Well… I had a major piano development last weekend and somehow didn’t write about it. I PLAYED BACH'S C MAJOR PRELUDE (BWV 846) IN ALL 12 KEYS! Folks, I transposed this baby. No sheet music, no written progressions, no lead sheet. Just what’s been settling into my brain over the past couple of weeks. I’d been experimenting with transposing it here and there, but the switch flipped sometime Saturday evening. I played it from memory in C, then transposed to G. Then F. Then B♭. Then E♭. Those went pretty smoothly, since I've tried transposing to those keys before. But then, at some point, I thought, “What about A♭?” So I tried it ... and it wasn't hard. So I moved on to D♭. Then G♭ (not exactly a friendly key). Still worked. Then B (even less friendly). A few stumbles, but I made it through. Then E, A, and D ... and they felt easy. Then G, then C ... full circle! I was in a serious flow state. Part of it was the prelude itself—I could listen to it all day—but a bigger part was...
In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 9 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Each day of the challenge has a particular topic, and today’s topic was interval timers, so I integrated that into my work on Batches 1 and 3 today. Interval Timers There is a wealth of options (apps) for anyone wanting to use an interval timer, but I just use the timer in my phone clock. Which I guess is another app. Anyway, sometimes I use the timer for interleaving (spending just a few minutes on one section before switching), and other times it’s just to avoid losing track of time. I also track how many minutes I spend on each piece/project, so the timer is essential. Left Hand Work and Interleaving Today I isolated the left hand in both batches. I’ve been practicing mostly hands together, but this is stride. The left hand has to be smooth and steady, with little room for error. It needs to feel automatic at any tempo. I use...