoven Largo in the week ahead.

Oh, and while I think of it, I'll start working on M9-16 of the Rondo at 8pm on Wednesday, September 10.

My weekly progress report:

Venetian Boat song: This is mostly memorized now, with a couple of sticky spots. It is flowing pretty well at 130 (6/8 time), but I would like to finalize it at 156 (52 per dotted quarter). I am really enjoying this piece. I think I will do some baseline recording this week.

Chrysanthemum: The A section is at tempo, the B section has a couple of sticky spots, and C & D are still at slow tempo. I am practicing the chord progressions without the base note on beats 1 & 3, to ingrain the correct chord fingering. Then when I put it back together, the chords fall under my fingers easier. I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel on this one.

Sonatina in C: I completed the Rondo HT. It is a pretty good workout for running passages, Alberti, and sustained fifth finger. I am playing this movement at 50% speed until it is more automatic. The 1st movement is working nicely at 90 bpm now, no unevenness in the runs! So, now I need to slowly advance the tempo.

March - Song of the Lark: There is a fair amount of finger pedaling in this to maintain clarity of the voices. So, this week I am focusing on those sections, trying to be sure all three voices work. This has some major finger stretching to maintain a good, clear legato.

Christmas songs: I am enjoying playing simple arrangements in my new Christmas Book. It is great sight reading practice!

Repertoire: I am working on reviving a few pieces that that have slipped out of memory due to lack of time. I find it hard to find enough time to keep them maintained. I can play them with the music, though. So I hope to dedicate 1/2 a day to renewing them.

Technical: I set a goal of completing the grade 7 technical requirements this year, just because. Well, I will fail this goal this year. I am close, but I just have not developed the speed in all of the scales, broken 7th's, deminished 7th's, arpeggios, etc. It has been a good learning experience though, because I have learned that how one plays is more important than how fast one plays. As I improve my technique (a big goal this year) I am increasing my ability to play faster, smoother. So, I still hold the goal, but I will allow myself longer to develop the skill.

I read this thread smiling, thinking that sooner or later I will also tackle the wonderful music that other members are working on. But I'm happy with my pieces too!

I managed to make a video of the Tchaikovsky. It is too slow and the left hand should be softer, but at least I have a starting point, and April is still quite far away. I am now practising it at 130-140 bpm (that would be the eight note) and new hesitations come to the surface. I still don't understand why I can type so fast on the computer, but can't make two grace notes fast and smooth on the piano. The hardest thing for me right now is speed, but I'm working hard to conquer it, pushing myself more than I would like to, and then going back to slow practice.

I started my D section of Joplin. Not terrible, but there are new left hand chords. I keep practicing the B section and it's slowly improving, but will take a long time to get decent. Making a video of this one will be h ell, I know that already.

After one month, I can play Schumann's Melody at about 50 bpm (quarter note). Eventually, I managed to memorize the left hand. Taking it up to about 70 will be my goal for the next few weeks.

Bach's Musette is not too bad after ten days, but it's now in that intermediate state when one needs to really take it to the next level. It's pretty but I have a hard time forcing myself to study it everyday.

My Xmas song is decent now - it's incredible how long it took me to memorize 8 meager bars! I don't like it very much though, repeated notes and little jumps here and there make it impossible to "make it sing". The pedal just makes it worse - or I can't use it correctly.

Not many clear goals here, mainly I'm just ploughing on to make my current pieces performance-ready. Most of them are in that almost-cooked state that lasts forever. I might pick a new small piece for variety, and I must work more on reading. Did some Beyer yesterday and it's so relaxing.

Oh do I know this feeling! That is where all my pieces are except the Tchaikovsky, which still has some sticky parts that will not come together easily. This "done", but "not done" phase seems to last a long time when trying to bring a piece up to performance standard!

Kuhlau - I am up to 100 bpm/quarter tempo on the 1/16 runs now, and they are still relaxed smooth, and even. I am getting close to performance tempo, but I have learned not to push it too much. The minute I tighten up I back off a bit. The Alberti's in the Rondo are now flowing well too. This week will be more of the same on this piece.

Mendelssohn- I make errors when I increase tempo due to memory lapses, so this is in the "hold back" stage until memory is secure.

Joplin- Same as above: Hold back and play slowly error free until it is more confirmed.

Tchaikovsky- The deeper I dig into this piece, the more I discover. The notes are learned, but the voicing needs a lot of work. That will be the focus this week.

Christmas songs: I just started one I hope to complete this week to record.

A short week. Much of my time went on preparation for the Chopin Ballade for next year and a couple of days were given over to Christmas shopping, card writing and icing the cake.

I've made progress on my Scarlatti piece, Kp. 159, and expect to be able to join the three sections for the year end. I recovered Bach's Sinfonia #1 over the week too. I expected that to take longer as it's been a while since I played it last.

I completed M29-48 of the Chopin Nocturne and just have M45-48 to secure better in memory then all I have left is the stretto from M67-83.

I didn't have any time for the Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Joplin this week but I have enjoyed what little I've done.

Is the focus on the festivities for everyone this week?

The Nocturne's Più mosso is getting smooth but little more than half the HS speed and the LH is beginning to settle into the leaps in the appassionato but I still have to take the six lines, from M29-52, as three separate parts while my timing gets ingrained. I've started the stretto and it isn't much to memorise and not too hard so the whole thing will be playable from memory within the week, though still in sections. Progress speeds up a lot once the score is gone.

The last sections of Pine Apple Rag have some fiddly bits that needed working in very short sections in order to get the tempo up but we're getting along now.

M8-12 of the Tchaikovsky is keeping me tied up. It looks so easy and was quickly memorised but I'm having to try lots of different practise tricks to get this passage right. My fingers seem convinced of a simple pattern that doesn't exist and its causing me to hit wrong notes. I need to find a way to interrupt this. I went on with M25-31 and that's OK.

The Beethoven Largo is going fine and the Presto is picking up too.

I'm done for the year now and won't be learning any new material until January 6 but will spend piano time with a few repertoire pieces that need repair or recovery. I'll have learnt twenty-two pieces this year when I finish the Scarlatti and Child Falling Asleep, both only days away, but I only have eleven of them currently in memory. I want to have closer to twenty before January 6 when the festivities finish and the new year starts proper. I also have a few missing from last year's bundle but I'll leave them for the coming year as they're mostly trifles.

Have a great holiday, everyone! I've really enjoyed sharing the journey with you all this year and I look forward to joining you again in 2014. Pax vobsicum.