Picking Up the Pieces

(Apologies for the cheesy clip art. I needed to come up with something, or the Blogger template would show a fuzzy, overly-enlarged snippet of the first chart below.) When I showed my husband my piano practice tracker, he said I should market and sell it. Ha. It’s not for sale, but I’m excited to share how this tool has transformed my practice—and why it might inspire all three of my readers. Since my last post about the Amazing Practice Tracker, I’ve made it even better. Here’s a peek at how it works, using my June data. All The Pretty Colors, All the Pretty Winners My tracker now sparkles with color: darker shades for active pieces, lighter ones for maintenance, technique, and sight-reading. Each day, the piece I practice most gets a bright yellow highlight—a little “gold medal,” if you will. (Click image for a slightly larger view.) A leaderboard automatically shows the day’s top piece and time. And if that isn't enough, I keep track of the month's leaders--specifically, ho...

  How is it almost time to flip the calendar to July? I swear I just started my June spreadsheet, but here we are, with June nearly in the books. July will be a bit of a whirlwind--partly because I'm sneaking away for a week of vacation. This means I'm keeping things focused: no shiny new pieces until August. Instead, I'll focus on Liebesträume and America the Beautiful for performances, keep up with my maintenance pieces, and dive into a few creative projects that have been swirling around in my brain for a while. Still, I need to have goals beyond "focus on," "keep up with," and "dive into." Let's make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound)! Liszt: Back in the Spotlight After a short break, I'm putting Liszt back on the priority list. My mission? Get it performance-ready before vacation. I'm aiming for an August recital--maybe Piano with Rebecca B or a video to share on social media. I'm hoping...

I haven't had a chance yet to seriously work on Jonny's jazzy intro to his "America the Beautiful" rag. This morning I had about 5 minutes before taking my daughter to driver's ed, so I sight-read through the intro once. It hasn't come together yet, but you can see that some sections are easier than others. None of it is really hard--it's just jazz, which means the usual harmonic rules (at least the ones I'm used to in blues and ragtime, and even classical) don't always apply. One reason I'm not crazy about jazz is the constant reharmonization and the dissonances ... but I really, really love this arrangement. This first take is a bit rough, full starts and stops as I hunt for notes. But stick with me—it will sound great after a few days of practice!

When the Song Gets Lost in the Style I was playing yesterday's recording of Jonny's "America the Beautiful" rag for my husband last night, and he gave me the strangest look. "What?" I asked. "I can't even tell what that song is," he said. I sang along to help him follow the melody, but he just shook his head. "I don't hear it. I don't hear 'America the Beautiful.'" I thought maybe my version was too slow and mistake-riddled, so I played a recording of Jonny himself playing it. It still just sounded like a bunch of tinkly notes to him. I was floored. This isn’t the first time this has happened, either. Awhile back, I played a bluesy improv on "Silent Night," and he couldn’t decipher that one either, even when I sang along. I shared that recording on Facebook, asking friends to name the tune. Some recognized it instantly, but others? Completely stumped. How can a song be so clear to some and unrecognizable to...

Ah, the joy of trying to make a quick video while your teen daughter is pushing you to hurry up so you can get her to drivers’ ed on time! That was my life this morning as I worked on Jonny May’s delightful “America the Beautiful” rag. Where I’m At I’m having a lot of fun learning this rag—it’s not too difficult, and the structure is simple enough that my brain is buzzing with improv ideas. Now that I’m mastering the score, I’m ready to start adding my own signature, and perhaps a key change. (No more details for now in case it doesn’t work out!) I also have the option of learning Jonny’s page-long jazzy intro, which I’ve sight-read a few times. But it’s tricky, and I’m not sure I can have it ready in time for my July 4 deadline (particularly since I’ll be away from the piano all weekend). The Video This progress clip is at a slow tempo, and my playing is a little raw and wooden, as I’m just trying to make sure I hit all the right notes. Despite my best efforts, I fumble a few notes (I...

Here is a post I shared on in the Piano With Rebecca (PWR) group . I am making important practicing discoveries these days! Retrieving Maintenance Pieces: Lessons Learned On Saturday, I posted that I was about to tackle my neglected maintenance pieces. I was afraid it would be a miserable weekend of stumbling through a dozen or so pieces that I'd worked so hard to learn and memorize in the past year. I started with an interleaved approach (7-minute intervals), alternating between with Mozart's Rondo alla Turca, Jonny May's "Bare Necessities" arrangement and Scott Joplin's "Solace." It was, as expected, quite frustrating as I struggled to re-learn measures I'd mastered just a few months before. Switching to Block-Style Practice In the afternoon, I switched to do a more block-style approach with three other pieces ("The Entertainer," a bluesy "Amazing Grace," and Chopin's Nocturne in F Minor) and accidentally discovered the ...