Another "Getting Acquainted" Session

There was a ladies’ luncheon going on outside of Thuddy’s quarters, so I headed over to Zan the Grand’s sanctuarial abode today.

There’s something wrong with Zan. Sure, he’s a Steinway, but there’s something even more wrong with him than that. The high notes are sticking. As in, I try to play several notes in a row, and it sounds like I’m using the damper pedal for a foot-rest. Sigh.

Enough complaining. The kind folks at the church are letting me use Zan, Thuddy, and any other piano I desire for free, every single day, for an hour a day. I appreciate them a thousand times over.

Today was another “short bits and pieces” practice session.

After warm-up scales, inversions, and arps, I started with Shosti. I worked on the “A” section yesterday, so I went straight to the “B” section. A bit more of the “oom-pah-pah” in the LH—pretty simple—and lots of repeated notes (but some tricky fingerings) in the RH. I spent more time on the RH, playing and re-playing slowly, getting my RH fingers comfortable with what was being demanded of them.

Next: Kenny, a.k.a. the Beethoven. I love this piece so far. I love the “call-and-response” feel of the playful motives. I played HS, stopping at places that didn’t feel so natural, and, again, working to get comfortable with the fingering and the notes.

Then it was onward to the Bach Bb fugue. I played through each individual voice and made notes about the sections that seemed like they would be the most challenging. Tomorrow I’ll think more about that, and Thursday I’ll probably begin working on the “hardest” measures.

Last but not least: The Bach Bb prelude. I didn’t have a lot of time left, so I played through the first two pages (slowly), then went to the last page and played through individual measures several times each.

Yes, I’m still in “getting acquainted” mode with each of these pieces. Haven’t started anything HS (except for the prelude), and haven’t really started drilling anything yet. If all goes well, I’ll begin more intense work on all of these as the weekend approaches.

Comments

Stephen LLG said…

I am rather worried about Thuddy. I'll bet he feels really down to have been deserted at such short notice. Can we have a picture and / or description of his manly charms please ?

3:38 AM

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