Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

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Ode to Joy, Day 19: Technically Simple, Mentally Demanding

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 19 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Sadly, I have no video from this morning's practice because I was short on time. Day 19 At this point in the challenge, I am spinning three plates: Continue learning Batch 6 Continue reviewing Batch 1 after its seven-day break Begin reviewing Batch 5 after its two-day break It's a lot, and it feels like a lot. But I'm getting it done, little by little. Batch 6 Learning/Batch 1 Overlap This morning I worked on Batch 6, Passage 2, which I'm calling the A section tag: a short restatement of the A theme before the outro. It's another one of those "not technically hard but mentally demanding" passages that are all over this piece. First there's the left hand, which follows a new descending pattern, and any departure from "1-5 boom-chick" takes adjustment. Then there's the right hand,...

Ode to Joy Day 18: I'm Making Music!

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 18 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Today’s assignment is threefold: continue reviewing Batch 4 (measures 64–71), continue learning Batch 6 (measures 96–123), and continue reviewing Batch 1 (measures 0–23). Day 18 This morning I focused primarily on Passage 1 of Batch 6, which is almost identical to Passage 3 of Batch 1, so I got to revisit Batch 1 at the same time. This eight-measure passage is the opening A phrase, repeated, and after seven days away from it, I was hoping I’d sit down and magically be able to play it. No such luck. I had to play it through six times (three times, a short break, then three more), followed by a five-minute Batch 4 review before coming back to it. It didn't exactly sound bad, but there were a few stubborn half-measures, and I took a few minutes to drill each of those. At the end of my short practice, though, I was playing it...

Ode to Joy, Day 16 (Part 2) and 17

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 17 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Today’s assignment was to continue reviewing Batch 4 (measures 64–71) and begin Batch 6 (measures 96–123). Day 16, Evening Practice Yesterday after work I spent about 20 minutes refamiliarizing myself with Batch 4, the Very Red Section. Refamiliarizing? More like familiarizing. I didn’t remember any of it. I double-checked the schedule to make sure that yes, I had in fact learned this section last week. The fingerings were there, along with a couple of handwritten notes in the score. I vaguely remembered analyzing the upward-climbing pattern in the first four measures, but I didn’t remember actually playing it. So I picked through the passage a couple of times, missing notes and feeling my way through it almost blindly. Then I stopped for a sip of water, sat back down, and played it again. And suddenly my hands knew...

Thinking Ahead To May

So far, 2026 has been a great year for piano. I want to continue the streak into May and June, and then sit down sometime in June to craft my goals for the second half of the year. Here's an update for my April progress, followed by some May goals. Core April has seen a lot of work in my Core categories: Styles: I've learned nearly all of Ode to Joy and have regularly reviewed After You've Gone (though I've technically graduated from that one). Thanks to the LNRF challenge, I've put more daily time into OTJ than I would have otherwise, and there is a small possibility I'll have it ready for the next PWJ Recital. Skills: I completed the first course of the Classical Analysis (Analysis Track), focusing on Bach's C Major Prelude . I'm now in the second course ( Chopin's E Minor Prelude ). I've neglected it in the past week, and I imagine it will be my main analysis focus for May, or at least early May. (Dirty little secret: I learned this piece i...

Ode To Joy, Day 16: Joyful, Joyful, Thee I Practice

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 16 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Today’s assignment was to continue learning Batch 5 (measures 72–95) and begin my revisit of Batch 4 (measures 64–71). Day 16 Morning Practice: Pure Joy This morning’s practice focused mostly on Passages 1 and 2 of Batch 5, a.k.a. The Easy Section . The left hand switches from boom-chick to four-on-the-floor, and the busy right hand gives way to a single-note melody. The whole section is delightful, sweet, and charming. I love it. Scroll down to the video at the bottom of this post to hear it. There are still a few tricky spots, and I gave those some focused work this morning. In the video, I say “motifs” when I really mean “phrases,” so I’ll use the right word here. The tricky spots: The lead-in to Phrase 2: The four-on-the-floor pattern shifts, including a bass note on beat one while the right hand plays a broken E mi...

OTJ, Day 15: Pedal Point, Mental Practice, and More Fun to Come

In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 15 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Today’s assignment was to continue reviewing Batch 3 (measures 48–63) and continue learning Batch 5 (measures 72–95). Day 15 This morning’s practice focused on measures 88–95 (Passage 3 of Batch 5). The first four measures feature a pedal point : the chords change (Am7 to D7 to G6), but the left-hand octave stays on D. It’s not technically difficult, but it does make my brain work harder because it breaks the usual pattern. D under Am7 feels strange. D under D7 feels normal (ahh). Then D under G6 feels strange again, especially since the G6 is in second inversion (D–E–G–B), which looks more like a third-inversion Em7 to me. Enough theory. If you’re interested, I demonstrate it in the video. I also spent a good chunk of time on the last four measures of Passage 3. In measures 92–93, the right hand is familiar, but the lef...