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Silverkeys - Congratulations on a beautiful piano! I love the mellow Mason Hamlin sound!

Interesting lesson yesterday. I was ready to call it quits with one of the pieces I've been working on, figuring I was as far I I would get with it - but my teacher had a different opinion.


He wants me to raise the bar on my expectations of what I can do, and he was of the opinion that there was no reason for me not to be able to get it.

So... on the one hand I was really not thrilled about spending another week or two on this piece... but on the other hand I felt inspired by my teacher's expectations of what I can do.


I did some very intense focus practice today and I can already see a difference.

So, not only have I raised the bar of my expectations - I feel a boost in my confidence too.

I sometimes feel that I am challenging the depths of my teacher's bag of pedagogy tricks. I believe that the possible number of ways to play something wrong may be infinite, but he always seems to have a new suggestion to try. The most recent one was for a little Kabalevsky piece that I just couldn't get hands together--until finally--I could.

Amazing what a bit of teaching can do!

Imma gonna do it.

If I can get hubby to put the video and mp3 together, I'm gonna participate in the general recital for the first time. Got the recordings today, just need help getting the technical stuff done!

My teacher gave me a song to learn from her "intermediate" book.

So very excited to be able to play it.

Sweet! A great milestone.

Congratualations, how wonderful to have moved into this area of repertoire. The world is your oyster as they say.

What an amazing piano! My tuner was talking about how great the early M & H's are - I'm slightly tempted now I have room for a baby grand if I could find one.

Hi casinitaly! We are finally unpacked and moved in - I didn't expect it to take nearly this long to get settled. This is what we get for moving 250 miles on short notice! I still don't have my backyard in order, but now it's over 80 degrees and I'm feeling really unmotivated to work on it.

@Silver Keys, congratulations. (But don't you EVER put a glass of anything on a piano again! GRRR )..

Not much of an achievement for me. Am working my way through the essential keyboard repertoire from page one to the end. Not sure why my teacher uses this order since the level varies quite a lot in my humble opinion.

Anyway, next piece up for me is "The Fifers" of Dandrieu. Compared to the piece before it (Menuet et Rondeau of Rameau) it is very difficult.

Oh and by the way. I am preparing the "Tres vite" part of Telemanns fantasy no 4 in E minor for the upcoming recital. It is still not Tres vite though and there's quite a number of flubs. I hope I make it in time this time since I have not posted twice now in the previous recitals. Tchaikovsky: no easy piece left and the harder piece did cost too much time. The quarterly before that one I didn't have a good recorder.

wimpiano, what a nice collection to work through. Maybe the variety in difficulty gives you challenge..relax a bit...big challenge. Keeps you from burning out??? You're playing pieces I've never touched. So much music to taste.

SigFigs. Congratulations on moving "up" to intermediate. Lots of fabulous music there.

I've had to switch lessons to Mondays because my long standing Friday mornings are now needed at work. Trouble with evenings is I'm tired and have to make myself go to lesson. Once I get there I enjoy the study. I've returned to a Chopin piece (Waltz in A Major) that I did years ago to perfect it. Sooooooo much to perfect it seems. I thought it was only the tempo but my teacher wants me to perfect the pedaling and the playing of the left hand chords. What a difference it makes in the sound when I do what she points out. Apparently I'm (finally) ready to learn the finer points and that's exciting. Another small milestone.

It happens to me all the time! On my list of working pieces I use a marker for those (if any) I think will get a pass from the teacher; then she says: It's really nice, but you should add an extra touch here and there..". So the piece remains in "practice again for next lesson" mode.

This evening I performed a piece for my husband; it's a sort of event because he works abroad during the week and we usually have busy weekends.
I put myself in performance mode and played the piece I'm polishing for the recital (end of May) - I got advice and praise (not common and much appreciated since he's musically talented while I'm not).
I also performed the duet with my son and he noticed how much we advanced.
This is my achievement.

Thanks, everyone. I really lucked into this piano and got it for a "steal" according to my tech. (Soft market here.). I was looking for a 6-foot model B (or is it A?) but then came across this one.

Anne, there ought to be a lot more A's and B's around! They are wonderful too. I would have bought a B but for the fact it had a badly cracked soundboard.

Wimipiano, I know it's risky placing a glass on wine on a piano. I have a little stand behind my bench now!

