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Brass-Tacks Piano Lesson

Yesterday was my first lesson with my new teacher where I felt truly unprepared. Despite some good practice time over the weekend, I hadn't been able to practice more than a couple of scales (literally, a couple of scales) all week. So, it was pretty much another Week in the Life of an Adult Piano Student.

It was a good lesson, though. Carol gave me a lot to think about--my practice-work is now cut out for me, you might say.

I went through some scales and then a Hanon exercise, and she had me freeze mid-play, and pointed out how my left wrist had dropped. I was using pretty good technique in my right hand (as far as the palm being higher than the fingertips), but my left wrist had taken a dive. She'd mentioned something the week before about my left wrist needing to match my right wrist, and I'd thought about it ... but apparently I hadn't thought about it enough. So there was that.

The other issue was that I've adopted this loose, limp, flourish-y movement with the right hand (in particular) when I'm playing the higher notes, whether it's part of a scale or in the Schubert. Years ago, a teacher (I don't remember which) told me I was too tense and my hand was too stiff. I worked hard on having my hand be looser ... and maybe I went overboard? Mostly, I think it's just the result of not having thought about technique in many, many years, and falling into some bad habits.

So the takeaways from last week's lesson: wrist up, palm quiet. These two things combined should help my LH fourth and fifth fingers stop misfiring. Despite all the finger exercises I've done up to now, those two fingers (particularly the fourth) feel just a little out of control. I can't depend on them yet to play as evenly as the others. They are weak, yes, but my low wrist has made it even harder for them.

I played through the parts of the Schubert I'd worked on, more to double-check that I had all the notes right. I haven't started working on dynamics at all, and I've been practicing without the pedal (because that's what I do when I'm just learning the notes). It doesn't sound pretty, but that's part of the journey. She said to go ahead and continue learning the notes (I have about a page left of new material), and then we'll start the real work. I can't wait!!

I also played some of the Chopin, and I'm still too "plodd-y" in the left hand. So I need to put some real work into keeping it in the background. The high-wrist, quiet-palm thing should help with that.

And there is a lesson report. It felt like a very "brass tacks" kind of lesson: lots of focus on technique. Which is exactly what I need at this point.

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