For about six months, I've been doing regular "hand yoga" exercises that I've developed, partly based on Sara Davis Buechner's Tonebase series on the technique work of Alberto Jonas. Back in May, I was able to reach a tenth with my right hand, but just barely, and I couldn't play the notes at the same time. I had to play a note with the thumb, and then stretch, stretch, stretch so that my pinky could just catch the corner of the note a tenth up. Last night I played the two notes at the same time with either hand! I tried to do it again on this video and couldn't. But you can see that the reach has become doable if I play one note and then the other. Will I ever be able to play stride piano, which uses lots of tenths in the left hand? Probably not. But I can keep trying. The best part of these exercises, I think, is that my octaves are much more solid than they've ever been!
For the past three years, the period from mid-November to late March has been devoted, in part, to volleyball, as my daughter played on a club team. She’s never been a power player, but she enjoyed being part of the team and making friends along the way. My husband and I loved it too—the parent friends, the travel, the memories, and, of course, watching our kid play! And as a volleyball enthusiast, I always looked forward to the games. My #34, on the court with her 15s teammates last season. A Time for Change This year, I knew things would change. I’m now on the coaching staff for her club and had asked to be the assistant coach for whatever team she was on, provided she decided to try out (which was uncertain) and made a team. She had been waffling all year about whether to try out. A bad experience with her coach last year made her swear off volleyball, but a good JV season at school gave her some renewed interest. When two of her good friends said they were trying out, she decided...