Catching Up!

My new system is working! It's now very easy to see which pieces are furthest below their goal, so I can tell which pieces I need to work on next.

I entered my time regularly all weekend, and I managed to "catch up," or come close to being caught up, in all my projects. (See my weekend goals post to compare, if you're interested.)

I must admit that I didn't play any blues or "lagniappe" (Old Rugged Cross, etc.) this weekend. Instead, I focused on catching up on everything else. And I'm glad I did! I made progress I hadn't expected to make. For instance ...

Solace

I can now play all the way through Solace. I've memorized the "A" section, and when I played it this morning, it was (mostly) smooth and felt comfortable by memory. I can also play through the "B" section! I haven't started to memorize it yet; this morning I just worked on the fingering for the first part, as well as drilling a couple of the trickier passages and sight-reading the rest. Tonight or tomorrow I'll work on the second part, and then I'll focus on memorizing.

And after that? I'll have the whole thing by memory, and it will just be a matter of playing it a lot so that it feels natural and comfortable to play! I hadn't expected to graduate from this one by the end of September (particularly with needing to focus on the Chopin), but that is now looking very achievable!

Jingle Bells Rag

I'm making progress on the Jingle Bells rag. I don't know why, but I don't have a ton of enthusiasm for this one. Still, I worked on it diligently for 15 or 20 minutes each day, and I have the tricky final page worked out. It's still slow, but I can play it. I believe this is the most difficult section of the piece, so I'm glad I'm getting though it.

Loving My New System!

I got some good work done on the other pieces, but I'm highlighting these two, as I likely wouldn't have given them very much time this weekend if I hadn't been using my new spreadsheet system.

I'll have videos soon!

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The Rusty Lock and Key

I'm in a room. There's a door in front of me. On the other side of that door is a whole world of adventure and imagination and joy and delight, but for the moment, I'm locked in this gray little room. The door itself has a lock that is all rusted. I've tried to open it in the past, but I've never gotten very far. Sometimes I try to scrape the rust off the lock. I also have a rusty old key that I occasionally try to polish. Each time, after I've made a little progress, I'll put it into the keyhole in hopes of opening the door. It turns a half a millimeter or so, but the brief excitement at my progress dies quickly when I realize, once again, the lock isn't opening. I set the old key aside, and from there I can forget about the door, the lock, and the world outside, for months—years, even. But then something happens—I hear birdsong, or I catch a glimpse of color—and I pick up the key and start picking away at the stubborn rust. That dark little room is my ...

Dance of the Digits

Note: I've expanded significantly on this post over at my other blog, A Sort of Notebook . I am loving Liszt. I love the way my hands have to "share" the melody. I have so much to write on that, but I'm borrowing a computer and don't have enough time to do it justice. Suffice it to say that I've practiced three and a half wonderful hours today, and about two hours on Liszt alone. What I find wonderful about Liszt is that it pushes one hand hard, but not too hard. Then the other hand gets a turn to be pushed. But it's never both at the same time, and never one hand for too long. It's hard to explain. When I have more time to write, I'll word things rather more eloquently, I'm sure. All I can say now is that my fingers feel like they're dancing a wonderful, graceful dance. I've been trying to "play with my body," as my piano teacher says to do, so all of me is dancing. And Standchen, though it still need a lot of work (like, um...

The Amazing Practice Tracker 2.0: Leveling Up My Piano Game

(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...

Picking Up the Pieces

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