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Eglantine, I was already envious of your harpsichord, and now I find out you can tune it too. How cool ! (I've already told my roommates that if they see a harpsichord sitting out by the side of the road with a "free" sign on it, to be sure bring it home for me...). I do find it interesting to push the buttons on my DP to make it play in different tunings, but it's harpsichord sound just isn't very convincing.

Cas, enjoy your fresh tuning!

Sam, I said it in the other thread, but I'll say it here too: it's a lovely piano, and you definitely deserve it (as one of our adult prodigies!). Too bad you'll have to leave it behind for the summer.

And SwissMS, I agree with you about metronomes. I used to hate them, but I now admit the problem was my overly elastic sense of rhythm o_O . Since I've made progress with that, I've come to find them quite invigorating.

My achievement of the week is finally pulling out of the little depressive slump I've had since being sick for so long. I think my body just forgot how to be energized. I've been eating better now also, and I think that's also contributed to my increasing energy level. (Hmm, maybe I'm ready for some quality time with that metronome...)

Love that phrase! (& strongly identify with it!)

Casinitaly, glad to hear you are back in tune in - ahem - equal temperament! (I'm making an assumption there that you don't use one of the other tunings popular with pianists.)

Cathy, I've yet to explore the different meantone tunings, having only just grasped the difference in principle between 'the meantones' and 'the well tempereds'. Time for more head in books, methinks.

Wow, spring has sprung and it sounds like not only the flowers are blooming. New pianos (congrats Sam - it's gorgeous!), new tunings, leaps and bounds all around. Wow. Congratulations to everyone.

Here in Ohio, alas, it is snowing.

But inside, I just had a great 45 minutes on the keys, mostly working on Fur Elise. I'm doing it sans pedal for now (having never used that dang thing before), but it is oh so fun. I'm getting my fingers wrapped around the part where the first chords come in, up until where the repeat of the beginning part starts again. My teacher hyper-boosted me over those chords last weekend, huge guided progress, and I feel like it's going to come... though I still have to get to the part with the droning A note and RH chords, but that' doesn't *look* so bad...

Anyway, I'm loving it because I love Beethoven's way with music, and this is my first piece by him. What fun.

So, a belated Happy Spring to you all, and may your playing keep you happy even if the weather does not cooperate.

Cheryl, I forgot to warn you about the risk of playing Chopin. It's very addictive. I normally try my best to stay away from them. As I looked at your post, I noticed my feet moving toward my piano and myself start reading from the Chopin Waltzer.... My mind is telling me "no no no tomorrow is my lesson. I should be doing the Rach piece.."

Let me play that part just oneeee more time...

Tangleweeds - glad you are feeling better - plunge in and let your music further lighten your heart!

SwissMS, I know what you mean, my "I want to play THAT" list is never-ending....and really that's already scary when you think of how little time I've been playing music. The good thing is that never-ending is never-ending......I don't have to worry about the list getting longer ha ha!

Eglantine, how did you start learning to tune? Which books/dvds did you find most helpful? Are you taking a course? I have tinkered with my piano a bit but don't like to mess with it too much, because...well, so far I just end up messing it up rather than making it better!

Bessel - once you get to using the pedal you'll be even more enchanted with your music. My teacher tried to get me to use the pedal over a year ago and I resisted terribly - I felt overwhelmed with the sound. When I started my Chopin piece I HAD to use the pedal or there would be huge gaps ...so now I'm making up for lost time (so to speak) and having a lot of fun getting the hang of it.


FarmGirl and Sam - you are so right...... and I have the Silent feature on my piano, I can play as late as I like....... this is sometimes a danger factor!!!

:):):)

I think tuning a harpsichord is to an extent easier than piano - the tuning pins are right there in front of you, as you sit at the harpsichord. Although there is the challenge of having two sets of strings to tune.

I went on a one-day maintenance course, to get to grips with all the mechanics, and now feel much more confident messing with the insides. Then I got myself a Korg electronic tuner, which tunes to a variety of temperaments, including meantone, Pythagorean, Werckmeister III, Kirnberger III, Vallotti, and Young which is used by some pianists.

Cheryl and FarmGirl
Now you have me going back to the waltz. Never did play it close to tempo so maybe learning it again will be more relaxed and make the dancers move a bit faster. I can see them dancing...one two three one two three...I'm close to 100 so at least they aren't tripping over each other. :-)

My accomplishment is having all four sections of the polonaise under my fingers...now I can connect them and polish this piece in time for my teacher's piano workshop(recital) in May.

Tonight I was playing one of my recital pieces for my teacher, from memory, and totally forgot where I was going at one point. I flailed around for a measure and a half, but even though flailing, I kept playing notes and chords in rhythm and in the general vicinity of where I was supposed to be. Afterwards, I said to my teacher, "did you notice that giant trainwreck in the first half?" And she said, "no." So that's my AOTW: to be able to successfully fake it through a concentration lapse.

Wow, I can't even imagine it. My train wrecks are more noticeable than the real thing. So congrats, that's a real achievement!

