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Had my lesson today, after using my new practice routine for a week, and I made great progress. Somehow I kept reaching the weekend and realizing I hadn't practiced anywhere near as much as I had hoped. I work at home, so I've scheduled in two 15 minute "coffee breaks" ( ) each day. I do my major scale(s) in the first one, minor scales in the second, then another 30 minutes or so in the evenings for my week's pieces. Seems to work well -- both in terms of getting my practice time in, but also getting my scales done during the day when nobody else is home (my kids have very little patience for hearing my scales practice).

Had my lesson yesterday and concentrated on J.S. Bach's Invention No 8. Problems kept arising round bars 21 to 23 with my thumb lifting very high off keyboard and losing control. A quick few experiments with my teacher showed tension in my right hand at that point. I was also struggling with bar 20, which wasn't in my fingers properly at all.

This morning I put in about 45 minutes practice on that small section. Firstly getting bar 20 solid, and then in trying to relax my hand and keep my thumb resting on the key (except when it had to play of course) as I moved into bars 21 to 23. Shortly afterwards I went for a recording of the whole piece, and for the first time I managed to play from beginning to end. A couple of fluffs in the runs, but nothing that meant my timekeeping was out. So I feel that this piece can now be added to the 40 pieces a year club list.

I am still away off final polish of course, so I've a few more weeks on it; but a significant milestone none the less.

I’ve got one week left to submit to the Debussy Recital. My son is away for the next 4 days and I’m not at all sure of what’s going on. I’ve listened to the playback and hate it. Every time it’s something else that gets me and the piano sounds kind of muffled, either all too soft, or all too loud. There must be something more to this than I know. Desperate to find out of it really is me, well maybe not so desperate for that, but I would like to know if I’m just missing something. I take the plunge and bring the iPad along to my lesson and ask the Guru. I hoped he would’t mind critiquing a recording but I really do want to know what to do.
Best thing I could have done! No it isn’t me, phew! It’s a function of the microphone on the iPad not picking up all the nuances. My son has a full fledged professional studio so that should get a recording worth listening to! Or I could figure out how to use the diskclavier one which would be even better - this one is pretty old technology now and the box is not easy to figure out - can’t upgrade or trade it in really, more’s the pity but the piano is lovely. Anyway the iPad program is good enough to get an mp3 out of it and I’ll hope to get a better one later.
As for my playing, we only had a few tweaks to review and he says I wouldn’t worry! What I am realizing is that as you reach the more sophisticated playing of a piece there are nuances that you cannot even begin to talk about until you get here. It opens whole new vistas in the piano playing spectrum. I’ve been working on this since Xmas and I know after a break, which I am more than ready for, it will be so much different...there’s no rushing that process I know ... but I want it now!!!

Next I have to go through the process of uploading and hope that is straightforward. In checking it out I found all the links to all the other recitals so am looking forward to exploring piano world peeps playings. Got the feeling it’s an exciting aspect of this community.

My AOTW is reconnecting with my piano enthusiasm after a few very fallow weeks including a number of missed days (partly due to travel and extreme busy-ness, but partly also due to a loss of focus because of everything else that was going on).

casinitaly, I said it already but let me say it again here, thanks so much for your contribution over such a long time as our moderator!

Palmpirate - that must have been such a relief! ..and I bet from now on your recordings are going to be splendid!

Barbaram - thanks very much -I really appreciate that.

My ATOW is getting a firmer handle on what is for me super-duper tricky timing with triplets over quarternotes.

Tomorrow I will perform in a live recital with the folks from my Performance Anxiety group. I wonder how we are all going to do?

My AOTW is that I have developed a new system to maintain my repertoire, and I'm really happy with it. It was prompted by a post by FrankieC. He mentioned he plays everything he wants to keep current every week. I have been rotating one older piece per week to keep them fresh, spending enough time to bring them back, but it has been requiring a lot of work as months would go by between looks.

With this new system, I wrote my current repertoire (of about 17 pieces / songs including short ones like preludes, lead sheets, and my last few recital submissions) on the back of my business cards, mixed them up, and I have been playing 3 / day. Only a few minutes on each; I hope this way to keep them all fresh. As the numbers build I may have to plan on a two week rotation, or drop a few older ones, but I'm really so much happier to have a variety at my fingertips.

