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It's Here! But ...

Liebesträume arrived yesterday! I am so excited!

Last night I sat down and sight-read the whole thing, even the cadenza(?) sections.

It's going to be a challenge. Some sections are going to require more work than others. But it's definitely doable.

However ...

A Change of Plans, and Why

I'm going to set Liebesträume aside for a few weeks. Last night as I looked at my percentage goals, I realized one of the downsides of having a lot of piano projects on my plate, and it is this:

Even if I meet all of my percentage goals, each project will get so little focus that progress will be negligible. I expect to have Solace, Jingle Bells Rag, and Amazing Grace all "in the bag" by the end of the month, but that expectation simply isn't realistic, considering the amount of time I'll be able to give each of them.

When I start the Liszt, I want to be able to devote a good chunk of my practice time (25% or 30%) to it. But if I do that now, my many other projects will barely get any time at all.

So. I've removed Liszt from my projects for now and adjusted my percentage goals. Here are the new goals. (Click here for the old ones, for comparison.)

As shown above, Jingle Bells Rag, Solace, and the maintenance pieces now get a full 20% of my practice time, and Amazing Grace gets 10%. I've also upped my Old Rugged Cross percentage to 10% and Blues Theory and Practice to 15%. I think these are more realistic goals, considering how much time I think each project needs in order for me to progress.

Updated Monthly Goals

It's possible that I will still begin working on the Liszt in October, but I'm not pressuring myself to do so. Here are my updated goals for October/November:

October

  • Have Jingle Bells Rag and Solace memorized performance-ready; move these to pieces to maintenance.
  • Have Amazing Grace, including the intro, outro, and solo/improv, performance ready; move to maintenance.
  • Make significant progress on The Old Rugged Cross. While I'd like to have the whole arrangement written and performance-ready by the end of October, I'm not sure that is a realistic goal, as I've never done this kind of project before.
  • Have all maintenance pieces continue to be performance-ready.
  • Complete the major blues scale course on PWJ. This includes developing the ability to play the scale, with LH accompaniment, in all keys.
  • Continue to review the other blues courses so that, should I happen upon a public piano, I would be able to improvise long enough to impress people. :)

November

  • Begin work on two to three new pieces to replace Jingle Bells, Solace, and Amazing Grace. These will include Liebesträume and one or two others, mostly likely The Entertainer (a re-learn) and/or Jonny May's rhumba arrangement of Silent Night.
  • Continue to keep up with the maintenance pieces.
  • Complete the Blues Foundations courses and be ready to begin the Bible of Blues Riffs course (Blues Improvisation Section of PWJ) by the beginning of the year, if not sooner.
I feel a lot better about these goals. They are more realistic, and I'll be able to spend more time on each project. And when it's time to start Liebesträume, I'll be ready to dive in and give it much more attention.

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