Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum (Hopefully) Daily log of a 31 year old beginner

Best of luck! I really hope they will have their own serious program to get you on the right track. You deserve that. Keep us updated

Day 54
Streak: 54

Got some more practice on The Stranger and oh man it does feel like a huge step up! Think it'll really help with hands moving around, looking forward to getting some more time with it!

Think this teacher will want to keep me doing Alfred for now, but I'll have a better idea by Sunday.

Have a good day everyone!

Day 55
Streak: 55

It's amazing how much you progress while staying away from the piano/sleeping!

The Stranger felt a lot more manageable today, and I'm hoping I can start recording tomorrow

One thing I'm struggling with is with not making RH notes staccato when the LH note that comes at the same time is repeated, I'll have to look into that.

Day 56
Streak: 56

4th day working on The Stranger and it's actually sinking in now. This song feels like a really big step up from everything else thus far. It's almost 4 times as long as the typical song from the book, and it has you doing different things with your hands a ton more I feel.

I wasn't a big fan of it at the beginning but it's growing on me, I just need to learn to look at the keys a lot less during it. I usually don't have that big an issue not looking at them other than big jumps but this'll be good practice to improve that

The Stranger -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ0jux3UsM0

Let me know what you think, it's definitely not a final version.

Day 57
Streak: 57

Started Greensleeves today, and wow it feels way more readily playable than The Stranger. It also helps that it's half as long I suppose! I looove how it sounds, this is going to be bliss to work through

Good luck on your lesson tomorrow! Pay particular attention to whether your teacher corrects your technique. In my mind, that is one of the main strengths of getting a teacher - technique.

Day 58
Streak: 58



Thank you Tyrone! I'll let you know how it goes Hoping nerves won't get to me! Didn't really get to play much for my previous teacher, so I still have those nerves from playing for someone else.

Greensleeves is progressing very nicely, I think it does help that I love the song.

Here's my attempt after a day -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIMiAuigM3M

Hard to get rid of nerves... When I play a piece flawlessly at home, then in front of my teacher I always manage to make some mistake. It's human nature: some people control it better, others less. Bear in mind that your teacher certainly doesn't expect to see Rubinstein or Horowitz... You will do fine. By the way, your executions are improving, so keep on the good work. Best of luck!

Day 59
Streak: 59



Yep! I definitely flubbed the songs I had prepared a few times, but overall I was able to show the level I'm currently at. The teacher was very surprised I've only been playing for under 6 months, that was a big boost of confidence!

Lesson was really fun, she was very engaging, corrected me on a few things each time I played, and overall felt very pleasant. I'm looking forward to learning more from her!

For this week I have Scarborough Fair, a couple of Czerny etudes, and playing Greensleeves without the use of pedal while maintaining the legato on the chords. The latter wasn't actually part of the deal, but since she had me try the chords themselves legato without the pedal, I want to do the actual song that way!

As for overall plan, we'll finish up Alfred 1 with a few songs, then we'll pick from the RCM books/Alfred's 2 for main repertoire.

That's very good news. The fact that you feel comfortable with your teacher is very important. Also that you're looking forward to going back tells quite a story.;) I hope you keep your enthusiasm: that will surely lead to better and better performances

Day 60
Streak:60



Yep! It was a completely different feeling from my last teacher, it was a ton of fun to learn from her and I'm really looking forward to doing more! Think I really needed that, it definitely reignited my motivation to an all time high!

Got one of the studies done, Scarborough fair is progressing nicely, but the fingering from Alfred is very odd at times, don't think I'll follow a couple of them.

Congrats on your 2nd month! I think you've made piano into a secure habit. Keep it up!

And on that note, since the new year is close, I would suggest Ankee to join the MOYD thread. It has certainly helped me to stay committed and not miss practice because of laziness or other stupid reasons...

Day 61
Streak: 61



Oh wow! It's insane to think it's already been two months. It feels like just yesterday I was debating whether it'd be a good idea to make the thread. (It undoubtedly was!)
Thank you so much for your continued support, it's great to still see you around Tyrone Hope things are going great for you as well!



Hey there! Yep, I have looked into it in the past but it was already past the cutoff stage where I could join for this year I'll definitely be joining up for 2020's edition, pretty sure that'll only make me all the more motivated to keep playing and have this experience be even more fun

Scarborough Fair is being WAY tougher than anything I had previously. The pedaling coupled with the dynamics and the awkward differences between LH and RH are making it a worthy challenge. I'm glad I love the song, this'd be torture otherwise!

I've gotten to the point where I know the notes I'd say to 95% and it's starting to get to the hands. Pedaling is getting there as well. Dynamics are still a sticking point, but it should definitely be good to play for Sunday!

Day 62
Streak: 62

Still struggling a bit with dynamics, but getting Scarborough Fair to a good place. Definitely going to keep the song in my repertoire for the time being, it's both really good sounding as well as instantly recognizable!

Scarborough Fair -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP9GCPGNVVg

Nice work Ankee! This one was pretty challenging for me to get the dynamics right between LH and RH and you've done pretty well with it so far!

Day 63
Streak: 63



Thank you Lazarus! It really does feel like a big step up from previous songs, it's giving me a taste of what it is like to be going through each detail of a piece and individually tackling them. It really helps that I've had more free time to play lately haha.

Scarborough Fair is getting to the point where I'm confident showing it to my teacher. The Czerny studies are progressing rather well too, I should be able to have a good showing of everything for Sunday. Hope my teacher doesn't expect this kind of progress every week, I've been having the chance to play nearly double the time I usually do!

Ankee,

I find it pretty amusing that your own journey is well paralleling my own. Around "Scarborough Fair" is when I started shopping around for a teacher and that was one of the pieces I played to demonstrate where I was at.

I think I actually found the dynamics in scarborough to be the hardest in that book -- something about the pedal and left hand seems to easily overwhelm the melody if you're not careful and I don't remember feeling that way for any subsequent pieces.

Out of curiosity, do you work on more than one piece at a time?

Day 64
Streak: 64



That's a really fun coincidence! This is definitely a point I'm feeling like my approach to everything is changing, I'm analyzing things more, I'm being a lot more attentive in general. It helps that I'm now even more accountable thanks to having a teacher!

Yep, skipping any of the pedaling instantly means it'll sound muddy and just not good. I've removed some of the pedaling when both LH and RH are doing single notes, it wasn't sounding proper at all.

I actually only work on one piece at a time. At least at this point my brain really can't handle more than one thing at a time. I've mostly always been like that in life, so I'm not sure that'll change. I can do one thing really well and quickly, but make it two and I just lose it. The way I usually go about it is I fully learn a song, then I might introduce something new when I'm in the finishing touches part of the song's lifespan. My mind still goes blank if I try to think of the song, but the muscle memory is there. It feels very very weird.

Getting some more work done on Czerny's number 12 study. I realize I'm trying to play it faster than would be advisable at this point, but it's just sooo much fun to do so. I feel like scales are definitely paying off in allowing me to do this.

Day 65
Streak: 65

Ended up going with the slower version for Czerny's 12th study. Think it actually sounds much better to be fair. Still not perfect by any means, but I can see improvement for sure Focusing more on getting notes to be even rather than speed is the way to go!

Czerny etude 12 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX6DG1d10NY

Scarborough Fair is much improved as well, hopefully I don't choke during class! Looking forward to being given more material to study later today

I'll definitely be asking for a Christmas song to go with it, so I can play it before everyone is too annoyed with Christmas songs!