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Gretta99, Hi, just caught up on your pieces. There is something about your playing that I truly love and am fascinated with and I love the sound of your piano/recordings. I've never heard of Barbara Arens. I might have to add another book to my list too!

Hi sisi, thanks for the wonderful comments. By the way you are doing great and making great progress! The Christopher Norton pieces are fun! Great for you for adding in the drums! That's always fun to play along to!

Trooplewis, Your bond cover was great! I have days when I want to play along with all the extra sounds, and drum tracks. This was very fun to listen too!

Hi AndresVel, I went back and listened to all your pieces. You really do sound amazing! Great work! And I love all the pieces you're playing! I couldn't pick a favorite from the bunch. I loved them all. So nice! :-)

I noticed in one of the exchanges with Greta99, the book Die Russische Klavierschule was mentioned. And I think, hmm I've never heard of this, wonder how I can find it. A few days later I'm in my local music store looking through their sales section and I see it right there in front of me! What, could this be it I wonder! Oh my, it is in German so I won't be able to read the few pages at the beginning, but the music will be the same yes? So I bought it and it was on sale for 75% off. The lady who works at the store told me she ordered the German edition by accident and I said well it was just my luck that I came in to buy I. I bought a lot of books on sale that day but I think I was most happy being able to get this one. I will need to start going through it but there are so many pieces I don't know where to start!

I didn't watch the movie, but I loved you rendition of the soundtrack.

@Zoe, I'm glad that you managed to get your piece ready for the Recital and loved the experience! Kudos for learning such a long piece so fast. I enjoyed you submission very much.
Are you going to participate in the Piano Transcriptions Recital?


Thank you, Andres. I'm still uploading my submissions from the Female Composers Recital, that's probably the reason it sounds familiar to you .

Great job on this invention, it's not an easy one, none of them is. I think, the easiest are Grade 5 (ABRSM). I wanted to learn a couple of them this year. I hope I'll find time for it.


Barbara, I enjoyed both pieces very much. The name Alison Mathews sounded familiar, so I checked my scores and found that I own her collection "Landscapes".
I think, I'm going to learn a couple of her pieces for this challenge.
Barbara Arens' "Rendezvous with Midnight" is from the same publisher (Editions Musica Ferrum) and I can confirm that their books are of high-end quality.

Thank you very much, Zoe.
I congratulate you to your additions to your music library! "Die Russische Klavierschule" has a lot of pieces. You could start with the no. 70 and work from there, skipping pieces that you cannot stand or you could select your favorites and only learn them. This youtube channel has recordings of all pieces from the book.

Adding two pieces to my list:

1) Wynn-Anne Rossi, Pasos locos (Música Latina, Bk 2)(Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
2) Cécile Chaminade, Idylle, Op. 126 No. 1 (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
3) Amy Beach, Pierrot and Pierrette, Op. 25 No. 4 (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
4) Louise Farrenc, Étude in A Minor, Op. 50 No. 2 (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
5) Barbara Arens, Moonbeams (From "Rendezvous with Midnight") (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
6) C. Gurlitt, Little Flowers, Op. 205 No. 3 (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
7) Barbara Arens, Looking back (From "Rendezvous with Midnight") (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
8) Barbara Arens, Summer Moonlight (From "Rendezvous with Midnight")(Soundcloud, hearthis.at)
9) C. Gurlitt, Little Flowers, Op. 205 No. 4 (Soundcloud, hearthis.at)

Beautiful playing barbara. Lovely piece.


Hi Zoe. Thank you for your comments. I am glad you have enjoyed my submissions so far.
Yes, DRK is the book I am following with my teacher. I love the book, it has so many amazing pieces. I could not be happier with the piece selection I have been working on since I started learning. It is great that you could get the book! You will love it. It has such a good mix of pieces from baroque to modern. All short pieces I have submitted and most of my future submissions are from that book. I am right now in the last third/last fourth of book 1, so you have a reference in terms of difficulty.

Very well played Zoe! phrasing and dynamics sounded on point I loved both pieces, but I did not know of James Hook before. I might be checking some of his works. Very good recordings as well! How are you recording your acoustic? Is it a grand?

Thanks you Greta, it was very fun to learn it. I love Baroque music in general and It was also my first Bach piece, so that all added to the excitement. I hope to be tackling at least one more this year.

That Arens piece was lovely Greta! You have a such a tender touch. Amazing stuff :)) I am also amazed by the fact that your recordings sound always very polished considering how often you report a new piece. Impressive

Thanks all for the lovely feedback. I've treated myself to the Barbara Arens book too now, as well as another from the same publisher. They are quite a bit more challenging than the Alison Mathews ones but hopefully still manageable (though not at Greta's pace for me )

Here are a couple more

5. Clementi - Sonatina C Major, Op 36, No 1, 1st Movement (Practice)

You should contrast it with the below, recorded almost 5 years ago. The biggest difference between now and then is that I feel like I play with a lot less tension. Maybe it's not apparent in the videos, but I can certainly say it feels a lot more comfortable in my arms, shoulders and back.