Cheryl - re pedaling... the only thing my teacher has said about the pedal so far is "no" (and that was long ago)... I haven't talked to him about it for this piece yet, but it's still a few weeks before I get the notes in order. I'm looking forward to exercising the pedal though, because it's so essential for the Chopin prelude (Em) I want to do soon... I started that briefly just before abandoning it "fur elise".

Pianostudent88 - That's admirable. My teacher always tells me don't stop or don't even look at me when you make a mistake. I am pretty bad at it. I start surveying the room to see who noticed my mistakes... I wish I could do that.

Bessel - not sure what piece you are talking about but, generally speaking, I usually start a waltz without pedal, without grace notes, without trills, etc. I try to be able to play through it slowly first paying attention to dynamics and balance between left hand and right hand. Then add pedals, grace notes, trills etc. At least that's how I was told. Maybe your teacher shares similar thoughts with my current and past teachers.

My AOW is I finally memorized my piece that I am playing in my teachers' playing session on 5/19. My memory is still fragile but I was able to play it through Rach 23-5 (Yay!) I also had so much fun playing Chopin Waltz. After I played A minor Waltz, I played through Op 69 #1 and 2.
they were very similar and fun to play. I have played them slowly. It went pretty well. I am amazed the progress I made. I used to struggle to make the melody sing while keeping the left hand volume low. It was incredible fun. Then I tried C# minor waltz. well, it was more difficult than Op 69. Even though I played it before, it requires me to practice to bring it back. I decided to bring this one back to life. K, now I have to go back to practice.

Bessel,the Am will sound so much richer once you start adding in the pedal - but believe me I really do "get it" that you have to be ready to tackle that extra dimension - I avoided it for well over a year!!!!!

I'm listening to the Prelude in Em right now - wow, that's pretty. I've heard it before, but like so many pieces I never realized what it was called.
You are going to LOVE playing that! I am getting thirsty for more Chopin and I've barely scratched the surface of the Am Waltz! I'm starting to understand why Chopin is so addictive.

FarmGirl - /PianoStudent88 - my teacher too tells me not to stop, just to keep going. It is really good training for when you play in public (not that I do it often). Last June there was a recital in which I participated, and out of all the performers, only those working with my teacher didn't have train wrecks when they made errors!
(I of course managed so "smoothly" forget to play about 8 bars of a 32 bar piece...lol.....


On a totally different note (pun fully intended!) .... some of you might remember how upset I was when my neighbour's daughter (who is at university, not a baby!) banged on the wall to get me to stop playing several months ago. Well, at the time I went downstairs and spoke with the mom (daughter was in bed with a migraine) and said that I had ALWAYS, even before the piano arrived, said that I wouldn't play if it was disturbing them, (because I can use the headphones) - I made it clear that I was upset - not because she wanted me to stop, but because of the way she did it. Yesterday the mum came up and asked if I would kindly play with the headphones today and tomorrow as the daughter needs to study. I was really pleased that they asked (though a bit disappointed that this coincides with my freshly tuned piano!) - however I feel that they too must be happier knowing that I really am prepared to cooperate with their needs and we can manage this without anyone being upset or embarrassed. That's a bit of a ramble, but it is a huge relief to me!

casinitaly, if you like the chopin prelude, you should see this: http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

I'm glad you've come to a good arrangement with your neighbors.

bessel, congrats on your progress!

Mary Ann, you're right - I loved the presentation (I even posted it on my FB page! ) Thanks very much!

Ok, I'm just back from my piano lesson, during which my teacher told me several times I was "brava"

She said I'd really studied well and she could see that I too was able to recognize how much work I'd done and progress I'd made since our last lesson.

Today we really drilled bars 17-24 over and over and by George, I'm getting there!

I'm in SUCH a good mood.

Cheryl,

Don't forget the B-minor prelude while you are casting about for approachable Chopin. Very much within your grasp I would think.

Oh, and congrats on the lesson feedback and recent progress. Its nice when the hard work pays off.

Hi Jim,
I just listened to, and downloaded (from http://chopinfiles.com) the prelude in B-minor. I think you are right - this is very approachable. The only difficulty I foresee is having to be very careful about keeping the tension out of my hand and arm while holding so many notes at one time in the right hand. As far as reading it goes, the only really "scary" part is at bars 7-8.
If I had seen the music before hearing it, I would have just laughed and said no way! But having heard it I realize that in terms of speed, it is just my cup of tea! Thanks for the suggestion!
(and thanks for the congrats on my progress -I do indeed feel that the past few weeks have made such a significant difference - It is pretty exciting!)

Cheryl,

Your comments on the B-minor 28-6 are spot-on. Nice comfy pace with only one tricky bit in m7-8. Relaxed hands and wrists in both the arpeggiated and blocked chords will help you bring out the melody notes and make it sing. Like the E-minor prelude...... pretty easy to play, but not at all easy to play beautifully.

If you are fooling around with it, be careful. Once you get the tone of those gorgeous arpeggios coming out of YOUR piano, you will be hooked.

Have fun,

Jim

I will heed your warning - and take your encouragement!