I've been on a roll with piano this past week. For the first time EVER, everything just clicked. During my weekly lesson I even played my assigned piece with no errors on the first try! Then I video recorded a 4 hands duet with a friend, also the first time for me to record myself playing. Over the past few days I've been practicing like crazy and trying to learn as much theory as possible, and exploring new pieces, not because I'm pressured to do so but because I find it FUN and get lost on the piano for hours.

I'm still very, very far from being a halfway competent player but for the first time I feel like I actually have hope of being good someday. This may seem ridiculous as it's been nearly 3 years since I started lessons, but for 2 of those years I had a huge block to my playing. I played horribly and I knew it, but my teachers couldn't (didn't know how) to help me. I loved the piano, but truth be told I hated playing and practicing on it because nothing came out right despite my best efforts. It's very discouraging when after slaving away for hours at a piece you still had nothing to show for it.

It has been exactly a year since I had the good fortune to find my current teacher who rehabilitated my technique from the ground up. It was a big adjustment to step back and work on "easier" pieces and dedicate MONTHS to a single movement until it was as good as it could be but everything I learned and gained from there has allowed me to enjoy piano as I do now. I was literally in tears as I watched the recording of the duet--my hand movements looked like how I imagined a pianist would look like.

I’m not sure that I understand this “Everything just clicked” concept that you speak of. Sounds strange to me but Ill keep looking for it. Nah marimorimo, Congratulations for hanging in there. You deserve credit for turning things around and it sounds like you have done well in 3 yrs.

This week?

On Wednesday I passed the Natl Guild of Piano Teachers audition. I'm now an official member of The National Fraternity of Student Musicians. My teacher put me up for Elementary E. I got a great score of 21 "commendations" vs 2 "needs attentions". The judge wrote a great and encouraging little note on my report card.

That got me excited.

Thanks so much for the encouragement! This time last year I was on the verge of quitting piano as I clearly did not have the talent for it and it gave me more heartache than joy. Trying a new teacher was a last ditch effort.

As for "everything just clicking", it's to describe my experience playing piano now compared to before. For a long, long time I intellectually knew the basic theory, what keys to press and even some practice strategies but my big problem was that I was thoroughly incapable of pressing the keys with accuracy--whether it was an easy piece or not. I suspect it was a combination of faulty technique and significant mental tension. Now that I've worked out the biggest kinks, I found that I could sit down at a piano and start playing with a higher degree of accuracy--easier pieces get done in no time at all.

P.S. I feel like compared to the average person I started with negative values (in terms of piano playing potential) and it's taken me this long to catch up to someone starting with normal values. Like if the starting point were 0, I took off with -5. Dunno if I'm making sense, LOL.

Good idea -- I've been thinking of something similar. Now that I've been at lessons for a few months, I've realized the need for some structure as well--seems like life keeps getting in the way of practicing unless I make a conscious effort to schedule it! I've made a bit of progress with scheduling my weekly scales, now just need to ensure my weekly pieces get practice -- and of course a repertoire like you're doing.

I've been learning Bach Invention No 8. Before my piano lesson last Tuesday I had been exploring at what speed my playing started to introduce errors (although the piece still had some parts that were always error prone). I had found that at about 112 1/8 notes per minute (I'll refer to this as 112 bpm although not strictly true) was where my playing just fell apart. We spent the whole lesson discussing very slow practice (at about 74 bpm) and how I could use it to feel what my hands were doing and make micro adjustments. In particular, measures 19 through to 25 inclusive felt like I was always on unstable ground and therefore I should concentrate on that

I spent some time during the rest of Tuesday and particularly just before retiring to bed running through the entire piece at 74 bpm several times. At first the whole piece just fell to bits, but gradually I started to pick it all back up again, and particularly with the metronome ticking away get into a groove where I was able to really feel what my fingers were doing on every note.

Similarly on Wednesday morning I repeated the practice running through a few times at 74. Finally in the evening I thought I'll do some checks at whether this slow practice had helped at all. I sent the metronome at 100 and played it through - I played the whole piece perfectly. I then increased the tempo by 4 bpm and repeated increasing by 4 bpm each time. At 116 I made my first mistake - but unlike before, where I would have to stop, resync myself and start again, I just kept going and I only dropped one note. I repeated at 116 and it went without error, so I started to increase another 4 bpm and play again.