Funny, the comment I made in the video back then was maybe I could play it a bit faster one day. Just took me 5 years to do, I'm slow ;0 I'll do another one 5 years from now and compare. Hopefully I'll improve some more Learning piano is a lifetime effort.

Almost 5 Years Ago Video

And here is a fun piece from the Alfred's 2 book,

6. Danny Boy

And I'm looking forward to the one in 10 years, and then in 15!

It's great to see such tangible evidence of progress. It's hard to realise it's happening, but it's there!

Updating my list. This was great fun, and very easy to sight read - but it benefitted from a bit of polishing. I added a few octave runs which feature in the original but not in the arrangement I used.

1. Schumann - Mai Lieber Mai - op 68 no 13
2. Grieg - Watchman's Song - op 12 no 3
3. Schumann - Wilder Reiter / The Wild Horseman - op 68 no 8
4. Schumann - Fröhlicher Landmann / The Happy Farmer - op 68 no 10
5. David Arnold - Good Omens (soundtrack arranged by "Becky_ on musecore)

It takes time, that's for sure. I hope I'm still around here in 5 years. What have a I learned in the past 5 years?

1. In hindsight I attempted some (maybe many?) pieces way too early, but not terribly upset by that, pushing yourself is a good thing to. And I can go back and relearn them. A good test for that? you should be able to play the music and read from the score at the same time. If you can't, it might indicate it is too hard, but everyone is different.

2. Learn to play with zero tension from the beginning

3. Speed comes with time. I'm better off playing things at whatever speed allows me to play with the least amount of tension. More often than not, trying to push the speed up will just introduce more tension.

4. Don't get caught in the rabbit hole here that is called "sight reading". Just keep reading music, it gets easier, but takes time.

5. Have fun! If you don't enjoy practicing, something is off. Find a different routine.

Great work bSharp! How great it has to feel to look back and see how much progress one has achieved. I loved the piece from the Alfred's book as well, sounds like a fun one to play.

Great list of pieces Monviso

I am adding two new short pieces

1. Jewgeni Tetzel - Prelude
2. Balys Dvarionas - Prelude
3. Alexander Goedicke - Tanz
4. Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy - Etude in C major, Op. 176, No. 24
5. Alexander Gretschaninow - Kinderalbum, Op. 98, No. 1 - Kleines Maerchen
6. Dmitri Kabalewski - 24 leichte Stuecke, Op. 39, No. 10 - Marsch
7. Johann Krieger - Minuet in A minor
8. Ludwig Schytte - 25 easy Etudes, Op. 160, No. 18 in F major
9. J.S. Bach - Two-Part Inventions, No. 4 in D minor (BWV 775)
10. Isaak Berkowitsch - 50 little Etudes, No. 26 in D minor
11. Alexander Purimow - Der Ball

I took a break from the faber book, because I got a teacher! I joined a piano course for beginners, PCA. The teacher emphasizes whole-arm weight, correct key attack, relaxation, and other things/dynamics/articulations I hadn't considered before. For now, I am not learning any new pieces, only many many exercises -- but I am loving the course and can already feel and hear a difference!

So this week I am updating my list with some work-in-progress and done-but-not-yet-recorded pieces.


1. Morning (Peer Gynt suite no. 1) (PA book 1) soundcloud | youtube
2. When the Saints go Marching in (learn & master piano) soundcloud
3. Musette (from the notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach) (PA book 1) soundcloud | youtube (now in the right tempo too!)
4. Half-time Band (PA book 1) soundcloud | youtube
5. Theme by Mozart (Sonata in A major transposed to G major) (PA book 1) youtube
6. Greensleeves (PA book 1) youtube
7. Egyptian Ballet Dance, Camille Saint-Saëns (faber's studio selections level 2A) youtube
8. Old German Dance, Michael Praetorius (Keith Snell essential piano repertoire prep grade)
9. Two Marches, Daniel Gottlob Türk (Keith Snell essential piano repertoire prep grade)
10. WIP: Minuet, Alexander Reinagle (Keith Snell essential piano repertoire prep grade)
11. WIP: Waltz, Carl Czerny (Keith Snell essential piano repertoire prep grade)
12. WIP: Can Can, Jacques Offenbach (PA book 1)
13. WIP: Ice Skaters, Emile Waldteufel (PA book 1) --> I'm really struggling with the eighth notes between measures 17 and 28. I try my best to count the tempo but sometimes I get stuck in a loop!

Pretty amazing stuff considering you have only taken lessons for a month or two!

Danny Boy!
Excellent rendition

Yippee. I have a few more to add. While I know these are not played that well I still hope it counts and it's providing good learning either way.

1. Sick Doll
2. Jurassic Park These
3. Singin' My Song
4. Titanic Theme
5. Arioso in F
6. Minuet in G

Here is another practice session. I think I like the microphone that is used to record. But old laptop webcam is poor, would be better off using phone.

7. Solfeggio In C Minor – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Sounds very nice. Part of your camera issues are because you are shooting up into the bright music light and that bright open window. Almost no camera can handle that much variation in light/dark areas. Block off the window and shoot down instead of up into the light and it will come out a lot better.