And, no, my realtor never said anything about my house being owned by any celebs!

Congrats Silver Keys.... Looks like a beautiful playing piano.


Definite AOTW...excited... I started a new System for learning piano. From the ground up. Looked at the DVD as it went through the book last night for the first time. After I was done. I looked at a piece of music I've practiced some. For the first time, I looked at a piece of music and didn't look at notes. Didn't try to figure out what notes to play. I looked for the Patterns. It all jumped out at me. It's music! The figuring out the notes doesn't come first. And this makes identifying the actual notes much much easier!

Interesting, which system was it if I may ask?

sounds great rnaple...what is the DVD? My dear friend is just starting on the piano and is struggling with just that issue.

Artistry Alliance

It is an entire System. Not just a method book. I was very impressed at first looking through the website. My first impressions are just being verified in actually doing the System.
I've since found out that the author is very accessible. An extremely talented, experienced, teacher.
I can't believe I'm actually studying Classical!
I know that studying any genre can result in just learning that genre. This is a higher level of learning than that. I've always thought that classical is where the real training is at anyways.
An adult learning on their own should get the teaching materials. Should get them anyways. That's what the DVD is part of.
I'm sure any teacher would be happy to adapt to this system.

Long time without posting here.
Thanks to the "watched topics" option I receive all your stories in my inbox, so I've been following all your adventures and progress with attention.

And what about me?
Well, first of all, I've been preparing the next European Piano Party (5/July, Lisbon). As you know I'm the host so there are several questions and decisions to take. Fortunately I have been helped by Casinitaly in this task and her help is priceless. Thanks!

2nd, due the lack of time, I was almost not entering in PW Recital #34. But, I did it! I'm in #11 with an original piece - no Einaudi this time... -. This piece was in my "special to do list". You'll understand why...

3rd. I've been reading the book "To Be Creative at the Piano", by EDWARD WEISS. A new approach with interesting ideas. I identify myself a lot with some of the Edward's theories, so It has been interesting reading his approach to piano. Worth reading.

4th. I was invited to do another session with my "cello partner" - remember my TV adventure? -. This time I'll be alone with him in a classical theater of Lisbon, playing without any guide. They will install hide cameras on the stage and then we'll play whatever we want without rules. Another experience...

Lastly, and due some personal and job duties, I'm not playing as much piano as I want. But I do lots of things related to it, so I'm not so depressed as you may think

My achievement of the week, so far is that I practiced for hours yesterday, the most ever. When I started practicing I was a bit down because I couldn't even figure out a simple question (which I posed in this forum) and I was struggling with learning a very short simple piece. After 5 minutes, I almost quit for the day, but I stuck at it, got my mind in the right place, and must have practiced at least 3 hours. By the end of the day I could play the piece! (roughly) Not to mentioned, I mixed in some scales, and started practicing H. Berens. OP. 70, Book I. Now, I don't even know what to call those, drills? But they really exercised my brain and got my hands used to moving separately.

I also found and registered for this forum, which I think will be a great resource.

All in all, it was my best day ever practicing.

AOTW:
Posting this:
https://soundcloud.com/wim-piano/telemann-fantasia-in-e-minor-tres-vite-or-is-it-trop-lent

Anybody tips for getting this recital ready in a week? I am playing it slowly and still flub two times
Somehow I just can't do a one a normal speed one take recording without wrong or ugly notes. (Tension all over while recording :S)

wimpiano - I listened to your piece and could only hear one flub....

I will be perfectly honest with you - it is very hard to get a "flawless" performance. Even if you do manage to get a performance without errors you may find that it lacks feeling. I know I'm not the only one who has preferred to submit a performance with an error or two because overall it just sounded better than the "note perfect" version.

That being said, I believe that the number of times I've submitted a "note perfect" performance is REALLY low.

Your piece as presented is certainly good enough to submit- (I know this piece and I thought you played it really nicely).

If you are truly not satisfied, I would ask you: do you always flub in the same place or in different places?

If it is the same spot that gives you trouble regularly then I would suggest starting a little before the trouble spot and doing a lot of SLOW repetitions of that part. Gradually speed up as you can increase the number of times you play that part correctly.

If different parts are giving your problems, then I would suggest doing a lot of repetitions, starting from many different spots in the piece. If you can play your piece starting from any point you've really got it mastered.

Good luck!