Firstly I would say the intense concentration on metronome ticking away and syncing my fingers with it caused me to feel like I had entered a zone where time almost stood still. And I kept increasing the speed. Eventually I got to 136 bpm - far faster than I have ever played the piece before before mistakes that meant I I had to stop occurred. I am so amazed that just about a day and a half of several short practice sessions made that much difference. I especially noted that measures 19 to 25 which I had give special attention to at slow speed now just felt as secure as the rest, maybe more so.

I'm about to go back to some more intense practice at 74 bpm to see were I can get to by the end of the week.

My AOTW was to participate in a live recital.
It wasn’t what I had hoped for by any means.
It was with the school where I did the improvisation course last summer and where the people in my Performance Anxiety Group take their lessons.
First surprise: they didn’t have a grand but rather an upright. Hmmm ok well, that made it more similar to mine- possibly a plus.
Second surprise I discovered , everyone but me had been told they could go early to try out the piano in the hall. Ok. Too late to do anything about that.
( and btw it was really out of tune)

Thirdly , there was no program whatsoever. I had no idea when I would play.
After an hour and a half one of my PAG friends said they were going to have a pause and the rest of us would play “piano bar” style, in the background. That’s not what I was there for!
However they didn’t do that, and all of a sudden my name was called.
By this time the small kids were restless and even the adults were tired. People were moving to the refreshment table, eating and drinking and TALKING. Not whispering talking.
During my performance one of the teachers was shhhibg them.

I have played well with lots of background noise at our PAG events, but at a recital I expected a more attentive- not to mention more polite- audience.
I had significant difficulties with both my pieces, but I did manage to play them all the way through.
That’s the only positive thing I took away from the event.
.

Casinitaly / I am sorry you had a bad experience for your first recital! That does not sound like a very well organized recital! Normally everyone is seated and listening until AFTER the recital, and then the refreshments start. To have you playing while other people of partying sounds very disrespectful. That you were able to play through you pieces at all under those circumstances is a big achievement! Hopefully you can find a better venue for the future.

Sounds like the recital was improvised as well! There needs to be some organization and discipline on the part of the organizers (and attendees) to pull off a recital, so you did well to perform and get through your pieces.

Despite the ugliness of their disregard for others, there are still positives for you. The recital not only calls upon your piano skills and aptitude, it also calls upon a whole range of skills related to poise, dealing with adversity, dealing with disrespect, and dealing with semi-interest. You now have one of those experiences under your belt, and you will be the better for it. Chin up, you made more progress!

SwissMs, Stubbie and Ralphiano thanks.

I appreciate the encouragement.
With a few more days having passed by since the recital I am actually feeling exactly the way you’ve encouraged me to feel. It was a wonder that I could play at all, and if the “only” good point was getting through the pieces, that’s actually a significant accomplishment given both my past experiences at piano parties and the conditions of the day.

I also realized that my main reason for wanting to participate was to help with preparing for the EPP. However, my real test for the EPP has been the Performance Anxiety Group, and at our last event I played well. So that’s important to remember too.

I guess I can also add that I was also stressed out about having eye surgery on the Wednesday after the recital.
It went really well and I am astonished at how much better I can see. I didn’t really understand exactly how bad my eye was - but now I see the contrast between the newly treated eye and what I had considered as my good eye- I want to get the other eye done as soon as possible!

Cheryl, hang in there. It will get better next time. It's always like that. I'm glad you had eyeoperation. It will help your reading tremendously.

No worries, Cheryl.

Having a train-wreck recital, even a disorganized mess that's not your fault, is a huge plus for you. I recommend it for anyone who wants to cure recital jitters... once it is over there is no place to go but up! From here on it is more than likely your recitals will be better organized with more respectful audiences. Plus you now have experience playing under the worst conditions.... even better than when I used to ask my wife to bang pots and pans while I play.... Lucky you. Future recitals are going to feel soooooo much easier... you won't believe it.

I'm certain you will play beautifully at EPP. Oh, and congrats on the successful eye surgery... that's great news.

Ciao,

Giacomo

What a great story Cheryl of your success at adapting to an unexpected circumstance. Out of tune upright, noisy people, lack of program... It does sound like they had too many performers if the crowd was already restless and wanting to eat. Hopefully there is some opportunity for feedback. You are really pushing yourself to play in all manner of groups and that is really an AOTW (and month and year). I'm realizing that I like to play when they are eating and talking and not focused on me. You're so wise to find venues to play with them staring at you. I know it is improving your inner peace.

I'm so glad your eye surgery went well and that you are seeing more clearly.