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BrianDX- I was just wondering if you or your wife are planning on participating in Guild this year?

Hi pianoMom2006!

Great question! After talking about it over the holidays we decide to skip the Guild Auditions for 2016. The pieces we are learning are getting harder, and keeping 5-6 pieces memorized until May seemed daunting this year.

Add in the fact that I am spending more time composing and doing other stuff, made the decision easy.

Keep in mind that our 2015 Guild experience could not have been more positive, and we definitely plan to do it again, hopefully in 2017. I just feel I need another year under my belt to tackle Level IA or IB material. This level is 3-4 times harder than EF or EG material from last year.

Just curious, have you participated in any Guild auditions as an adult?

No Brian. I can't even play a primer book. It's my 9 year old son that plays piano not me- I love hearing him play and it really gives me so much joy. I sit in on his lessons and listen to him practice every night so my insight and enthusiasm is all from watching him learn and grow.


I liked reading your (first hand) feedback about Guild from last year as it's hard to get much feedback from an 8 year old. I know he enjoyed the experience as he did very well.
My son will be participating again this year so I was wondering if I was going to be able to look forward to your commentary.

Well, just encountered a lovely adaptation of the Moonlight Sonata. Great to learn this. So far Level 4 is my favorite of all of the series. We'll see if that continues...

I had a sneaky peek ahead at Level 4 and really liked a lot of the pieces.

Lesson a bit later this week, and once again I haven't practiced as much as I'd liked. Particularly scales. I *know* they're important, but I hate doing them so SO much.

Went into this weeks lesson apologising for my lack of progress in scales. I don't feel like I'm improving *at all*, but he says that I'm doing better than I think.

Following a week of playing Canoeing in the Moonlight, I've been assigned my first piece of original music to try: Bach's Prelude in C Major, which uses a similar phrasing to the Faber piece. Should be fun!

Right, bach to those scales… (sorry)

I bought the books ahead of time, I also thought that most of the songs looked really nice! Can't wait to get to them!

Just realised that Prelude to C is actually the last piece in Book 4! I don't think I'm expected to master it all right now… or my teacher has pretty high expectations of me.

The thing is, it's a pretty simple piece, but remembering how to play it beyond about bar 6 is a bit of a challenge!

I'm very much looking forward to learning Prelude in C, however I have about 1/2 of lesson book to go before then!

I will confess to playing around with the first 6-8 measures. Not too difficult, however over 4 pages there are dozens of broken chord and melody note changes, many very subtle.

My teacher is a big proponent of learning pieces like this by playing the broken chords as a block first. I'm doing this with the Moonlight Sonata and this technique works very well.

Yes, I think it's a bit too tricky for me to manage the whole piece (and I don't think I'm expected to, yet!), but it's rather nice to be touching on a "proper" classical piece.



Yes, my teacher also encourages this when learning scales, too… blocking out the 3-4-3-4 fingers to get used to where they should lie. He also warned me not to dwell on this for too long, though, as the aim is to play them fluidly without a pause as the fingers change position.

Hadn't thought of doing this with the Bach piece, though. He pretty much said, "give this a go" at the end of my last lesson so haven't had any guidance so far. I'm going to give this a try.

I must also practice my scales, which I have, once again, been neglecting to do.

I think I have taken the art of neglecting to play my scales to a whole new level. My teacher is not amused.

Uh oh, Brian, LOL! Just play 'em during some weird time of the day when you're not evening practicing. Knock them off like right before bed or as soon as you wake up in the morning. That's what I've been doing, plus my cadences and a few arps. Then you can just concentrate on your pieces when you actually sit down to practice. I even eat an apple or something during mine, it's like you're there by accident, LOL.

Bri, have you taken a look at Amber Glow by Robert Vandall? It would be a good prelude to this prelude. I just finished it, polishing it up for my next lesson Tues. LMK if you want to see it, I can scan it for you.

Yes, please

Message me your email addy....

Tried playing a recent piece from memory today, with success I think.

I must be doing ok because I've been assigned a new piece in book 4. Continuing to work on Bach's Prelude in C, and now also In the Hall of the Mountain King. Should have asked for Maple Leaf Rag if I'd realised it was on the page before!

More scales, too: G major and Eb major.

Hope I can do this. My teacher seems to think I can!

Hi TrevorM;

You are roughly where I am right now (Unit 3-4). I pretty much take these pieces as they are presented in the book, sort of like a slow freight train (as I have described by my teacher and my wife)

Well, I had the worst lesson EVER today. I've been really stressed out for the past week since my hubby got laid off. Just can't concentrate on anything, and I've been so busy helping him with updating his resume, keeping track of interviews, looking for job openings, plus my own stuff, teaching classes, the kids, the house, etc., not to mention trying to get my practice time in. But I'm so exhausted, I feel like my practice isn't really entering my brain. I feel so scattered and life seems to chaotic lately. It's only been a week. Feels like much longer. I'm so frustrated about this turn of events.

My teacher was so understanding, though. We just went over a few things, nice and slowly, so really calmed me down. At the end of the lesson, I was playing much better and felt a lot calmer. This woman is a godsend. She also said I'm putting way too much pressure on myself. Does anyone else do that? I work really hard at the piano, but she said that it should be my safe place where I can work out my emotions and help myself get centered. She said the piano should always be your best friend, where you go for solace. I really need to work on that. Does anyone else feel that way?

Sorry to vent. Just been a terrible week. I hope it gets better this week.

Sorry about your past week. I have had periods like that where my job, family, etc. are intruding on my piece of mind.

At times a week that that can also intrude on your outside world. I can tell you that practicing and participating in lessons almost always makes me feel better. When times are good (as they normally are), my piano studies are the cherry on the top.

I also put too much pressure on myself at times, however I try to turn that to my advantage; the harder I work, the further I progress.

Hopefully next week will be better for you and your family.

I am sorry to hear about the travails that are upon you. But, I'm happy to see that you are well equipped with self-awareness and understanding, and that will help you along the way.

It is very important to recognize and understand that you will have weaknesses and even failures along the way. You will sometimes fail to carry all of the burdens you want to carry. You have a lot on your plate, and it is a normal part of life that GOOD PERSONS sometimes are unable to shoulder all of the burdens laid upon them or undertaken by them. This is just a part of life, and does nothing to diminish who you are. Baseball players never bat a thousand, Leonel Messi does NOT score every time he touches the ball, and Shaquille O'neal did not succeed at every dunk he attempted. But, who remembers any of that? They are all great, as are you. Do not beat yourself up when those occasional less-than-perfect moments come along.

Do not beat yourself up when those occasional less-than-perfect moments come along.

Do not beat yourself up when those occasional less-than-perfect moments come along.

Do not beat yourself up when those occasional less-than-perfect moments come along.

They are just occasional moments of less-than-perfect, and nothing more than that.

You and your family will get through all of this.

As for your piano time, perhaps you would do well to temporarily shift some of you time away from learning and keeping up with lessons, and toward just playing some for pleasure. It will not hurt your playing, and it could be a great help to you.

It sounds like your piano teacher is good at more than just piano. She sounds great!